Taking Stalingrad was proving more difficult than Adolf Hitler had expected.

On September 12th, General Paulus, commander of the 6th Army,

flew to the Vervalph to meet with Hitler, Chief of Staff Halder,

and General von Weich, commander of Army Group B,

to discuss the capture of Stalingrad. Paulus later claimed that at this

meeting, he mentioned to Hitler his concern that the Romanian and Italian armies on his left flank

were potentially vulnerable and needed reinforcement. Hitler assured him of reinforcements and told him besides that the Red Army had used up the last of their soldiers and equipment and had nothing left with which to begin an offensive.

The Red Army had already attempted an offensive on Paulus's left flank in late August.

That offensive had demonstrated that the Red Army was poorly trained,

poorly equipped, and poorly motivated, and the results had been pathetic. There was nothing to worry about.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Music to the history of the 20th century. Episode 375,

Time is Blood.

Boris Mikhailovich Kipashnikov was born in 1882 to a Cossack family in the Urals.

He joined the Imperial Army and studied at the Nicholas General Staff Academy. He served in the First World War,

rising to the rank of colonel. When the Russian Revolution came, he was unusual among officers of

his rank in that he supported the Bolsheviks. He was useful to the Bolsheviks in that he became

one of the few Red Army officers who'd had

formal military training. He advised to Joseph Stalin on military matters, and Stalin respected him

and his advice. He was one of the few people with whom Stalin was on a first-name basis.

In the late 1920s, Shroposashnikov wrote a three-volume work

laying out his military theories.

...