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The Battle of Stalingrad was a major turning point in World War II and is considered the bloodiest Battle in recorded Human History . The battle was marked by brutality and disregard for military and Civilian Casualties on both sides. The battle is taken to include the German Siege of the southern Russian city of Stalingrad , which is today Volgograd , the battle inside the city, and the Soviet counter-offensive which eventually trapped and destroyed the German Sixth Army and other Axis forces in and around the city. Total casualties for both sides are estimated to be over two million. The Axis powers lost large numbers of men and equipment, and never fully recovered from the defeat. For the Soviets, who also suffered great losses 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. BACKGROUND On 22 June 1941 Germany and its Axis allies Invaded The Soviet Union , quickly advancing deep into Soviet territory. Having suffered defeat during the summer and autumn of 1941, Soviet forces counter-attacked in the Battle Of Moscow in December 1941. The exhausted German forces, ill equipped for winter warfare and with overstretched Supply Line s, were stopped in their drive towards the Capital . The Germans stabilized their Front by spring 1942. Plans to launch another offensive against Moscow were discarded, however, as Army Group Centre had been too heavily weakened. Part of the German military philosophy was to attack where least expected, so that rapid gains could be made. An attack on Moscow was seen as too predictable by some, most notably Hitler . Along with this, the German high command knew that time was running out for them as the United States had entered WWII following the Japan ese Attack On Pearl Harbor . Hitler wanted to end the fighting on the Eastern Front or at least minimize it before the US had a chance to get deeply involved in the war in Europe. For all of these reasons new offensives in the north and south were considered. A drive into the southern USSR would secure control of the oil-rich Caucasus , as well as the Volga River , a backbone of Soviet transportation from Central Asia . A German victory in the southern Soviet Union would severely damage Stalin's war machine and the Soviet economy. Another resource desired by Germany in this area was Agricultural production. OPERATION BLAU 1942 to 18 November 1942 ]] and 17th Armies and the 4th and 1st Panzer Armies. In 1941, Army Group South had conquered Ukraine , and was positioned at the area of the planned offensive. Hitler intervened however, in the strategic planning, ordering the Army Group to be split in two. Army Group South (A), under the command of Paul Ludwig Ewald Von Kleist , was to continue advancing south towards the Caucasus as planned with the 17th and 1st Panzer Armies. 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 on the Banks of the river Volga (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 nemesis, Joseph Stalin , would make the city's capture an Ideological and Propaganda coup. It is believed that Stalin also had an ideological and propaganda interest in defending the city which bore his name, but the fact remains that Stalin was doing the best he could given the time and resources. Some believe that the Siege Of Leningrad lasted too long due to his diversion of forces from Leningrad to Stalingrad, which is false. During the Russian Civil War he played a prominent role in the Red defense of the city, then known as Tsaritsyn, from White forces. Also, the Red Army, at this stage of the war, was less capable of highly mobile operations than the German army. The prospect of combat inside a large urban area, which would be dominated by infantry and artillery, maximized the Red Army's advantages against the Germans. The start of Operation Blau had been planned for late May 1942. However, a number of German and Romania n units that were involved in Blau were then in the process of Besieging Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula . Delays in ending the siege pushed back the start date for Blau several times, and the city did not fall until the end of June. A smaller action was taken in the meantime, pinching off a Soviet Salient in the Second Battle Of Kharkov , which resulted in the pocketing of a large Soviet force on 22 May . Blau finally opened as Army Group South began its attack into southern Russia on June 28 , 1942 . The German offensive started well. Soviet forces offered little resistance in the vast empty steppes, and started streaming eastward in disarray. Several attempts to form defensive lines failed when other German units Flank ed Soviet defensive lines. Two major pockets were formed and destroyed, the first northeast of Kharkov on June 2 , a second around Millerovo , Rostov Oblast a week later. Meanwhile the 2nd Hungarian Army and the 4th Panzer Army had launched an Assault On Voronezh , capturing the city on 5 July . The initial advance of the 6th Army was so successful that Hitler intervened, and ordered the 4th Panzer Army to join Army Group South (A) to the south. A massive Traffic Jam resulted when the 4th Army and the 6th Army both required the few roads in the area. Both armies were stopped dead while they attempted to clear the resulting mess of thousands of vehicles. The delay was long, and it is thought that it cost the advance at least one week. With the advance now slowed, Hitler changed his mind and re-assigned the 4th Panzer back to the attack on Stalingrad. By the end of July the Germans had pushed the Soviets across the Don River . At this point the Germans established defensive lines using the Armies of their Italian , Hungarian and Romanian allies. The 6th Army was only a few dozen kilometers from Stalingrad, and the 4th Panzer, now to their south, turned north to help take the city. To the south, Group A was pushing far into the Caucasus, but their advance slowed. Group A's forces were deployed far to the south and provided no support to Group B in the north. Now German intentions became clear to the Soviet commanders: in July Soviet plans were developed for the defense in Stalingrad. Soviet troops still moving eastward before the Germans offensive were ordered into Stalingrad. The eastern border of Stalingrad was the broad Volga river, and over the river additional Soviet units were deployed. This combination of units became the newly formed 62nd Army under the command of Vasily Chuikov . Its mission was to defend Stalingrad at all costs. IN THE CITY The battle began with the heavy bombing of the city by the Luftwaffe . The sprawling metropolis became a graveyard. Many died once the battle began and the city became a shell of what it once was. Still many buildings survived and Soviet patriotism shone through. Many factory workers joined in the fighting. inside Stalingrad]] Stalin prevented civilians from leaving the city on the premise that their presence would encourage greater resistance from the city's defenders. Civilians, including women and children, were put to work building Trench works and protective fortifications. A massive German Air Bombardment on 23 August caused a Firestorm , killing thousands and turning Stalingrad into a vast landscape of rubble and burnt ruins. 80% of the living space in the city was destroyed. The burden of the initial defense of the city proper fell on the 1077th s" composed of workers not directly involved in war production. For a short time, Tank s continued to be produced and then manned by volunteer crews of factory workers. They were driven directly from the factory floor to the front line, often without gunsights or even being painted. By the end of August, Army Group South (B) had finally reached the Volga to the north of Stalingrad. Another advance to the river south of the city followed. By 1 September , 1942 , the Soviets could only reinforce and supply their forces in Stalingrad by perilous crossings of the Volga, under constant bombardment by German artillery and planes. Amid the debris of the wrecked city, the Soviet 62nd Army anchored their defense lines with strongpoints in houses and factories. Fighting was fierce and desperate. The life expectancy of a newly-arrived Soviet private in the city dropped to less than twenty-four hours. Stalin's Order No. 227 of July 27 1942 decreed that all those who retreated or otherwise left their positions without orders could be summarily shot. "Not a step back!" was the Slogan . The Germans pushing forward into Stalingrad suffered heavy casualties. German Military Doctrine was based on the principle of Combined-arms Teams and close co-operation by Tank s, Infantry , Engineers , Artillery ; and Ground-attack Aircraft . To counter this, Soviet commanders adopted the simple expedient of always keeping the front lines as close together as physically possible. Chuikov called this tactic "hugging" the Germans. This forced the German infantrymen to either fight on their own or risk taking casualties from their own supporting fire; it neutralized German close air support and weakened their artillery support. Bitter fighting raged for every street, every factory, every house, basement and staircase. The Germans, calling this unseen Urban Warfare ''Rattenkrieg'' ("rat-war"), bitterly joked about capturing the kitchen but still fighting for the living-room. Fighting on Mamayev Kurgan , a prominent, blood-soaked hill above the city, was particularly merciless. The height changed hands many times. During one Soviet counter-attack, they lost an entire division of 10,000 men in one day. At the Grain Elevator, a huge grain processing complex dominated by a single enormous silo, combat was so close that Soviet and German soldiers could hear each other breathe. Combat raged there for weeks until the German army reduced the opposition. In another part of the city, a Soviet Platoon under the command of Yakov Pavlov turned an Apartment Building into an impenetrable Fortress . The building, later called " Pavlov's House ", oversaw a square in the city centre. The soldiers surrounded it with minefields, set up machine-gun positions at the windows, and breached the walls in the basement for better communications. With no end in sight, the Germans started transferring Heavy Artillery to the city, including several gigantic 600 mm Mortars . The Germans made no effort to send a force across the Volga, allowing the Soviets to build up a large number of artillery batteries there. Soviet artillery on the eastern bank continued to bombard the German positions. The Soviet defenders used the resulting ruins as defensive positions. German tanks became useless amid heaps of rubble up to eight meters high. When they were able to move forward, they came under Soviet Anti-tank fire from building wrecks. Soviet Sniper s also successfully used the ruins to inflict heavy casualties on the Germans. The most successful sniper was only identified as "Zikan", being credited with 224 kills by November 20 , 1942 . Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev was credited with 149 kills during the battle. For both Stalin and Hitler, the battle of Stalingrad became a prestige issue, on top of the actual strategic significance of the battle. The Soviet command moved the that required him to bandage his hands completely. The troops on both sides faced the constant strain of close-range combat. In November, after three months of carnage and slow and costly advance, the Germans finally reached the river banks, capturing 90% of the ruined city and splitting the remaining Soviet forces into two narrow pockets. In addition, ice-floes on the Volga now prevented boats and tugs from supplying the Soviet defenders across the river. Nevertheless the fighting, especially on the slopes of Mamayev Kurgan and inside the factory area in the northern part of the city, continued as fiercely as ever. The battles for the Red October steel factory, the Dzerzhinsky tractor factory and the Barrikady gun factory became world famous. While Soviet soldiers defended their positions and took the Germans under fire, factory workers repaired damaged Soviet tanks and other weapons close to the battlefield, sometimes on the battlefield itself. THE SOVIET COUNTER-ATTACK: OPERATION URANUS |
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