The History of Stalingrad
“Stalingrad is the scene of the costliest and most stubborn battle in this war. The battle fought there to its desperate finish may turn out to be among the decisive battles in the long history of war…In the scale of its intensity, its destructiveness, and its horror, Stalingrad has no parallel. It engaged the full strength of the two biggest armies in Europe and could fit into no lesser framework than that of a life-and death conflict which encompasses the earth”
New York Times, February 4, 1943
The battle fought between the Soviet Red Army and the Nazi Wehrmacht over the “city of Stalin” for four long months in the fall and winter of 1942-3 stands as not only the most important battle of the Eastern front during World War II, but as the greatest battle ever fought. Germany’s defeat at Stalingrad ended three years of almost uninterrupted victory and signaled the beginning of the end of the Third Reich. In this way, Stalingrad’s significance was projected beyond the two main combatants, extending to all corners of the world.
This paper is not meant to be a military history of the battle; I am not qualified to offer such an account. It is also not an examination of why Russia won (and Germany lost). The goal of this paper is to explain why this particular conflict, fought at this particular point in time, and in this particular place became the defining moment of World War II.
During the late summer of 1942, Germany’s position in the Soviet Union appeared to be dominant. The Russian winter offensive in front of Moscow had succeeded in relieving the pressure on the capital but had failed to make any substantial gains beyond a few miles of breathing space. The Germans had managed to stabilize the situation, inflicting severe casualties on the Russians before opening their own offensive in southern Russia in the spring and summer of 1942. This offensive, like the initial attack on the Soviet Union, caught the Russians (who expected a second assault on Moscow) completely off guard. Germany’s success was immense, and by the end of July the Wehrmacht had reached the Caucasus Mountains and the Volga River, with the oil-rich cities of Astrakhan, Grozny, and Baku in its sights.
The first fourteen months of the war had been a debacle of monumental proportions for the Russians. During this time, the Germans had occupied more than a...
... middle of paper ...
... the regime began to make concrete plans to overthrow it. Stalingrad was the beginning of the end for the Third Reich.
World War II was filled with turning points, including Midway, El Alamein, and Moscow. Stalingrad, however, was not simply a turning point. It was the decisive battle of the most violent and destructive war ever fought. It is a fitting testament to the importance of Stalingrad that General Chuikov, the tough-as-nails commander of the 62nd Army that defended the city, would later lead his men in the final battle of the European war, the assault on Berlin.
Works Cited
Baldwin, Hanson. Battles Lost and Won. New York: Smithmark Publishers, 1966.
Craig, William. Enemy at the Gates. New York: Readers Digest Press, 1973.
Elting, Mary and Robert T. Weaver, Battles: How They Are Won. Garden City: Doubleday, Doran and Company, 1944.
Overy, Richard. Russia’s War. New York: Penguin Books, 1997.
Roberts, Geoffrey. Victory at Stalingrad: The Battle that Changed History. London: Pearson Education, 2002.
Stalingrad, Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1943.
Weinberg, Gerhard L. A World At Arms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
With time, tragedies become statistics. The lives lost culminate to numbers, percentages, and paragraphs in textbooks,and though a recognition of its occurrence becomes universal, an understanding of its severity dies with those who lived it. “Leningrad Cemetery, Winter of 1941” is a literary medium by which the nature of tragedy is transmitted. Set in the post-battle Leningrad, the poem encapsulates the desolation not of war and its aftermath. Paramount in this translation is figurative language. Olds’ use of simile and metaphor in “Leningrad Cemetery, Winter of 1941” allows the reader to understand the incomprehensible horrors of war and, through contrast, the value of life.
Mitchell, Joseph B. Decisive Battles of the American Revolution. New York. G.P. Putnam’s Sons. 1962
The battle of Stalingrad has often been referred to as the turning point of World War II. Stalingrad, now called Volgograd is located on the river Volga in the southern part of western Russia. It was of extreme importance because it was the last stronghold protecting the vast oil fields that lay beyond it to the east. Hitler believed his Operation Barbarossa would be an easy victory, claiming that troops would be home for Christmas. There was much symbolism in Hitler’s decision to attack Stalingrad and that was due to that it was named after the Russian leader Stalin and would cause a great loss of morale in the Russian army if the German army could capture it. The German 6th Army ran into incredibly fierce resistance on the part of the Russians. As the battle waged on for nearly 3 months the daily bloodbaths of the street battles began to take their toll on both sides. Russia’s use of snipers began to cost the Germans more and more lives everyday. Most famous of...
of something big. This battle marked the being of the end of World War II.
This operation started on June 22, 1941. By the time December of 1941 came around, Germany 's troops had reached the gates of Moscow. Germany believed they were going to be successful, so they were pretty confident. For a short time in the spring of 1942, the Germans regained the military scheme, and by June, the Germans were making their way toward the city of Stalingrad.
Even though half of a century separates us from the unforgettable event, it left horrible memories especially in those who saw, felt and experienced World War II which was waged on land, on sea, and in the air all over the earth for approximately six years. Whether it’s a battle, hospital, or holocaust, there are so many stories from the survivors, who can teach us not only about the profession of arms, but also about military preparations, global strategies and combined operations in the coalition war against fascism.
In September of 1942, the German commander of the Sixth Army, advanced his troops to the city of Stalingrad where Hitler ordered the Wehrmacht to secure the oil fields and take Stalingrad. Stalingrad was a target location due to its manufacturing and center of communications for parts of Russia. Hitler had extra motivation to take Stalingrad because the significance of the name, it was named after the Soviet Russian leader Stalin. Russia had been war torn and devastated from previous attacks and battles from the Germans, they knew they had to persevere and hang on along enough to defeat the German Army. The Soviets did have somewhat of a warning of the German attack, they shipped out cattle, grain, and other main supplies, but most of the civilians stayed. Hitler was very confident he could take this city down without losing major causalities. While Hitler was planning the attack the Soviet Marshall Zhukov was planning a major counterattack. Marshall Zhukov had 6 armies of 1 million men ready to attack the Germans. Both the Germans and Soviets had flaws in their attacks but, t...
The battle of Stalingrad and the battle of Okinawa were turning points for the Americans and their allies during World War II. The battle of Stalingrad started in summer of 1942, and Germany was in dominating position at first. However, German army was not ready for the coming of winter. German soldiers did not have enough clothes and food. At the mean time, Soviet Union had new tanks and soldiers. This led to the victory of Soviet Union and Allies. The battle of Stalingrad was a significant battle because it was the first battle that Allies captured the German military leader alive. It stopped the German invasion of Soviet Union and inflicted serious damage on Germany. Germany was in defensive position since it lost this battle, and the war
The autobiography Red Road From Stalingrad, written by Second World War soviet Infantryman Mansur Abdulin, is a story that describes his horrible experiences in the soviet army. During the first part of the book, Abdulin goes into detail concerning his progression from a committed Bolshevik child, working in a siberian mine, to his fervor in volunteering to the army, and finally to his first skirmishes with the “Fritzes,” or German forces. From the start of the book propaganda plays a role in shaping Abdulin. He describes a childhood conversation between his father and the local villagers“ Tell us frankly, Comrade Abdulin,- you being a party man- is there a god or isn’t there? Then they would wait for his answer, catching their breath. ‘Unfortunately,
World War II was seen around the globe as a war to end all wars. Combat like this had never been experienced before and it was the largest scale battle in recent history. The death tolls for all sides skyrocketed to heights that had never been reached in any battle ever before. There was one man at the center of it all, one man who came to personify the root of living, breathing evil. That man was Adolf Hitler and to the rest of the world, he was a superhuman military machine who had no other goal but to achieve world domination through destruction. But the roots of the Battle of Stalingrad all began in 1941 when Hitler launched operation Barbarossa. Hitler’s powerful army marched across the east, seemingly unstoppable to any force. Stalin’s Red Army was caught completely off guard and their lines were completely broken apart. A majority of the country’s air force was destroyed when airfields were raided and many of the planes never even got the chance to leave the ground. Hitler’s army finally came to Leningrad where the city was besieged. The city held for 900 days and never gave way to the relentless Germans. At the cost of 1.5 million civilians and soldiers, the Red Army stopped Hitler from advancing further and postponed his plan to sweep over the south. Another cause for the retreat of Hitler was the brutal Russian winter, which Hitler and his army were completely unprepared for and the icy cold deaths would continue to haunt the Germans.
Michael Cherniavsky main focus of his article was to examine how and why the Germans lose in Russia. According to Cherniavsky ” Unlike Hitler, the generals did not understand ( and still do not) that their great victories in the West were due mainly to non-military factors, that armament production, morale, and training are not militarily determined." ( Cherniavky, par.33). Within this article , Cherniavsky goes into detail about how and why the Germans lost. Some examples given by Cherniavsky were the Russian Climate, the inexhaustible manpower, the primitiveness of Russian communicators, and the Russian himself as a human being. The main point of this article was to share more information about the war and how there is much more to the defeat then shown. It was not all obvious and not all military problems that occurred, "Both Hitler and his generals, however, underestimated hopelessly the resources available to the Russians for their attack."( discussion post). Three myths that Cherniavsky claims that are present when defending the loss of the Germans is because of the climate ( they were not prepared to fight during winter, the number of causalities, and errors made by Hitler himself such as inexhaustible man power Russian
One of the greatest battles that took place was in the winter of 1942-1943 and is known as the battle of Stalingrad. This battle was not only fought for the city of Stalingrad but also for the oil fields in the Caucasus, the oil fields were the main goal of the General, Paulus, as ordered by Hitler (Trueman paragraph 2). There were a few speculations as to why Hitler ordered the taking of Stalingrad and one of the speculations was that Hitler simply hated Stalin that much and wanted the city to fall, the other more logical speculation was that due to its location and the advance of the German troops they thought it smart to capture the city instead of leaving it open behind them as they advanced (Trueman paragraph 1). Their other reason for capturing Stalingrad was for its industrial and communication resources, it was the communication and manufacturing hub of the South. (Trueman paragraph
No drama in the Second World War is more enshrined in myth then that frigid, hundred-day episode along the shores of Karelia. Not that the veneration is ill merited, however. For three months, the Finnish state, equipped with but a dozen antiquated tanks and ten infantry divisions, managed to not just resist, but also humiliate the colossal Red Army on an international stage. “This was to be the icy Thermopylae – a Thermopylae every day - upon which the fate of European democracy rested” – and endure it did, until the sheer scale of Soviet forces shattered the Mannerheim Line and coerced Finland to sign a draconian armistice (Mannerheim 1954, p. 272). Ennobled by a sense of sacred obligation to Suomi,
The invasion of Poland by Germany in September 1939 is regarded as the trigger that unleashed the Second World War. After an analysis and study of the causes of the conflict, from my point of view I consider that the depiction of hostilities that would trigger this great war were developed long before and were only a matter of time before this war began. I consider it this way, because Germany as the defeated nation of the World War I, in which the victorious nations, imposed conditions within which Germany ceded part of its territory and its colonies, reduce its army and pay annual compensation to the victorious nations.
During the Second World War an engagement between the Soviet and German forces took place near the town of Kursk. The German offensive, named “Operation Citadel”, was countered by two Soviet counteroffensives. The Soviet’s counteroffensives stopped the German advance. The extensive amount of German equipment lost and casualties guaranteed the Soviet’s victory. The Russians were able to defeat the German attack with intelligence gained on the battlefield through prisoner and through intercepted communications. The German military was never able to recover from this loss and this initiated the demise of the Nazi regime during World War II.