The battle ended in disaster for the Wehrmacht when Soviet forces encircled the Germans within the city, leading to the ultimate death or capture of most of the 265,000-strong 6th Army, their Axis allies, and collaborators.

He was considered a promising officer; by the time World War II broke out, he had been promoted to major general.

Paulus took part in the invasions of Poland and the Low Countries, after which he was named deputy chief of the German Army General Staff.

Hitler expected Paulus to take his own life,[3] repeating to his staff that there was no precedent of a German field marshal being captured alive.

While in Soviet captivity during the war, Paulus became a vocal critic of the Nazi regime and joined the Soviet-sponsored National Committee for a Free Germany.

[4] He tried, unsuccessfully, to secure a cadetship in the Imperial German Navy and briefly studied law at Marburg University.

[citation needed] Many English-language sources and publications from the 1940s to the present day give Paulus's family name the prefix "von".

For example: Mark Arnold-Forster's The World At War, companion volume to the documentary of the same name, Stein and Day, 1973, pp.

When World War I began, Paulus's regiment was part of the thrust into France, and he saw action in the Vosges and around Arras in the autumn of 1914.

After a leave of absence due to illness, he joined the Alpenkorps as a staff officer, serving in France, Romania and Serbia.

In the 1920s, as part of the military cooperation between the Weimar Republic and the Soviet Union to evade the restrictions of Versailles, Paulus presented guest lectures in Moscow.

In February 1938, Paulus was appointed Chef des Generalstabes to General Heinz Guderian's new XVI Army Corps, which replaced Lutz's command.

Paulus remained in that post until May 1939, when he was promoted to major general and became chief of staff for the German Tenth Army, with which he saw service in the invasion of Poland.

[11] Paulus followed Adolf Hitler's orders to hold his positions in Stalingrad under all circumstances, despite the fact that he was completely surrounded by strong Soviet forces.

Operation Winter Storm, a relief effort by Army Group Don under Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, was launched in December.

Manstein's forces were unable to reach Stalingrad on their own and their efforts were eventually halted due to Soviet offensives elsewhere on the front.

[12] Kurt Zeitzler, the newly appointed chief of the Army General Staff, eventually got Hitler to allow Paulus to break out—provided he continue to hold Stalingrad, an impossible task.

They need these forces for a big offensive against Army Group 'A' in the Caucasus and along the still-unstable front from Voronesh to the Black Sea.

[14]On 7 January 1943, General Konstantin Rokossovsky, commander of the Red Army on the Don front, called a cease-fire and offered Paulus' men generous surrender terms: normal rations, medical treatment for the ill and wounded, permission to retain their badges, decorations, uniforms and personal effects.

Hitler responded by showering a raft of field promotions by radio on Paulus' officers to build up their spirits and bolster their will to hold their ground.

The events of that day were recorded by Colonel Wilhelm Adam, one of Paulus' aides and an adjutant in the XXIII Army Corps, in his personal diary: January 31, 1943 – 7.00 a.m.

Speaking about the surrender of Paulus, Hitler told his staff: In peacetime Germany, about 18,000 or 20,000 people a year chose to commit suicide, even without being in such a position.

However, after the attempted assassination of Hitler on 20 July 1944, he became a vocal critic of the Nazi regime, joining the Soviet-sponsored National Committee for a Free Germany which appealed to Germans to surrender.

[b] After his return to the German Democratic Republic in 1953, Paulus gave a talk in Berlin on 2 July 1954 in the presence of Western journalists, titled "On the vital issues of our nation".

In it, he paid respect to the memory of General Heinz Guderian, who had died a little over a month previously, and criticized the political leaderships of the German Empire and Nazi Germany for causing the defeats of the German Army in both world wars: I have in mind in particular General Guderian, who died prematurely, and with whom I was particularly close, as chief of staff for the organization of the armored troops, and we were carrying out a task together.

Maybe since the last time we met—more than 10 years ago—our views on specific issues differed, but I know in general, through his writings, with what sense of responsibility, how restlessly he refused to align himself with the Federal Chancellor's European Defence Community policy.

Even the best army is doomed to fail when it is required to perform impossible tasks, that is, when it is ordered to campaign against the national existence of other peoples.

No sensible person can understand why Dr. Adenauer, under American influence, strongly opposes exploiting the opportunities for the resumption of economic and cultural relations with the peoples of the East.

With a reunited Germany having good relations with the two great powers, not only can peace not be disrupted in Europe, but the basis for the development of general prosperity is laid.

As part of his last will and testament, his body was transported to Baden-Baden, West Germany, to be buried at the Hauptfriedhof (main cemetery) next to his wife.