Introduction to the Battle of Stalingrad

The Battle of Stalingrad, also known as the Battle of Stalingrad, was a major turning point in the former Soviet Union’s Patriotic War in World War II. It was also the bloodiest and largest battle in human history. one of the battles. The campaign includes the following parts: in May 1942, the German army swept through the southwestern region of the Soviet Union and approached Stalingrad; the Luftwaffe's large-scale bombing campaign against the southern Soviet city of Stalingrad; the German army invaded the urban area; urban street fighting; the Soviet Red Army counterattack; In the end, the Axis forces were encircled and annihilated. The Axis lost a quarter of its troops on the Eastern Front in this battle, and never recovered until it was finally defeated. For the Soviet Union, victory in this battle marked the beginning of the recovery of occupied territories, culminating in the final victory over Nazi Germany in May 1945.

Diagram of the Battle of Stalingrad

Stalingrad is located on the west bank of the lower reaches of the Volga River, formerly known as Tsaritsyn. It is an important port on the Volga River, the main inland shipping line of the Soviet Union, and is also the southern railway transportation hub of the Soviet Union. hub and important industrial city. Shortly after the German army besieged Leningrad, on July 17, 1942, it invested 1.5 million troops to attack Stalingrad. Hitler even made a plan to capture Stalingrad before July 25. Hitler's conspiracy failed again. Under Stalin's call, the Soviet military and civilians fought to the death against the enemy, and everyone devoted themselves to the fight against German fascism. The German army concentrated 40 divisions of elite troops, dispatched thousands of aircraft every day, and dropped more than 1 million bombs on the city. Almost all the buildings in Stalingrad were blown up. On September 13, 170,000 German troops and 500 tanks launched a fierce attack on the Soviet 62nd Army defending Stalingrad. The German troops broke through the Soviet defense lines in several areas and entered urban positions. At this critical moment, the Soviet army put up a heroic resistance. The Soviet people also united. Everyone held weapons in hand and fought against the German troops attacking the city in the ruins. Those in front fell while those behind rushed forward. One of the most brutal and fierce battles for urban areas has begun. In order to defeat fascism, the Russian people made great sacrifices and composed a touching hymn of patriotism. On September 14, the fierce battle for the city center reached a fever pitch. The German troops charged from morning to night, and they suffered heavy casualties. The soldiers of the 62nd Army defending Stalingrad fought bloody battles with the Germans with determination to fight the city's survival. In order to compete for the railway station, Germany and the Soviet Union fought fiercely. The railway station changed hands 13 times within a week. In order to compete for the Mayev Ridge highland occupied by the Germans, the Guards swooped down on the steep slopes northeast of the highland, rushed into the trenches, fought hand-to-hand with the Germans, and finally recaptured the highland. The fierce battle to guard the "Pavlov Building" lasted for 58 days and nights. The enemy fired with artillery and mortars, and also sent aircraft to bomb the building. Although the building was bombed beyond recognition, it was never destroyed. The Soviet army held on to the building. , giving the enemy counterattack again and again. In order to cover the wounded, a nurse used a machine gun to kill more than 30 German troops. She was seriously injured, but she still persisted until her troops arrived. There were 75,000 girls who became anti-aircraft gunners, radio soldiers, health workers and nurses. They dedicated their youth to the great defense of Stalingrad. The people of the whole city cooperated closely with the Soviet army and fought together. Workers at the tractor factory fought back against the enemy while continuing to produce in the workshop where shrapnel was flying everywhere. During the fierce fighting in September, they produced 1,200 tanks and 150 tractors... During the war, everyone, regardless of gender, old or young, was a soldier, and battlefields were everywhere. Hitler's army was plunged into the vast sea of ??people's war. Invincible after a long battle. Hitler originally wanted a quick victory, but the stubborn counterattack of the Stalingrad people put the German army in trouble. From September 13th to 26th, the German army suffered almost more than 3,000 casualties every day, but still could not occupy the entire city. The morale of the German army was declining day by day. A German soldier lamented in a letter home: "We will soon capture Stalingrad, but it is still in front of us - so close, but at the same time as far away as the moon." Winter finally arrived, and the German soldiers who were unprepared for the winter fell into hunger and cold. Many soldiers froze to death. Germany's combat effectiveness weakened day by day, and the situation of the war gradually began to change. On November 19, the Soviet Red Army finally ushered in an exciting moment, and Stalin issued the order for a major counterattack. On November 23, the Soviet army trapped 330,000 German troops in an encirclement. The Germans were running out of ammunition and food, and they were in fear of death. German commander Boros wrote in his notes: "Morale is low, and the hope of relief is shattered. More and more tired soldiers are seeking shelter for themselves in the basements of Stalingrad. More and more often, they hear about the end of the resistance. Meaningless complaints." Boros issued a request to Hitler to retreat. Hitler, who had just returned from admiring the snow in the Alps, sent an urgent message: no surrender was allowed, and the Sixth Army must defend its position until every soldier, every soldier, and every shot was fired. Boros fell into a state of extreme despair. Sitting dejectedly on the cot in the dark basement, he sent Hitler a last urgent telegram: "The troops will finally collapse within 24 hours." Helpless, Hitler hurriedly sent a telegram. , promoted Boros to field marshal, and the remaining 117 officers were also promoted one level each. Hitler hoped that his honors and titles would strengthen the determination of German soldiers to "die with honor."

After receiving the telegram, Boros completely lost hope and collapsed to the ground. On February 2, the six-month battle of Stalingrad finally came to an end. More than 91,000 German officers and soldiers, including 24 senior generals including Boros, were wearing thin clothes and tightly wrapped in blood-stained blankets. They walked step by step towards the cold in the severe cold of minus 24 degrees Celsius. Siberian prisoner of war camp. The Battle of Stalingrad dealt a fatal blow to Hitler's fascism. The German army was no longer able to carry out a large-scale counterattack. They retreated step by step and began to go downhill. The Soviet Red Army began a major counterattack, gradually regained lost ground, and invaded the German mainland. The victory in the Battle of Stalingrad was a turning point in the Soviet-German war and a great turning point in the Second World War.

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Barbarossa Plan

On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany and its Axis allies launched the "Barbarossa Plan" "Sasha Plan", brazenly invaded the Soviet Union, and the Soviet-German War broke out. The German army quickly occupied large areas of the western Soviet Union. The Soviet army, which suffered a series of blows in the summer and autumn of 1941, achieved its first victory in the Battle of Moscow in December of that year. Due to the lack of war equipment and stable supply lines to cope with the winter, the over-exhausted German army suffered a severe blow under the city of Moscow and was counterattacked in some areas. By the spring of 1942, the long Soviet-German front was relatively stable, but both sides were intensifying their troops and preparing for a larger-scale battle to compete for strategic initiative. Since the German army was no longer able to launch a full-scale offensive, the German High Command hoped to attack the Soviet Union in unexpected strategic directions in order to achieve quick results. Army Chief of Staff General Halder suggested that if another offensive was to be launched, it should be directed against Moscow. However, Hitler believed that the target of attacking Moscow was too obvious and that Army Group Center had been greatly weakened. The German army should abandon its plan to attack Moscow again. Therefore, Germany began to plan to concentrate its forces on the northern and southern fronts to launch a new round of local offensives. In addition, since the United States declared war on Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Germany realized that time was running out. Hitler hoped to end the war on the Eastern Front or weaken the Soviet Union as much as possible before American troops had a chance to join the European battlefield.

Strategic Location

Stalingrad was originally named Tsaritsyn and was later renamed Volgograd. It is located on the west bank of the lower reaches of the Volga River and had about 600,000 residents before the war. It is an important port on the Volga River, the main inland shipping line of the Soviet Union. It is also a railway transportation hub and an important industrial city in the southern Soviet Union. It has a large tractor factory, the Stalingrad Tractor Factory (also known as the Dzerzhinsky Tractor Factory). , the factory was the largest tractor factory in the Soviet Union at the time, accounting for half of the Soviet Union's output, and had long played the role of an arsenal). To the west and south of Stalingrad are the vast and fertile lower Don River basin, Kuban River basin and Caucasus region, which are important production areas of grain, oil and coal in the Soviet Union. After the German army occupied Ukraine in 1941, Stalingrad became the only transportation choke point from the central region of the Soviet Union to the important economic regions in the south, and its strategic location was extremely important. If the German army occupied this area, the Soviet Union would lose the oil, food and important industrial base needed for the war, and Germany also urgently needed these resources at this time. Before launching the offensive, Hitler told General Paulus, commander of the 6th Army: "If I cannot get the oil from Maykop and Grozny, then I must end this war."

Hitler Secret Order

The secret war order issued by Hitler on April 5, 1942: "Order No. 41 of April 5 (Eastern Front Operations) Leader and Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht Headquarters Wehrmacht High Command/Wehrmacht April 1942 On the 5th, the top secret document No. 55616 of the Command and Staff Department of 1942 was only conveyed to the officers. The winter campaign in Russia was coming to an end. Due to the particularly tenacious and sacrificial spirit of the officers and soldiers on the Eastern Front, the German army had achieved a huge victory in the defensive battle. . The enemy suffered extremely heavy losses in terms of personnel and supplies. In this winter, the enemy's efforts to expand the so-called initial results have greatly depleted the main force of the reserve force that will be used in future operations once the weather and terrain conditions are favorable. The superiority of the German commanders and troops will once again win the initiative and force the enemy to submit. The goal is to ultimately annihilate the remaining Soviet forces and seize as much of its most important war economic resources as possible. Invest all available forces of the German Wehrmacht and the Allied Forces, but at the same time, the security of the coast of the occupied areas in western and northern Europe should be guaranteed." Since the German army suffered approximately 1.1 million casualties from the beginning of the war to the winter of 1941, he successively. Marshals Gorin and Keitel were sent to various countries to recruit servant armies. One army obtained 52 divisions for summer operations, including 27 Romanian divisions, 13 Hungarian divisions, 9 Italian divisions, 2 Slovak divisions, and Spanish divisions. 1 division. In order to implement the above strategic intentions, Germany reorganized its forces on the southern front, canceled the designation of the original Army Group South, and established two new Army Groups A and B.

Army Group A is commanded by Marshal List, and is under the jurisdiction of General Kleist's 1st Armored Group and General Ruf's 17th Army. It is provided with air support by the 4th Air Force of the Air Force. Its mission is to capture the Caucasus region; B The Army Group was commanded by Field Marshal Bock and consisted of General Hoth's 4th Armored Army, General Weix's 2nd Army, and General Paulus' 6th Army. It was supported by the Air Force's Don Regional Air Force. , whose mission is to capture Stalingrad and cover the northern flank of Army Group A. Behind the two army groups A and B, there is a second line of troops, consisting of the Hungarian 2nd Army, the Italian 8th Army and the Romanian 3rd Army. In addition, in the Crimea region, there are General Manstein's 11th Army and the Romanian 4th Army. The total strength is 60 German divisions, including 10 armored divisions, 6 motorized divisions, and 43 divisions of client state troops. The *** has 1,200 tanks and assault artillery, 17,000 cannons and mortars , 1,640 combat aircraft.

Operation Blue

According to Hitler's request, the German High Command formulated a southern operations plan for the summer of 1942, codenamed "Operation Blue" (German: Fall Blau). Its main content is: List A Army Group, with Kleist's 1st Armored Group as the left wing and Ruf's 17th Army as the right wing, attacks east and southeast from the south of Kharkov and the north of Taganrog respectively. , occupy Rostov on the lower reaches of the Don River, and march south to control the oil fields in the Caucasus; Army Group B of Bok has Huth's 4th Armored Army and Weix's 2nd Army as the left wing, and Paulus' 6th Army as the right wing , assaulted from the south of Kursk and the north of Kharkiv to the east and southeast respectively, occupied Voronezh on the upper reaches of the Don River, and advanced towards Stalingrad. The Soviet High Command was also stepping up preparations for the summer campaign of 1942. Stalin and the Soviet Supreme Command judged that in the summer of 1942, the German army might launch a large-scale offensive in the direction of Moscow and the south, with Moscow as the main assault target, because in this direction, the German army still had more than 70 divisions and more than 100 troops. Thousands of people. Therefore, the Soviet High Command decided to concentrate most of the reserves in the direction of Moscow. The strategic intention of the Soviet army is: to carry out active strategic defense in the near future, but at the same time, it must carry out active strategic defense in Crimea, the Kharkov area, the direction of Ligov-Kursk, the direction of Smolensk, as well as Leningrad and Czechoslovakia. A series of offensive operations were carried out in the Miansk area. When discussing specific combat plans, Stalin was very interested in and fully supported the southwest offensive plan proposed by Marshal Timoshenko, the commander-in-chief of the southwest. Marshal Shaposhnikov, Chief of the Soviet General Staff, stated that the General Staff did not agree with this plan, and said that the base camp could not and did not have enough reserves to provide to the southwest. This opinion was rejected by Stalin. Finally, Stalin approved Timoshenko's plan to launch the Kharkov offensive with troops from the southwest before the enemy. The plan provides for a concentric assault from the Volchansk region and Barvinko to capture Kharkiv in one fell swoop and create conditions for the liberation of Donbas.

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Early stage of the battle

On May 8, 1942, the German 11th Army commanded by General Manstein first attacked in Croatia Remia launched an offensive and occupied the Kerch Peninsula a week later, capturing 170,000 Soviet troops. On July 4, nearly 100,000 Soviet troops guarding the Sevastopol Fortress were forced to surrender to the German army, and the German army occupied the entire Crimea. On May 12, when the Kerch Peninsula was undergoing fierce fighting, Marshal Timoshenko commanded the Southwest Front Army and the Southern Front Army, with about 45 divisions, facing Kharkov from the northeast and southeast respectively. Attack. The offensive developed smoothly at the beginning, breaking through the German defenses and advancing 25-50 kilometers in three days and nights. Stalin was very happy and criticized the General Staff accordingly, saying that such a successful campaign was almost canceled because of the stubbornness of the General Staff. But Stalin was not happy for long. On May 17, the German 1st Armored Group Kleist, supported by the 17th and 6th armies, launched a counterattack from the south of Kharkov to the Soviet flank, and on May 23, it encircled the Southern Soviet Front. The 9th and 57th armies, the 6th Army of the Southwest Front and the Bobkin Battle Group. By May 29, most of the besieged Soviet troops had been wiped out. Lieutenant General Kostenko, deputy commander of the Soviet Southwest Front, Lieutenant General Podras, commander of the 57th Army, Lieutenant General Gorodyannis, commander of the 9th Army, and Major General Bobkin, commander of the battle group, were killed. The Soviet army captured 250,000 people and lost 1,249 tanks and 2,026 artillery pieces. The Battle of Kharkov kicked off the Battle of Stalingrad. The German victories in Crimea and Kharkov exhausted the Soviet Union's hard-won reserves. The southern flank was severely weakened, and the German army regained part of its strategic strategy. Take the initiative and be temporarily in an advantageous position. The German army captured the Barvinkovo ??salient and occupied a favorable offensive starting position for the upcoming offensive. On June 28, 1942, the 4th Armored Army of Hoth and the 2nd Weix Army on the left wing of Army Group B of Bauk suddenly attacked from the northeast of Kursk to the east and launched an assault on the 13th and 40th Armies of the Bryansk Front. The target is directly at Voronezh on the upper reaches of the Don River. On June 30, the right-wing Paulus 6th Army also launched an offensive from the northeast of Kharkov, advancing southeast with Stalingrad as the goal, and broke through the defenses of the 21st and 28th Army.

In the direction of Voronezh, the reserves of all Soviet front armies were put into combat, and the Supreme Command also deployed the 6th and 60th Army Groups and the 5th Tank Army to strengthen the Bryansk Front Army. With the continuous input of reserves, the situation in Voronezh has eased slightly, but it has not eliminated the serious risk of the German army breaking through the Don River and attacking Stalingrad along the Don River. On July 2, the forward of Hoth's 4th Armored Army had pushed into Voronezh. But Hitler suddenly changed his plan and decided not to occupy the city. He ordered Hotter to quickly turn south and advance toward Stalingrad along the Don River after being replaced by the 2nd Army. However, Marshal Bok wanted to occupy Voronezh in order to completely annihilate the main force of the Subriansk Front in the area. This made Hitler very angry. He immediately dismissed Marshal Bok as the commander of Army Group B and replaced him with the commander of the 2nd Army, Weikes. The general took over, and the commander of the 2nd Army was succeeded by General Sams. To the south in the direction of the Caucasus, Army Group List A launched an attack on July 9. On its left wing, the 1st Armored Army of Kleist attacked from the south of Kharkov to the north bank of the Doniz River. Ruf's 17th Army attacked Voroshilovgrad from the north of Taganrog. At the same time, the Hungarian 2nd Army and the 4th Armored Army also launched a surprise attack on Flornis and captured the city on July 5. The German offensive was very successful. It was difficult for the Soviet army to effectively resist in the open steppes. The Soviet army retreated 100-300 kilometers, and the richest areas of the Don River and the Donbas Basin fell into the hands of the German army. However, the satisfactory results achieved by the 6th Army in the early stages of the campaign caused Hitler to change his plan again. He believed that so many troops were not needed to capture Stalingrad, so he ordered Hoth's 4th Armored Army to move south from the direction of Stalingrad on the 17th and transfer it to Army Group A to support Kleist's 1st Armored Army in forcibly crossing the lower Don River. In this way, the only offensive force in the direction of Stalingrad was Paulus's 6th Army (which has 6 corps, including 2 armored corps, 14 divisions, about 270,000 people, nearly 500 tanks, and 3,000 guns). artillery and mortars, supported by 1,200 combat aircraft of the 4th Air Force). Due to traffic and other problems, the progress of the 6th Army was slowed down, giving the Soviet army some preparation time. The Soviet Supreme Command gradually became clear about the German army's intentions and determined to organize and hold on to Stalingrad. On July 12, at the Battle of Stalingrad in the southwest,

the front army was formed on the original basis, with Marshal Timoshenko as the commander (from July 23, he was replaced by Lieutenant General Gordov ), the Stalingrad Front Army, where Khrushchev was a member of the Military Commission, was responsible for the defense mission in the direction of Stalingrad. Its formation includes the 62nd, 63rd, and 64th Group Armies transferred from the Soviet Strategic Reserve and the remnants of the 21st, 28th, 38th, and 57th Group Armies of the former Southwest Front Army, as well as the 1st and 4th Tank Armies (under the jurisdiction of the 4th Tank Army). 13. The 22nd and 23rd Tank Corps (only 240 tanks), as well as the 8th Army of the Air Force and the Volga Fleet of the Navy. The Stalingrad Front has 38 divisions in its establishment, but only 16 divisions (all of the 62nd and 63rd Army, 2 divisions of the 64th Army, and 1 division each of the 1st and 4th Tank Armies) can capture The defensive position in the main zone is tasked with holding a defensive zone of about 530 kilometers long and 120 kilometers deep from Pavlovsk to Kurmoyarskaya. The enemy in front of them was Paulus's 6th Army and its 18 fully equipped divisions. At that time, the strength comparison between the two sides was 1:1.2 for personnel, 1:2 for tanks, and 1:3.6 for aircraft. Artillery and mortars were roughly equal, and the German army had the advantage. In the direction of the Caucasus, the original Southern Front army suffered serious losses during its retreat, with only more than 100,000 people remaining in the original four army groups. The Supreme High Command decided to abolish the Southern Front and organize all troops into the North Caucasus Front, with Soviet Marshal Budyonny as commander. The 37th and 12th armies of the North Caucasus Front were tasked with covering the direction of Stavropol. , the 18th, 56th, and 47th Group Armies were tasked with covering the direction of Krasnodar. From the end of July to the beginning of August, the German army, which had superior strength, pushed forward tenaciously. Soon we arrived at the Kuban River. In August, the fighting also became fierce in the direction of Maikop. On August 10, the German army captured Maykop, and on the 11th they captured Krasnodar. In mid-August, Mozdok was captured and advanced to the Terek River. By September 9, after the Germans pushed back the 46th Army, they occupied almost all of the mountain passes. Sukhumi faces grave danger.

Battle close to the ground