Stalingrad Prisoner Survivors

German Heer 1935-1945.

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lennyu
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Stalingrad Prisoner Survivors

Post by lennyu »

I understand that 100K surrendered and only 5K were released.
Are there still any of those 5K alive. Has any of them written on their experiences. what sources are there for, in general, Russian POW camps.
timmy872
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Post by timmy872 »

as of 5 years ago when i was last stationed in germany, in the northern british area there were 5 survivors of paulus army according to a german TV documentory (at least 5 willing to be shown anyway). germany at the time was spending a small fortune trying to find the "lost" armies of millions of men who just vanished. some survived and married poles, ucrainians etc and just never came home untill the wall came down in the early 90s. many others were found in fox holes, old field dressing stations etc.
anyway, back to stalingrad. of the 5 survivors of the encirclment only 2 were actually taken prisoner, the others were evacuated early on. one survivor was a doctor/ medic who only had to do 2 years hard labour before being used as a medic in the camp, which helped him survive!!!

its a bit like custers last stand, 300 odd men of 7th cav survived the battle but you only think of the few who died with custer...
if you take the northern area as a 6th of germany as a whole that COULD mean 12 survivors of the camps still alive???
Janek19801119
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Post by Janek19801119 »

I know 3 memories of german POW who survived:
Luitpold Steidle - commander of inf. reg. from 376 ID, H. Welz - commander of pionier battalion in 76 ID and W. Adam - officer in 6 Army HQ.
I can not give You titles in german/english, I know only polish translations.
Mansal D

Post by Mansal D »

I could have sworn it was 300,000 men taken in the 6th Army.
timmy872
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Post by timmy872 »

http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/battles.htm

it appears there are diff totals, but apparently around 250,000 dead and 91000 prisoners of whom 5000 survived...

lots of vastly differing sources though.
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matthall
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Post by matthall »

k98_man wrote:I could have sworn it was 300,000 men taken in the 6th Army.
I think that's the number being encircled, with about 90000 surrendering.
regards
Matt
Mansal D

Post by Mansal D »

matthall wrote:
k98_man wrote:I could have sworn it was 300,000 men taken in the 6th Army.
I think that's the number being encircled, with about 90000 surrendering.
regards
Matt
Ah okay. Well I recently talked to a veteran of the 1st Gebirgs. who has an older brother who was at Stalingrad. The man is still alive, but has trouble walking and the veteran would not give out his brothers information, which is quite understandable.
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HeinrichFrey
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Survivors

Post by HeinrichFrey »

There were more than those 5000 men who survived, because not the whole 6th Army was surrounded by the russians. My Grandpa for example was on the way back west to get relief forces a new ammunition. He was about 120 miles behind the frontlines as "Operation Uranus" started. Some troops were changed and drawn back. Some 20 or 30K had been flown out wounded. As many others my Grandpa spoke very few about this time. The youngest of the survivors now are about 85. I`ve got a list of veterans of the 389th ID (dated 1999). It`s a very short list. One and a half small handwritten pages. That was all left from about 20000 men of this division.
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Matthias
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Knox
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Post by Knox »

Reb
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Post by Reb »

In a book I read recently, "Ivan's War," the author makes the point that the Germans captured at Kursk had a better chance at survival than those taken at Stalingrad simply because a) Stalin had determined they could be useful as labor, and b) because the Red Army was better organized by then and more capable of handling pow.

cheers
Reb
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Post by Knox »

POWs...

The german soldiers from Stalingrad were "handled" like Scheisse by the russians, the "winners" of this horrible slaughter.

Image
Source: Link above

A tragedy, and a shame, war is hell!

Knox
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Post by Knox »

My grandfather Hans, a WWII veteran, and the mayor of our town, from 1953-1967, welcomed many so called Spätheimkehrer, back from the russian gulags.

Link: http://forum-der-wehrmacht.de/thread.ph ... htuser=119

It was his concern, to help, and to take care for these former soldiers, back in the 1950s.

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Post by Reb »

I have scant love for Soviet communists and deplore their conduct.

However, I have no plans to take ANY prisoners if somebody invades Georgia. That's just me of course, and I'm a very bad man! 8)

cheers
Reb
Knox
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Post by Knox »

Reb, did you ever encountered german veterans, surviving Stalingrad, the later Gulags, and all this horror?

As a chield, I was born in 1956, I remember these veterans very well, to us children very old looking, and crippled old men, as they defiled through our town, at a Heldengedenktag, in the early 1960s.

Most of them with a crook, or in a wheelchair, this was very impressive, to me as a young child, these veterans of WWI, and WWII got applause from the spectators.

Most of them are gone, but some people over here remind them, I am one.

Knox
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Post by Knox »

Try this Link: http://www.ullsteinbild.de/

A good, but not a very happy source, plain german histrory/photos

Knox
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