Battle of Stalingrad

Battle of Stalingrad

The Battle of Stalingrad is one of the most brutal battles of WWII, and is widely considered to be one of the most important battles in shifting the tide of the war in favor of the Allies. Stalingrad was not considered to be a primary target of Hitler as he was planning Operation Barbarossa, but Nazi failure at the Battle of Moscow forced him to reconsider his plans in anticipation of a longer war. Stalingrad was a huge hub for armament and vehicle production for the USSR, and provided key strategic access to waterways such as the Volga River. Thus, Hitler hoped that a capture of Stalingrad would choke off key Soviet supply chain routes and help with the capture of other cities. What Hitler had not expected, however, was the win at all costs attitude enforced by Stalin and other key Soviet military leaders, who believed that preventing citizens from evacuating would serve as encouragement for soldiers and give them more to fight for(Jochen 2015).

Initial Invasion

The invasion began with a vicious primary attack by the German Luftwaffe, firebombing most of the cities homes and suburbs out of existence allowing foot soldiers to establish a front through the north of the city. In anticipation of the invasion, Stalin had established several fronts within Stalingrad proper where the Soviets made their stand. Stalingrad quickly became one of the most brutal examples of urban warfare in recent history, with entire blocks being wiped out in seconds. Firefights were long and grueling, and battles were frequently waged over control of a single street or block, which exchanged hands several times. The unrelenting pressure of the Nazis and severe civilian causalities painted a poor picture for the Soviets, who at one point had their backs so close to the River Volga that any supply missions were shadowed by machine gun fire and bombings(Jochen 2015).

Operation Uranus

The clear air advantage held my the Luftwasse made it clear to Soviet leadership that victory would require elimination of that advantage. Thus, front lines were shrunk to as close as 100M in order to force Axis soliders into pure CQC, as the Luftwasse could not engage ground forces without the risk of friendly casualties. Along with this strategic manuever, a huge counter attack was launched dubbed Operation Uranus, mobilizing over 500K troops and 900 tanks. Nazi leadership had not expected such an aggressive counterattack, and thus it was extremely succesful. Within 3 days, Soviet forces had succesfully encircled all Axis forces. The battle continued on as many German soldiers refused to surrender, but on February 2, 1943, the last quadrant of the city was succesfuly recaptured(Jochen 2015).