The Germans cut the pipeline from the oilfields when they captured Rostov on 23 July. The initial objectives in the region around Stalingrad were to destroy the industrial capacity of the city and to block the Volga River traffic connecting the Caucasus and Caspian Sea to central Russia, as the city is strategically located near a big bend of the Volga. Hitler decided that Germany's summer campaign in 1942 would be directed at the southern parts of the Soviet Union. Stalin was expecting the main thrust of the German summer attacks to be directed against Moscow again. Neither Army Group North nor Army Group South had been particularly hard-pressed over the winter. Hitler was confident that he could break the Red Army despite the heavy German losses west of Moscow in winter 1941–42, because Army Group Centre ( Heeresgruppe Mitte) had been unable to engage 65% of its infantry, which had meanwhile been rested and re-equipped. : 522 In the east, the Germans had stabilised a front running from Leningrad south to Rostov, with a number of minor salients. On the Western Front, Germany held most of Europe, the U-boat offensive in the Atlantic was holding American support at bay, and Erwin Rommel had just captured Tobruk. ![]() 4.4 Fighting in the industrial districtīy the spring of 1942, despite the failure of Operation Barbarossa to decisively defeat the Soviet Union in a single campaign, the Wehrmacht had captured vast expanses of territory, including Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic republics.On 2 February 1943, the German 6th army, having exhausted their ammunition and food, finally capitulated, making it the first of Hitler's field armies to surrender during World War II, after five months, one week, and three days of fighting. Nevertheless, the German forces were determined to continue their advance and heavy fighting continued for another two months. The Soviets were successful in denying the Germans the ability to resupply through the air which strained the German forces to their breaking point. Adolf Hitler was determined to hold the city at all costs and forbade the 6th Army from attempting a breakout instead, attempts were made to supply it by air and to break the encirclement from the outside. The Axis flanks were overrun and the 6th Army was cut off and surrounded in the Stalingrad area. On 19 November, the Red Army launched Operation Uranus, a two-pronged attack targeting the Romanian armies protecting the 6th Army's flanks. By mid-November, the Germans, at great cost, had pushed the Soviet defenders back into narrow zones along the west bank of the river. The battle degenerated into house-to-house fighting as both sides poured reinforcements into the city. The attack was supported by intense Luftwaffe bombing that reduced much of the city to rubble. On 4 August, the Germans launched an offensive by using the 6th Army and elements of the 4th Panzer Army. Germany, already operating on dwindling fuel supplies, focused its efforts on moving deeper into Soviet territory and taking the oil fields at any cost. Whoever controlled Stalingrad would have access to the oil fields of the Caucasus and would gain control of the Volga. Stalingrad was strategically important to both sides as a major industrial and transport hub on the Volga River. ![]() The victory at Stalingrad energized the Red Army and shifted the balance of power in the favour of the Soviets. ![]() ![]() Today, the Battle of Stalingrad is universally regarded as the turning point in the European Theatre of war, as it forced the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (German High Command) to withdraw considerable military forces from other areas in occupied Europe to replace German losses on the Eastern Front. The Battle of Stalingrad was the deadliest battle to take place during the Second World War and is one of the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare, with an estimated 2 million total casualties. The battle was marked by fierce close-quarters combat and direct assaults on civilians in air raids, with the battle epitomizing urban warfare. The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later renamed to Volgograd) in Southern Russia.
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