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Battle Of Stalingrad Essay

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The Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a battle that took place during World War II between the forces of Nazi Germany and their Romanian, Italian, and Hungarian allies, and the forces of the Soviet Union. At the beginning of World War II, Hitler focused on attacking Western Europe in order to create “living space” for his superior Aryan race. In 1941, Hitler turned his attention to the Soviet Union and decided that they needed to be destroyed before he was able to confront Great Britain and the United States. Hitler also believed that the Soviet Union was infiltrated by, and was under the control of the Jews (Walsh 8).
News quickly spread about Hitler wanting to attack the Soviet Union. German soldiers couldn’t believe it and …show more content…

Hitler detached Hoth’s armour and first sent him and his army south to the Caucasus. Hitler finally sent Hoth and his army northeast towards Stalingrad two weeks late. Sending Hoth and his army towards Caucasus first instead of directly towards Stalingrad allowed the Soviets to organize their defense. It also weakened Hoth’s army. By August 9, Hoth halted outside the city of Stalingrad due to lack of supplies. They had few vehicles and had already traveled many miles by foot and were exhausted. At the same time, Paulus and his Sixth Army were crossing the River Don heading southeast towards Stalingrad (Macdonald 92). By the end of July, The German Air Force, the Luftwaffe, took over the Volga River so they could use it for bringing supplies over. The Volga River was no longer capable of being used by the Soviets for the time being.
The battle would officially begin on August 23, 1942 when the Luftwaffe, started heavily bombing Stalingrad, destroying most of its residential and industrial infrastructure. The Luftwaffe destroyed almost two thousand Soviet aircraft in the first two days of the battle. It smashed road and rail communication, hospitals, and industrial plants. Nearly 300,000 Stalingrad citizens lost their lives but Stalin wouldn’t order an evacuation (Walsh 46). Hitler thought that Stalingrad would be seized in just a few

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