Battle of Stalingrad

The Battle of Stalingrad[19] (23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943)[20][21][22] 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 Volgograd) in Southern Russia. The battle was marked by fierce close-quarters combat and direct assaults on civilians in air raids, with the battle epitomizing urban warfare.[23][24][25] It was the bloodiest battle of the Second World War, with both sides suffering enormous casualties.[26][27][28] Today, the Battle of Stalingrad is universally regarded as the turning point in the European theatre of war,[29] 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, ending with the rout of the six field armies of Army Group B, including the destruction of Nazi Germany's 6th Army and an entire corps of its 4th Panzer Army.[30] The Soviet victory energized the Red Army and shifted the balance of power in the favour of the Soviets.

Quick facts: Battle of Stalingrad, Date, Location, Result,... ▼

Battle of Stalingrad
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
The centre of Stalingrad after the battle, with the Barmaley Fountain in the foreground
Date 23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943[Note 1] (5 months, 1 week and 3 days) Location Stalingrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Volgograd, Russia) 48°42′N 44°31′E Result Soviet victory Destruction of the German 6th Army Destruction of the Italian 8th Army Territorial changes Expulsion of the Axis from the Caucasus, reversing their gains from the 1942 Summer Campaign
Belligerents
Germany  Romania  Italy  Hungary  Croatia[nb 1]	Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Adolf Hitler Maximilian von Weichs Friedrich Paulus  Hermann Hoth Erich von Manstein W. F. von Richthofen Petre Dumitrescu C. Constantinescu Italo Gariboldi Gusztáv Jány	Joseph Stalin Georgy Zhukov Nikolay Voronov Aleksandr Vasilevsky Andrey Yeremenko Konstantin 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[nb 2] 6th Army 4th Panzer Army 1st Panzer Army 3rd Army	Stalingrad Front: 28th Army 51st Army 57th Army 62nd Army 64th Army Don Front[nb 3] 24th Army 65th Army 66th Army Southwestern Front[nb 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 2][1] At the time of the Soviet counter-offensive: c. 600,000 men[2] 400,000 Germans 200,000 Romanians 640+ tanks 732 (402 operational) aircraft[3]	Initial: 187,000 personnel 2,200 artillery pieces 400 tanks 300 aircraft[4] At the time of the Soviet counter-offensive: 1,143,000 men[5] 13,451 artillery pieces 894 tanks[5] 1,115 aircraft[6]
Casualties and losses
747,300–868,374 combat casualties[7] Germany: 300,000+ (6th Army and 4th Panzer Army)[8][9][10] – 400,000 (all units)[11] Italy: 114,000[12]–114,520[9] Romania: 109,000[12]–158,854[9] Hungary: 143,000[9] Hiwi: 19,300–52,000[13] 900 aircraft destroyed 1,500 tanks destroyed 6,000 guns destroyed 744 aircraft; 1,666 tanks; 5,762 guns captured See casualties section.	1,129,619 (including ~950,000 combat casualties) 478,741 killed or missing 650,878 wounded or sick[14] 2,769 aircraft 4,341 tanks (25–30% were total write-offs.[15]) 15,728 guns See casualties section.
Total dead: 1,000,000–1,900,000[16][17][18]
Location of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) within European Soviet Union

Stalingrad was strategically important to both sides as a major industrial and transport hub on the Volga River. Whoever controlled Stalingrad would have access to the oil fields of the Caucasus and would gain control of the Volga.[31] Germany, already operating on dwindling fuel supplies, focused its efforts on moving deeper into Soviet territory and taking the oil fields at any cost. On 4 August, the Germans launched an offensive by using the 6th Army and elements of the 4th Panzer Army. The attack was supported by intense Luftwaffe bombing that reduced much of the city to rubble. The battle degenerated into house-to-house fighting as both sides poured reinforcements into the city. By mid-November, the Germans, at great cost, had pushed the Soviet defenders back into narrow zones along the west bank of the river. Winter conditions became particularly brutal,[24] with temperatures reaching as low as −40°C in late November.[32]

On 19 November, the Red Army launched Operation Uranus, a two-pronged attack targeting the Romanian armies protecting the 6th Army's flanks.[33] The Axis flanks were overrun and the 6th Army was cut off and surrounded in the Stalingrad area. Adolf Hitler was determined to hold the city at all costs and forbade the 6th Army from trying a breakout; instead, attempts were made to supply it by air and to break the encirclement from the outside. The Soviets were successful in preventing the Germans from delivering enough supplies through the air to the trapped Axis forces. Nevertheless, heavy fighting continued for another two months. On 2 February 1943, the German 6th Army, having exhausted their ammunition and food, finally capitulated after over five months of fighting, making it the first of Hitler's field armies to surrender in World War II.[34]

The Soviet victory is commemorated in Russia as the Day of Military Honour.