1. A Strategic Success, at a High Cost
Whatever the actual loss figures, the destruction of the Tatsinskaya airfield and the loss of transport planes and their trained pilots, crews, and maintenance personnel, was severe enough to seal the fate of the Germans surrounded in Stalingrad. The supply situation of the besieged 6th Army, already dire before the raid when the Luftwaffe transport arm had been operating at full capacity, now became impossible after the destruction of so many transports and their base of operations. With aerial resupply cutoff, German resistance inside Stalingrad crumbled. The last besieged survivors were forced to capitulate a month later in the greatest German defeat of the war until then. That outcome in turn altered the balance of the conflict, placed the Germans in the strategic offensive, and the Soviets in a strategic offensive that culminated two years later with the Red Banner raised over the German Reichstag in Berlin.
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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading
Asher, Michael – Get Rommel: The Secret British Mission to Kill Hitler’s Greatest General (2004)
Borghese, J. Valerio – Sea Devils: Italian Navy Commandos in World War II (1952)
Chappell, Mike – Army Commandos, 1940-1945 (1996)
Combined Operations – Operation Chariot: St. Nazaire, 28th March 1942
Combined Operations – Operation Flipper: Commando Raid to Capture Rommel
McRaven, William – Spec Ops: Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare (1995)
Mrazek, James E. – The Fall of Eben Emael (1991)
Saunders, Hilary Aidan St. George – The Green Beret: The Story of the Commandos 1940-1945 (1949)
