On August 23rd 1942, the 16th Panzer division were approaching Stalingrad.
They had 12,000 elite motorised fighting troops and 130 tanks.
It was a surprise attack and the Russians were caught unawares, most of their troops were forming defensive positions elsewhere.
The only thing in their way was the 1077th Anti-Aircraft regiment, less than 3,000 troops.
This should be easy, the panzers outnumbered the defenders by 4 to 1.
All the defenders had was anti-aircraft guns against tanks.
Which is when the Germans had their first surprise.
The defenders lowered their anti-aircraft guns and began shooting directly at the tanks.
The tanks stopped and ordered up air support.
Stuka dive-bombers attacked the Russian guns, which is when the guns elevated upwards to shoot directly at the planes.
When the planes were fought off the gunners would shoot at the tanks, and when the tanks were fought off they’d shoot at the planes.
And when neither seemed able to stop the guns, the Germans sent in infantry.
Which is when they had their second surprise.
Workers from the nearby tractor factory joined in, with obsolete WW1 rifles and home-made Molotov cocktails.
They fought the infantry while the gunners fought the tanks and planes.
Eventually of course, the guns fell silent, the Russians were dead.
The battle lasted two days and cost the Germans 83 tanks, 15 armoured cars, 20 aircraft, and hundreds of dead soldiers.
Which is when the Germans had their final surprise.
They found the bodies of the young women they’d been fighting.
The 1077th wasn’t considered a frontline regiment, so it was made up of 18-20 year old girls who hadn’t even been properly trained.
The workers who fought the infantry were also girls, from the nearby tractor plant.
That was the 435 bodies the Germans found when they captured the position.
It had taken an elite Panzer division two days to overcome a quarter as many girls.
But perhaps more importantly, those two days slowed the entire German advance.
Those two days allowed the Russians to shore up the defences around the city.
So that Germany eventually lost the battle of Stalingrad and also lost a million soldiers.
Which is why Stalingrad was the battle that began Germany’s retreat and ultimate defeat.
So crucial was the two day battle that the General in charge of the 16th Panzer division, von Wietersheim, was sacked by Hitler.
In mitigation, one German soldier wrote: “We had to fight shot-for-shot against 37 anti-aircraft positions, all manned by tenacious fighting women, until all were destroyed.”
A German pilot wrote: “I would rather fly ten times over the British guns at Tobruk than once over those anti-aircraft Russian batteries.”
When Nils Leonard was ECD at Grey, he told me he had a quote of mine on his desk: “Energy will always beat talent”.
Well, in that case the Russian girls were the ‘energy’ and the elite panzers were the ‘talent’.
And the energy didn’t beat the talent on the day.
But strategically they did, they helped win the battle that won the war.
Although they had less men, less guns, no tanks, no aircraft, and every disadvantage, they did have one big advantage.
Energy.
And ultimately, energy beats talent.
Great post, Dave.
Most of us are familiar with AMV’s red/white Economist posters.
Yet the agency/client allowed the white/green The Economist Is Full Of Surprises poster.
Compare this to another agency who had the Dell computer account. Dell had won some awards and wanted a straight announcement ad. Boring.
So the team did something different.
The “E” in Dell is turned on its side. The team wrote a simple headline.
Something like “Guess which computer company won the most awards recently?” All in caps.
But the E was turned on its side.
Well account management took one look and said, no, the E on its side is sacred … They may also have uttered some malarkey about headlines needing to be in upper and lower cases.
The creative team could’ve done a boring ad. But they used their energy to come up with something different. Unfortunately that energy wasn’t appreciated.
And it seems that more and more, agencies don’t want energy.
Energetic guys are seen as troublemakers who rock the boat. So brands come up with stupid brand guideline binders.
The funny thing is, the sales department doesn’t give a toss about guidelines. All they want is sales. But corporate communications (guideline kings and queens) says no, our guidelines are more important than sales.
Okay, I’ll bite : fewer men, fewer guns.
I think most of us would have better luck fighting at Stalingrad than going up against most agency management today. Is the Russian Army still hiring?
Gotta admire those pesky Germans, they had a cracking anti tank weapon. Strangely enough developed from an anti aircraft gun. That 88mm could punch a shell into a tank and out the other side. …. Def something agency management would ever want to argue with.
Love the story, but not sure about your bigger point of energy vs talent as it relates to ad agencies. You need both in large quantities, preferably on a foundation of talent.
Actually, those Russian women sound quite talented, cleverly repurposing their AA guns…and the Germans weren’t exactly lethargic (thanks to amphetamines).
I disagree. Energy doesn’t beat talent. Energy fizzles out. What you should be saying is “Talent with energy endures”. That’s why ad agencies have an office for CDs and a revolving door for creatives.
I just want to point out that Order No. 227 (“Not a Step Back”) was signed in July 42 and this battle was in August 42. The price of failure was either annihilation by the Germans or execution by the Soviets. The German Army up to this point had committed war crimes repeatedly, so surrender was not seen as an option and execution would follow anyone that suggested it. (see https://libquotes.com/adolf-hitler/quote/lbl6i8q)
There are soo many more factors involved, that I do not think that this translates well when utilised as a business statement, as this type of ‘energy’ was created by extreme nationalism, propaganda and a gun to the back of the head or a blindfold and a cigarette.
I thought when the 6th army were surrounded and eventually surrendered this was a failure of the talent at highest command. Or better still one person believing he knew better than all those generals in charge of doing the military thinking. Which I think was a point touched on in earlier posts.