Sam Carter L9
To What Extent was the Battle of Stalingrad a More Important Turning Point in World War II than the Battle of Britain?
The Battle of Stalingrad was fought from the September 1942 through to early February 1943, and took place after the Germans had reached the fringes of Leningrad and Moscow in operation Barbarossa. Hitler’s, and the German commander of the sixth army, General von Paulus’ main aim was to take and secure the oil fields of Caucasus in Russia. The oil from here would prove valuable, as it would not only replenish the German oil stores that were running low, but also cut off a key Soviet fuel supply. However, Hitler then made a major error, and commanded that the forces should be split, ordering the sixth army,
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The Soviet army was increasing in numbers, and eventually, it is estimated that there were a million Russian soldiers fighting for Stalingrad. On the 19th November, General Zhukov launched a huge attack on both of the German flanks. This led to the Germans becoming trapped and surrounded by Soviets, leaving no way out. Hitler refused to allow von Paulus to surrender, promoting him to Field Marshall, and stressing that no German Field Marshall had ever surrendered in the past. However, it had no effect, German supplies had run out and soldiers were gradually beginning to either starve or freeze to death. Field Marshall von Paulus surrendered on the 2nd February 1943.
The Battle of Stalingrad was an enormously important turning point in World War II as it was a huge German disaster. The whole of the German’s sixth and supposedly best, army was lost and 91,000 were taken prisoner by the Soviets. The Germans didn’t have the manpower to combat the Russian advance, and so, retreated with not only a huge loss of soldiers, but a huge loss of equipment too. Around 75% of the German’s resources had been sent into Russia, and hardly any had returned. This was a huge blow to Germany, who had been used to winning Battles throughout the entirety of WWII, and was now constantly defending. On the other hand, it had provided a massive boost in morale for Soviet Russia, driving them on to be a stronger and better army.
In the first stages of the Russian counter attack against the German army, led by General Friedrich Paulus, the German plan for strategic retreat was stopped by Hitler himself who, in a radio message to Paulus, would say that surrender is not an option and to continue fighting until the German’s were unable to continue. This evidently selfish and stubborn behavior from the leader of Nazi Germany forced the German army to brave the Russian winter and later force their surrender in 1943 by restricting the power of his generals on the front lines. The loss of manpower from this defeat would start the downfall of the power of Nazi
The battle of Stalingrad was a very intense battle for the Russians as the Germans closed in on them with support from the sixth panzer division and bombings from the Luftwaffe. This battle lasted from April to February, and was mostly house to house fighting. The Germans managed to push the defending Russians back to the Volga River. The Russians were desperate, so they formed the idea of “Project Uranus”. This was a plan to surround the Germans on two sides with the Mongolians and the Romanians. Finally, in February, the attacking German forces were repelled and Stalingrad was held. If the Germans had taken Stalingrad, they could attack the Russians on two
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
The battle of Stalingrad was fought in Russia, the Germans planned to swoop in and take what they wanted, but Russian leaders were expecting the Germans and they devised a top secret plan to deal with them. Russian leaders used resources to promote patriotism and they prepared
Along the way, many Russian victories such as the battle of Kursk, led to the complete destruction of the Axis eastern front. The battle of Kursk stood as a large turning point in the war. The Russians caught wind of the German advance and emplaced 1.3million soldiers, 20thousand artillery guns, 36 hundred tanks, and 24 hundred planes, as well as placing over 400,000 miles. The Russians recruited civilians to repair hundreds of miles of road and dug thousands of miles of trenches. The Germans carefully planned their offensive using 2thousand planes, 2,700 tanks 900 thousand soldiers and 10 thousand artillery guns. One general said "No offensive was ever prepared as carefully as this one" -General Mellenthin. The battle ended very poorly for the Germans with over 500,000 casualties and two thirds of the German tanks destroyed. In conclusion, the battle of Kursk happened to be one of the most brutal slaughters in World War
Stalingrad was a battle during World War II started on June 22 1941 that eventually led to a significant loss to the Axis forces. The battle started as retaliation from Adolf Hitler after his defeat in the Battle of Barbarossa. The Battle of Stalingrad was a battle of pride, morale and not based off of any tactical or strategic advantage. The battle raged on in four main operations that lasted only 199 days. This loss in Stalingrad dealt a significant blow to the Axis Powers that would lead to the overall defeat of Adolph Hitler and his military during World War II. Operation Barbarossa; initiated by the Axis powers and they quickly advanced deep into Russia. The Axis Powers believed they could defeat the Soviet Union as soon as the winter had passed but they began receiving heavy attacks during the winter with as much as 65% of the infantry being attacked. The Axis Powers had time to re-equip and rest their forces prior to the end of the winter. Moscow was the end state for the operation and the Axis Powers used a Blitzkrieg style of warfare to attack the least obvious Point of Entry. Adolph Hitler expected the Soviet Union to surrender as soon as the end state became successfully captured. Hitler understood that taking Moscow would be very costly to his Armies. Hitler developed a plan to cut the Soviet Union of their fuel by taking the Caucasus Oil Fields. Operation Blau had the goal of capturing the Caucasus oil fields then continue to push his army south. The forces
Michael Coffey states in Military Blunders that “Hitler was becoming fixated on the city that bore Stalin’s name.” Located in South Russia, west of the Volga River, lay the city of Stalingrad. Hitler told his army that they were invading the city to secure natural resources, but his allies knew that this was a personal vendetta against Joseph Stalin. The battle was fought from July 17, 1942 until February 2, 1943. Overconfident in their strength, Hitler ordered the Sixth Army to stay in Stalingrad instead of retreating.
Battle of Stalingrad was a failed German attack by Adolf Hitler's Nazi troops against the USSR. Stalingrad named after Joseph Stalin, leader of the USSR, was an important city with high moral ties to the Soviets, Hitler knowing this is determined on taking over the city named after his rival dictator. Stalin and the Soviets knowing this plus with the city being industrial to the war were determined on defending it.Battle of Stalingrad began on July 17, 1942. The battle lasted about 7 months with both sides going back and forth until it ended on February 2, 1943.Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin were at first allies during the war until Hitler betrayed Stalin by surprise attacking the USSR. Now, enemies, Hitler wants control of This battle was
Sunday June 22nd 1941 the Wehrmacht's launched operation Barbarossa; a full scale invasion of the Soviet Union. After the success their blitzkrieg attack on France the Nazi’s planned to do the same except on a much larger scale. The high command was confident that it would be a swift and decisive victory for them because they believed the Russian’s to be primitive. The first part of the German attack went as planned for Stalin didn’t believe the German’s would actually attack. The Wehrmacht captured Leningrad, Kiev, and central Russia with little to no resistance and now had their sights set on Moscow. However just as the officer’s claimed to “see the spirals of the Kremlin” the soviet counter offensive pushed them back with brutal Russian
World War II consisted of many bloody battles, many of which have shaped the world today. The Battle of Stalingrad is known as one of the greatest and most valuable battles fought in the Second World War. It is also considered to be one of Hitler’s greatest mistakes in World War II. The battle that started on July 17, 1942 and ended on February 2, 1943 marked a major turning point in the war. It changed the war in favour of the Allies as opposed to the Axis Pact. The battle of Stalingrad was a significant defeat for the Russians in WWII because it was a symbolic loss for Germany, a great loss of resources for
. . When we got to Stalingrad, there were 140 of us, but by September 1, after two weeks of battle, only 16 remained. All the rest were wounded and killed. We don’t have a single officer, and the non-commissioned officer had to take over the command of the division. Up to a thousand wounded soldiers a day are taken back to the rear from Stalingrad. . . .”
In the days that followed the German forces fought their way into Stalingrad against intense resistance. This was urban street fighting of the most brutal type, with vast losses on both sides. The ruins of houses and factories began to stink as hot winds carried the smell of decaying corpses into every hole and crevice (History.com 4). For simple reasons of morale, the Russians could not let this city fall just as the Russians could not let the Germans get hold of the oil fields in the Caucasus. Stalin issued an order that was “Not a step backwards” He also refused the evacuation of any civilians, stating that the army would fight harder knowing that they were defending residents of the city (Truman 1). The halted Germans was running short
Germany was largely offensive on the eastern front. This is exemplified by the first key battle in Moscow, Russia. The Battle of Moscow spanned from October 2nd, 1941 to January 7th, 1942. It was the first big failure of Germany on the eastern front largely due to them invading during the winter months in Russia. Another battle Russia played defense on was the Battle of Stalingrad. This battle ranged from July 17th, 1942 to February 2nd, 1943. This battle was different from Moscow. This is due to the fact that Germany took Stalingrad, fought defensively in the city, got trapped in the city, and lost the city. Again the harsh Russian witer played to the Soviet Union’s advantage. This was a huge turning point for the Soviet Union. It resulted in a decrease in German forces on the Eastern front.
Russian front was a devastating and decisive victory. The Allies would not have been able to disarm Germany without this front. The southern theatre was a success for the Allies that the Germans needed victory in all three for a future success. The front lasted from June 22, 1941 until May 9th, 1945. 30 million civilians killed in this confrontation. 4 million German soldiers died during the fray, roughly 9 million Russian soldiers died in combat during this. This was the largest confrontation in history. The Confrontation started with the Germans invading the Soviet union. The germans did not prepare for long term warfare against the Russians. The decisive victory at Stalingrad caused major problems for the Germans to continue the assault.
During World War II, the battle of Stalingrad began in the city of Stalingrad, Russia and was fought between August of 1942 and February of 1943. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-stalingrad It is still considered today to be one of Russia’s greatest battles in which the Russian army defended itself from invasion by the German army. This battle essentially stopped Germany’s determined advance into Russian territory. This marked a huge turning point in the war for the Allies. It was a very important war because it crippled the German offensive as well as destroying much of its army.