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Who was history’s greatest general?
A little-known German general that, who, with a tired and depleted division, defeated an entire Soviet army, where he was outnumbered 7:1 in tanks, 11:1 in infantry and 20:1 in artillery: Hermann Balck.
Balck’s story begins in World War II, where he was a German infantry soldier that served on the front lines for four years. Despite being wounded seven times, Balck persisted in his service and received an Iron Cross; he was also nominated for the highest German military honor — Pour le Mérite — but the war ended before he could receive his award.
At one point, he was selected for the German General Staff, a common path to power in the German military. Yet, he opted to turn the offer down, preferring to stay on the front lines.
When WW2 started, Balck began the war as a staffing officer but was placed in charge of a Panzer division in 1940. After brief stints in Belgium and Greece, he was transferred to the Soviet front during the initial German invasion — a time where his greatness really showed through.
Let’s take a look at the situation when he arrived:
At the time, the German army in Stalingrad had pretty much been fully encircled by the Soviet forces, and the Germans were unable to reach them. As you can see on the map, the yellow marks the extent of German advancement — Soviet forces had trapped the 6th Army in Stalingrad.
Installed as head of a weary, understrength 11th Panzer Division, Balck was instructed to reinforce Romanian forces on the battlefront and help retake the city. When he arrived, however, he found a situation in shambles: his entire division defended a 37 mile front with ONE howitzer. His troops, suffering acutely from the Russian winter, were severely under-equipped and out-numbered by their Soviet counterparts.
Indeed, on that very day (Dec 6, 1942), the Soviet Fifth Army launched a huge assault, penetrating deep within his lines.
Balck immediately recognized the need to regroup and attack.
He initially believed the Soviets were trying to engulf his unit, so he organized anti-tank and anti-air weapons on his flanks, while maneuvering his units into a “hammer.” As the Soviets prepared their next attack on his unit, he let the heavy weaponry of his hammer fly, decimating 53 tanks, and wiping out the Soviet 1 Tank Corps.
With this, Balck began a brilliant, high-pressing strategy to fight back.
Each time the Soviets attacked, he reformed and used his Panzer tanks and artillery to counter-attack and push back. For eight days straight, making use of night cover and shock action, Balck steadily held off Soviet firepower and pushed back. In his memoirs, he described the battle as follows:
Each day was like the next. Russian penetration at Point X, counterattack, everything cleared up by evening. Then, another report 20 kilometers eastwards of a deep penetration into some hasty defensive position. About face. Tanks, infantry, and artillery march through the winter night with burning headlights. In position by dawn at the Russians’ most sensitive point. Take them by surprise. Crush them. Then repeat the process the next day some 10 or 20 kilometers farther west or east.
Using this process, he managed to repel the Soviet offensive and was prepared to launch an attack to save the German army trapped in Stalingrad. Yet, just as he was about to cross the Don River, the Soviets struck further south, forcing him to call off the Stalingrad mission.
With this, Balck began another series of well-organized, destructive attacks. The assault began with deception. He instructed his division of just 25 tanks to move into the rear of a line of Soviet tanks, blending in perfectly and then mowing down the forces in front of them. Next, as the Soviets responded by moving their tanks and infantry into the high ground of a hill position, Balck ordered his troops to move into lower ground and aim at a weakest part of the tank: the belly. After 6 days of attrition, deception, and tactically astute defending, the entire Soviet Fifth Tank Army had been wiped out.
Balck was then ordered, with his division, to defend a city Hitler ordered “kept at all costs.” (Mid-December, 1942)
The situation in Stalingrad was desperate. In his memoirs, he recounted that:
The situation was desperate. [The German defenders’] only hope lay with a single tired and depleted division that was coming up in driblets (mine). In my opinion the situation was so dismal that it could only be mastered through audacity—in other words, by attacking. Any attempts at defense would mean our destruction. We needed to crush the westernmost enemy column first in order to gain some swing space. We would just have to hope—against reason—that the hodge-podge of troops covering the city would hold for a day.
When Soviet forces again met his, Balck continued the same strategies. He ordered his tanks to stick to the rear of the Soviet tank columns, which led the Soviet commander to (logically) consolidate his forces around a hill.
With just 8 tanks to their name at the time, Balck and his forces encircled the hill the Soviets were at, trying their hardest to keep the Soviets trapped. After Christmas day passed, on December 28, the Soviets decided to try fighting their way out of the bubble of German forces. Although 12 tanks escaped initially, as soon as Balck learned of the attempt, he ordered his forces to forces to hammer the numerically-superior Soviets inside the bubble, then chase down the remaining forces. When he succesfully did so, his 11th Panzer Division won the code-name of “Hannibal.”
While Stalingrad was ultimately a lost cause, Balck went on to fight many other battles. During the period from December 7, 1942, through January 31, 1943, the 11th Panzer Division was credited with destroying 225 tanks, 347 antitank guns, 35 artillery pieces, and killing 30,700 Soviet soldiers. Balck’s losses for the same period were 16 tanks, 12 antitank guns, 215 soldiers killed in action, 1,019 wounded, and 155 missing.
He started the war as a staff officer, and ended at the German equivalent of a 3-star general. He was also one of only 27 soldiers to earn the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds, equivalent to 3 major honors in the US military.
Amazing.
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