Quote: (10-02-2010 06:55 PM)oldnemesis Wrote:
For the countries I listed the negotiations either happened but failed (Poland), only happened after the fall of the country was obvious and succeed (Belgium, Netherlands), happened after the fall of the country was obvious but did not succeed (Norway) or didn't happen at all (France). Belgium, for example, did not surrender immediately just in case, only when its main defense system was captured and destroyed and it was obvious the allies won't be able to help it. You obviously know about Eben Emael, don't you?
My point is that in none of these countries was the German invasion long & drawn out like in Operation Barbarossa. Eben-Emael fell in a little over 6 hours.
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"Focus on Moscow" happened (and changed) in mid 1941, and Stalingrad happened in late 1942.
From the gate, Hitler and the OberKommando der Wehrmacht disagreed on their target city priorities. This actually delayed Barbarossa initially and at times suspended the operation, which cost the Germans valuable time & strategic opportunities.
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It involved several major operations, most of which happened outside Stalingrad. To call this operation "urban warfare" is a major underestimation - pretty much like limiting the US-Japan war to Pearl Harbor.
The peripheral operations outside the city, including Operation Uranus, were not as significant or relevant to the Battle of Stalingrad as was the urban warfare that the Russians implemented - called Rattenkrieg (the Rat War) by the Germans. If it wasn't for Rattenkrieg, Stalingrad would have fallen, the Germans would have advanced to the east bank of the Volga, and continued on. Operation Uranus would have been moot. Rattenkrieg was so significant to winning the battle for Stalingrad that Chuikov - the Russian commander who implemented it - was awarded The Order of Lenin and The Order of the Red Star. Choosing to ignore the fact that Stalingrad WAS mostly about urban warfare is like saying Operation Iraqi Freedom (and its sub ops) has mostly been conventional/symmetrical warfare.