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1942 The Germans reach Stalingrad

Posted by admin in Wehrmacht on 12 3rd, 2008 | no responses

September 18, 1942. French Newsreel. On August 24, the 16th Panzer Division of the German 6th Army reached the northern outskirts of Stalingrad near Spartakovka and Rynok. By August 28th, the division – cut off on the northern outskirts of the city since its breakthrough on the 23rd and out of ammunition – was ready to withdraw, when a supply convoy of some two hundred and fifty trucks, loaded with captured British and American aid, arrived in the wake of the 3rd Motorized Division. Now, there were two divisions separated by eighteen miles of communist controlled ground between the bulk of 6th Army, and the Panzers at Spartakovka and Rynok.

Translation by Olivenstein:

The battle of Stalingrad. After traversing the Don, Field marshal von Bock’s troops reach the steppe country. North of the city, a German armoured division spearheads to the Volga. Isolated several days away from their bases, the vanguard have installed their positions on the west bank of the river. While thus controlling Volga river traffic, the Germans have as well succeeded in cutting the Moscow-Stalingrad railroad. Artillery pounds the city’s defences. Off in the smoke, Stalingrad can be seen.”