Home > Battle of Stalingrad
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| Battle of Stalingrad
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| Conflict | World War II
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| Date | June 28, 1942 - February 2, 1943
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| Place | Stalingrad, USSR
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| Result | Soviet victory
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| Combatants
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| USSR
| Germany
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| Commanders
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Vasily Chuikov
| Friedrich Paulus
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| Strength
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| 600,000+
| 250,000 Germans + 250,000 allies
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| Casualties
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1.1 million soldiers
about 100,000 civilian
| 500,000 Axis (250,000 German, 250,000 allies)
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The Battle of Stalingrad was a major turning point in World War II, and is considered as the bloodiest battle in human history. The battle was marked by the brutality and disregard for civilian casualties on both sides. The battle is taken to include the German siege of the southern Russian city of Stalingrad (today Volgograd), the battle inside the city, and the Soviet counter-offensive which eventually trapped and destroyed the German and other Axis forces in and around the city. Total casualties are estimated at between 1 and 2 million. The Axis powers lost about a quarter of their total manpower on the Eastern Front, and never recovered from the defeat. For the Soviets, who lost well over one million soldiers and civilians during the battle, the victory at Stalingrad marked the start of the liberation of the Soviet Union, leading to eventual victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.
1 Background
On 22 June 19411941 is also the title of a Steven Spielberg movie made in 1979 see 1941 (film). Events January January 6 Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivers his Four Freedoms Speech in the State of the Union Address. January 10 Lend-Lease is introduced into the United St Germany and its Axis allies invadedOperation Barbarossa Unternehmen Barbarossa was the German codename for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II, which commenced on June 22, 1941. It was to be the turning point for the fortunes of Hitler's Third Reich, in that the the Soviet Union, quickly advancing deep into Soviet territory. Having suffered defeat after defeat during the summer and autumn of 1941, Soviet forces counter-attacked on a large scale at the gates of the Soviet capital in the Battle of MoscowThe Battle of Moscow refers to the defense of the Soviet capital of Moscow and the subsequent counter-offensive against the German army, between October 1941 and January 1942, during the Great Patriotic War. The German invasion On 22 June 1941 Germany and, in December 19411941 is also the title of a Steven Spielberg movie made in 1979 see 1941 (film). Events January January 6 Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivers his Four Freedoms Speech in the State of the Union Address. January 10 Lend-Lease is introduced into the United St. The Germans, exhausted, ill-equipped for winter warfare and with overstretched supply lines, were driven back out of reach of Moscow.
The Germans stabilised their front by spring 1942. Plans to launch another offensive against Moscow were discarded, however, as Army Group Centre had been too heavily weakened for an attack. Moreover such an attack would be "too obvious", as the key to Blitzkrieg was attacking where the enemy least expected it, so rapid gains could be made before a defense could be set up. For this reason new offensives in the north and south were considered.
2 Operation Blue
In the end, Army Group South, which had previously conquered the Ukraine, was selected for a rush forward through the southern Russian steppes into the Caucasus to capture vital Soviet oil fields. This summer offensive was code-named "Fall Blau" ("Case Blue"). It was to include the 6th and 17th Armies and the 4th and 7th Panzer Armies.
Hitler intervened, however, in the strategic planning, ordering the Army Group to be split in two. Army Group South (A), under the command of Erich von Manstein and Paul von Kleist , was to continue advancing south towards the Caucasus as planned. Army Group South (B), including Friedrich Paulus's 6th Army and Hermann Hoth's 4th Panzer Army, was to move east towards the river Volga and the city of Stalingrad.
The capture of Stalingrad was important to Hitler for several reasons. It was a major industrial city, located on the river Volga which was a vital transport route between the Caspian Sea and northern Russia. Its capture would secure the left flank of the German armies as they advanced into the Caucasus. Finally, the fact that the city bore the name of Hitler's arch enemy, Joseph Stalin, made the city's capture also an ideological and propaganda coup. It would turn out that Stalin was thinking along the same lines.
