COMMENTS ON 'THE SHADOW OF STALINGRAD,' GRAF VON EINSIEDEL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80R01731R003000240066-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 28, 2002
• Sequence Number: 66
• Publication Date: November 12, 1952
• Content Type: MF

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SUBJECT: Comments on The Shadoti?r of Stalingrad,," Graf Von Einsic del
1. In response to your request transmitted through
STAT
for recommendation as to your response to Cdr. Eugene Davidson of the
Yale University Press., the follasring is submitted:
2. To me the book illuminates a very interesting episode ia:
history--the experiences of the elite among the captives taken b,_
the Russians in the Stalingrad Pocket. How much of really new
intelligence value that is contained the narrative I do not ]tow;
but it is clear that many good items can STAT
be culled from its pages.
3. It is my opinion that it would be inadvisable for you to
comment for publication on this book despite its merits. I do, ;nor?re ~,
think it deserves a private word of commendation and attach a le ter
to Mr. Davidson for your consideration.
4. I also attach a brief synopsis of the work.
STAT
ROEERT ATJRY, J1 .
Acting Deputy Director/Inte? li emc.e
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SYNOPSIS OF
"'fl'; SIIADOV OF STALfl GRAD""
1:y Graf Von Einsiedel
Chapter I, Prisoner
An exciting picture of the air war over the Don Lend _n ti -- su:Lof 1942 told from... the point of view of a 21-year-old pilo- with thi r'_ five RAF and Russian planes to his credit. Emphasis on the o erwher:. i. ,
numerical superiority enjoyed by Russians. This is follayed by detL_l;
of his ca(.-)tune and early interrogations--mostly brutal--mnd the miss _=ic.s
of his trip to prison camp on the upper Volga.
Chapter It, Anti Fascist
The account of his meeting with the Emigre German Coamiunis s a
the pressures placed upon him by subtle Russian political officers _?
get him to renounce Germany. Chief stress was on hopelea mness _f G.1.4a -a
situation unless Hitler wee overthrown. Tricked into signing L -!e a Fa 1,J0
author then confronted with tact he had con fitted treason, and stum) ed
steadily in the direction his captors desired.
Chapter III, The National Committee
In the late winter of 1943, he notes with amazement l ux-uri -,us .: -
ment accorded Von Paulus and the other Generals on their trip Venom >;? :_: -
grad to the prison carp. This was contrasted with an 80 -)er ca 'It dt;< Uj
rate in some of the neighboring camps for enlisted men. 'Ic all.:ges ,n-;
on the personal intervention of Stalin, the liquidation o nurre sous
authorities produced a reform in POW camp administration that amide
maintainable. The initial Commie approach was definitely on tlx: no ~i Car
front basis welcoini.nf all anti-Nazis. Was lead by Ulbricht, bu; moo.t,
effective missionaries were the Russians because they were less b.oc-l' ire
and more subtle in appreciating the patriotic urge of the offioers ?I"in
were the German emigres. Manifesto of the Committee for Free C#::rr: . , ;e s
finally signed by a group approximately one-third pro-Cora._unist e~r.t.ri tes,
one-third officers and one-third enlisted men.
Chapter IV, The Officers' League
Apparentlky Ulbricht and his people became increasingly ir_4.A?ffe2?E >le
to the officers to Linsiedel and others of his aristocratic and riJi t.: c_i d-
background were sent to lecture at the various camps; ?gut' as : str-;cc.
to make converts, the natical Nazis reacted with Koje Island- ,,,ape torro istic
countermeasures. In the summer of 192 3, Von Seydlitz became tht fir---:;
Senior Officer to weaken but he would not agree to an officers! decl2.nntion
until the deserters had been kicked off the Free Germany Co-nnito. ce #s i
policy adopted favori.n7 a Palace revolution so as to avoid disirtegz?ai.;`Lcn
and 1918 type-soldier councils. League was finally foamed in St;.;ten__-;r i9)13
frith Paulus abstaining, though his G-2 Van Hooven played a leadf_no,
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Chapter V, The Front
This deals with Einsiedel's activities as a front-line pro _)aga-r
unit operator. Examples of doctrinaire prejudice ruining mope_and.L o
given, such as crediting Einsiedel with only three rather than Uhir -five
planes shot do1.Yn, but still mentioning his Knight's Cross, thus- mak:
the entire leaflet loos phony. Propaganda efforts succeeded occasi ioaliy,
thought effect was limited because many Germans surrende,.irn.; i.` uts
were butchered by the ill-disciplined Russian troops.
Interesting exarale of psychological technique i: the spate, wig iriich
captured Germans were confronted with members of Einsiedeltc ttas.sa that
sc.i .l
they could be converted while the shock of battle and ca~tu_e as
upon them. Cf. our treatment of battle psychosis.
Chapter VI, Politics
By the spring of 191 E, less than one-third of the Stalin Wad Cf 11- cers
had joined the movement. Even this group shrank as a result of the :: rocky
at learning about the proposed Oder-Neisse adjustments of the lolit
frontier and the failure to induce surrender by the waits cut eff -?he
Cherkassy Pocket. Some of the leaders actually threatened to aunete on
the deal. 1431nikovt s handling of this episode makes interestit.g rea. Lr_g,
(pp. 145-7).
Chapter VII3 Anti-Facist School
The failure of the July 19L14 plot apparently lead the high au1 -it:Les
to lose faith in the United Front araroach and rely more heavi . r or xro-
letarians and detailed supervision by NKVD personnel, Msast psXrnis n ;
students were recruited and sent to a special school here coxes ro3.t ;)ere
established over them by extortion of full-life confessions in ordci to
get blackmail material. Interrogation invariably persisted ua .il tl,c: ,;uh-
ject had admitted at least something morally, and usual sex.lly
degenerate on his record.
It was only in August of l944 when Von Paulus was finally .von r r
(by a gruesome coincidence on the same day Von Witzleben was s- ranl:
Chapter VIII, Collx-se
Even the hard Emigre Communists, and many of their kussiai men ? )rs,
were revolted by what they saw in the wake of Rokossovslc-' s ad'rancc- ai
East Prussia in the minter of 1944-45. Einsiedel observed ma.s -acrt~r of
the captured Vlasof legionairies. Apparently Russian officerswerF sc,rr-
pletely unable to control the excesses of their troops, -";_hough x}'
them died in attempting to impose some restraint. Einsiedel *-is dr;t i:izied
and then returned to Moscow apparently because of his too-frank coif:L=4i_nts
about these ravages.
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Chapter IX, Dissolution of the National Committee
After the surrender, the Committee was apparently left dax ling is
the air with no mission. It spent its tine wrangling over question LLf t,te
lost provinces and the future of Germany. Only a few trusted #'..nat i.,: s were
allowed to return to Germany. Einsiedel proposed a real -a?ncti on f ) tip
Committee and was prosxptly threatened with a "ride east."
Chapter X, The Ghost o Stal
This chapter is somewhat out of chronological order z_~d it es$s - tiJd ly
a "profile" of Von Paulus and explanation of his conduct at St z lin? 0.
Some interesting sidelights also on Seydlitz and Muller. Seyd3.itz :it_ s
apparently been tossing since 19149, whereas Paulus was last rotortei as
lecturing at the Moscow Military Acadery.
Chapter XI, Return Home
Einsiedel spent he year from the spring of 19146 taro--;:;h the sorinry
of 19147 in the main Generals 1 camp where he found almost all hud rented
their anti-Hitlarian actions, if any, in 191414 and 1914 > and had! submi' ted
to a redemption procedure by Courts of Honor comprised of General1s e: f'tu ed
only at the final surrender.
In relating his experiences traveling from Moscow to Berlin, h noted
that all fellow passengers were convinced that German;! was a bt,- ter >:_aoe
to live than Russia. He recounts the usual spate of tales of corruN;on
and starvation in the POW camps as pickedup from other returni. rj; prig orers.
He noted the terrible abuse of machinery b eing transported out of i t
Germany and inconpete ice inxe--erecting it. At the end of this chapt~x
(p.251) is an interesting thump-nail sketch of his former colleague, an
ex-Nazi named Bechler, as he appeared as Minister of the interfLor f er
Brandenburg--a perfect character out of Koestler in iciness any. self-?
righteous opportunism.
Chapter XII, East Sector of Berlin
This contains an interesting picture of the life of an edT-tor the
Tagliche Rundschau and the rationalizations through which inte_lig~: and
observant Communists went to justify the evils of the regime they te,e
supporting.
Pages 273 et seq, are a rather shocking picture of the wag: he .s
handled when taken into custody by U. S. authorities on a trip o ot.r? zone.
After six months in jail and a couple of trials he was finally rele :xc-c
and returned to the East Zone where shortly thereafter he had Lis fL al
awakening, resigned from the Paper and Party and left for the 1fest.
His final warning is to understand the history of the Rusk ian e-; !'p_paign
as being a case of Ger-:ian folly and inadequacy rather than of Iussis._i
power or militai- competence.
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