Battle of Stalingrad

Battle of Stalingrad
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
Soviet soldiers lead German POWs past the famous Stalingrad Grain Silo in February 1943.
Date 17 July 1942 – February 2 1943 Location Stalingrad, USSR Result Decisive Soviet victory
Commanders
Adolf Hitler Friedrich Paulus Erich von Manstein Wolfram von Richthofen Petre Dumitrescu Constantin Constantinescu Italo Gariboldi Gusztáv Vitéz Jány	Josef Stalin Vasily Chuikov Aleksandr Vasilyevskiy Georgiy Zhukov Semyon Timoshenko Konstantin Rokossovskiy Rodion Malinovskiy Andrei Yeremenko
Strength
Army Group B: German Sixth Army German Fourth Panzer Army Romanian Third Army Romanian Fourth Army Italian Eighth Army Hungarian Second Army Initial: 270,000 men 3,000 artillery 500 tanks 600 aircraft, 1,600 by mid-September (Luftflotte 4) At the time of the Soviet counter-attack: 1,011,000 men 10,250 artillery 675 tanks 732 (402 operational) aircraft	Stalingrad Front Southwestern Front Don Front Soviet 62nd Army Initial: 187,000 men 2200 artillery 400 tanks 300 aircraft At the time of the Soviet counter-attack: 1,103,000 men 15,501 artillery 1463 tanks 1,115 aircraft
Casualties and losses
740,000 killed or wounded 110,000 captured Aircraft: 900 (including 274 Transports and 165 Bombers used as Transports)	over 750,000 killed, wounded or captured, 40,000+ civilian dead Aircraft: 2,846 (28 June to 19 November, approx. 300 (20 November - 31 December), 942 (1 January - 4 February). Total: 4,088

The Battle of Stalingrad is a battle fought during the Second World War between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. They were fighting for control of the city of Stalingrad. The battle was fought between 17 July 1942 and 2 February 1943. It was one of the most important battles of the Second World War.

Stalingrad, now Volgograd, was a city on the Volga River. It was an important industrial city. If the Germans had won the battle then they would also have been able to control the Caucasus area of Russia which had a lot of oil. Hitler also wanted to capture Stalingrad because it was named after Josef Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union.

In June 1942, Adolf Hitler launched Operation Blue, which was an offensive attack in southern Russia. By the end of July the German army had reached Stalingrad and the German air force, the Luftwaffe, started bombing the city. During the Summer and Autumn of 1942, the Germans dropped 1,000 tonnes of bombs on Stalingrad. A bombing raid on 23 August 1942 caused a huge fire. The bombing turned the city into ruins. However, the rubble gave the Russians hiding places from which they could attack the Germans, using snipers.

Hitler and Stalin sent in large numbers of soldiers. They ordered that there was to be no retreat.

1.6 million casualties were reported in battle in total, with more Russian deaths, but it was a good morale victory for the Russians, because they had defeated so many Germans.

Stalingrad was known as Tsaritsyn until 1925 and is Volgograd since 1961.

Other websites

• WW2DB: Battle of Stalingrad
• Detailed summary of campaign
• Information, Photos, and Original Maps of the Battle
• Stalingrad-info.com, many Pictures from the battle and the city
• Volgograd State Panoramic Museum official homepage
• (Russian) Stalingrad Battle This site is sponsored by the main historical and culture organizations of Volgograd.
• The Battle of Stalingrad in Film and History Written with strong Socialist/Communist political under and overtones.
• The Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad in detail.
• Roberts, Geoffrey. "Victory on the Volga", The Guardian, February 28, 2003
• Operation Blau
• Battle of Stalingrad
• The Soviet counter-offensive: Operation Uranus
• Disaster of 6th Army
• The Great Battle on the Volga on Google Video
• German Newsreels of the Battle of Stalingrad on YouTube