An estimated 1,530,000 people killed or wounded. These are the astonishing figures from Battle of Stalingrad often regarded as the bloodiest in history. The World War II battle between the German Axis forces in Soviet Russia over the city now known as the Volgograd, lasted from the 21st of August 1942 to the second of February 1943 making it to 199 days, the largest single battle of history.
The siege of Stalingrad was part of full blown modified as grand plan to secure the Eastern front. Like Operation Barbarossa, it was doomed to failure and it’s considered to have been a major turning point of the Second World War
Strategically and symbolically, Stalingrad was an important target for Hitler who ignored advice from his generals in order to attack the city named after his great foe, Joseph Stalin.
The battle began as heavy bombing by the German Luftwaffe before ground forces moved into the city at one point securing up to 90% of it. The fighting is long and arduous and with no regard for civilian life, captured areas changed then over and over again and snipers going supreme in the shelled out buildings.
As winter approached the Russians benefited, the frozen Volga River made it easier for them to get surprised through while the Germans found themselves cut off, starving and eventually simply freezing to death.
The turn around came in the 19th of November 1942 when the Russians put Operation Uranus into action. Its main objective is to push through the weakened outline next is France which mostly consisted about numbered and poorly equipped with military infantry. The next day, Soviet forces moved to west in a pinched some movement meeting two days later with Kalach and seeing the ring around Stalingrad. The Russians went to the fields just decisive men of propaganda but had no cameras available and had to restage the events later.
The Germans retaliated with Operation Vento Gaveta but as the severe Russian Winter set in, the German forces were soon dying in there thousands. By the New Year, the Germans could hold out no longer and on the 31st of January, Fredrick Paolo surrendered to Soviet Forces just the day after being promoted to General Field Marshal by Adolf Hitler.
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