Description:

ADOLF HITLER'S TELEGRAM TO HIS ARMIES TRAPPED AT STALINGRAD
Historic content telegram bearing Adolf Hitler's message to the 6th Army and 4th Armored Army, three days after they were encircled and cut off by the Red Army at Stalingrad. The 1p. 4to. telegram is dated November 26, 1942 and was sent to Gen. Georg von Sodenstern (1889-1955), Chief of Staff to Gen. Maximilian von Weichs (1881-1954). At this time, von Weichs commanded Army Group B, composed of Salmuth's 2nd Army, Hoth's 4th Panzer Army, and Paulus's 6th Army. In addition to the German armies, Army Group B included the 2nd Hungarian Army, 8th Italian Army, and the Third and the Fourth Romanian Armies. It was this force that was charged with the capture of Stalingrad. The telegram reads, in part: '...Soldiers of the 6th Army and the 4th Armored Army! The battle round Stalingrad is reaching its climax. The enemy has broken through in the rear of the German forces, and is now trying desperately to repossess this stronghold on the Volga which is so vitally important to him. My thoughts and those of the whole German people are with you in these grave hours! Whatever the circumstances, you must hold on to the Stalingrad position which has been won with so much blood under the leadership of resolute generals! Your resolve must be unshakable so that, as at Kharkov in the spring, this Russian breakthrough too will be annihilated by the measures that have been put in hand. Everything that lies in my power is being done to help you in your heroic struggle. Adolf Hitler...' Wrinkled slightly, with a chip at one corner and some file holes in blank margin, else very good. The Russian counterattack at Stalingrad ('Operation Uranus') was launched on Nov. 20, 1942 and resulted in the encirclement of the German 6th Army. The 8th German Air Corps started a daily airlift of supplies to the Stalingrad pocket, but not nearly enough reached the front to stave off disaster. The 6th Army, under Field Marshal Paulus, finally surrendered Stalingrad's southern pocket on the Jan. 31, 1943. A remarkable document as Hitler exhorts his soldiers to fight to the last in this turning point of World War II.

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May 22, 2021 10:00 AM EDT
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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