30 January & 2 February

Two observances last week.  Seventy five years ago on 2 February was the final day of the Battle of Stalingrad.  And fifty years ago on the 30th of January was the start of the surprise Tết Offensive by the North Vietnamese Army.    I am not comparing them, the two do not come even close in scope - 1.75 million casualties versus a mere 195 thousand.  But they both foreshadowed the end of a war.

Last Friday Russian citizens celebrated the Stalingrad victory by marching in Moscow, St Petersburg, and many other cities including Stalingrad itself (now Volgograd).    I'm not up to describing that five-month battle.  We danced around it here back in January 2017:  http://milpubblog.blogspot.com/2017/01/old-pics.html#comment-form.    
And there are scores if not hundreds of books, articles and websites describing the action better than I ever could.   A great website for that time in history is at:  http://facingstalingrad.com/.  
It provides not only a snapshot of the battle with fairly good maps, but also interviews with a dozen German and Russian survivors.  If you do not read all of the interviews, at least read that of Gerhard Hindenlang and that of the Faustova/Voronov married couple.  Hindenlang was a regimental adjutant in the 71^st Infantry Division.  He had set up regimental HQ in the basement of the Red Department Store, where in the last days of battle they were joined by General Paulus and his 6^th Army staff of 120 when they had to evacuate southern Stalingrad.   Maria Georgievna Faustova was a 20-year-old radio operator with the 131^st Rifle Division.  Aleksandr Filippovich Voronov was a 22-year-old commander of an anti-tank battery.  Both sustained wounds there.  Another good read is Deutsch Welle’s English language website:  
http://www.dw.com/en/russia-marks-stalingrad-defeat-of-nazis/a-42344954

Seeing that Tet is now 50 years old, the CIA and other intel agencies are going to review selected documents from that era for possible declassification.  Unfortunately the first release will not be until July.  I'm looking forward to that event.     https://www.intel.gov/tet-declassified
There was almost complete surprise even though the NVA telegraphed their move and there were many indications and warnings.  Westmoreland is said to have been informed that attacks "may" be coming, but if he knew of the scope he did not communicate it well to his subordinates and his superiors in Washington.  And reportedly there was major turf battles going on between General Westmoreland's MACV intel staff and the CIA regarding the number of personnel available to the NVA and the VC.  The evening of the attack, 200 MACV intelligence staff officers were at a pool party.  James Meecham, a MACV CIC analyst was at that party and said later: "I had no conception Tet was coming, absolutely zero ... Of the 200-odd officers present, not one I talked to knew Tet was coming, without exception."   Westmoreland seemed to be convinced that attacks were a diversion and the real target was Khe Sanh.  Actually it was the other way around, Westy was snookered by Generals Giáp and Thái.

Old Pics

Old Pics Archive has posted antique photographs of the Battle of Stalingrad and the aftermath.  Sad to see the piles of dead bodies.  Some KIA, others frozen to death in their sleep.  Or so weak from starvation that they died of other complications.  Some of the bodies seem to be as malnourished and emaciated as concentration camp survivors.

http://www.oldpicsarchive.com/battle-for-stalingrad-39-photos/

 6th Army Commander, Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus, is shown in several of the pics.  Was he a "von" Paulus?  I never did understand all the nobility titles in any of Europe's countries.   But I did read on wiki that before taking over 6th Army he had never commanded a unit larger than a battalion.  He had however, as a member of the General Staff, helped to draft the plan for Operation Barbarossa.

The Soviet 62nd Army Commander, General Vasily Chuikov, is shown in photo #17.  He was nicknamed <i>'The Stone"</i> for his defense of the city.   I believe he was never given much credit by western historians.  Of course he had a lot of help outside the city from the other armies of the Don Front.  But his stubborn defense of the city itself was critical in allowing Operation Uranus to roll up the Romanian and Hungarian Armies protecting Paulus's flanks.  Chuikov invented the tactic of 'hugging-the-enemy' to negate their firepower advantage.  That same tactic, renamed 'grab-them-by-the-belt' was used a quarter century later against Americans by Generals Tran Van Tra and Vo Nguyen Giap.

http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/grab-their-belts-to-fight-them