Stalingrad Turning Point

They were relying on the capture of the Russian oil fields to supply their army with fuel after their stockpiles had run out. Their lack of fuel is evident even in this battle as Friedrich Von Paulus, who was commanding the sixth army’s assault on Stalingrad, advance towards the city was very slow due to the fuel rations and at one point his army was even brought to a complete halt outside Kalach, as they had completely exhausted their fuel supply. The outcome of the Battle of Stalingrad exacerbated the Germans shortage of fuel, limiting the vital supply for their planes and tanks. Without fuel, the German panzer tanks and the mighty German Luftwaffe would be useless, thus rendering two of Germany’s greatest assets worthless. The Germans could not win the war without a reliable source of fuel. Therefore, the Battle of Stalingrad was a turning point in World War Two because it stopped the German advance into Russian thus denying them access to the Caucasus oil wells, exacerbating Germany’s fuel crisis and crippling the German army.

They were uncertain whether to attack to assault Stalingrad, Moscow or Ukraine. Each had its own particular key significance but since of the sheer size of Russia, it was an awful thought to assault every city at once, yet that is exactly what they did. This separation of troops had the German lines two far spread out and the Russian Red Army was able to smash through the German lines and surrounded the city of Stalingrad. This left the once compelling German sixth army was caught inside the city. It was simply an issue of time before the noose would begin to tighten around the worn down and tired Germans. Besides; the Russian winter was something the Germans were not arranged for. Most of the Wehrmacht soldiers were wearing garments made for medium climate weather, which was nothing during this unusually cold winter. A lot of their number succumbed to the cold. At the point when the winter finished, things improved, the defrost that originated from the softening snow muddied almost every street making it amazingly troublesome for Nazi tanks, trucks and even men to travel. The rate of advancement was slowed down due to the mud. Thirdly, the eastern front was just not the Red Army versus the Wehrmacht, there were numerous fanatic groups as well. These groups used guerrilla warfare to attack German convoys and troops while they were passing

Stalingrad - Site of critical World War II Soviet victory that reversed Germany's advance to the East. In late 1942, Russian forces surrounded the Germans, and on Feb. 2, 1943, the German Sixth Army surrendered. First major defeat for the Germans in World War II.

On 19 November 1942, the Red Army launched Operation Uranus, a two-pronged attack at the weaker Romanian and Hungarian forces protecting the

Battle of Stalingrad (Rough Draft) The battle of Stalingrad was a bloody war with over two million casualties. For Russia, it was the turning point in the war. Germany attacked Stalingrad, Russia during the winter of 1942.

The battle of Stalingrad raged from August 1942 until the German surrender on 2 February 1943. Significantly, it was the first catastrophic defeat to befall the Wermacht Army who not only lost the battle but were severely humiliated. Indeed, the German Army never fully recovered from this blow to its morale. Upwards of 270,000 troops were killed and 91,000 prisoners were taken by the Red Army; included in this latter number were 23 German Generals. Conversely, morale in the Red Army soared as a consequence of Stalingrad giving the Russians increased strength and confidence. This battle represented a turning point in the Second World War.

death, and even ranked him to field marshall and reminding Paulus that no general of that rank had ever surrendered.(Britannica.com) Consequently, on January 31 Paulus disobeyed Hitler and surrendered along with twenty other generals. A few days later on February 2 the remaining ninety one thousand men also surrendered, and were eventually killed or put into concentration camps, and Prison. After this extraordinary battle ended, an estimated 250,000 German and Romanian Corpses in and around Stalingrad were recovered, and the total of Axis casualties, wounded, or missing was believed to be an estimated 800,000. On the Russian side they suffered quite a bit more casualties having an estimated 1,100,000 deaths, wounded, or missing.(Britannica.com) The Battle of Stalingrad proved to be very significant in history because it not only had a large impact on World War Two but also the whole the world. For instance, this battle alone had over a million deaths, which caused many families to suffer and and changed the city of Stalingrad greatly. Also, it demonstrated how strong and great the Russian defense was to not give up or surrender to the Germans, whom were very close to taking over this industrious city. Thus, because the Russians were brave, and had

Also, during the Battle of Stalingrad about 1.5 million Axis troops were killed, wounded or captured. Another tragedy was the death tolls where that more than 40,000 Soviet Union civilians died in the suburbs around and in Stalingrad in just a single week of aerial bombing as the German military advanced to the city. The fighting within the Stalingrad was intense close quarter combat where Soviet troops positioned their lines as close to the Germans as possible in an attempt to reduce casualties, as it was often the safest place from German artillery and air raids. As the casualty numbers grew, Germany found it more and more difficult to replace their loses as the Soviets used their larger population to their advantage, costly reinforcing the city, often faired across the Volga River under fire by German machine guns. The Soviets, despite their heavy losses, managed to constantly hold a part of the city and stop the Axis from taking total control.

As the winter sets in the Nazi army weakens. They are cold, starving, low on ammunition, and there guns were freezing. Trapped and poorly supplied the Germans waved the white flag on february 2 1943. Only 6,000 German soldiers survived that fought in stalingrad. The war ended with more than 2 million casualties. The Soviet victory at Stalingrad is a turning point in the war. It plays a key role in the ultimate downfall of the third Reich.

Operation Uranus took place November 1942 around the city of Stalingrad. The German sixth Army, fourth Panzer Division, and its supporting allies had been attacking Soviet forces in and around Stalingrad since August 1942. Many historians think Adolf Hitler viewed a win in Stalingrad as a political and symbolic defeat of the Soviets. During a meeting with Joseph Stalin in September 1942, Generals Vasilevsky, and Zhukov noted that the German sixth Army and the fourth Panzer Division flanks were thin and poorly equipped. The Generals came up with a pincer offensive attack designed to surround the German sixth Army and its subordinate commands in the city of Stalingrad. It took the Soviet Army 4 days to surround the Germans. Once the Soviets surrounded the Germans, they began to compress the German forces into the city, cutting off their supply channels and ultimately resulting in the German 6th Armies surrender.

Although there are various factors which triggered the German’s efforts in Stalingrad to become futile, the extreme weather conditions that the German and Red army troops faced was unquestionably the most impactful. In spite of both forces having to cope with fighting against the weather, the reason that the German’s struggled whilst the Russians prevailed was due to differing distinct battle tactics which were developed to aid both forces whilst in fight. The Russian Army adapted to the harsh weather conditions that they were facing in many ways that the Germans did not; an example of this is the addition of gasoline to the oil within their guns which prevented the oil from freezing, allowing the Red Army to shoot with ease whilst the Germans

The Battle of Stalingrad took place between July 17, 1942 and February 2, 1943 and was fought between Nazi Germany, the USSR, Romania, Italy, Croatia, and Hungary. The battle took place in a Soviet Union city named Stalingrad, now known as Volgograd.

The opening moves of the battle began as the Nazi forces pushed from the west across the Volga River. Chasing the Soviet 62nd and 64th Armies into Stalingrad. Civilians did not have time for evacuation. The Soviet’s new of the upcoming invasion as they recently lost the supply depots west of the Don River. Germany had thought the taking of Stalingrad would be a short undertaking, this oversight of planning left the Nazi forces ill equipped to fight through the harsh Soviet winter. Soviet forces were pushed to the banks of the Volga, this actually gave them a viable logistical lane for resupplying and troop movement. The Soviets used this to their advantage keeping the line stocked in total secrecy to the Nazi’s. Through Human intelligence gained from

Its because the main reason being that the germans wanted to secure the oil fields in the caucasus. So stalin defend it for the oil fields but also because it was named after him he also took it as a great threat to the propaganda of the war and that it would be bad morale for troops and russian people. So stalin knowing that he had very little firepower gave the wild order of Order No. 227 issued on July 28, 1942 was an order issued by Joseph Stalin who was acting as the People's Commissar of Defence. More famously known as “not one step back” which became the slogan for the russian military during this time but what it meant was. It basically was to help with the mass retreat and desertion the russians were facing and was said that if you do retreat or refuse to fight you will be killed on site. This helped but the russian troops were deserting manly due to the fact that they were being forced to join the military and then having little to no combat experience. Until stalingrad was very daunting to the once illiterate peasant farmers now suppose to protect the city from well trained nazis. So the order helped with troops

One may wonder why Stalingrad was so important to Hitler. Well, Stalingrad was the capital of the Soviet Union, the heart of their industry and their largest city. As an industrial city, Stalingrad contained numerous factories that provided tanks, guns and ammunition for the Soviet war effort. Without the war supplies and the oil fields in Caucasus, nothing would be supporting the Soviet forces. And more importantly, a World War Two database describes Stalingrad as a “city [that] bore the name of Hitler’s nemesis, Joseph Stalin, [which] would make the city’s capture an ideological and propaganda coup” (http://en.allexperts.com). As both Hitler and Stalin recognized, taking Stalingrad would prove essential to their country’s propaganda, boosting their nation’s morale and destroying the others. Stalingrad was named after Stalin and thus symbolic to both sides of the war. Basically, to the Germans, taking Stalingrad meant the crushing the Soviets; taking them out of the war once and for all.