The Second World War was the largest war ever experienced by mankind and a mortal contest between the world's anti-fascist forces and fascist forces. The Soviet-German War was the largest land confrontation in World War II, especially the Soviet Union and Germany were powerful industrialized countries at that time, and the war between the two countries was more of a contest of steel. Because of this, this 78-year-old urban offensive and defensive war was a well-deserved turning point in the entire Second World War.
Speaking of the Battle of Stalingrad, it is necessary to introduce the history of the battle. The entire Battle of Stalingrad lasted more than 180 days from July 17, 1942, to the end of February 2, 1943, with about 2 million German troops and about 3 million Soviet troops. In the winter of 1941, before the Battle of Stalingrad, the Soviet army had successfully defeated the army of Nazi Germany for the first time under the city of Moscow, breaking the myth of the invincibility of the German army for the first time.
In this regard, considering the increasingly tight defense of the cities around Moscow, as well as the longer and longer supply lines of the German army, and the obvious lack of strategic resources such as oil in Germany and other European countries, without oil, the German armored mechanized troops would be unable to move, and the bombers and fighters of the Luftwaffe would not be able to fight. To this end, Hitler was determined to change his strategic objectives and give priority to attacking the southern part of the Soviet Union in order to obtain the vast grain-producing areas of the Volga Plain and the rich oil resources of the Caucasus. Only by controlling oil and grain could Germany achieve final victory in a long war of attrition. To this end, the German army reorganized the original Army Group South into two army groups A and B, of which Army Group A was responsible for attacking the Caucasus Mountains and seizing the oil fields in Baku, and Army Group B was responsible for attacking Stalingrad. Because Stalingrad was a transportation hub on the Volga River, only by capturing Stalingrad could the Volga Plain be effectively controlled and cover for the Germans attacking the Caucasus.
(Soviet bombers skimmed the city during the strategic counteroffensive)
There is also an important political meaning of the attack on Stalingrad: Stalingrad was originally named Tsaritsin, as early as the Soviet Union was just established, in the war against the White Bandit Army, the later Supreme Commander of the Soviet Union Stalin once defended here, and won the victory in the case of the enemy, and later in order to commemorate Stalin's military achievements, Tsaritsin was renamed Stalingrad. And Hitler believed that the destruction of the city named after Stalin was equivalent to the destruction of Stalin himself. Thus, from the very beginning, the Battle of Stalingrad was not just a purely military operation, but an offensive operation mixed with politics.
The Soviet army naturally also saw the strategic significance of Stalingrad, but because the Soviet Southern Front at that time suffered heavy losses in the previous Ukrainian campaign, there were many problems that needed to be solved urgently, first, the troops as a whole were relatively chaotic, and there were not many units with structure and combat effectiveness; second, although many troops looked very large, they were seriously understaffed and lacked actual combat effectiveness. It can be said that if the Soviet army wanted to hold Stalingrad and effectively counterattack the German army, it needed to buy as much time as possible to regroup the troops and replenish enough weapons, but this required the Soviet army on the front to do everything in its power to block the German offensive and buy time for the rest and mobilization of the follow-up troops. This strategic posture implied that the Soviet forces defending Stalingrad were doomed to pay a terrible price.
The German offensive on the outskirts of Stalingrad officially began on July 17, 1942. Since Stalingrad was located on the plain between the Don and Volga rivers and was not dangerous to defend, the initial attack of the German armored forces could be said to be very smooth. Because the Soviet army was not superior in strength and equipment at that time, and the quality of the Soviet army was not as good as the elite of the German army, it was difficult for the Soviet army to resist the German attack under the conditions of plain field combat. However, as the Germans gradually invaded the city of Stalingrad, the situation of the war began to change quietly.
Stalingrad in 1942 was already an industrialized city with a population of about 600,000, and in those days, a population of 600,000 was considerable. In order to resist the Germans, all the men, women and children of stalingrad mobilized to build bunkers, barricades and various fortifications. Due to the German troops entering the city, there was no longer a clear battle line between the Soviet army and the German army, but a situation of staggered teeth was formed, so that the heavy firepower such as German bombers and long-range artillery could not effectively exert its power advantage, and the German infantry units were also caught in a cruel street battle with the Soviet army.
(Mamayev Hill, overlooking the whole city of Stalingrad, has now been converted into the Stalingrad Battle Memorial Park))
Stalingrad was of great significance to the Soviets, once Stalingrad was lost, the entire Volga Plain would be exposed to German attacks, and the Germans could also go north along the Volga River and railway from Stalingrad to retake Moscow, and Stalingrad could also provide a protective barrier for german troops attacking the Caucasus to prevent soviet troops from adding troops to the Caucasus. At the same time, it is precisely because Stalingrad is named after Stalin that it also has important political significance for the Soviet Army. For this reason Stalin personally ordered the officers and men of the Soviet army to "not take a step back!" Thus the battle for Stalingrad entered its most tragic period.
(Although the Soviet Union is ancient, everything in the Stalingrad Battle Memorial Park remains.
Since friendly forces on both flanks had been repulsed by the Germans, the Soviet 62nd Army at Stalingrad had become a lone force. Not only that, this lone army also has its back to the Volga River, belongs to the backwater formation, and commits the taboo of soldiers. Moreover, the Soviets were still in the midst of German bombardment, and it was difficult for reinforcements to reach the front line effectively. In this way, the Soviet 62nd Army and the German 6th Army fought to the death at Stalingrad.
In order to hold the country, the Soviet army set up a defense on every street, every house, and even every pile of rubble; the German army needed to fight with the Soviet army street by street, lane by alley, house by house, and because it was a city street battle, the German army was afraid of injuring its own people by mistake, and the heavy firepower advantage was not useful. The Soviet 62nd Army had only about 1,000 guns of various types and 120 tanks, and the Soviet Air Force lost air supremacy over urban areas. However, the Soviet soldiers relied on the cover of the ruins of the city to engage the Germans in close combat, thus killing and wounding the Germans in large numbers.
(Anti-tank infantry of the Soviet 62nd Army, they used PTRS-41 anti-tank guns)
How fierce were the street battles in Stalingrad? According to Soviet statistics, the Soviet infantry reinforcing the 62nd Army had an average survival cycle of only 24 hours per soldier on the front line, and even officers could only live an average of 3 days.
The Germans were unable to exert their superiority in heavy firepower, and the numerical disadvantage of the troops soon became apparent. Although the tactical quality of the German army was higher than that of the Soviet army, the Reinforcements of the Soviet Army continued to flow, and the German army gradually lost the sharpness of the attack. In addition, one branch of the Soviet army in the defense of Stalingrad is particularly worthy of special mention, that is, the Soviet sniper unit.
Due to the vast territory of the Soviet Union, there were a large number of rangers and hunters living in the mountains and forests every day, and these people were naturally good at marksmanship. During the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet Army unified these elite archers into sniper divisions, which was the first time in human history that snipers were organized and used by divisions.
(Famous Soviet sniper who became famous in Battle I at Stalingrad: Vasily Zaitsev.) Although his personal record is not the most prominent, the snipers he trains are extraordinary)
Although the Soviets were very different from the Germans in terms of heavy firepower, the Soviet snipers active in Stalingrad became the most powerful weapon of the Soviet Army. Among them, the famous Soviet sniper Vasily Zaitsev is a typical representative of these people, although his sniper performance is not the highest among Soviet snipers, but he is particularly good at "taking apprentices", throughout the Great Patriotic War, Zaitsev himself trained no less than 100 snipers, and these snipers killed more than 3,000 German fascist officers and soldiers in total. Therefore, Zaitsev will be regarded as a typical example and widely publicized by the Soviet army.
Talking about the Stalingrad defense war 78 years ago, I have to say that in fact, after the end of World War II, the Soviet Union, Germany and even the United States have made many films reflecting the stalingrad defense war, such as the Soviet Union's "Battle of Stalingrad", the German movie "Decisive Battle of Stalingrad", and the American movie "Soldiers In the City". However, it should be pointed out that the defense of Stalingrad in that year was called the "turning point of the Second World War": in this battle, including the peripheral operations, the Soviet army annihilated a total of about 1.5 million German troops and German minions, completely regained the strategic initiative in the Soviet-German battlefield, and the elite main force of the German army was seriously injured in the Battle of Stalingrad, and it was never recovered.
It was precisely because of the bloody struggle of the Soviet army in Stalingrad that the bright future of the anti-fascist war in the whole world was lit up. Due to the huge attrition of the Soviet-German battlefield, Germany had to draw a large number of troops in the Mediterranean and France, so that the Allies were able to finally defeat the German Afrika Korps in Rommel at El Alamein, and at the same time successfully landed in French Monaco and subsequently successfully landed in Sicily. It can be said that without the Battle of Stalingrad by the Soviet Army, there would have been no possibility for the Allies to land in North Africa and Italy. Nowadays, some Western media on the Internet continue to slander the contributions of the Soviet Red Army during World War II, and even shamelessly put the aura of victory in World War II on the United States, which is not just despicable.
(History cannot be forgotten, and the remains of that year are still preserved in the city of Stalingrad (now called "Volgograd"))
Although a full 78 years have passed since the bloody and fierce fighting in Stalingrad, "the past is not forgotten, and the future is the teacher", and only by keeping history in mind can we grasp the present and the future. Peace cannot be prayed for, and only by relying on one's own struggle to make the country stronger will it not be bullied. This is also the meaning of the Battle of Stalingrad left to the world.