Stalingrad, or Volgograd, is a transportation hub in the southeastern region of Russia on the lower Volga River. In June 1941, germany launched an offensive to invade the Soviet Union and occupy most of the territory, the capital Moscow was in danger, and the Soviet army repelled it in December after several counterattacks. In 1942, most of Ukraine and Crimea were still under German control.
Hitler launched Operation Blue in order to seize Soviet oil fields and cut off their oil supplies. Army Group South was divided into A and B armies, Army Group A was advancing at full strength towards the Caucasus, and Army B was led by Friedrich. General Paulus commanded the 6th Army and Herman. General Hot's 4th Panzer Corps was formed and headed for the Volga and Stalingrad.
Operation Blue began at the end of June of that year, and by the end of July, the German 6th Army reached a position only 40 kilometers from Stalingrad, and the 4th Panzer Corps also moved north to help capture the city.
On the Soviet side, Marshal Andrei. Yelemenko was appointed commander of the Southwestern Front, with Nikita. Khrushchev was responsible for the defense of Stalingrad. The Soviets deployed a large number of troops to the banks of the Volga River, composed of Vasily. Lieutenant General Trikov's Soviet 62nd Army, commanded.
The Luftwaffe 4th Air Force's aerial bombardment of Stalingrad kicked off the battle, in which the urbanization was reduced to rubble and the Volga, which was used as a supply route, was cut off after the bombing. Successive large-scale bombardments resulted in the deaths of thousands of people in the city, and large tracts of land and homes were severely damaged.
At the end of August, Army Group B reached the Volga River north of Stalingrad and prepared to attack the other side of the river. In September, several soviet counter-offensive programs were organized by the Soviets, but they were forced by reinforcements from the Luftwaffe and ground forces, and a large number of Soviet tanks participating in the attack were destroyed.
However, in the midst of despair, the Soviets still resisted stubbornly. On September 13, the Germans broke into the city, relying on the combination of soldiers and heavy machinery to fight in the town, and the Soviet army relied on the city's environment to establish an invisible and dangerous defense line. The Soviet strategy of close combat made the Germans slow and passive, and what the Germans called the "rat war" was gradually encroaching on every German unit. Abandoned streets, homes, floors, and all corners became possible battlefields.
Mamayev Hill, the city's highest point, and the No. 1 railway station became the focus of both sides' seizures, and Pavlov, overlooking the central square, resisted wave after wave of attacks under Soviet control. Both the massive artillery positions set up on the ruins and the Soviet snipers hiding in the ruins of the city contributed to the war. In mid-October, the Luftwaffe stepped up its bombardment of the remaining Red Army positions in the West Bank, the Soviets were severely damaged, and the 62nd Army was cut in half, but its remnants were still stubbornly resisting the German 6th Army and the 4th Panzer Army.
In order to save Stalingrad, Zhukov, commander-in-chief of the Stalingrad Defense War, and Vasilevsky, chief of the general staff, drew up a new battle plan, intending to use the city to attract the German army and reserve the victory of the German Sixth Army, code-named "Operation Uranus".
As the beginning of the second phase of the Great Patriotic War, Uranus was scheduled to launch on November 9, with a large number of Soviet troops concentrating in the open areas north and south of the city to launch a pincer offensive. The Soviet pincer offensive encircled some 300,000 Axis soldiers, including the 6th Army. At the same time, the encircling Soviet army formed two defensive lines, one to deal with the breakthrough, the other to prevent the rescue operation, and the rescue operation of the armored heavy army group of the a group was also blocked by the Soviet army.
Faced with the besieged situation, Hitler issued a speech saying that he would never abandon Stalingrad and issued an order to the besieged troops not to surrender. It was decided to support the city by air support, but such a large regiment could not play any role in relying on air support alone, and the complete lack of material delivery and the loss of aircraft due to transportation had a significant impact on the German forces.
The weather grew colder in December, and the trapped Germans faced increasingly difficult conditions, with frostbite, food shortages and diseases spreading among the soldiers.
On 16 December, the Soviets launched Operation Saturn, besieging Army Group South in the Caucasus, forcing the Germans to withdraw from Army Group A, which was attacking the Caucasus, and losing the opportunity to capture Soviet oil fields. Today, the 6th Army in Stalingrad has lost any hope of receiving reinforcements, while the Germans in the city continue to resist stubbornly, and the bloody war has led to a large number of German casualties.
On January 10, 1943, the Soviets launched a general offensive, and on February 2, Paulus, commander of the Sixth Army, surrendered. The German Sixth Army was completely annihilated, and 90,000 wounded and sick soldiers became prisoners of war. The Soviet Union won the Battle of Stalingrad and turned the tide of the Soviet-German battlefield.
The Battle of Stalingrad is known as the bloodiest battle in modern history, with nearly 2 million casualties on both sides. The German forces attacked by the division of troops were held back and could not take care of each other, and town warfare also made the Superior Military Equipment of the German Army a chicken rib. The prolonged delay provided the possibility for the remaining forces of the Soviet Army to survive and launch a pincer offensive externally.
The Battle of Stalingrad ended the offensive situation of the German southern cluster, and since then the initiative of the German army in the eastern battlefield has been tilted to the Allies, and the balance of power between the Soviet Union and the German army has undergone a fundamental change. The Battle of Stalingrad also became a landmark event in the great turning point of the anti-fascist war at the end of 1942, along with the Battle of Guadalcanal and the Battle of El Alamein.