World War 2: Battle of Stalingrad

Soviet Union: The Battle of Stalingrad

Stalingrad (1942-1943) 

Background: Nazi Germany at this time was pushing deep into the country of the Soviet Union called Operation Barbarossa, with its main goal to reach Moscow and destroy it to the ground. While Germany was pushing deep into Russia, Adolf Hitler made a major strategic decision that would change the entirety of the war forever. Instead of attacking the area known as the Caucuses which was rich in oil and resources told his troops to attack the city of Stalingrad. To many generals in the German Army were shocked by this move because Stalingrad had zero strategic importance in the offensive. The main reason Hitler decided to attack Stalingrad to destroy his enemies city that was named after there leader Stalin. Overall Stalingrad was only fought because Adolf Hitler wanted to destroy his rivals "prized city". 

Purpose for the Battle: Overall the battle of Stalingrad at first was battle of political pride for Hitler which turned to major battle on the eastern front. Hitler let Friedrich Paulus lead his Army Group B into the city of Stalingrad.  In the end Battle of Stalingrad not known to both nations would become the most important battle of World War 2.  

The Battle: On the 23 of August in 1942, Army Group B entered the outskirts of Stalingrad in pursuit of the 62nd and 64th armies that also retreated to Stalingrad. The Germans instead of attacking immediately on the Soviet positions decided to fortify and regroup before they would attack the city. This pause allowed the Russians to put all their grain, cattle and railway cars across the Volga river. This also allowed Stalin to reinforce his armies in Stalingrad from all over Russia expect from Western Russia where other army groups were. The battle began with a heavy bombardment from batteries and aircraft from the German side. When Stalin's reinforcements arrived around the same time the Luftwaffe bombarded the troops that were entering the city and crossing the Volga killing many men. After bombarding the city to ruins the Germans entered the city to find that many Russians made use of the rubble as fortifications for machine gun nests and sniper nests. Even thought the Germans continued there push into the heart of the city and all the way to the Volga. By November of 1942, the Germans took almost all of Stalingrad leaving only the small part of the city being across the Volga where the remaining Russians stayed and defended. When winter set in the Russians noticed how vulnerable the Germans and her allies actually were. Most of the German supply lines by this time were being sabotaged and most of the German troops were wearing summer clothing. Noticing this the soviets reinforced themselves over the winter, and by 1943 in February, the Russians launched a Counter Attack and encircled the Russians around the city. Even though the Army Group B was trapped, Hitler told them to fight to the death and to kill every Russian soldier they could find. Instead of listening to the insanity of their Fuhrer, the General of the Army Group B Paulus decided to surrender. 

Image of German soldier in Stalingrad 

 Large quantity of German POWS 

Aftermath: Even after the surrender of the Germans, over 10,000 German soldiers that were surrounded still fought inside the city until a month later. Overall the Battle of Stalingrad was the most important battle of World War 2 because it completely destroyed Army Group B and turned the tide of the war. The casualties in the battle were massive, over 850,000 axis troops died and over 1,000,000 Russians died.


Commanders: Erich von Manstien-Axis
                         Friedrich Paulus-Axis
                        Georgy Zhukov- Russians
                        Nikita Khrushchev-Russians

http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-stalingrad Video and info
http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/worldwarii/p/World-War-Ii-Battle-Of-Stalingrad.htm
http://historyofrussia.org/battle-of-stalingrad-summary/