Why did he refuse to evacuate his men from Stalingrad?

Even I know from playing Age of Empires that defending closer to your base is far easier and more cost-efficient than doing close to the enemies base. What was he thinking? He didn't have infinite manpower like Soviets did.

>>17822877 (OP)
Logic was that if they retreat from the Caucasus, they will never be able to get back there again.
More practically they were pinning down a lot of Soviet divisions with the siege. If they started running all those forces would be after them and the whole front might collapse.

>>17822877 (OP)
> Why did he refuse to evacuate his men from Stalingrad?
there is a really good video on this by two guys with a PhD
sadly it's german only

basically they would have needed to evacuate right away (within the first 2 to 3 days of 'ur anus)
but that would have been very risky (iirc that option was even considered) as the 6th army was already very poorly supplied even before being encircled

after that there was little to no chance and they used them as a way to tie up enemy forces while reorganizing
also they did try to brake out (Wintergewitter) but by that point it was already too late

i guess one could ask why they didn't try to fly out more of the personell via planes
but I guess they already had issues flying out all the wounded

>>17822877 (OP)
Because evacuation might have ended in an even worse disaster. Furthermore, Germany had no capabilities for a prolonged warfare against the USSR, America and the UK. They needed a decisive victory. If they retreated, even successfully, they'll never recover regardless. They simply needed to win Stalingrad.

>>17822877 (OP) He didn't gave a fuck about his countrymen. He became power mad.

>>17822877 (OP)
Stalingrad was surrounded by the Russians. That's the whole reason it was disastrous for the Germans

>>17822993
If they retreated it would have been a lot harder for Russians to defeat the Reich. They could have achieved a bloody stalemate

>>17822963
honestly, that all seems correct
the 6th army was a last hope then a sacrifice

>>17823187
With those 200k men? They mobilized more than that in 1943. And they had to send even more to Italy and the Balkans.

He was a stooge like Napoleon...sacrificing his own men

>>17822877 (OP)
Because he hadn't played age of empires obviously.

Because:

1. If he withdraws from Stalingrad then Zhukovs army can cut off Army Group A whom are inside the Caucasus

2. To prevent Zhukov from cutting off Army Group A in the Caucasus, he needs to withdraw Army Group A from the Caucasus

3. If Army Group A withdrawss from the Caucasus then Operation Case Blue has failed

4. If Case Blue has failed, he can no longer get the oil from the Caucasus

5. If he can no longer get the oil from the Caucasus then he can no longer win the war.

>>17822877 (OP)
>Why did he refuse to evacuate his men from Stalingrad?

Paulus became the first marshal in German history to surrender to the enemy. He was told his men would be in good hands. The majority died on the march into the Muscovite captivity. He became a well paid puppet and given aburial site in western Germany.

>>17822983
What’s the link to the German video?

>>17823187
They simply would have gotten firebombed even more by the allies