The turning point of World War II, the Battle of Stalingrad, was a bitter urban conflict, in which tens of thousands of German and Soviet soldiers were killed. This was where the Red Army proved that it could not only hold off the Wehrmacht, but also defeat the seemingly invincible German war machine.
Stalingrad data
- Who: The German 6th Army under General Friedrich Paulus (1890-1957) vs. the Soviet 62nd Army under General Vasily Chuikov (1900-1982).
- How: The Germans, mired in urban combat, where their mobility tactics were useless, were unable to take the city; they were trapped by the Soviet counteroffensive, and 6th Army surrendered.
- Where: The city of Stalingrad, along the Volga River, in the south of the Soviet Union.
- When: From September 14, 1942 to February 2, 1943.
- Why: The Germans intended to take Stalingrad to deal a blow, both material and psychological, to the subsequent Soviet resistance.
- Result: Stalingrad was the turning point of the war on the Eastern Front, when the Soviets won their first major victory.
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, was the largest ground invasion in history, pitting 3.6 million German soldiers and their allies against some three million Soviet soldiers in the western Soviet Union Tactics and doctrinally superior , the Germans advanced farther and faster than any other modern army, capturing some three million prisoners. However, the Soviet Union did not collapse, as Hitler had predicted. Unclear strategic objectives, overstretched logistics, unexpectedly stiff Soviet resistance, and the terrible Russian winter meant that the Germans failed to defeat their enemy in 1941. In fact, the Red Army was able to launch a counteroffensive on Moscow on 5/6 December, which caught the Germans off guard, pushing them back more than 100 miles in places before the line was stabilized.
Barbarossa had cost the German army 1.1 million casualties. Only eight of the Eastern Army's 162 divisions were fully-strengthed. Vehicle losses were also high . In the spring of 1942 there was no possibility of resuming the offensive; the Germans only had resources for one advance. Stalin and the Soviet high command foresaw that the Germans would resume their assault on Moscow and built up their reserves in the region.
However, with the US entry into the war in December 1941, Germany faced the possibility of a second front and a long war of attrition. Thus, Hitler decided to advance south towards the Transcaucasus and the oil fields, which supplied
90% of Soviet fuel. This would starve the Soviets of fuel and provide resources for a protracted war against England and the U.S. He raised this view in the Führer directive. No. 41 on April 5, 1942, stating that:«All forces will be concentrated for operations in the southern sector, in order to destroy the enemy before reaching the Don, capture the oil fields of the Caucasus and the passes through the Caucasus Mountains» .
Blue operation
Operation Blue, the plan's code name, was undertaken by Army Group South, consisting of one million Germans and 300,000 Allied soldiers, backed by Luftflotte 4 with 1,500 airplanes . There were two main axes of advance:Army Group A would drive into the Caucasus, while Army Group B would guard the northwest flank of the advance along the Don and Volga rivers. The operation began on June 28, 1942, and the Germans initially made rapid advances. Although they managed to inflict a series of resounding defeats on the Soviets, Stalin had given the Red Army permission to trade space for time, and the withdrawal proceeded in an orderly fashion.
Army Group A reached the Maikop oilfields on 9 August, but progress slowed thereafter as resources were sent to Army Group B. Their main formation was the 6th. Army, under the command of Colonel General Paulus, advancing towards the city of Stalingrad, located at the main crossing of the Volga River . On July 23 Hitler ordered to take the city. There were some military reasons for capturing Stalingrad, because it would block a starting point for a Soviet counterattack. However, the main motivations were political and psychological. Capturing the city named after Stalin would be of great value to the morale of Germany and its allies .
Stalingrad
Stalin also understood the importance of the city. On July 12 he established the Stalingrad front, consisting of the 62nd, 63rd, and 64th armies. A week later the city itself was put on a war footing, although there would be no mass evacuation of the population, as Stalin believed that the troops would fight better for a "living city" . On July 23, he issued Order No. 277, according to which the Red Army would not take "one step back" . German commanders saw a clear stiffening of Soviet resistance, but managed to break through the 64th Army and cross the Don on 23 August.
On the same day, Luftflotte 4 launched a massive air attack on Stalingrad, causing 30,000 casualties . The first German spearheads reached the Volga at Rynok and penetrated the northern quarters of Stalingrad.
However, progress slowed in the city. Thus, the bulk of Paulus's army only reached the outskirts of central Stalingrad in early September. The 4th Motorized Army (panzer ) of Herman Hoth had similar difficulties reaching the southern quarters.
Theconfrontingforces
The Soviets estimated that they were facing some 170,000 men, 500 main battle tanks and 3,000 artillery pieces on the 64 km front around and around Stalingrad. They themselves could muster some 90,000 soldiers, 120 battle tanks and 2,000 cannons. The defenders of the narrower front in the city itself faced a similar imbalance, with the 54,000-strong defending 62nd Army against some 100,000 Germans . These figures fluctuated throughout the battle due to losses and reinforcements, but the ratios of forces remained reasonably constant. The main German commander was Paulus, an excellent officer and capable soldier, though probably not cut out for the fierce and messy urban battle of attrition he faced. Vasily Chuikov, commanding the 62nd Army, contrasted with the neat and scrupulous Paulus. Tough, rude, and stubborn, he was the perfect man for the grueling task that lay ahead for him and his troops.
Chuikov had also given much thought to how he was going to defeat his opponent. The Soviets had chosen their terrain well. In the campaigns that preceded Stalingrad, the Soviets had proven tactically and operationally inferior in combat in the wide open spaces of the steppes . The key to German successes had been the coordination of their infantry and armor, and especially close air support. Up to this point, they had avoided urban combat in major conurbations. However, military necessity, and politics, forced the Germans to fight in an environment where their maneuvering skills were irrelevant. And more importantly, their close air support would be less effective. By contrast, the Soviets' proven defensive tenacity, close-quarters combat prowess, and willingness to accept losses would be considerable assets.
The mamayev kurgan
The first German attempt to take the city began on 14 September with a two-pronged assault by LI Corps in the center and south, backed by an advance from the southernmost quarters by 4th Motorized Army. . The objective was to capture the commanding highlands of the Mamayev Kurgan, where Chuikov had his headquarters, and to capture the central jetty, dividing the 62nd Army in two and cutting it off from resupply . An artillery attack eliminated Chuikov's HQ, and the Germans advanced over the Mamayev Kurgan, towards Stalingrad Railway Station No. 1 and the Volga River jetties. Chuikov sent the last of his tactical reserves and begged his front commander to send Major General Rodmitstev's 13th Guards Elite Division to him. The division had to fight its way from the jetty to the station, and over the southeastern slopes of the Mamayev Kurgan. The station changed hands 15 times, finally being occupied by the German 71st Division on 19 September. By this time the 13th Guards, which had entered the fray with 10,000 troops, numbered only 2,700.
South of the city, the 4th Motorized Army encountered intense resistance, culminating in the battle around the grain silo, where 50 marines and guards held off three German divisions . However, by September 26, the 4th Motorized Army had reached the Volga, separating the 64th from Chuikov's 62nd Army. The 6th Army held the crest of the Mamayev Kurgan and made significant advances in the center. Paulus stated that “the Reich battle flag flies over the Party building in Stalingrad” , but the battle was not over.
The crossings of the volga
Although fighting continued around the Mamayev Kurgan, the main German effort moved into the factory district on 27 September. German attacks on Soviet positions around the Red October and Barrikady industrial complexes and tractor factories were designed to capture the wharves behind them. Controlling the Volga was the key to the battle, because it was the vital umbilical cord of the 62nd Army . Despite the tactical dominance of the Luftwaffe and the efforts of the German artillery, they failed to stem the flow of supplies and men across the river. After a week of fighting, the 6th Army managed to isolate the tractor factory.
After a lull in fighting the Germans redoubled their efforts in the factory district, eventually capturing Barrikady and most of Red October. By the end of October they occupied 90% of the city, and had all Soviet-controlled areas under fire . However, this had only been achieved at enormous cost. The 6th Army was exhausted. The Red Army had taken as much as the Wehrmacht could throw at it, and was still clinging to the banks of the Volga. On November 11 Paulus launched his last major assault, again in the factory district . German troops managed to reach the west bank of the river.
Zhukhov's counterattack
To maintain momentum during the seven weeks of house-to-house fighting, the German command reduced the length of the front defended by 6th Army and 4th Motorized Army, leaving the flanks covered by Italian and Romanian forces. Stalin had commissioned General Georgi Zhukhov (1896-1974) to organize a counterattack to isolate the 6th Army in Stalingrad . He amassed a million men and 900 tanks behind the Volga, undetected by the Germans. Zhukhov launched his assault, Operation Uranus, on November 19 . Three armies of General Vatutin's Southwestern Front crushed the Romanian 3rd Army and Yeremenko's front swept the Romanian 4th Army to the south. Both fronts met at Kalach on November 23, completing an encirclement that trapped some 250,000 German and Axis soldiers in Stalingrad.
Paulus asked permission to break through, but Hitler refused . Luftwaffe chief Herman Goring undertook to supply the 6th Army by air, and Hitler ordered Field Marshal von Manstein (1887-1973) to prepare a counterattack to relieve Paulus's trapped troops. Operation Winter Storm, launched on December 12, had to cover about 100 km. She was arrested about 60 km south of Stalingrad . Meanwhile, Zhukhov launched his offensive, under the name "Little Saturn" , threatening the German position in the south. Winter Storm was the last hope of the 6th Army. The Luftwaffe barely managed to unload a third of the necessary supplies, and from January 10 the German position was increasingly constrained by Operation Ring, the Don front under General Rokossovsky and his attempt to close the pocket. . The Soviets were impressed by the resistance of the German defenders . Nonetheless, they took about half of the bag within a week, and after the last airfield fell, Paulus asked Hitler for permission to surrender. He was denied. By January 29 the Germans had been reduced to two pockets in the city, one around the Unimag warehouses in the center and the other in the factory district. On January 31 Hitler promoted Paulus to field marshal . The implications were obvious; no German commander of that rank had ever been captured alive. However, Paulus gave up. German casualties at Stalingrad were about 200,000 men, and 110,000 6th Army troops were taken captive by the Soviets. Only 5,000 made it back home.
Aftermath
Stalingrad was a decisive turning point in the war against Germany . The Soviet Army had defeated the Wehrmacht. Although Germany would maintain a tactical advantage, at Stalingrad the Soviets showed a greater understanding of the operational and strategic level of the war. The Red Army had drawn the Wehrmacht into a battle of attrition. However, he had also been able to launch a “maneuvering” mobile operation. on a large scale, which destroyed the 6th Army. The victory of Stalingrad would be followed by many more.