Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus

[Klaus]

Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus
(23 September 1890 – 1 February 1957)


Paulus was born in Breitenau, Province of Hesse-Nassau, the son of a school teacher.
He tried, unsuccessfully, to secure a cadetship in the Kaiserliche Marine, and briefly studied law at Marburg University.
Military career
After leaving the university without a degree, he joined the 111th Infantry Regiment as an officer cadet in February 1910. He married Elena Rosetti-Solescu on 4 July 1912.
When World War I began, Paulus's regiment was part of the thrust into France, and he saw action in the Vosges and around Arras in the autumn of 1914. After a leave of absence due to illness, he joined the Alpenkorps as a staff officer, serving in Macedonia, France, and Serbia. By the end of the war, he was a captain.
After the Armistice Paulus fought with the Freikorps in the east as a brigade adjutant. He remained in the scaled-down Reichswehr that came into being after the Treaty of Versailles and was assigned to the 13th Infantry Regiment at Stuttgart as a company commander. He served in various staff positions for over a decade (1921 - 1933) and then briefly commanded a motorized battalion (1934 - 1935) before being named chief of staff for the Panzer headquarters in October 1935, a new formation under Lutz that directed the training and development of the army’s three panzer divisions.
In February 1938 Paulus was appointed Chef des Generalstabes to Guderian’s new XVI Armeekorps (Motorisiert), which replaced Lutz’s command. Guderian described him as ‘brilliantly clever, conscientious, hard working, original and talented’ but already had doubts about his decisiveness, toughness and lack of command experience. He remained in that post until May 1939, when he was promoted to Generalmajor and became Chief of Staff for the German Tenth Army, with which he saw service in Poland, the Netherlands, and Belgium (by the latter two campaigns, the army had been renumbered as the Sixth Army).
Paulus was promoted to Generalleutnant in August 1940 and the following month he was named deputy chief of the German General Staff (OQu I). In that role he helped draft the plans for the invasion of the Soviet Union.
Stalingrad
Paulus became commander of the German Sixth Army in January 1942 and led the drive on Stalingrad.
During his command of the Sixth Army, Paulus also rescinded the Commissar Order and the Severity Order within his sector.
Paulus followed Adolf Hitler's orders to hold the Army's position in Stalingrad under all circumstances, despite the fact that the army had been encircled by strong Russian formations. A relief effort by Army Group Don under Field Marshal von Manstein failed, inevitably, as insufficient force was available to challenge the Soviet forces encircling the German 6th Army, and because by the time of this rescue attempt, Paulus' remaining armour had only sufficient fuel remaining for a 12 mile advance anyway. In any event, Paulus was refused permission to break out of the encirclement, and the 6th Army was consequently overrun together with its Romanian allies and Russian auxiliary troops when the lack of ammunition, equipment attrition and the physical health of the German troops prevented them from defending effectively against the Red Army in late January 1943. The battle was fought with terrible losses on both sides and the most unimaginable suffering, scarring the Russian and German nations for generations.
Paulus was expected to hold Stalingrad to the death. On 30 January 1943, Hitler promoted Paulus to the rank of field marshal, after the Sixth Army's fate was sealed. Since no German field marshal in history had ever surrendered, the implication was clear. If Paulus surrendered, he would shame Germany's military history.
Despite this, and to the disgust of Hitler, Paulus surrendered on January 31, 1943. Speaking about the surrender of Paulus, Hitler told his staff:
“ 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. ”
Although he at first refused to collaborate with the Soviets, after the July 20th plot on Hitler's life, Paulus became a vocal critic of the Nazi regime while in Soviet captivity, joining the Russian-sponsored National Committee Free Germany and appealing to Germans to surrender. He later acted as a witness for the prosecution at the Nuremberg trials. He was released in 1953, two years before the repatriation of the remaining German POWs (mostly other Stalingrad veterans) who had been designated war criminals by the Soviets.
Friedrich Paulus died in Dresden, East Germany, as an inspector of police.

[Hagen]

Thanks, I never knew what happened to him after the war. Inspector of police in the workers paradise of East Germany. Nice one Klaus.

[Klaus]

Same here. I thought that he ended up somewhere in the DDR but I never knew where exactly. So I looked it up.

[barrett.t]

I felt angry when I first read this about Paulus. Hitler was very good at wasting human life for his ego and power dreams. The stuff I read about Stalingrad made me realise how hard it was for everyone. The bitter cold the lack of supplies and Hitler's stupidity with his hold on at all costs. They should have been allowed to fall back and regroup. I always wondered what was so special about Stalingrad, to both leaders? I thought that it was just a city like any other whats the huff about? Then I thought maybe because it was named after Stalin that this was the importance, to both of them. No!!!!! I read somewhere else that Richard Sorge, Stalin's spy in Japan, reported to Stalin that the Japanese would attack Russia if Hitler took a city on the Volga river which ran through Stalingrad. That's why it was so important. Also I laughed, the order went out from Paulus possibly coming from Hitler, that anyone trying to commit suicide would be shot? Anyone trying to commit suicide would just have to say that they had tried and they would be shot how stupid is that?

[barrett.t]

General Guderian wondered about his toughness after Staligrad? After he held on for so long. He was one tough son of a gun. He was right to surrender he probably thought of his men pity Hitler did not heh!!!!

[temujin77]

WW2DB: Friedrich Paulus

Certain sources cite Paulus as "von Paulus", adding the "von" prefix that indicates aristocracy, which is not correct. His father, a school teacher, was not of noble blood; the only connection Paulus had to aristocracy was through his marriage with Elena Rosetti-Solescu.

[Hagen]

Ribbentrop married into his 'von' also, and had no qualms about using it.

[MAGNA]

Paulus was also sent earlier to report on the condition of the Afrika Korps at the first siege of Tobruk. He was appalled by the condition of the troops and recommended a withdrawal at the time. He also referred to Rommel as 'a pig headed Swabian' , whatever that is. Then he ends up at Stalingrad in even worse conditions. It must have been a severe time for a man who liked to bathe twice a day.

[temujin77]

Originally Posted by Hagen

Ribbentrop married into his 'von' also, and had no qualms about using it.

Actually, Ribbentrop's story was different. His aunt married a "von", and he convinced her to adopt him as a step-child.