Salt Lake Telegram | 1943-01-27 | Page 4 | Trapped Nazi Forces Banked on Hitler's Promise of Aid

Trapped Nazi Forces Banked On Hitler's Promise of Aid By Dy BI M. S. S HANDLER MOSCOW Jan 27 UP up General General Friedrich von Paulus German commander In chief chie of Stalingrad rejected a soviet loviet ultimatum to surrender on January 10 still hoping that Adolf Hitler would somehow m make ke good on a boastful promise to get aid to him made on Christmas when he ordered his trapped forces to fight to the last man Von Paulus had only or troops left He didn't know it but his position was hopeless Food rations dr dropped until his men were eating only grams of bread daily approximately 44 ounces and had already eaten their horses cattle dogs and cats Prisoners told Anglo-American Anglo newspaper correspondents visiting the Stalingrad front 10 days ago that the Germans never fully real realized zed the hopelessness hopeless hopeless- ness of their position Hitler saw to that The lost over transports up to January 10 In desperate efforts to feed the isolated tro troops ps but finally abandoned daylight flights when the receding front made It impossible for fighters to escort the them The loss of airfield inside the encircled area then put an end to an any yr hope of food for the Germans because all the transports were based at this field At the height of their activity planes made more than flights daily but by January 1 the flights had dropped to or r Von Paulus managed to retain a few planes which planes which were later captured by the Russians The Russians achieved the great encirclement of Von Paulus' Paulus forces four days after the opening of Colonel General N N. F. F Vatu tins tin's offensive in the middle Don area are which raced southeast across the Don bend to where he closed the ring around the Germans in cooperation with the forces of Colonel General Andrei I. I on the Stalingrad front The fate of Von Paulus as well as many members of his staff remains a mystery There was no indication whether he had escaped by plane or elected to remain with his men