Battle of Stalingrad

Battle of Stalingrad
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
The Barmaley Fountain, one of the symbols of Stalingrad, in 1943, right after the battle
Date 23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943[Note 1] (5 months, 1 week and 3 days) Location Volgograd, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union 48°42′N 44°31′E / 48.700°N 44.517°E / 48.700; 44.517 Result Soviet victory[1] Destruction of the German 6th Army Territorial changes Expulsion of the Axis from the Caucasus, reversing their gains from the 1942 Summer Campaign
Belligerents
Germany  Romania  Italy  Hungary  Croatia	Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Adolf Hitler Friedrich Paulus  Walter Heitz  Erich von Manstein W.F. von Richthofen Petre Dumitrescu C. Constantinescu Italo Gariboldi Gusztáv Jány	Joseph Stalin Georgy Zhukov Nikolay Voronov A.M. Vasilevsky Andrey Yeryomenko K.K. Rokossovsky Nikolai Vatutin Vasily Chuikov
Units involved
Army Group B: 6th Army 4th Panzer Army 3rd Army 4th Army 8th Army 2nd Army Army Group Don[Note 2] 6th Army 4th Panzer Army 3rd Army 1st Panzer Army	Stalingrad Front: 28th Army 51st Army 57th Army 62nd Army 64th Army Don Front[Note 3] 24th Army 65th Army 66th Army Southwestern Front[Note 4] 1st Guards Army 5th Tank Army 21st Army
Strength
Initial: 270,000 personnel 3,000 artillery pieces 500 tanks 600 aircraft, 1,600 by mid-September (Luftflotte 4)[Note 5][2] At the time of the Soviet counter-offensive: c. 1,040,000 men[3][4] 400,000+ Germans 220,000 Italians 200,000 Hungarians 143,296 Romanians 40,000 Hiwi 10,250 artillery pieces 500 tanks (140 Romanian) 732 (402 operational) aircraft[5]: 225 [6]: 87	Initial: 187,000 personnel 2,200 artillery pieces 400 tanks 300 aircraft[2]: 72  At the time of the Soviet counteroffensive: 1,143,000 men[7] 13,451 artillery pieces 894 tanks[7] 1,115[5]: 224  aircraft
Casualties and losses
647,300–868,374[8] Germany 300,000+[9][10][11]–400,000[12] Italy 114,000[13]–114,520[14] Romania 109,000[13]–158,854[14] Hungary 105,000[13]–143,000[14] Hiwi 19,300–52,000[15] 900 aircraft destroyed 1,500 tanks destroyed (100 Romanian) 6,000 guns destroyed 744 aircraft; 1,666 tanks; 5,762 guns captured See casualties section.	1,129,619 men 478,741 killed or missing 650,878 wounded or sick[16] 2,769 aircraft 4,341 tanks (~150 by Romanians) (25-30% were total write-offs.[17]) 15,728 guns See casualties section.
class=notpageimage| Location of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) within modern European Russia

The Battle of Stalingrad (1942-1943) was fought during the Second World War between Nazi Germany led by Adolf Hitler and the Soviet Union led by Joseph Stalin . They were fighting for control of the city of Stalingrad. Germany got support from Italy, Hungary, Croatia and Romania . The battle was fought between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943. It was one of the most important battles of the war because it marked the end of Germany's advances. Hitler even blamed his defeat partly on Stalingrad. The Battle of Stalingrad has often been recorded as an example of how brutal a war can be. It is reported that, due to limited supplies, soldiers and civilians had to resort to eating rats, mice, and even cannibalism.

Stalingrad, now Volgograd, was a city on the Volga River. It was an important industrial city, and the Volga was an important transport route. Hitler also wanted to capture Stalingrad because it was named after Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, thus it would embarrass him.

In June 1942, Adolf Hitler launched an attack in southern Russia. By the end of July the German army had reached Stalingrad. With bombs and fire the German Luftwaffe turned the city into ruins. However, the rubble made hiding places from which Russian snipers could attack the Germans. Hitler and Stalin sent in large numbers of soldiers. They both ordered that anyone who retreated would be shot on the spot for treason.

On 19 November 1942, the Red Army launched an attack which surrounded the Stalingrad area, pinching off the German salient. Hitler ordered the army to stay there. The German air force tried to supply them by air. By February 1943, the German forces in Stalingrad had no ammunition and food. Rather than freeze, they surrendered, knowing the Soviets were usually cruel to their prisoners.

The battle lasted five months, one week, and three days. 1.6 million people dead or wounded in battle were reported. There were more Russian deaths than German, but it was a victory for the Russians. They had killed so many Germans that Hitler's overall plan to conquer the Soviet Union, started with Operation Barbarossa, was seriously weakened. Also, the Germans failed to get control of Russian oil fields.

About one quarter of the German Sixth Army's soldiers were Eastern European volunteers called HIWIs. The Battle of Stalingrad was the largest and deadliest battle in the history of warfare.
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1. ↑ Bellamy 2007 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFBellamy2007 (help)
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Bergström 2007 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFBergström2007 (help)
3. ↑ Glantz 1995, p. 346 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFGlantz1995 (help)
4. ↑ Anthony Tihamér Komjáthy (1982). A Thousand Years of the Hungarian Art of War. Toronto: Rakoczi Foundation. pp. 144–45. ISBN 978-0-8191-6524-4. OCLC 26807671.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Hayward 1998 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFHayward1998 (help)
6. ↑ Bergström 2006. sfn error: no target: CITEREFBergström2006 (help)
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} Glantz 1995, p. 134 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFGlantz1995 (help)
8. ↑ Великая Отечественная война 1941–1945 годов. В 12 т. — М.: «Кучково поле», 2012. — Т. 3. Битвы и сражения, изменившие ход войны. — С. 421. — 863 с. — ISBN 978-5-9950-0269-7.
9. ↑ Walter Scott Dunn, Kursk: Hitler's Gamble, 1943,p.1
10. ↑ Stephen Walsh, Stalingrad 1942–1943: The Infernal Cauldron, p. 164
11. ↑ Jochen Hellbeck, Stalingrad: The City that Defeated the Third Reich p.12
12. ↑ Dimarco, Louis A (2012-11-20). Concrete Hell: Urban Warfare from Stalingrad to Iraq. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78200-313-7.
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1 13.2} Frieser 2017, p. 14. sfn error: no target: CITEREFFrieser2017 (help)
14. ↑ ^{14.0 14.1 14.2} Walsh, Stephen (2012). Stalingrad 1942–1943: The Infernal Cauldron. Amber Books Ltd. p. 182. ISBN 978-1-908273-98-7.
15. ↑ Stein, Marcel (February 2007). Field Marshal von Manstein: The Janushead - A Portrait. Helion & Company Limited. ISBN 9781906033026.
16. ↑ Cite error: The named reference autogenerated1 was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
17. ↑ Hill, Alexander (2016-12-24). The Red Army and the Second World War. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-02079-5.