WAR infographic

The battle

 

 

On July 9, 1942

• Hitler ordered the simultaneous capture of Stalingrad and the Caucasus.

 

On July 28

• Stalin issued that the defenders at Stalingrad would take “Not One Step Back.”

• He also refused the evacuation of any civilians, stating that the army would fight harder.

• The battle began with the German air force bombardment operations

• They made much of the city to rubble.

 

On September 3

• the German Sixth Army reached the outskirts of Stalingrad

• the Russians had built up their defenses.

 

• the Germans fought their way into Stalingrad against strong resistance.

• Streets and individual buildings were fought over by many small units of troops. This was urban street fighting

• German tanks had trouble fighting in the streets of Stalingrad.

 

By mid-September

• the Germans had pushed the Soviet forces back

• The city’s buildings were pounded into rubble by close combat.

• Areas which were captured during the day by Germans, were retaken by the Russians at night.

 

By late September

• the Germans could raise the flag in the center of town

• The Germans occupied 90% of the city.

• Anyway, they could not eliminate the Russians from the industrial quarters along the Volga.

• The Russians developed defensive tactics that took advantage of the wrecked buildings, which gave them advantages.

 

In mid-November

• Zhukov launched his counteroffensive to encircle the enemy.

• Six Russian armies of one million men are used to surround the city.

• Hitler ordered his army to hold their ground at all costs.

• The counteroffensive surprised the Germans. They thought the Soviets are incapable of launching such an attack.

• With winter setting in and food and supplies fading away, German’s forces grew weaker.

• The Germans now had to face temperatures of minus 30 degrees Celsius (the temperature in your freezer is about minus 20 degrees Celsius).

 

In mid-December

• Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, tried to rescue Paulus’s forces

• Hitler refused to let Paulus fight his way out from the city in order to link up with Manstein.

• That fatal decision doomed Paulus’s forces

• Hitler forced the trapped German forces to fight to the death

• He promoted Paulus to field marshal and reminded him that no German officer of that rank had ever surrendered.

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January 10

• The Sixth Army was surrounded by seven Soviet armies.

 

February 2

• General Paulus surrendered with 91,000 men.

• About 150,000 Germans had died in the fighting.

 

Interesting facts

 

• The Soviet victory was a great humiliation for Hitler

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• It is believed that Hitler ordered the taking of Stalingrad simply because of the name of the city. For the same reason, Stalin ordered that the city had to be saved.

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• Hitler’s communication with von Paulus, January 24, 1943: “Surrender is forbidden. 6 Army will hold their positions to the last man and the last round and by their heroic endurance will make an unforgettable contribution towards the establishment of a defensive front and the salvation of the Western world.”

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• “My hands are done for, and have been ever since the beginning of December. The little finger of my left hand is missing and – what’s even worse – the three middle fingers of my right one are frozen. I can only hold my mug with my thumb and little finger. The best thing I can do with the little finger is to shoot with it. My hands are finished.”Anonymous German soldier 

• Snipers had become one of the most feared opponents for both sides.

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• Zaytsev is one of the most well-known snipers in history. He attached a scope to an anti-tank gun so that he could take out enemies who were taking cover behind walls. He established a sniper school in a factory in the middle of Stalingrad, during the battle itself. His students killed between1000 and 3000 German soldiers during the course of the war.

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• A regular Red Army conscript had a life expectancy of just 24 hours,

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• A Soviet officer had a life expectancy to around 3 days.

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• Cannibalism was a common occurrence.

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• Most of the T-34 tanks were driven straight off the production and into battle by factory workers.

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• At the end, the city of Stalingrad was comparable in appearance to Hiroshima or Nagasaki

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• A huge statue was built in memory of the battle, named “The Motherland Calls” - it is comparable in height to the Statue of Liberty.

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• Only cruel and evil man as Stalin could match the disregard for human life that Hitler had.

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• This was the biggest defeat the Germans had ever experienced

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• The Germans would never again have a single victory against the Russians

 

Epilogue

 

It is estimated that there were 1,100,000 Red Army dead, wounded, missing, or captured in the campaign to defend the city. An estimated 40,000 civilians died as well.

German armed forces and its allies causalities: 400,000 Germans, 100,000 Romanians,114,000 Italians and 105,000 Hungarians were killed, wounded or captured.

Of the 91,000 Germans who surrendered, only some 5,000–6,000 ever returned to their homelands

The German prisoners were immediately sent on a series of death marches and put to work rebuilding Stalingrad

75,000 German prisoners of war died within three months of their surrender.

In total, just 5,000 returned home to a Germany in 1955, a full 13 years after the battle had ended.