The Battle of Stalingrad

This is one of my favorite subjects, and I'm so intrigued with the immense effort the Russians heaved into the war. Stalin really showed himself as a man of steel with a forceful willpower that drove the war in his favor and eventually led to the demise of Nazi Germany. What happened at Stalingrad changed the rest of the war and had the Germans on the retreat. The battle took place between August 23, 1942 and February 2, 1943, and was know for close quater combat and the kill count that followed with thousands of soldiers AND civilians dead.its is known as one of the bloodiest battles of history and an estimated 2 million people were deemed killed in that battle.

The German offensive to take this vital key point consisted of hundreds of heavy Luftwaffe bombings over Stalingrad in an attempt to soften up the city. the bombings were successful and rendered what had once been the great capital of the soviets union, a pile of crushed rubbled and broken bodies. The Nazi commanders were very confident of a victory, and they seemed unable to get rid of the last few defenders struggling and pressed against the Volga river. On 19 November 1942, the Red Army launched Operation Uranus, a two forked attack that would smash through the weaker Hungarian and Romanian forces that protected the Germans 6th division flanks. After fierce fighting, the Russians were able to destroy both flanks and surround both flanks In a cunning counterattack that threw the Germans off guard. Just as this happened, The Russian winter, which had saved the Russians from defeat time and time again struck back particularly harsh that winter and made life a frozen hell for the Germans. The Russians had a good enough warning at this point to ship all their grains, castles and resources out of the surrounding areas, or they implemented the scorched earth policy, which left the Germans starving and desperate with weak supply lines sorely extended. German military doctrine was based on the principle of combined-arms teams and close cooperation between tanks, infantry, engineers, artillery and ground-attack aircraft. To counterattack this, the Russians used hugging tactics making their front as close as possible to the Germans as possible.this resulted in little damage to the Russians from air or artillery which were unable to get any good shots at the Russians without damaging the german infantry.
The rudimentary soviet strategy was to pack every house overseeing important streets and squares resulting in every strategic house and building bristling with snipers, machine guns, mortar crews,mortars, mines, barbed wire, and 5-10 man units all condensed into large unbreachable strongholds.

The result was close-quarters combat with front lines dissolving and Germans encountering fierce resistance in every room, or as one German bitterly joked that you could capture the kitchen, but still have to capture the living room, master bedroom, and lose the kitchen and several men in the process. The battled descended into the sewers as well with a labyrinth of vicious firefights, and rose up into the tall (heavily damaged) towers with snipers killing off any German foolish enough to show his head.The 13th Guards Rifle Division, assigned to retake Mamayev Kurgan and Railway Station No 13 suffered particularly heavy losses being reduced to 320 out of the original 10000, and the railway station changing hands every several hours.In another part of the city, a Soviet platoon under the command of Yakov Pavlov fortified an apartment building that oversaw a square in the city center, and reinforced it with mines, and machine gun positions. They were not relieved for two months and no matter how many Germans were sent to breach the house, the soviets were able to kick them out, and at intermissions the soviets had to run out and kick down the piles of bodies for the tanks to have a clear vision of the square.

Soviet artillery on the other side of the Volga wasted no time in mercilessly shelling the Germans, rendering their tanks and artillery useless amid heaps of rubble. Snipers on both sides used the ruins to inflict heavy casualties. The most famous Soviet sniper in Stalingrad was Vasily Zaytsev with 225 confirmed kills during the battle and a decorated war hero who is the main character of the film: enemy on the front.

On 19 November 1942, the Red Army unleashed Operation Uranus. Under command of General Nikolay Vatutin, the 1st guards army, 5th tank army,and 21st army. They fell upon the Romanian 3rd army which died quickly from lack of supplies and badly needed reinforcements. And swept around successfully surrounding the About 265,000 German, Romanian, Italian soldiers,[31][page needed] the 369th (Croatian) Reinforced Infantry Regiment, and other volunteer subsidiary troops including some 40,000 Soviet volunteers. Successfully surrounded, 210,000 Germans, 10,000 remained to fight on, 105,000 surrendered, 35,000 left by air and the remaining 60,000 died, committed suicide in the 11 weeks after being encircled or were unable to surrender when the end was there. Air support to relieve and evacuate the doomed nazis was futile, due to heavy antiaircraft fire, poor weather conditions and the sheer size of the force that needed to be evacuated, the Germans lost 488 aircraft.

The Germans now closed the gap where the now sick, starving, and soundly beaten Germans were, and general Paulus, against Hitler's will, surrendered to the Russian demands thus ending the battle of Stalingrad, and showing a lenient side to the soviet military who were characterized by executing the prisoners they were able to capture.

What we can learn from this is another story of determination. While not the best role model, Stalin had a will of steel and was determined to gain back his city no matter how many lives it cost. And at a heavy price of 2 million, he won, changing the tides of war permanently in favor of the allies who now swept forward in a two front war that led the the death of the third reich.