Could Paulus have broken out of Stalingrad.

Could Paulus have broken out of Stalingrad?

The freezing winter of 1942 meant that Friedrich Paulus, the commanding field Marshall ,would have to act quickly.

(German Soldiers In Stalingrad)

Many of his men lacked proper attire to ward off the bitter cold and this meant they were at a huge disadvantage against the Red Army who had suitable clothing for the winter(most of them). The German forces were already suffering many injuries and diseases due to the cold environment and to make things worse, they were surrounded .

I find it very unlikely that Paulas and his men had any chance to escape if he choose to stay until November. I would say the best chance Paulas had of escaping would be during October where the weather was still bearable and had a numerical advantage. Manstein also have been

given a stronger relief force as he had a good chance of breaking the encirclement.

However, Hitler’s command sealed the fate of the German forces stuck in stalingrad, leaving them with no choice but capturing the city or dies doing so. Paulas had already planned to retreat from Stalingrad but Hitler was adamant about capturing the city and ordered him to remain there. If Paulas ignored his orders and retreated, he would have been trailed for treason anyways so he did not have motivation to escape other than for the sake of his man.

In conclusion, I would say Paulas had a slim chance of breaking out of Stalingrad. I would attribute this to the harsh weather and Hitler’s adamance to capture the city which made Paulas and his men stuck in the city with no supplies. This is what Hitler had to say about Paulas “What hurts me the most, personally, is that I still promoted him to field marshal. I wanted to give him this final satisfaction… a man like that besmirches the heroism of so many others at the last moment. He could have freed himself from all sorrow and ascended into eternity and national immortality, but he prefers to go to Moscow”