Field Marshal Paulus biography

The Stalingrad disaster of Germany: the beginning of the end of historians note the general points in the biographies of Paulus and another German military leader, Erwin Rommel. They were born with a difference of one year, in the first world they fought in the rank of captain on the same section of the Western Front, both used Hitler as young generals of a new formation, not related to the Prussian military caste.

But the similarity ended on this. Rommel, like Manstein and Guderian, knew how to defend his opinion, and in exceptional cases to act contrary to the will of the Fuhrer. Paulus was known for diplomacy and compliance. Turning to the headquarters on November 22 with a request to allow the 6th Army to break into the West, he did not receive an answer for two days, during which he could begin to act independently.

The author of the photo, Getty images signature to the photo, the Soviet infantry attacks "It is possible that the daredevil of Reichenau [Field Marshal Walter von Reichenau was Paulus's predecessor as commander of the 6th Army-approx. BBC] would break through to the west and then declared to the Fuhrer:" Now you can judge me. " But, you know, unfortunately, I am not Reichenau, ”he told the officers of his headquarters.

But Paulus, judging by letters and diaries, supported most of his subordinates who preferred to wait for help from the outside than to go into a deadly attack in deep snow. He refused, referring to the fact that he was captured and his orders no longer had the strength. The Nazi authorities hid the fact of the mass captivity of German The soldier was declared in the memory of the "warriors who died near the Führer." values, or he was guided by everyday benefit.

From me, no one can expect me to change my views, even if I will threaten the danger of spending the rest of my life in captivity. ” In September, a group of prisoners of war, led by the former subordinate of Paulus, the commander of the Corps of the 6th Army Walter von Zaidlits, held the constituent congress of the pro-Soviet Union of German Officers at the General Camp in Krasnogorsk.

We no longer consider them our comrades and resolutely dissociate themselves from them. "Nevertheless, something in the behavior of Paulus, probably indicated that it was possible to work with him. From the very beginning, the appeal was extremely soft.

We put it in a hospital for a month, where we fed with steam cutlets, red caviar and fruits. Then they sent to the aforementioned monasteries in the building of the former And they allocated a separate room there, later on the special object in the Ivanovo region, where before the war there was a sanatorium and the VIP-prisoner was freely walked through the forest intelligence, Soviet intelligence delivered a letter from Germany from his wife, as well as the content of the letter.

Hitler on July 21, and especially the participation in the conspiracy of Field Marshal Erwin von Vitsleben, with whom he was friends and considered an example for himself. Finally, a year and a half, Paulus did what they wanted from him: on August 8, he acted on the Soviet radio broadcast on Germany with a statement: "Germany should eliminate Adolf Hitler and establish a new government leadership that will end the war and create conditions that ensure our people further existence and restoration of peaceful and friendly relations with the current opponent." Four days later, he joined the "Union of German Officers", then to the Committee "Free Germany", where the Communists dominated.

Unlike Andrei Vlasov, Paulus did not have to create armed groups from prisoners of war to fight against his own army. The fact that he allegedly gave lectures at Soviet military academies is also a myth. In any case, to study with a loser military leader would be strange to the winners. The Nazis sent to prison the son of Paulus, who fought near Stalingrad with the rank of captain, but unlike his father, did not fall into captivity.

The wife and daughter were placed under house arrest. In January, they asked for liberation, but the result was the opposite: the Gestapo remembered their existence and sent to Dachau. True, they did not have to be there for long. The defeated receives everything at the Nuremberg process, Paulus was not the defendant, but a witness to the charges. His appearance caused a sensation, and the former colleagues have indignation.

Keitel, Jodl and especially Goering interrupted Paulus with insulting cries. It is unnecessary to say that on all issues, his testimony completely reflected the position of the USSR. After that, Paulus began to be officially considered not a prisoner of war, but a guest of the Soviet government. He was settled in the country in the suburbs, with a personal doctor and a cook.In the year, for two months he straightened his health to the Crimea.

Before the death of his wife in the year, they corresponded, but never saw each other again. About a month before, he met with Valter Ulbricht, the head of East Germany on an visit to Moscow, on a visit to Moscow. The uprising in the GDR: “Marmelad” and freedom according to one version, Paulus was afraid to live in Germany, where the attitude towards him was, to put it mildly, ambiguous, according to another, he was not asked.

He was provided with a two -story villa in the suburbs of Dresden Oberloshwitz next to the river and forest, a servant, a personal car and the right to store personal weapons. In the documents of Stasi, Villa appeared as the “object of Terras”, the driver of Paulus as “Leipzig”. All the staff worked on the East German state security, the premises were auditioned. Every evening I reported to the officer of the state security of what the owner of the house was doing.

The phone was listening, all the conversations were recorded. Paulus did not believe that he could not believe that he could re -educate. " According to the German historian Torsten Dietrich, Moscow and Eastern Berlin for some time had political species for him. The option of uniting Germany according to the "Austrian version" provided that its demilitarization and neutrality, and the famous general, was planned to be used as a unifying figure.

The story was different, and the only public performance by Paulus - a press conference for Western journalists at the beginning of the year - turned out to be unsuccessful. The press was not interested in the views of Paulus on current policy, but by the Battle of Stalingrad, and especially why he did not commit suicide. Loneliness in recent years Paulus had nothing to do and no one to communicate with.

The daughter came, the son refused, condemning the behavior of his father. Apart from several speeches to the cadets of the Dresden school of the barracks of the barracks of the GDR army officially created in the year - approx. BBC, the former Field Marshal almost did not leave the villa. Of all classes in the last years of his life, he liked to disassemble and assemble a gun most of all.

Someone in the staff offered to take away his weapons from him - no matter how he shot himself. But the highest authorities decided that if he did not do this in Stalingrad, he would not do now. He stated that "Russia cannot be defeated," and that "socialism is the best system for Germany: there is order, but people are not poisoned with gas." He never called himself the former Field Marshal, but exclusively "Field Marshal of the former Wehrmacht." Friedrich Paulus died after 14 years and one day after his captivity in Stalingrad.