In late winter of
1943 the German army under General Von Paulos was bottled in Stalingrad and was
surrounded by the Russian army. At that time the top German general Staff
officers led by Field Marshal Von Man stein suggested that the army of Von
Paulos be allowed to break out and join forces with his army group. Hitler was
against this and gave a decision that the German army would fight to the last
man at Stalingrad.
He was supported in
this by Reich Marshal Goering the chief of the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) who
announced grandly that the German army bottled up in the Stalingrad salient
would be supplied by air. For this he banked on an air bridge being created by
the only 4 engine plane of the German air force the Focke Wulf 200.
The Focke Wulf 200 also
known as the Condor was designed by Dr. Kurt Tank for the German air line Lufthansa.
It
was put to military use by Goering. The plane however had limitations in
operation in extreme cold climate and when put to use for the Stalingrad air lift
was a colossal failure.
The air bridge promised by
Goering never took off and only a handful of Condors could land with supplies
in the extreme cold and sub zero temperatures. In addition they suffered a
tremendous attrition rate at the hands of the Russian air force. Thus the
Luftwaffe failed to keep the German army supplied in the Stalingrad salient and
was one of the primary causes for the surrender of the German force in
Stalingrad.
Goering must take the
full blame for this sorry performance of the German Air Force. The FW 200 has
gone down in history as a plane which had little to no impact in the war
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