This Day in History: January 1

 

At Stalingrad on January 1, 1943, the Luftwaffe airlifted 205.6 tons of supplies into the encirclement.  On return flights, Luftwaffe aircraft flew 863 wounded Germans from the Pitomnik Airfield to airbases outside of the encirclement.  About 200,000 men of the 300,000 men, who were present at the enemy breakthrough on November 19, 1942, were probably still alive.  The army reported 560 total casualties for the day.  The Sixth Army headquarters was located at the Gumrak Airfield.  (Stalingrad: The Death of the German Sixth Army on the Volga, 1942-1943)

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Wilhelm Canaris, Navy Admiral, born January 1, 1887 in Aplerbeck/Dortmund, director of the Abwehr – the counterintelligence department of the High Command of the Armed Forces, later implicated in the July 20, 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler at Rastenburg, executed by hanging April 9, 1945 at Flossenbürg concentration camp, last words: “My time is up.  Was not a traitor.  Did my duty as a German.  If you survive remember me to my wife.”  (2,000 Quotes From Hitler’s 1,000-Year Reich)