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Battle of Stalingrad

The Battle of Stalingrad[Note 8] (17 July 1942 – 2 February 1943)[27][28][29][30] occurred on the Eastern Front of World War II, beginning when Nazi Germany and the Axis powers became locked in a protracted struggle with the Soviet Union for control over the city of Stalingrad in what is now southern Russia. It was characterized by fierce close-quarters combat and direct assaults on civilians in aerial raids; the battle epitomized urban warfare[31][32][33][34] and is recorded as the single largest and costliest urban battle in military history.[35][36][37] Likewise, it was the bloodiest and fiercest battle of the entirety of World War II—and arguably in all of human history—as both sides suffered tremendous casualties amidst ferocious fighting in and around the city.[38][39][40][41][42] Today, the Battle of Stalingrad is commonly regarded as the turning point in the European theatre of World War II,[43] as Germany's Oberkommando der Wehrmacht was forced to withdraw a considerable amount of military forces from other regions to replace losses on the Eastern Front. By the time the hostilities ended, the German 6th Army and 4th Panzer Army had been destroyed and Army Group B was routed. The Soviets' victory at Stalingrad shifted the Eastern Front's balance of power in their favour, while also boosting the morale of the Red Army.

For the 1949 Soviet film, see The Battle of Stalingrad (film). For other uses, see Stalingrad (disambiguation).

Both sides placed great strategic importance on Stalingrad, as it was the largest industrial centre of the Soviet Union and an important transport hub on the Volga River:[44] controlling Stalingrad meant gaining access to the oil fields of the Caucasus and having supreme authority over the Volga River.[45] The city also held significant symbolic importance because it bore the name of Joseph Stalin, the incumbent General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. As the conflict progressed, Germany's fuel supplies dwindled and thus drove it to focus on moving deeper into Soviet territory and taking the country's oil fields at any cost. The German military first clashed with the Red Army's Stalingrad Front on the distant approaches to Stalingrad on 17 July. On 23 August, the 6th Army and elements of the 4th Panzer Army launched their offensive with support from intensive bombing raids by the Luftwaffe, which reduced much of the city to rubble. The battle soon degenerated into house-to-house fighting, which escalated drastically as both sides continued pouring reinforcements into the city. By mid-November, the Germans, at great cost, had pushed the Soviet defenders back into narrow zones along the Volga's west bank. However, winter set in within a few months and conditions became particularly brutal, with temperatures often dropping tens of degrees below sub-zero. In addition to fierce urban combat, brutal trench warfare was prevalent at Stalingrad as well.


On 19 November, the Red Army launched Operation Uranus, a two-pronged attack targeting the Romanian armies protecting the 6th Army's flanks.[46] The Axis flanks were overrun and the 6th Army was encircled. Adolf Hitler was determined to hold the city for Germany at all costs and forbade the 6th Army from trying a breakout; instead, attempts were made to supply it by air and to break the encirclement from the outside. Though the Soviets were successful in preventing the Germans from making enough airdrops to the trapped Axis armies at Stalingrad, heavy fighting continued for another two months. On 2 February 1943, the 6th Army, having exhausted their ammunition and food, finally capitulated after several months of battle, making it the first of Hitler's field armies to have surrendered.[47]


In modern-day Russia, the legacy of the Red Army's victory at Stalingrad is commemorated among the Days of Military Honour. It is also well known in many other countries that belonged to the Allied powers, and has thus become ingrained in popular culture. Likewise, in a number of the post-Soviet states, the Battle of Stalingrad is recognized as an important aspect of what is known as the Great Patriotic War.

282,606 in the 6th Army from 21 August to the end of the battle; 17,293 in the 4th Panzer Army from 21 August to 31 January; 55,260 in the from 1 December 1942 to the end of the battle (12,727 killed, 37,627 wounded and 4,906 missing)[151][275] Walsh estimates the losses to 6th Army and 4th Panzer division were over 300,000;[276] while Louis A. DiMarco estimated the Germans suffered 400,000 total casualties during the battle.[13] Soviet officials recovered 250,000 German and Romanian corpses in and around Stalingrad.[277]

Army Group Don

According to : German forces suffered 800,000 casualties, including the Romanians.[278]

Peter H. Wilson

According to the multivolume “The Great Patriotic War 1941-1945”: Germany and its allies suffered up up to 1.5 million casualties for the entire battle, in the Don, Volga and Stalingrad areas. The figure of 1.5 million total Axis casualties was also stated by Geoffrey Jukes in 1968.[280] This has been cited as an overestimate however.[41]

[279]

According to G. G. Matishov, et al.: Germany and its allies suffered more than 880,000 casualties from November 1942 to early February 1943 between Stalingrad and the "great bend of the ".[281]

Don

According to Frieser, et al.: 109,000 Romanians casualties (from November 1942 to December 1942), included 70,000 captured or missing. 114,000 Italians and 105,000 Hungarians were killed, wounded or captured (from December 1942 to February 1943).

[14]

According to Stephen Walsh: Romanian casualties were 158,854; 114,520 Italians (84,830 killed, missing and 29,690 wounded); and 143,000 Hungarian (80,000 killed, missing and 63,000 wounded), with total losses of Germany's allies at 494,374. Losses among Soviet POW turncoats Hiwis range between 19,300 and 52,000.[16]

[282]

Barmaley Fountain

Hitler's Stalingrad speech

Italian participation on the Eastern Front

Soviet Navy surface raids on Western Black Sea

Stalingrad legal defense

Detailed summary of campaign

Stalingrad battle Newsreels // Net-Film Newsreels and Documentary Films Archive

Story of the Stalingrad battle with pictures, maps, video and other primary and secondary sources

Volgograd State Panoramic Museum official homepage

Written with strong Socialist/Communist political under and overtones.

The Battle of Stalingrad in Film and History

Roberts, Geoffrey. , The Guardian, 28 February 2003

"Victory on the Volga"

Stalingrad-info.com, Russian archival docs translated into English, original battle maps, aerial photos, pictures taken at the battlefields, relics collection

Archived 27 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine

H-Museum: Stalingrad/Volgograd 1943–2003. Memory

Battle of Stalingrad Pictures

Images from the Battle of Stalingrad (Getty)

There are several unique photos of parade and award ceremony for Wehrmacht personnel who survived the Battle of Stalingrad.

The photo album of Wehrmacht NCO named Nemela of 9. Machine-Gewehr Bataillon (mot)

Archived 2 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine

Stalingrad Battle Data Project: order of battle, strength returns, interactive map

on YouTube

Documentary showing the recovery of numerous bodies of missing soldiers in the Stalingrad area in 2015

Stalingrad documentaries by the Army University Press

Stalingrad Battle Data documentary base

on YouTube

The Stalingrad Digging Camp. Video showing the excavation and reburial of hundreds bodies