Germany is one army poorer and one heroic saga richer.

Wehrmacht captain Teodor Habich.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Music century. Episode 384. Do You want Total War?

When we last looked total war. When we last looked at the Eastern Front, it was almost Christmas, and Manstein's offensive

to relieve the encircled 6th Army had been foiled by yet another Soviet offensive,

Operation Little Saturn.

Inside Stalingrad, morale remained fairly high in spite of the hardships.

Most of the Sixth Army, especially the younger soldiers who had grown up under national socialism,

had faith in the Fuhr, the party, and the German army.

Rescue was bound to arrive, eventually.

When the Soviet NKVD interrogated German prisoners,

they were astonished by their confidence.

Why could they not understand their situation was hopeless?

It truly was. Supply to the city by air delivered only a small

fraction of what the army needed. Still, they held out in the face of hunger, cold, lice, and filth.

Back at the wolf's lair, Adolf Hitler had wanted to take an extended Christmas vacation at the Berghoff,

but Kurt Zeitzler, his new army chief of staff, persuaded him to stay at his command post,

given the crisis at Stalingrad.

Neither the military nor the German government made any public statement regarding the situation.

The last time Stalingrad had been mentioned publicly was in Hitler's speech to the old

fighters in Munich on November 8th, when he declared that the capture of Stalingrad was only a

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