For educational purposes<br /><br />Friedrich Paulus - a general fighting a losing battle. His name is inextricably linked to the devastating defeat at Stalingrad. <br /><br />As commander of the Sixth Army he had no chance in the encircled Volga city area against the superior strength of the Red Army. <br /><br />The situation of his more than 250,000 soldiers was hopeless. <br /><br />But all attempts failed to wring out from Hitler the order finally to evacuate the encircled area and break out with his troops westward. <br /><br />The dictator was firmly convinced to sacrifice rather the Sixth Army than to willingly surrender Stalingrad. <br /><br />To the entrapped he radioed a cynical thanks for their "contribution to save the Western World". <br /><br />Paulus knew that his appointment to field marshal shortly before the encirclement was the order for suicide. But he did not fulfill the wish of his commander-in-chief. <br /><br />Paulus went into captivity. Only in the hour of defeat did he refuse to obey.<br /><br />In January 1943 Friedrich Paulus became the first German field-marshal ever to surrender on the battlefield. <br /><br />Having held Stalingrad for five months against all odds, he defied Hitler and led the remnants of Sixth Army into Russian captivity. <br /><br />He then worked for the Soviets, calling on Germany to surrender.
