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The Battle of Stalingrad is a commonly used name in English sources for several large operations by Germany and its allies and Soviet forces conducted with the purpose of possession of the city of Stalingrad, which took place between 17 July 1942 and February 2, 1943, during the Second World War[12]. The Axis powers also known as the Axis alliance Axis nations Axis countries or sometimes just the Axis were those Countries The Red Army ( Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия R aboche- K rest'yanskaya K rasnaya A rmiya Events 180 - Twelve inhabitants of Scillium in North Africa are executed for being Christians Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 962 - Translatio imperii: Pope John XII crowns Otto I Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor Year 1943 ( MCMXLIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Stalingrad was known as Tsaritsyn until 1925 and has been known as Volgograd since 1961. Year 1925 ( MCMXXV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Year 1961 ( MCMLXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
The results of these operations are often cited as one of the turning points of World War II. Stalingrad was the bloodiest battle in human history, with combined casualties estimated to be above 1. 5 million. The battle was marked by brutality and disregard for military and civilian casualties by both sides. Civilian casualties is a Military term describing Civilian or Non-combatant persons killed or injured by military action The German offensive to take Stalingrad, the battle inside the city, and the Soviet counter-offensive which eventually trapped and destroyed the 6th Army and other Axis forces around the city was the second large-scale defeat of the Second World War. The 6th Army was a German Field army which saw action in World War I and World War II. In Soviet and Russian historiography the struggle included the following campaigns, strategic and operational level operations:
- Summer-Autumn Campaign of 1942 (1 May 1942 - 18 November 1942)
- Stalingrad Strategic Defensive Operation* 17 July 1942 - 18 November 1942
- Defensive Battles on Distant Approaches 17 July 1942 - 17 August 1942
- Defensive Battles on Near Approaches and in Stalingrad 19 August 1942 - 18 November 1942
- Second Period of the Great Patriotic War (19 November 1942 - 31 December 1943)
- Winter Campaign of 1942-1943 (19 November 1942 - 3 March 1943)
- Stalingrad Strategic Offensive Operation (19 November 1942 - 2 February 1943)
- Operation Uranus (19 November 1942 - 30 November 1942)
- Kotelnikovo Offensive Operation (12 December 1942 - 31 December 1942)
- Operation Little Saturn or Middle Don Offensive Operation (16 December 1942 - 30 December 1942)
- Operation Koltso (1943) (English: Operation Ring) (10 January 1943 - 2 February 1943)
Contents |
Background
On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa (Unternehmen Barbarossa). Operation Uranus was the Soviet encirclement of German forces in the Battle of Stalingrad during World War 2. Operation Saturn was a Red Army operation on the Eastern Front of World War II that led to battles in Events 217 BC - Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom. Year 1941 ( MCMXLI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (the link will display 1941 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers Operation Barbarossa ( Unternehmen Barbarossa) was the Codename for Nazi Germany 's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II The armed forces of Germany and its allies invaded the Soviet Union, quickly advancing deep into Soviet territory. During December, having suffered multiple defeats during the summer and autumn, Soviet forces counter-attacked during the Battle of Moscow and successfully drove the German Army (Wehrmacht Heer) from the environs of Moscow. Events in December Union Day of Romania (1 December World AIDS Day ( December 1) National Day of The Battle of Moscow (Битва под Москвой Romanized: Bitva pod Moskvoy, Schlacht um Moskau is the name given by the Soviet historians to the two The Heer was the land forces component of the German armed forces ( Wehrmacht) from 1935 to 1945, which also included the Navy ( Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of
By spring 1942, the Germans had stabilized their front and were confident they could master the Red Army when winter weather no longer impeded their mobility. Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Red Army ( Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия R aboche- K rest'yanskaya K rasnaya A rmiya There was some substance to this belief: while Army Group Centre (Heeresgruppe Mitte) had suffered heavy punishment, 65 percent of its infantry had not been engaged during the winter fighting, and had been rested and reequipped. Army Group Center (Heeresgruppe Mitte was the name of two distinct German strategic Army groups that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II [13] 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 German dictator Adolf Hitler. Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately Along with this, the German High Command (Oberkommando des Heeres or OKH) knew that time was running out for them, as the United States had entered the war following Germany's declaration of war in support of its Japanese ally. The Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH was Germany 's Army High Command from 1936 to 1945 The Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH was Germany 's Army High Command from 1936 to 1945 The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Empire of Japan ( {{unicode|Kyūjitai}}: ja 大日本帝國 Shinjitai: ja 大日本帝国 pronounced Dai Nippon Teikoku Hitler wanted to end the fighting on the Eastern Front, or at least minimize it, before the Americans had a chance to get deeply involved in the war in Europe[14]. The Eastern Front of World War II (die Ostfront 1941-1945, der Rußlandfeldzug 1941-1945 (Russian campaign or der Ostfeldzug 1941-1945 (Eastern Campaign
Importance of Stalingrad
The capture of Stalingrad was important to Hitler for two primary reasons. Firstly, it was a major industrial city on the Volga River -- a vital transport route between the Caspian Sea and Northern Russia. The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged Sea. Secondly, its capture would secure the left flank of the German armies as they advanced into the oil-rich Caucasus region -- with a goal of cutting off fuel to Stalin's war machine. The Caucasus ( also referred to as North Caucasus) is a geopolitical region located between Europe Asia & Middle East The fact that the city bore the name of Hitler's nemesis, Joseph Stalin, would make its capture an ideological and propaganda coup. Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party An ideology is a set of beliefs aims and Ideas especially in politics Propaganda is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people Stalin realized this and ordered anyone that was strong enough to hold a rifle be sent out to war. [15] Both Stalin and Hitler therefore had an ideological and propagandic interest in respectively defending or taking the city which bore Stalin's name, in honor of Stalin's defense of the city during the Russian Civil War, but the fact remains that Stalin was under tremendous constraints of time and resources. The Russian Civil War (1917–1923 was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed The Red Army, at this stage of the war, was less capable of highly mobile operations than the German Army. However, the prospect of combat inside a large urban area, which would be dominated by short-range firearms rather than armored and mechanized tactics, minimized the Red Army's disadvantages against the Germans.
Operation Blau / Blue
Army Group South was selected for a sprint forward through the southern Russian steppes into the Caucasus to capture the vital Soviet oil fields there. Case Blue ( Fall Blau) was the German codename used by the German Armed Forces ( Wehrmacht) for its 1942 strategic summer offensive in southern Army Group South (Heeresgruppe Süd was the name of a number of German Army Groups during World War II. In physical Geography, a steppe ( German, from степь - "a flat and arid land" степ - /stɛp/ тал - tal дала - /dɑlɑ/ pronounced The Caucasus ( also referred to as North Caucasus) is a geopolitical region located between Europe Asia & Middle East An oil field is a region with an abundance of Oil wells extracting Petroleum (crude oil from below ground Instead of focusing his attention on the Soviet Capital of Moscow as his general staff advised, Hitler continued to send forces and supplies to the eastern Ukraine. A military staff is a group of officers and enlisted personnel that provides a bi-directional flow of information between a commander and subordinate units Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe. The planned summer offensive was code-named Fall Blau (trans. A code name or cryptonym is a word or name used clandestinely to refer to another name or word Case Blue ( Fall Blau) was the German codename used by the German Armed Forces ( Wehrmacht) for its 1942 strategic summer offensive in southern : “Case Blue”). It was to include the German Sixth Army, Seventeenth Army, Fourth Panzer Army and First Panzer Army. The German Seventeenth Army (German 17 Armee) was a World War II Field army. The 4th Panzer Army (German 4Panzer-Armee) was before being designated a full army the Panzer Group 4 ( Panzergruppe 4) a German Panzer The 1st Panzer Army (1Panzerarmee was a German Tank army that was a large armoured formation within the Wehrmacht Heer field forces during World War II Army Group South had overrun the Ukrainian SSR in 1941. The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or the Ukrainian SSR was one of the 15 constituent republics that made up the Former Soviet Union from its Poised in the Eastern Ukraine, it was to spearhead the offensive.
Hitler intervened, however, ordering the Army Group to be split in two. An army group is a Military organization consisting of several field armies, which is self-sufficient for indefinite periods Army Group South (A), under the command of Wilhelm List, was to continue advancing south towards the Caucasus as planned with the Seventeenth Army and First Panzer Army. Siegmund Wilhelm List ( May 14, 1880 &ndash August 17, 1971) was a German Field marshal during World War II The 1st Panzer Army (1Panzerarmee was a German Tank army that was a large armoured formation within the Wehrmacht Heer field forces during World War II Army Group South (B), including Friedrich Paulus’s Sixth Army and Hermann Hoth's Fourth Panzer Army, was to move east towards the Volga and the city of Stalingrad. Hermann "Papa" Hoth ( 12 April 1885 - 25 January 1971) was an officer in the German Military from Army Group B was commanded initially by Field Marshal Fedor von Bock and later by General Maximilian von Weichs. For other meanings see Field Marshal (disambiguation Field marshal is a military officer rank Fedor von Bock ( December 3, 1880 &ndash May 4, 1945) was an officer in the German Military from 1898 to Maximilian Maria Joseph Karl Gabriel Lamoral Reichsfreiherr von Weichs zu Glon ( 12 November 1881 &ndash 27 June 1954) was a German
The start of Operation Blau had been planned for late May 1942. However, a number of German and Romanian units that were involved in Blau were then in the process of besieging Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula. Romania ( dated: Rumania, Roumania Crimea (kraɪˈmiːə or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Крим Автономна Республіка Крим Avtonomna Respublika Krym; Крым 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. The Second Battle of Kharkov, so named by Wilhelm Keitel was an Axis counteroffensive against the Red Army Izium bridgehead offensive conducted from May 12 to Events 334 BC - The Greek army of Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of the Granicus.
Blau finally opened as Army Group South began its attack into southern Russia on June 28, 1942. Events 1098 - Fighters of the First Crusade defeat Kerbogha of Mosul. Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The German offensive started well. Soviet forces offered little resistance in the vast empty steppes and started streaming eastward in disarray. Several attempts to re-establish a defensive line failed when German units outflanked them. In Military tactics, a flanking maneuver, also called a flank attack, is an attack on the sides of an opposing force Two major pockets were formed and destroyed: the first northeast of Kharkov on July 2 and a second, around Millerovo, Rostov Oblast, a week later. Events 310 - Pope Miltiades is elected 626 - In fear of assassination Li Shimin ambushes and kills his rival Millerovo (Ми́ллерово is a Town in Rostov Oblast, Russia. Rostov Oblast (Росто́вская о́бласть Rostovskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an Oblast) located in the
Meanwhile, the Hungarian Second Army and the German 4th Panzer Army had launched an assault on Voronezh, capturing the city on the 5th of July. The Hungarian Second Army (Second Magyar Honved was a Hungarian field army which saw action during World War II. The 4th Panzer Army (German 4Panzer-Armee) was before being designated a full army the Panzer Group 4 ( Panzergruppe 4) a German Panzer The Battle of Voronezh was a battle on the Eastern Front of World War II, fought in and around the strategically important city of Voronezh on the Events 1295 - Scotland and France form an alliance the beginnings of the Auld Alliance, against England.
The initial advance of the Sixth Army was so successful that Hitler intervened and ordered the Fourth Panzer Army to join Army Group South (A) to the south. Events 558 - In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 326 - The old St Peter's Basilica is consecrated 1302 - Pope Boniface VIII issues the Papal bull Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1456 - A retrial verdict acquits Joan of Arc of heresy 25 years after her death Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1099 - First Crusade: Godfrey of Bouillon is elected the first Defender of the Holy Sepulchre of The Kingdom of Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 30 BC - Octavian (later known as Augustus enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 326 - The old St Peter's Basilica is consecrated 1302 - Pope Boniface VIII issues the Papal bull Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. A massive traffic jam resulted when the Fourth Panzer and the Sixth 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 Fourth Panzer Army back to the attack on Stalingrad.
By the end of July, the Germans had pushed the Soviets across the Don River. The Don (Дон is one of the major rivers of Russia. It rises in the town of Novomoskovsk 60 Kilometres southeast from Tula, southeast At this point, the Germans began using the armies of their Italian, Hungarian, and Romanian allies to guard their left (northern) flank. The Italian participation in the Eastern Front of World War II began after the launch of Operation Barbarossa ( Unternehmen Barbarossa The German Sixth Army was only a few dozen kilometers from Stalingrad, and Fourth Panzer Army, now to their south, turned northwards to help take the city. To the south, Army Group A was pushing far into the Caucasus, but their advance slowed as supply lines grew overextended. The two German army groups were not positioned to support one another due to the great distances involved.
After German intentions became clear in July, Stalin appointed Marshall Andrei Yeremenko as commander of the Southeastern Front on August 1, 1942. Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party Marshal of the Soviet Union ( Marshal Sovietskovo Soyuza Советского Союза'' was the de facto highest military rank of the Soviet Union. Yeremenko and Commissar Nikita Krushchev were tasked with planning the defense of Stalingrad [16] . Commissar is the English transliteration of an official title (комисса́р used in Russia after the Bolshevik revolution and in the Soviet Union Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (April 17 1894 – September 11 1971 served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 following The eastern border of Stalingrad was the wide Volga River, and over the river additional Soviet units were deployed. This combination of units became the newly formed 62nd Army, which Yeremenko placed under the command of Lt. Gen. Vasiliy Chuikov on September 11, 1942. The 62nd Order of Lenin Army (62-я армия was a field army established by the Soviet Union 's Red Army during the Second World War Lieutenant General is a Military rank used in many countries The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov (Васи́лий Ива́нович Чуйко́в ( February 12 1900 - March 18 1982) was a Lieutenant general The 62nd Army's mission was to defend Stalingrad at all costs.
Beginning of the battle
Before the Wehrmacht reached the city itself, the Luftwaffe had rendered the Volga River, vital for bringing supplies into the city, virtually unusable to Soviet shipping. ( German 'luftvafe is a generic German term for an Air force. Between 25 July and 31 July, 32 Soviet ships were sunk with another nine crippled[17]. The battle began with the heavy bombing of the city by the Generaloberst von Richthofen's Luftflotte 4, which in the summer and autumn of 1942 was the mightiest single air command in the world. Colonel General is a senior Military rank which is used in some of the world’s militaries Luftflotte 4 (Air Fleet 4 was one of the primary divisions of the German Luftwaffe in World War II. Some 1,000 tons were dropped[18]. The city was quickly turned to rubble, although some factories survived and continued production whilst workers joined in the fighting. The Croatian 369th Reinforced Infantry Regiment was the only non-German unit [19] selected by the Wehrmacht to enter Stalingrad city during assault operations. The 369th Reinforced Infantry Regiment ( Croatian: 369 pojačana pješačka pukovnija, German: Verstärktes Kroatisches Infanterie-Regiment 369
Stalin prevented civilians from leaving the city on the premise that their presence would encourage greater resistance from the city's defenders[20]. Civilians, including women and children, were put to work building trenchworks and protective fortifications. A trench is a type of excavation or depression in the ground Trenches are generally defined by being deeper than they are wide (as opposed to a wider Gully or Ditch A massive German air bombardment on August 23 caused a firestorm, killing thousands and turning Stalingrad into a vast landscape of rubble and burnt ruins[21]. An airstrike is a Military strike by Air forces on either a suspected or a confirmed enemy ground position Events 79 - Mount Vesuvius begins stirring on the feast day of Vulcan the Roman god of fire A firestorm is a Conflagration which attains such intensity that it creates and sustains its own wind system Ninety percent of the living space in the Voroshilovskiy area was destroyed[22][23].
The Soviet Air Force, the Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily (VVS), was swept aside by the Luftwaffe. The VVS unit in the immediate area lost 201 aircraft from 23-31 August, and despite meager reinforcements of some 100 aircraft in August, it was with just 192 servicable aircraft which included just 57 fighters[24]. The Soviets poured aerial reinforcements into the Stalingrad area in late September but continued to suffer appalling losses. The Luftwaffe had complete control of the skies.
The burden of the initial defense of the city fell on the 1077th Anti-Aircraft (AA) Regiment, a unit made up mainly of young women volunteers who had no training on engaging ground targets. Anti-aircraft warfare, or air defense, is any method of engaging hostile military Aircraft in defence of ground objectives, ground or naval forces A regiment is a Military unit, composed of a variable number of Battalions – commanded by a Colonel. A volunteer is someone who works for a community or for the benefit of environment primarily because they choose to do so Despite this, and with no support available from other Soviet units, the AA gunners stayed at their posts and took on the advancing Panzers. The German 16th Panzer Division reportedly had to fight the 1077th’s gunners "shot for shot" until all 37 AA batteries were destroyed or overrun. [21][25] In the beginning, the Soviets relied extensively on "Workers' militias" composed of workers not directly involved in war production. The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary Citizens to provide defense emergency law enforcement or Paramilitary service For a short time, tanks continued to be produced and then manned by volunteer crews of factory workers. A tank is a tracked, Armoured fighting vehicle designed for Front-line combat which combines Operational mobility and tactical They were driven directly from the factory floor to the front line, often without paint or even gunsights. [21]
By the end of August, Army Group South (B) had finally reached the Volga, north of Stalingrad. Another advance to the river south of the city followed. By September 1, the Soviets could only reinforce and supply their forces in Stalingrad by perilous crossings of the Volga, under constant bombardment by German artillery and aircraft. Events 462 - Possible start of first Byzantine indiction cycle.
On September 5, the Soviet 24th and 66th Armies organised a massive attack against XIV Panzerkorps. Events 1590 - Alexander Farnese 's army forces Henry IV of France to raise the siege of Paris. The Luftwaffe helped the German forces repulse the offensive by subjecting Soviet artillery positions and defensive lines to heavy attack. The Soviets were forced to withdraw at midday after only a few hours. Of the 120 tanks the Soviets committed, 30 were lost to air attack[26]. Soviet operations were constantly hampered by the Luftwaffe. On 18 September, the Soviet 1st Guards and 24th Army launched an offensive against VIII Armeekorps at Kotluban. Events 96 - Nerva is proclaimed Roman Emperor after Domitian is assassinated VIII Fliegerkorps dispatched wave after wave of Stuka dive-bombers to prevent a breakthrough. The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka (from Stu rz' ka' mpfflugzeug, " Dive bomber " was a two-seat (pilot and rear gunner The offensive was repulsed, and the Stukas claimed 41 of the 106 Soviet tanks knocked out that morning while escorting Bf 109s destroyed 77 Soviet aircraft, shattering their remaining strength[27]. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Amid the debris of the wrecked city, the Soviet 62nd and 64th Armies, which included the Soviet 13th Guards Rifle Division, anchored their defense lines with strongpoints in houses and factories. The term Army, besides its generalized meaning (see " Army " specifically denotes a major military formation in militaries of various countries including Fighting was fierce and desperate. The life expectancy of a newly-arrived Soviet private in the city dropped to less than 24 hours, while that of a Soviet officer was about 3 days. Stalin's Order No. 227 of July 27, 1942, decreed that all commanders who order unauthorized retreat should be subjects of a military tribunal. Order No 227 of July 28 1942 was issued by Joseph Stalin acting as People's Commissar of Defence Events 1214 - Battle of Bouvines: In France, Philip II of France defeats John of England. Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. “Not a step back!” was the slogan. A slogan is a memorable Motto or Phrase used in a Political, commercial, Religious and other context as a repetitive expression of The Germans pushing forward into Stalingrad suffered heavy casualties.
German military doctrine was based on the principle of combined-arms teams and close cooperation by tanks, infantry, engineers, artillery, and ground-attack aircraft. Military doctrine is the concise expression of how military forces contribute to campaigns major operations Battles and engagements It is a guide Combined arms is an approach to Warfare which seeks to integrate different arms of a Military to achieve mutually complementary effects A tank is a tracked, Armoured fighting vehicle designed for Front-line combat which combines Operational mobility and tactical The Infantry is the oldest and most numerous of the Combat Arms in the Armed forces, and consists A military engineer is primarily responsible for the design and construction of offensive defensive and logistical structures for Warfare Other duties include the Artillery (from French artillerie) is a military Combat Arm which employs any apparātus machine Ground-attack aircraft are military aircraft designed to attack targets on the ground and are often deployed as Close air support for and in proximity to their own ground forces 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 infantry to either fight on their own or risk taking casualties from their own supporting fire; it neutralized German close air support and weakened artillery support. Bitter fighting raged for every street, every factory, every house, basement and staircase. There were fire-fights in the sewers. The Germans, calling this unseen urban warfare Rattenkrieg ("Rat War"), bitterly joked about capturing the kitchen but still fighting for the living-room. Urban warfare is modern warfare conducted in Urban areas such as Towns and cities.
Fighting on Mamayev Kurgan, a prominent, blood-soaked hill above the city, was particularly merciless. Mamayev Kurgan (Мамаев Курган is a dominant height overlooking the city of Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad in southern Russia. The position changed hands many times. [28] During one Soviet counter-attack, the Russians lost an entire division of 10,000 men in one day. This division was the 13th Guards Rifle Division, assigned to retake Mamayev Kurgan and Railway Station No. 1, on September 13. Both objectives were successful, only to temporary degrees. The railway station changed hands 14 times in 6 hours. By the following evening, the 13th Guards Rifle Division did not exist, but its men had killed an approximately equal number of Germans. According to Antony Beevor, two bodies were exhumed atop Mamayev Kurgan in 1944 during restoration, one German, one Soviet, who had apparently killed each other by simultaneous bayonet impalement through the chests, and who had at that moment been buried by an exploding artillery shell. At the Grain Silo, a huge grain-processing complex dominated by a single enormous silo, combat was so close that at times Soviet and German soldiers could hear each other breathe. Combat raged there for weeks. When German soldiers finally took the position, only forty Soviet bodies were found, though the Germans had thought there to be many more Soviet soldiers present due to the ferocity of Soviet resistance. The Soviets burned the heaps of grain as they retreated. In another part of the city, a Soviet platoon under the command of Yakov Pavlov turned an apartment building into an impenetrable fortress. A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four sections or Squads and containing about 30 to 50 soldiers Not to be confused with Ivan Dmitriyevich Pavlov, another veteran of Stalingrad and now a revered elder in the Russian Orthodox Church. Fortifications are Military Constructions and Buildings designed for defense in Warfare Humans have constructed defensive works for The building, later called “Pavlov's House,” oversaw a square in the city center. Pavlov's House (дом Павлова— dom Pavlova) became the name of a fortified Apartment building during the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942 The soldiers surrounded it with minefields, set up machine-gun positions at the windows, and breached the walls in the basement for better communications[21]. They were not relieved, and not significantly reinforced, for two months. Well after the Battle, Chuikov liked to joke, perhaps accurately, that more Germans died trying to capture Pavlov's House than died capturing Paris. According to Beevor, after each wave, throughout the second month, of the Germans' repeated, persistent assaults against the building, the Soviets had to run out and kick down the piles of German corpses in order for the machine and anti-tank gunners in the building to have clear firing lines across the square. Sgt. Pavlov was awarded the "Hero of the Soviet Union" for his actions.
With no end in sight, the Germans started transferring heavy artillery to the city, including the gigantic 800 mm railroad gun nicknamed Dora. Artillery (from French artillerie) is a military Combat Arm which employs any apparātus machine Schwerer Gustav (English Heavy Gustav) and Dora were the names of the German 80 cm K (E Railway guns They were developed in 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 8 meters high. When they were able to move forward, they came under Soviet antitank fire from wrecked buildings. Anti-tank refers to any method of combating military Armored fighting vehicles notably Tanks The most common anti-tank systems
Soviet snipers also successfully used the ruins to inflict heavy casualties on the Germans. Snipers of the Soviet Union played an important role mainly on the Eastern Front of World War II, apart from other preceding and subsequent conflicts The most successful sniper was Vasily Zaytsev who is also the most famous [29][30]. Captain Vasily Grigoryevich Zaytsev (Васи́лий Григо́рьевич За́йцев vʌˈsʲilʲɪj grʲɪˈgorʲjevʲɪtɕ ˈzajtsɨf ( March 23, Zaytsev was credited with 242 confirmed kills during the battle and a grand total of more than 300; he was also credited with killing a specially-sent, though potentially fictional German sniper known by the names Erwin König and Heinz Thorvald. Heinz Thorvald (died c 1942 was an alleged apocryphal, yet famous German sniper best known from the memoirs of Vasily Grigoryevich Zaytsev and Heinz Thorvald (died c 1942 was an alleged apocryphal, yet famous German sniper best known from the memoirs of Vasily Grigoryevich Zaytsev and Zaitsev fixed a standard Moisin-Nagant rifle scope to a Soviet 20mm anti-tank rifle for use against Germans hiding behind walls under window sills. The 20mm rounds easily penetrated the brick and the soldier behind it.
For both Stalin and Hitler, the battle of Stalingrad became a prestige issue in addition to the actual strategic significance of the battle. The Soviet command moved the Red Army's strategic reserves from the Moscow area to the lower Volga, and transferred aircraft from the entire country to the Stalingrad region. The Red Army ( Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия R aboche- K rest'yanskaya K rasnaya A rmiya Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of
The strain on both military commanders was immense: Paulus developed an uncontrollable tic in his eye, which eventually afflicted the left side of his face, while Chuikov experienced an outbreak of eczema that required him to bandage his hands completely. Eczema (from Greek έκζεμα) is a form of Dermatitis, or Inflammation of the Epidermis. Troops on both sides faced the constant strain of close-range combat.
Determined to crush Soviet resistance, Luftflotte 4s Stukawaffe flew 700 individual sorties against Soviet positions at the Dzherzhinskiy Tractor Factory on 5 October. The Vogograd tractor factory (VTZ (Волгоградский тракторный завод is a heavy equipment Factory located in Volgograd, Russia Events 869 - The Fourth Council of Constantinople is convened to decide about what to do about Patriarch Photius of Constantinople Several Soviet regiments were wiped out; the entire staff of the Soviet 339th Infantry Regiment were killed the following morning during an air raid[31].
By mid-October, the Luftwaffe intensified its efforts against remaining Red Army positions holding the west bank. By now, Soviet aerial resistance had ceased to be effective. Luftflotte 4 flew 2,000 sorties on 14 October and 600 tons of bombs were dropped while German infantry surrounded the three factories. Stukageschwader 1, 2, and 77 had silenced Soviet artillery on the eastern bank of the Volga to a large degree before turning their attention to the shipping that was once again trying to reinforce the narrowing Soviet pockets of resistance. The 62nd Army had been cut in two, and, due to intensive air attack against its supply ferries, were now being paralyzed.
With the Soviets forced into a 1,000-yard (910 m) strip of land on the western bank of the Volga, over 1,208 Stuka missions were flown in an effort to eliminate them[32]. Despite the heavy air bombardment (Stalingrad suffered heavier bombardment than that inflicted on Sedan and Sevastopol), the Soviet 62 Army, with just 47,000 men and 19 tanks, prevented the VI Armee and IV Panzerarmee from wrestling the west bank out of Soviet control. Sevastopol ( see pronunciation below) is a port city in Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast of the Crimea Peninsula
The Luftwaffe remained in command of the sky into early November, and Soviet aerial resistance during the day was nonexistent, but after flying 20,000 individual sorties, its original strength of 1,600 serviceable aircraft had fallen 40% to 950. The Kampfwaffe (bomber force) had been hardest hit, having only 232 out of a force of 480 left[33]. Despite enjoying qualitative superiority against the VVS and possessing eighty percent of the Luftwaffe's resources on the Eastern Front, Luftflotte 4 could not prevent Soviet aerial power from growing. By the time of the counter-offensive, the Soviets were superior numerically.
The Soviet bomber force, the Aviatsiya Dalnego Destviya (ADD), having taken crippling losses over the past 18 months, was restricted to flying at night. The Soviets flew 11,317 sorties in this manner, from 17 July to 19 November over Stalingrad and the Don-bend sector. These raids caused little damage and were of nuisance value only. [34][35] The situation for the Luftwaffe was now becoming increasingly difficult. On 8 November substantial units from Luftflotte 4 were removed to combat the American landings in North Africa. Operation Torch (initially called Operation Gymnast) was the British - American invasion of French North Africa in World War II The German air-arm found itself spread thin across Europe, and struggling to maintain its strength in the other southern sectors of the Soviet-German front[36].
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. Volgogradskiy Metallurgicheskiy Zavod Krasny Oktyabr Closed Joint-Stock Company (Закрытое акционерное общество "Волгоградский металлургический Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky ( Polish: Feliks Edmundowicz Dzierżyński, Russian: Феликс Эдмундович Дзержинский Belarusian 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. These civilians also volunteered as tank crews to replace the dead and wounded, though they had no experience or training in operating tanks during combat.
Soviet counter-offensives
Recognizing that German troops were ill prepared for offensive operations during the winter, the Stavka decided to conduct a number of offensive operations of its own to exploit this weakness, with the recognition that most of the German troops were redeployed elsewhere on the southern sector of the Eastern Front. Stavka (Ставка was the term used to refer to command element of Armed forces from the time of the Kievan Rus′, more formally during the history
Seen in post-war history as a pivotal strategic period of war that began the Second Period of the Great Patriotic War (19 November 1942 - 31 December 1943), these operations would open the Winter Campaign of 1942-1943 (19 November 1942 - 3 March 1943) taking on the strategic and operational planning structure below, employing several Fronts, and some 15 Armies.
Stalingrad Strategic Offensive Operation 19 November 1942 - 2 February 1943 Southwestern, Don, Stalingrad Fronts
- Operation Uranus 19 November 1942 - 30 November 1942
- Southwestern Front 1st Guards, 21st, 5th Tank, 17th Air Armies, and the 25th Tank Corps
- Don Front 24th, 65th, 66th, 16th Air Armies
- Stalingrad Front 28th, 51st, 57th, 62nd, 64th, 8th Air Armies
- Kotelnikovo Offensive Operation 12 December 1942 - 31 December 1942
- Stalingrad Front 2nd Guards, 5th Shock, 51st, 8th Air Armies
- Middle Don Offensive Operation (Operation Little Saturn) 16 December 1942 - 30 December 1942
- Southwestern Front
- Don Front
- Operation Koltso (English: Operation Ring) 10 January 1943 - 2 February 1943
- Don Front 21st, 24th, 57th, 62nd, 64th, 65th, 66th, 16th Air Armies
The German offensive to take Stalingrad had been halted by a combination of stubborn Red Army resistance inside the city and local weather conditions. The Southern Front was a Front - a roughly Army group sized formation - of the Soviet Army during the Second World War. Operation Uranus was the Soviet encirclement of German forces in the Battle of Stalingrad during World War 2. The 1st Guards Army was a Soviet field army that fought on the Eastern Front during World War II, being formed from the 2nd Reserve Army with five Guards The 62nd Order of Lenin Army (62-я армия was a field army established by the Soviet Union 's Red Army during the Second World War The 2nd Guards Army was a field army of the Soviet Union 's Red Army that fought in World War II, notably at Stalingrad. Operation Saturn was a Red Army operation on the Eastern Front of World War II that led to battles in The 62nd Order of Lenin Army (62-я армия was a field army established by the Soviet Union 's Red Army during the Second World War The Soviet counter-offensive planning used deceptive measures that eventually trapped and destroyed the 6th Army and other Axis forces around the city, becoming the second large scale defeat of the German Army during Second World War. The 6th Army was a German Field army which saw action in World War I and World War II. [37] During the siege, the German, Italian, Hungarian, and Romanian armies protecting Army Group B's flanks had pressed their headquarters for support. The 6th Army was a German Field army which saw action in World War I and World War II. The Italian participation in the Eastern Front of World War II began after the launch of Operation Barbarossa ( Unternehmen Barbarossa The Hungarian Second Army (Second Magyar Honved was a Hungarian field army which saw action during World War II. This article is a detailed picture of Romanian involvement in the Battle of Stalingrad. Army Group B was the name of three different German Army Groups that saw action during World War II. Headquarters (HQ denotes the location where most if not all of the important functions of an organization are concentrated [38] The Hungarian Second Army, consisting of mainly ill-equipped and ill-trained units, was given the task of defending a 200 km section of the front north of Stalingrad between the Italian Army and Voronezh. The Hungarian Second Army (Second Magyar Honved was a Hungarian field army which saw action during World War II. Voronezh (Воро́неж) is a large city in southwestern Russia not far from Ukraine. This resulted in a very thin line, with some sectors where 1–2 km stretches were being defended by a single platoon. A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four sections or Squads and containing about 30 to 50 soldiers Soviet forces held several bridgeheads on the western bank of the river and presented a potentially serious threat to Army Group B.
Similarly, on the southern flank of the Stalingrad sector the front south-west of Katelnikovo was held only by the Romanian VII Corps, and beyond it a single German 16th Motorized Infantry Division.
However, Hitler was so focused on the city itself, that requests from the flanks for support were refused. The chief of the Army General Staff, Franz Halder, expressed concerns about Hitler's preoccupation with the city, pointing at the Germans' weak flanks, claiming that if the situation on the flanks was not rectified then 'there would be a disaster'. The Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH was Germany 's Army High Command from 1936 to 1945 Franz Ritter Halder ( June 30 1884 &ndash April 2 1972) was a German General and the head of the Army General Hitler had claimed to Halder that Stalingrad would be captured and the weakened flanks would be held with 'national socialist ardour, clearly I cannot expect this of you (Halder)'. Halder was then replaced in mid October with General Kurt Zeitzler. Kurt Zeitzler ( June 9, 1895 &ndash September 25, 1963) was an officer in the German Reichswehr
Operation Uranus
In autumn the Soviet generals Aleksandr Vasilyevskiy and Georgy Zhukov, responsible for strategic planning in the Stalingrad area, concentrated massive Soviet forces in the steppes to the north and south of the city. Operation Uranus was the Soviet encirclement of German forces in the Battle of Stalingrad during World War 2. Events 1095 - The Council of Clermont, called by Pope Urban II to discuss sending the First Crusade to the Holy Land Events 627 - Battle of Nineveh: A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeats Emperor Khosrau II 's Persian Events 563 - The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by Earthquakes Events 1095 - The Council of Clermont, called by Pope Urban II to discuss sending the First Crusade to the Holy Land For the town in Argentina, see 28 de Noviembre. Events Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Vasilevsky (Алекса́ндр Миха́йлович Василе́вский &ndash December 5 1977 was a Soviet military commander promoted The German northern flank was particularly vulnerable, since it was defended by Italian, Hungarian, and Romanian units that suffered from inferior training, equipment, and morale when compared with their German counterparts. The Italian participation in the Eastern Front of World War II began after the launch of Operation Barbarossa ( Unternehmen Barbarossa The Hungarian Second Army (Second Magyar Honved was a Hungarian field army which saw action during World War II. This article is a detailed picture of Romanian involvement in the Battle of Stalingrad. Morale, also known as esprit de corps when discussing the morale of a group is an intangible term used for the capacity of people to maintain Belief in This weakness was known and exploited by the Soviets, who preferred to face off against non-German troops whenever it was possible, just as the British preferred attacking Italian troops, instead of German ones, whenever possible, in North Africa. The plan was to keep pinning the Germans down in the city, then punch through the overstretched and weakly defended German flanks and surround the Germans inside Stalingrad. During the preparations for the attack, Marshal Zhukov personally visited the front, which was rare for such a high-ranking general. Marshal of the Soviet Union ( Marshal Sovietskovo Soyuza Советского Союза'' was the de facto highest military rank of the Soviet Union. [21] The operation was code-named “Uranus” and launched in conjunction with Operation Mars, which was directed at Army Group Center. Operation Uranus was the Soviet encirclement of German forces in the Battle of Stalingrad during World War 2. Operation Mars was the operation codename for the Rzhev offensive operation part of the Rzhev-Vyazma strategic offensive operation (08 Army Group Center (Heeresgruppe Mitte was the name of two distinct German strategic Army groups that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II The plan was similar to Zhukov's victory at Khalkin Gol three years before, where he had sprung a double envelopment and destroyed the 23rd Division of the Japanese army. The Battle of Khalkhyn Gol (бои на реке Халхин-Гол Халхын голын байлдаан Japanese ノモンハン事件 Nomonhan jiken --i The pincer movement or double envelopment is a basic element of Military strategy which has been used to some extent in many Wars and is considered The was an Infantry division in the Imperial Japanese Army. Its Call-sign was the. [39]
On November 19, the Red Army unleashed Uranus. Events 1095 - The Council of Clermont, called by Pope Urban II to discuss sending the First Crusade to the Holy Land The Red Army ( Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия R aboche- K rest'yanskaya K rasnaya A rmiya The attacking Soviet units under the command of Gen. Nikolay Vatutin consisted of three complete armies, the 1st Guards Army, 5th Tank Army, and 21st Army, including a total of 18 infantry divisions, eight tank brigades, two motorized brigades, six cavalry divisions and one anti-tank brigade. Nikolai Fyodorovich Vatutin (Николай Федорович Ватутин ( December 16, 1901 - April 14, 1944) was a Soviet The 1st Guards Army was a Soviet field army that fought on the Eastern Front during World War II, being formed from the 2nd Reserve Army with five Guards The 5th Guards Tank Army was a Soviet Guards armoured formation which fought in many notable actions during World War II. A division is a large Military unit or formation usually consisting of around ten to thirty thousand soldiers A brigade is a Military unit Echelon: is Armoured warfare or tank warfare is the use of Armoured fighting vehicles in Modern warfare. The Cavalry (from French cavalerie) is the second oldest of the Combat Arms, and as Soldiers or Warriors who fought mounted on The preparations for the attack could be heard by the Romanians, who continued to push for reinforcements, only to be refused again. Thinly spread, outnumbered and poorly equipped, the Romanian Third Army, which held the northern flank of German Sixth Army, was shattered. The Romanian Third Army was a field army that fought as part of the German Army Group B during World War II, in Ukraine, Crimea, and On November 20, a second Soviet offensive (two armies) was launched to the south of Stalingrad, against points held by the Romanian IV Corps. Events 284 - Diocletian was chosen as Roman Emperor. 762 - Bögü Khan of the Uyghurs, The Romanian forces, made up primarily of infantry, collapsed almost immediately. Soviet forces raced west in a pincer movement, and met two days later near the town of Kalach, sealing the ring around Stalingrad. The pincer movement or double envelopment is a basic element of Military strategy which has been used to some extent in many Wars and is considered Kalach-na-Donu (Кала́ч-на-Дону́ or Kalach-on-the-Don, is a town in Volgograd Oblast, Russia, located on the Don River The Russians later reconstructed the link up for use as propaganda, and the piece of footage achieved worldwide fame. Propaganda is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people
Stalingrad Pocket
Because of the Soviet pincer attack, about 230,000 German and Romanian soldiers[40], as well as the Croatian 369th Reinforced Infantry Regiment [41] and other volunteer subsidiary troops, found themselves trapped inside the resulting pocket. The 369th Reinforced Infantry Regiment ( Croatian: 369 pojačana pješačka pukovnija, German: Verstärktes Kroatisches Infanterie-Regiment 369 Inside the pocket (German: kessel) there also were the surviving Soviet civilians—around 10,000,[21] and several thousand Soviet soldiers the Germans had taken captive during the battle. Salient Salients can be formed in a number of ways An attacker can produce a salient in the defender's line by either intentionally making a Pincer movement around the The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Salient Salients can be formed in a number of ways An attacker can produce a salient in the defender's line by either intentionally making a Pincer movement around the Not all German soldiers from Sixth Army were trapped; 50,000 were brushed aside outside the pocket. The encircling Red Army units immediately formed two defensive fronts: a circumvallation facing inward, to defend against any breakout attempt, and a contravallation facing outward, to defend against any relief attempt. Investment is the military tactic of surrounding an enemy Fort (or town with armed forces to prevent entry or escape Investment is the military tactic of surrounding an enemy Fort (or town with armed forces to prevent entry or escape
Adolf Hitler had declared in a public speech (in the Berlin Sportpalast) on September 30 that the German army would never leave the city. Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately The Berliner Sportpalast (built 1910 demolished 1973 was a multi-purpose winter sport venue and meeting hall in the Schöneberg section of Berlin Events 1399 - Henry IV is proclaimed King of England. 1744 - France and Spain defeat the At a meeting shortly after the Soviet encirclement, German army chiefs pushed for an immediate breakout to a new line on the west of the Don. Encirclement is a military term for the situation when a force or target is isolated and surrounded by enemy forces But Hitler was at his Bavarian retreat of Obersalzberg in Berchtesgaden with the head of the Luftwaffe, Göring. Berchtesgaden (bɛʁçtəsˈgaːdən is a municipality in the German Bavarian Alps. When asked by Hitler, Göring replied, after being convinced by Hans Jeschonnek[42], that the Luftwaffe could supply the Sixth Army with an "air bridge". Hans Jeschonnek ( 9 April 1899 &ndash 19 August 1943) was a German Generaloberst and a Chief of the General Staff This would allow the Germans in the city to fight on while a relief force was assembled.
A similar plan had been used successfully a year earlier at the Demyansk Pocket, albeit on a much smaller scale: it had been only an army corps at Demyansk as opposed to an entire army. Demyansk Pocket ( German: Festung Demjansk or Kessel von Demjansk; Демя́нский котёл is a name for the encirclement of German troops Also, Soviet fighter forces had improved considerably in both quality and quantity in the intervening year. But the mention of the successful Demyansk air supply operation reinforced Hitler's own views, and was endorsed by Hermann Göring several days later. Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also spelled Goering) (12 January 1893 15 October 1946 was a German Politician, Military leader and a leading member
The head of the Fourth Air Fleet (Luftflotte 4), Wolfram von Richthofen, tried to have this decision overturned without success. The Sixth Army would be supplied by air. The Sixth Army was the largest unit of this type in the world, almost twice as large as a regular German army. Also trapped in the pocket was a corps of the Fourth Panzer Army. It should have been clear that supplying the pocket by air was impossible -- the maximum 117. 5 tons they could deliver a day was less than the 800 tons/day needed by the pocket[43]. To supplement the limited number of Junkers Ju 52 transports, the Germans equipped aircraft wholly inadequate for the role, such as the bomber He-177 (some bombers performed adequately -- the Heinkel He-111 proved to be quite capable and was a lot faster than the Ju 52). But Hitler backed Göring's plan and reiterated his order of "no surrender" to his trapped armies.
The air supply mission failed. Appalling weather conditions, technical failures, heavy Soviet anti-aircraft fire and fighter interceptions led to the loss of 488 German aircraft. Anti-aircraft warfare, or air defense, is any method of engaging hostile military Aircraft in defence of ground objectives, ground or naval forces The Luftwaffe failed to achieve even the maximum supply capacity of 117 tons that it was capable of. An average of 94 tons of supplies per day was delivered to the trapped German Army. Even then, it was often inadequate or unnecessary; one aircraft arrived with 20 tonnes of Vodka and summer uniforms, completely useless in their current situation[44]. The transport aircraft that did land safely were used to evacuate technical specialists and sick or wounded men from the besieged enclave (some 42,000 were evacuated in all). The Sixth Army slowly starved. Pilots were shocked to find the troops assigned to offloading the planes too exhausted and hungry to unload food. General Zeitzler, moved by the troops' plight at Stalingrad, began to limit himself to their slim rations at meal times. Kurt Zeitzler ( June 9, 1895 &ndash September 25, 1963) was an officer in the German Reichswehr After a few weeks of such a diet he'd grown so emaciated that Hitler, annoyed, personally ordered him to start eating regular meals again.
The expense to the Transportgruppen was heavy. Some 266 Junkers Ju 52s were destroyed, one-third of the fleets strength on the Soviet-German front. The He 111 gruppen lost 165 aircraft in transport operations. Other losses included 42 Junkers Ju 86s, nine Fw 200 "Condors", five He 177 bombers and a single Ju 290. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The Heinkel He 177 Greif ( Griffin) was a long-range bomber of the Luftwaffe. The Junkers Ju 290 was a long-range transport maritime patrol aircraft and bomber used by the Luftwaffe late in World War II. The Luftwaffe also lost close to 1,000 highly experienced bomber crew personnel[45].
So heavy were the Luftwaffe's losses that four of Luftflotte 4s transport units (KGrzbV 700, KGrzbV 900, I. /KGrzbV 1 and II. /KGzbV 1) were "formally dissolved"[46].
Operation Saturn
Soviet forces consolidated their positions around Stalingrad, and fierce fighting to shrink the pocket began. Operation Saturn was a Red Army operation on the Eastern Front of World War II that led to battles in This article is about Operation Wintergewitter - Eastern Front. Operation Wintergewitter (Operation Winter Storm), a German attempt to relieve the trapped army from the South, was successfully fended off by the Soviets in December. This article is about Operation Wintergewitter - Eastern Front. The full impact of the harsh Russian winter set in. The Volga froze solid, allowing the Soviets to supply their forces more easily. The trapped Germans rapidly ran out of heating fuel and medical supplies, and thousands started to die of frostbite, malnutrition, and disease. Frostbite ( congelatio in Medical terminology) is the Medical condition whereby damage is caused to Skin and other tissues Malnutrition is a general term for a medical condition caused by an improper or insufficient diet. A disease is an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions and can be deadly
On December 16, the Soviets launched a second offensive, Operation Saturn, which attempted to punch through the Axis army on the Don and take Rostov. Events 755 - An Lushan revolts against Chancellor Yang Guozhong at Fanyang, initiating the An Shi Rebellion Operation Saturn was a Red Army operation on the Eastern Front of World War II that led to battles in Rostov-on-Don (Росто́в-на-Дону́ Rostov-na-Donu rɐ'stof nə dɐ'nu is the city and the administrative center of Rostov Oblast and the If successful, this offensive would have trapped the remainder of Army Group South, one third of the entire German Army in Russia, in the Caucasus. The Caucasus ( also referred to as North Caucasus) is a geopolitical region located between Europe Asia & Middle East The Germans set up a "mobile defense" in which small units would hold towns until supporting armor could arrive. The Soviets never got close to Rostov, but the fighting forced von Manstein to extract Army Group A from the Caucasus and re-establish the frontline some 250 km away from the city. The Tatsinskaya Raid also caused significant losses to Luftwaffe’s transport fleet. The Tatsinskaya Raid occurred during Operation Little Saturn in late December 1942 The Sixth Army now was beyond all hope of German reinforcement. The German troops in Stalingrad were not told this however, and continued to believe that reinforcements were on their way. Some German officers requested that Paulus defy Hitler’s orders to stand fast and instead attempt to break out of the Stalingrad pocket. Paulus refused, as he abhorred the thought of disobeying orders. Also, whereas a breakout may have been possible in the first few weeks, at this late stage, Sixth Army was short of the fuel required for such a breakout. The German soldiers would have faced great difficulty breaking through the Soviet lines on foot in harsh winter conditions. [21]
Soviet victory
The Germans inside the pocket retreated from the suburbs of Stalingrad to the city itself. South San Jose (cropjpg||thumb|A suburban development in San Jose California. The loss of the two airfields at Pitomnik on 16 January and Gumrak on the 25 January[47] meant an end to air supplies and to the evacuation of the wounded. An aerodrome is an area on land or water (including any buildings installations and equipment used for the arrival and departure of aircraft Events 27 BC - The title Augustus is bestowed upon Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian by the Roman Senate. Events 41 - After a night of negotiation Claudius is accepted as Roman Emperor by the Senate [48] Other sources indicate Luftwaffe's last flight from Gumrak was night 21st to 22nd of January 1943. [49]. Third and last serviceable runway was Stalingradskaja flight school which reportedly had last Luftwaffe landings and takeoff night 22nd to 23rd of January 1943. [50]. After daytime 23rd of Jan 1943 there were no more reported landings except for continuous air drops of ammunition and food until the end. The Germans were now not only starving, but running out of ammunition. Ammunition, often referred to as ammo, is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which Nevertheless they continued to resist stubbornly, partly because they believed the Soviets would execute those who surrendered. In particular, the so-called "HiWis", Soviet citizens fighting for the Germans, had no illusions about their fate if captured. Hiwi is a German abbreviation It has two meanings "voluntary assistant" ( Hilfswilliger, literally one willing to help) and "assistant scientist" The Soviets, in turn, were initially surprised by the large number of German forces they had trapped, and had to reinforce their encircling forces. Bloody urban warfare began again in Stalingrad, but this time it was the Germans who were pushed back to the banks of the Volga. Urban warfare is modern warfare conducted in Urban areas such as Towns and cities. They fortified their positions in the factory districts and the Soviets encountered almost the same tooth-and-nail ferocity that they themselves displayed a month earlier. The Germans adapted a simple defense of fixing wire nets over all windows to protect themselves from grenades. The Soviets responded with the simple solution of fixing fish hooks to the grenades so they stuck to the nets when thrown. The Germans now had no usable tanks in the city. Those tanks which still functioned could at best be used as stationary cannons. The Soviets did not bother employing tanks in areas where the urban destruction ruined their mobility. A Soviet envoy made Paulus a generous surrender offer—that if he surrendered within 24 hours, the Germans would receive a guarantee of safety for all prisoners, medical care for the German sick and wounded, a promise that prisoners would be allowed to keep their personal belongings, "normal" food rations, and repatriation to whatever country they wished to go to after the war—but Paulus, ordered not to surrender by Adolf Hitler, did not reply, ensuring the destruction of the 6th Army. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately
Hitler promoted Friedrich Paulus to Generalfeldmarschall on January 30, 1943, (the 10th anniversary of Hitler coming to power). Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus ( 23 September 1890 &ndash 1 February 1957) was an officer in the German Military Field Marshal General, in German Generalfeldmarschall ( (usually translated simply as Field marshal, and sometimes written only as Feldmarschall Events 1648 - Eighty Years' War: The Treaty of Münster is signed ending the conflict between the Netherlands and Spain Year 1943 ( MCMXLIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Since no German Field Marshal had ever been taken prisoner, Hitler assumed that Paulus would fight on or take his own life. The following list of German Field Marshals denotes those who have held the German rank of Generalfeldmarschall. Nevertheless, when Soviet forces closed in on Paulus' headquarters in the ruined GUM department store the next day, Paulus surrendered. Main Department Store or GUM (ГУМ pronounced as goom, in full Главный Универсальный Магазин, Glavnyi Universalnyi The remnants of the German forces in Stalingrad surrendered on February 2; 91,000 tired, ill, and starving Germans were taken captive. Events 962 - Translatio imperii: Pope John XII crowns Otto I Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor To the delight of the Soviet forces and the dismay of the Third Reich, the prisoners included 22 generals. Hitler was furious at the Field Marshal’s surrender and confided that "Paulus stood at the doorstep of eternal glory but made an about-face". According to the German documentary film Stalingrad, over 11,000 German and Axis soldiers refused to lay down their arms at the official surrender, seemingly believing that fighting to the death was better than what seemed like a slow end in Soviet camps. Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt in one fashion or another to " Document " reality These forces continued to resist until early March 1943, hiding in cellars and sewers of the city with their numbers being diminished at the same time by Soviet forces clearing the city of remaining enemy resistance. By March, what remained of these forces were small and isolated pockets of resistance that surrendered. According to Soviet intelligence documents shown in the documentary, 2,418 of the men were killed, and 8,646 were captured. [51]
Only 5,000 of the 91,000 German prisoners of war survived their captivity and returned home. Already weakened by disease, starvation and lack of medical care during the encirclement, they were sent to labour camps all over the Soviet Union, where most of them died of overwork and malnutrition. A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are engaged in Penal labor. A handful of senior officers were taken to Moscow and used for propaganda purposes and some of them joined National Committee for a Free Germany. Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of The National Committee for a Free Germany (Nationalkomitee Freies Deutschland or NKFD) was a German anti- Nazi organization that operated in the Soviet Some, including Paulus, signed anti-Hitler statements which were broadcast to German troops. General Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach offered to raise an anti-Hitler army from the Stalingrad survivors, but the Soviets did not accept this offer. Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach ( 22 August 1888 – 28 April 1976) was a German General. It was not until 1955 that the last of the handful of survivors were repatriated. Repatriation (from late Latin repatriare - to restore someone to his homeland is the process of return of Refugees or Soldiers to their homes
The German public was not officially told of the disaster until the end of January 1943, though positive reports in the German propaganda media about the battle had stopped in the weeks before the announcement. It was not the first major setback of the German military, but the crushing defeat at Stalingrad was unmatched in scale. On February 18, the minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, gave his famous Sportpalast speech in Berlin, encouraging the Germans to accept a total war which would claim all resources and efforts from the entire population. Events 3102 BC - Epoch (origin of the Kali Yuga. 1229 - The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II Holy A minister or a secretary is a Politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional Government. Propaganda is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people Paul Joseph Goebbels (German pronunciation ˈɡœbəls English generally ˈɡɝbəlz (29 October 1897 1 May 1945 was a German politician and Reich Minister of Public The Sportpalast or total war speech ( German: Sportpalastrede) was a speech delivered by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels Total war is a conflict of unlimited scope in which a Belligerent engages in a total mobilization of all available resources at his disposal
Legacy
The scope of the battle
The battle of Stalingrad was one of the largest battles in human history. It raged for 199 days. Numbers of casualties are difficult to compile due to the vast scope of the battle and the fact that the Soviet government did not allow estimates to be made, for fear the cost would be shown to be too high. In its initial phases, the Germans inflicted heavy casualties on Soviet formations; but the Soviet encirclement by punching through the German flank, mainly held by Romanian troops, effectively besieged the remainder of German Sixth Army, which had taken heavy casualties in street fighting prior to this. At different times the Germans had held up to 90% of the city, yet the Soviet soldiers and officers fought on fiercely. Some elements of the German Fourth Panzer Army also suffered casualties in operations around Stalingrad during the Soviet counter offensive.
Various scholars have estimated the Axis suffered 850,000 casualties of all types (wounded, killed, captured. . . etc) among all branches of the German armed forces and its allies, many of which were POWs who died in Soviet captivity between 1943 and 1955. 400,000 Germans, 200,000 Romanians, 130,000 Italians, and 120,000 Hungarians were killed, wounded or captured[52]. Of the 91,000 German POW's taken at Stalingrad 27,000 died within weeks[53] and only 5,000 returned to Germany in 1955. The remainder of the POWs died in Soviet captivity[54][55][56]. In the whole Stalingrad area the Axis lost 1. 5 million killed, wounded or captured [1]. 50,000 ex-Soviets Hiwis (local volunteers incorporated into the German forces in supporting capacities) were killed or captured by the Red Army. Hiwi is a German abbreviation It has two meanings "voluntary assistant" ( Hilfswilliger, literally one willing to help) and "assistant scientist" According to archival figures, the Red Army suffered a total of 1,129,619 total casualties [2]; 478,741 men killed and captured and 650,878 wounded. These numbers are for the whole Stalingrad Area; in the city itself 750,000 were killed, captured, or wounded. Also, more than 40,000 Soviet civilians died in Stalingrad and its suburbs during a single week of aerial bombing as the German Fourth Panzer and Sixth armies approached the city; the total number of civilians killed in the regions outside the city is unknown. In all, the battle resulted in an estimated total of 1. 7 million to 2 million Axis and Soviet casualties.
Besides being a turning point in the war, Stalingrad was also revealing of the discipline and determination of both the German Wehrmacht and the Soviet Red Army. Wehrmacht (literally "defense force" was the name of the unified Armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945 The Red Army ( Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия R aboche- K rest'yanskaya K rasnaya A rmiya The Soviets first defended Stalingrad against a fierce German onslaught. So great were Soviet losses that at times, the life expectancy of a newly arrived soldier was less than a day,[21] and the life expectancy of a Soviet officer was three days. Life expectancy is the average number of years of life remaining at a given age Their sacrifice is immortalized by a soldier of General Rodimtsev, about to die, who scratched on the wall of the main railway station (which changed hands 15 times during the battle) “Rodimtsev’s Guardsmen fought and died here for their Motherland. Aleksandr Ilich Rodimtsev (1905 - 1977 Russian: Александр Ильич Родимцев was a Colonel ”
For the heroism of the Soviet defenders of Stalingrad, the city was awarded the title Hero City in 1945. The Motherland Calls, (Родина-мать зовёт! "Rodina Mat' Zovyot!" also called Mother Motherland, Mother Motherland Is Calling, or simply Mamayev Kurgan (Мамаев Курган is a dominant height overlooking the city of Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad in southern Russia. Hero City ( Russian: город-герой gorod-geroy, Ukrainian: Місто-герой Misto-heroy) is a Soviet Honorary After the war, in the 1960s, a colossal monument, Mother Motherland was erected on Mamayev Kurgan, the hill overlooking the city. A monument is a structure either explicitly created to commemorate a person or important event or which has become important to a social group as a part of their remembrance of past The Motherland Calls, (Родина-мать зовёт! "Rodina Mat' Zovyot!" also called Mother Motherland, Mother Motherland Is Calling, or simply Mamayev Kurgan (Мамаев Курган is a dominant height overlooking the city of Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad in southern Russia. The statue forms part of a War memorial complex which includes ruined walls deliberately left the way they were after the battle. A war memorial is a building monument statue or other edifice to celebrate a War or victory or (predominating in modern times to commemorate those who died or were injured The Grain Silo, as well as Pavlov's House, the apartment building whose defenders eventually held out for two months until they were relieved, can still be visited. Pavlov's House (дом Павлова— dom Pavlova) became the name of a fortified Apartment building during the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942 Even today, one may find bones and rusty metal splinters on Mamayev Kurgan, symbols of both the human suffering during the battle and the successful yet costly resistance against the German invasion.
On the other side, the German Army showed remarkable discipline after being surrounded. Wehrmacht (literally "defense force" was the name of the unified Armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945 Encirclement is a military term for the situation when a force or target is isolated and surrounded by enemy forces It was the first time that it had operated under adverse conditions on such a scale.
Hitler, acting on Göring's advice, ordered that the German 6th Army be supplied by air; the Luftwaffe had successfully accomplished an aerial resupply in January 1942, as a German garrison had been surrounded in Demyansk for four months. In this case, however, there were obvious differences. The encircled forces at Demyansk were a much smaller garrison, while an entire army was trapped in Stalingrad.
During the latter part of the siege, short of food and clothing, many German soldiers starved or froze to death. [21] Yet, discipline was maintained until the very end, when resistance no longer served any useful purpose. Friedrich Paulus obeyed Hitler's orders, against many of Hitler's top generals' counsel and advice including that of von Manstein, and did not attempt to break out of the city. Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus ( 23 September 1890 &ndash 1 February 1957) was an officer in the German Military German ammunition, supplies, and food became all too scarce.
Paulus knew that the airlift had failed and that Stalingrad was lost. He asked for permission to surrender to save the life of his troops but Hitler refused and instead promoted him to the rank of Generalfeldmarschall. Field Marshal General, in German Generalfeldmarschall ( (usually translated simply as Field marshal, and sometimes written only as Feldmarschall No German officer of this rank had ever surrendered, and the implication was clear. If Paulus surrendered, he would shame himself and would become the highest ranking German officer ever to be captured. Hitler believed that Paulus would either fight to the last man or commit suicide. Choosing to live, Paulus surrendered, commenting that: "I have no intention of shooting myself for that Bavarian corporal".
Stalingrad in the media
The extreme conditions of the battle, including the paralyzing Soviet winter that precipitated massive German fatalities due to starvation and freezing, have been immortalized in several films of German, Russian, and American origin. The Battle of Stalingrad (1942 a massive battle on the Eastern Front of World War II and the bloodiest battle in human history has inspired various films books Stalingrad is a 1993 film by Joseph Vilsmaier, which depicts the horrors of combat on the Eastern Front of World War II in a realistic The struggle is also remembered and reflected upon in numerous books, for its significance in thwarting the German invasion, as well as its significance as a landmark of military barbarism and human suffering in which the loss of life was unprecedented. Operation Barbarossa ( Unternehmen Barbarossa) was the Codename for Nazi Germany 's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II
See also
- Romanian Armies in the Battle of Stalingrad
- Italian war in Soviet Union, 1941-1943
- Hungary during World War II
- Hungarian Second Army
- Croat 369th Reinforced Infantry Regiment
- Commanders of the Battle of Stalingrad
- Barmaley Fountain
References
- ^ Glantz
- ^ This force grew to 1,600 in early September by withdrawing forces from the Kuban region and Southern Caucasus: Hayward, p195
- ^ Bergström 2007, p. This article is a detailed picture of Romanian involvement in the Battle of Stalingrad. The Italian participation in the Eastern Front of World War II began after the launch of Operation Barbarossa ( Unternehmen Barbarossa See also the History of Europe, the History of present-day nations and states, Pannonian basin before Hungary, and Hungary. The Hungarian Second Army (Second Magyar Honved was a Hungarian field army which saw action during World War II. The 369th Reinforced Infantry Regiment ( Croatian: 369 pojačana pješačka pukovnija, German: Verstärktes Kroatisches Infanterie-Regiment 369 List of important officers and commanders of the German Wehrmacht, the Russian Red Army, Romanian Army, Italian army and Hungarian Army in the The Barmaley was a fountain in the city of Stalingrad, installed in front of the Museum of Defense of Tsaritsyn-Stalingrad Kuban ( Кубáнь) is a geographic region of Southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe 72.
- ^ J. S. A Hayward 1998, p. 225.
- ^ Bergstrom 2005, p. 87.
- ^ Bergström 2007, p. 72.
- ^ J. S. A Hayward 1998, p. 224.
- ^ Bergstom 2007, p. 122-123.
- ^ Russia's War: A History of the Soviet Effort: 1941-1945)
- ^ Russia's War: A History of the Soviet Effort: 1941-1945, Richard Overy
- ^ Bergström 2005, p. 126.
- ^ Hakim, Joy (1995). A History of Us: War, Peace and all that Jazz. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509514-6.
- ^ A.J.P Taylor & Alan Clark 1974, p. Alan John Percival Taylor ( March 25, 1906 – September 7, 1990) was a renowned English Historian of the 20th century Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark (13 April 1928 &ndash 5 September 1999 was a British Conservative Politician, Historian and Diarist 144.
- ^ Gilbert Villahermosa, The Reichsmarschall's Revelations, World War II Magazine,September 2006
- ^ McDonald 1986, p. 94.
- ^ Craig 1973, p. 25, p. 48.
- ^ Bergström 2007, p. 69.
- ^ Bergström 2007, p. 122.
- ^ Pojić, Milan. Hrvatska pukovnija 369. na Istočnom bojištu 1941. - 1943.. Croatian State Archives. The Croatian State Archives (Hrvatski državi arhiv are the National archives of Croatia located in its capital Zagreb. Zagreb, 2007.
- ^ Beevor 1998, p106
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Beevor, Antony [1999]. Antony James Beevor (born 14 December 1946) is a British Historian, educated at Winchester College and Sandhurst. Stalingrad (in English). Written by Anthony Beevor, Stalingrad is a narrative history of the epic battle fought in and around the city of Stalingrad during World War II Viking Press, Penguin Books. Viking Press is an American Publishing company currently owned by Penguin Books. Penguin Books is a British Publisher founded in 1935 by Allen Lane. ISBN 0-14-024985-0 (Pbk). Paperback, softback, or softcover describe and refer to a Book by the nature of its binding.
- ^ Bergström 2007, p. 73.
- ^ Bergström quotes: Soviet Reports on the effects of air raids between 23-26 August 1942. This indicates 955 people were killed and another 1,181 wounded
- ^ Bergström 2007, p. 74.
- ^ stalingrad-info.com/stalingrad1942.htm.
- ^ Bergström 2007, p. 75.
- ^ Bergström 2007, p. 80.
- ^ Craig 1973
- ^ WW2 Snipers
- ^ Snipers
- ^ Bergström 2007, p. 83.
- ^ Bergström 2007, p. 84.
- ^ Hayward 1998, p. 195.
- ^ Bergström 2007, p. 82.
- ^ Golovanov 2004, p. 265.
- ^ 8,314 German aircraft were produced from July-December 1942, but this could not keep pace with an attritional three front aerial war
- ^ pp. 108-119, Glantz, Soviet Military Deception
- ^ pp. 209-211, Haupt, Army Group South
- ^ www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resources/csi/drea2/Maps.html#map17.
- ^ von Manstein, Erich; Powell, Anthony G. ; Hart, B. H. Liddell; Blumenson, Martin (2004)
- ^ Pojić, Milan. Hrvatska pukovnija 369. na Istočnom bojištu 1941. - 1943.. Croatian State Archives. The Croatian State Archives (Hrvatski državi arhiv are the National archives of Croatia located in its capital Zagreb. Zagreb, 2007.
- ^ J. Hayward 1998, p. 234.
- ^ J. Hayward 1998, p. 310
- ^ Craig 1973
- ^ J. Hayward 1998, p. 310.
- ^ Bergström 2007, p. 122.
- ^ Bergström 2007, p. 96-97
- ^ MacDonald 1986, p. 98.
- ^ Gefr. Michael Deiml Meine Stalingradeinsätze. Einsätze des Bordmechanikers Gefr. Michael Deiml.
- ^ Pojić, Milan. Hrvatska pukovnija 369. na Istočnom bojištu 1941. - 1943.. Croatian State Archives. The Croatian State Archives (Hrvatski državi arhiv are the National archives of Croatia located in its capital Zagreb. Zagreb, 2007.
- ^ Stalingrad - OSA III - Stalingradin taistelu päättyy. Retrieved on 2007-07-16. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 622 - The beginning of the Islamic calendar. 1054 - Three Roman legates fractured relations between the Western and
- ^ Craig 1973
- ^ Rayfield 2004, p. 396.
- ^ J W. Baird, 1969, pp. 196.
- ^ Beevor 1998, pp. 430
- ^ Jorg Bernig, 1997, pp. 36
Further reading
- Bergström, Christer, (2007), Stalingrad - The Air Battle: 1942 through January 1943, Chevron Publishing Limited ISBN 978-1-85780-276-4
- Baird, Jay W, (1969), Journal of Contemporary History, The Myth of Stalingrad, Sage Publications, Ltd.
- Beevor, Antony (1998). Antony James Beevor (born 14 December 1946) is a British Historian, educated at Winchester College and Sandhurst. "Stalingrad" or "Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege: 1942–1943" (In the US). Written by Anthony Beevor, Stalingrad is a narrative history of the epic battle fought in and around the city of Stalingrad during World War II New York: Viking, 1998 (hardcover, ISBN 0-670-87095-1); London: Penguin Books, 1999 (paperback, ISBN 0-14-028458-3).
- Bernig,Jorg (1997). Eingekesselt: Die Schlacht um Stalingrad im deutschsprachigen Roman nach 1945: (German Life and Civilization Journal No 23), : Peter Lang publishers.
- Clark, Alan, Barbarossa (1965)
- Craig, William (1973). Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark (13 April 1928 &ndash 5 September 1999 was a British Conservative Politician, Historian and Diarist Enemy at the Gates: the Battle for Stalingrad. New York: Penguin Books (ISBN 0-14-200000-0 & ISBN 1-56852-368-8).
- Dibold, Hans. Doctor at Stalingrad. Littleton, CO: Aberdeen, 2001 (hardcover, ISBN 0-9713852-1-1).
- Einsiedel, Heinrich Graf von; Wieder, Joachim. Stalingrad: Memories and Reassessments. New York: Sterling Publishing, 1998 (paperback, ISBN 1-85409-460-2); London: Cassell, 2003 (paperback, ISBN 0-304-36338-3).
- Erickson, John. The Road to Stalingrad: Stalin's War with Germany, Vol. 1. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1984 (hardcover, ISBN 0-86531-744-5); New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1985 (hardcover, ISBN 0-586-06408-7); New Haven, CT; London: Yale University Press, 1999 (paperback, ISBN 0-300-07812-9); London: Cassell, 2003 (paperback, ISBN 0-304-36541-6).
- Golovanov, A. Ye. (2004) Dalnyaya bombardirovochnaya. Delta NB, Moscow.
- Hayward, Joel S. A. Stopped at Stalingrad: The Luftwaffe and Hitler's Defeat in the East, *1942–1943 (Modern War Studies). University Press of Kansas, 1998 (hardcover, ISBN 0-7006-0876-1); 2001 (paperback, ISBN 0-7006-1146-0).
- Holl, Adelbert. An Infantryman In Stalingrad: From 24 September 1942 to 2 February 1943. Pymble, NSW, Australia: Leaping Horseman Books, 2005 (hardcover, ISBN 0-9751076-1-5).
- Hoyt, Edwin Palmer. 199 Days: The Battle for Stalingrad. New York: A Forge Book, 1999 (paperback, ISBN 0-312-86853-7).
- Mayer, SL & Taylor, AJP (1974). History of World War II. London: Octopus Books. ISBN 0706403991 & ISBN 978-0706403992
- MacDonald, John. (1986) Great Battles of World War II. London: Michael Joseph books.
- Raus, Erhard. Panzer Operations: The Eastern Front Memoir of General Raus, 1941–1945, compiled and translated by Steven H. Newton. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2003 (hardcover, ISBN 0-306-81247-9); 2005 (paperback, ISBN 0-306-81409-9).
- Rayfield, Donald. Donald Rayfield (born 1942) is professor of Russian and Georgian at the University of London. Stalin and His Hangmen: The Tyrant and Those Who Killed for Him. Stalin and His Hangmen: An Authoritative Portrait of a Tyrant and Those Who Served Him by Donald Rayfield New York: Random House, 2004 (hardcover, ISBN 0-375-50632-2); 2005 (paperback, ISBN 0375757716).
- Reviewed by David R. Snyder in The Journal of Military History, Vol. 69, No. 1. (2005), pp. 265–266.
- Roberts, Geoffrey. Victory at Stalingrad: The Battle that Changed History. New York: Longman, 2002 (paperback, ISBN 0-582-77185-4).
- Samsonov A. M. , Stalingrad Battle, 4th ed. re-edited and added-to, Moscow, Science publishing, 1989. Russian: Самсонов А. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages М. Сталинградская битва, 4-е изд. , испр. и доп. — М. : Наука, 1989. [3] (in Russian)
- Taylor, A. J. P. and Mayer, S. L. , eds. A History Of World War Two. London: Octopus Books, 1974. ISBN 0-70640-399-1.
- von Manstein, Erich; Powell, Anthony G. ; Hart, B. H. Liddell; Blumenson, Martin (2004). Lost Victories: The War Memoirs of Hitler's Most Brilliant General. Zenith Press. ISBN 0-7603-2054-3
External links
- Detailed summary of campaign
- Stalingrad Battle 1942–1943
- Information, Photos, and Original Maps of the Battle
- Stalingrad-info.com, many Pictures from the battle and the city
- Volgograd State Panoramic Museum official homepage
- (Russian) Stalingrad Battle This site is sponsored by the main historical and culture organizations of Volgograd.
- The Battle of Stalingrad in Film and History Written with strong Socialist/Communist political under and overtones.
- The Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad in detail.
- Soviet Artilleryman's Story Of Stalingrad: Isaak Kobylyanskiy
- Roberts, Geoffrey. "Victory on the Volga", The Guardian, February 28, 2003
- Operation Blau (Serbian)
- Battle of Stalingrad (Serbian)
- The Soviet counter-offensive: Operation Uranus (Serbian)
- Disaster of 6th Army (Serbian)
- The Great Battle on the Volga on Google Video
- German Newsreels of the Battle of Stalingrad on Youtube
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