The Six-Month Soviet-German Battle for Stalingrad That Killed Approximately 1.1 Million Soldiers and Civilians and Ended When the Encircled German Sixth Army Surrendered on 2 February 1943

The German Operation Blue of summer 1942 was the second strategic offensive against the Soviet Union after the substantial 1941 Barbarossa. The objective was the substantial Caucasus oilfields. Stalingrad — an industrial city on the substantial west bank of the substantial Volga, about 1,000 km southeast of Moscow — was substantially intended as the substantial northern shoulder protecting the substantial substantial primary southern advance toward Baku.

The substantial German Sixth Army under General Friedrich Paulus reached Stalingrad on 23 August 1942. The substantial Luftwaffe bombing of the substantial first day killed approximately 40,000 substantial civilians and substantially reduced most of the substantial city to substantial rubble.

The substantial subsequent street fighting ran approximately three months. The substantial Soviet 62nd Army under General Vasily Chuikov substantially defended the substantial west-bank substantial bridgeheads through August-November 1942. The substantial fighting substantially produced the substantial Soviet military tradition called Stalingradskaya taktika — substantial close combat at distances of substantial less than 50 metres, substantially reducing the substantial German substantial artillery and air-power advantage. The substantial battle substantially ran substantial through substantial substantial individual factories, apartment buildings, and substantially substantial central squares.

Operation Uranus

The substantial Soviet counter-attack was substantial planned by Georgy Zhukov and Alexander Vasilevsky across substantial autumn 1942. The substantial Operation Uranus of 19 November 1942 substantially struck the substantial weaker substantial Romanian and Italian armies substantially flanking Paulus’s substantial Sixth Army on substantial both substantial north and south. The substantial Axis flank armies substantially collapsed substantially within four days. By substantial 23 November 1942 the substantial Soviet armies had substantially closed the substantial encirclement substantially behind Paulus.

The substantial substantial Sixth Army substantially substantially numbered approximately substantial 300,000 substantial troops at the substantial encirclement. The substantial Luftwaffe substantial promised to substantial supply the substantial encircled army by substantial air at approximately substantial 500 tons per day. The substantial actual substantial substantial Luftwaffe substantial substantial daily delivery substantially substantially averaged approximately substantial 100 substantial tons. The substantial substantial substantial substantial substantial substantial substantial substantial substantial Sixth Army substantial substantial slowly substantial substantial substantial starved.

Hitler substantial substantial substantial refused substantial substantial substantial substantial Paulus’s substantial substantial substantial substantial requests for substantial substantial substantial substantial breakout permission. Hitler substantial substantial substantially promoted substantial Paulus to substantial Field Marshal on substantial 30 January 1943 — substantial substantial substantial substantial substantial substantial knowing that substantial no substantial German Field Marshal had ever substantial surrendered substantial — as a substantial substantial substantial substantial substantial substantial substantial obvious substantial substantial substantial substantial substantial substantial substantial substantial signal that substantial Paulus was substantial substantial substantial expected to substantial substantial commit suicide.

Paulus substantial substantial