The Battle of Stalingrad so Deadly

 throughout history resulting in nearly

two million total casualties between

august 23rd

1942 through february 2nd 1943

the german siege resulted in a decisive

victory

for the soviets although at the cost of

over a million

russian casualties the numbers of the

battle of stalingrad

seemed ridiculously high on both sides

so why was the battle of stalingrad

so deadly

stalingrad now known as volgograd

was a large industrial city that spanned

along the volga river

and became an important target for the

germans

not only would the capture of such a

significant

industrial city have damaging effects on

the soviet union in its entirety

but to seize a city named after the

soviet head of state himself

would serve as a great benefit for

german propaganda

and psychological warfare by this point

the germans had already captured a large

portion of today's ukraine and belarus

but it failed a prior attempt to get a

foothold in russian's western city of

moscow

in the winter of 1941 through 1942

still despite the triumph for the

soviets at moscow

their red army had been worn down losing

a notable number of men

and weaponry with apparent confidence

that the damaged troops of the soviets

would be unable to stop another advance

so

soon the german chancellor called for

operation

blue the operation was decided to be

carried out by the german army group

south under the command of field marshal

fedor von bach but as the offense began

on july 9 1942 germany decided to tweak

their plan

instead of capturing stalingrad before

moving on to conquer the wrestling the

german fuhrer

wanted to aim for both goals

simultaneously

army group south was divided into army

group a

and army group b with the first being

led by field marshal wilhelm list

and the latter under the command of

fedor von bonk although he was shortly

replaced by field marshal maximilian von

vikes

as army group a captured rostov and

continued on their path the fourth

panzer army

led by hermann hoth was reassigned from

army group b

to go assist army group a meanwhile

joseph stalin made his first major move

in response to the building threat

in an extreme reaction to the inevitable

clash with germany

the soviet leader issued order number

227 which is often referred to as the

not one step back order the order

declared that no russian fighter shall

retreat or

back down for any reason unless given an

explicit order

and those who disobeyed which he deemed

as traitors

and cowards would be executed on the

spot

additionally stalin refused to evacuate

the citizens of stalingrad

as he claims that his troops would fight

even harder with the knowledge that they

had so many civilian lives to protect

those troops consisted of the 21st 62nd

63rd and 64th armies

alongside the eighth air army all

commanded by semyon tomoshenko

the stalingrad front responded quickly

to the german advancement

as hermann hoth and his men began to

approach from the southwest

while the german sixth army was led by

frederick paulus to join from the west

at first the soviets were able to hold

off the incursion fairly well

although they did begin to give up

territory

very slowly when the battle of

stalingrad officially kicked off

germany's sixth army had pushed the

soviet 62nd and 64th armies to the

outskirts of the city

as the german luftwaffe dropped

repetitive bombs on stalingrad

quickly laying waste to most of its

wooden buildings and structures

over the first 48 hours many civilians

were killed as the action began

yet some proceeded to work in the

factories that had not been demolished

by the bombs

such as the stalingrad tractor factory

which continued to produce soviet

t-34 tanks as the struggle raged on

other civilians who survived the first

days were forced to build trenches and

fortifications for the soviet troops

by this point all russian forces were

diverted to the bank of the volga river

as the germans seemed to take an early

upper hand and eventually pushed the

soviet troops back

to where they only held a small portion

of land

along the river the german airstrikes

made this position difficult as

ships coming through the volga were the

soviets only way of supply

and their own air forces stood no match

for wolfram von richthofen's air fleet

four

despite continuous aerial reinforcements

on the russian side

the luftwaffe held undeniable control of

the airspace

over the city the soviets 1077th

anti-aircraft regiment was now under

immense pressure to fight off the

increasing german air attacks

all while the german 16th panzer

division advanced from the ground

despite having zero training to deal

with ground assaults the 1077th fighters

forced the panzers to engage with them

shot for shot

until the latter was finally able to

disable

or destroy all 37 of the soviet's

anti-aircraft guns

the germans were shocked to then

discover that they had been fighting

an entire regiment of woman the entire

time

meanwhile civilian militia groups made

up of any men or women who were not

still working in the factories were sent

out

poorly equipped to join the defensive

fight small units on the ground for both

sides now

engaged in close combat all throughout

stalingrad

fighting over blocks and buildings

passing control

back and forth throughout september

the soviets attempted to launch multiple

offenses against the germans but were

beaten down

particularly by the luftwaffe again and

again

nonetheless the german troops repeatedly

failed to take

key crossing points along the volga and

were only able to hold the south of

stalingrad thus far

the 14th panzer division and 305th

infantry division on the german side

carried out brutal assaults on the

soviet factories

some of which were still being run by

civilians and

fought back ruthlessly against the

soviet's 138th rifle division

led by colonel ivan ludnikov by november

8th

the german luftwaffe had been spread

thin as

important units from air fleet four had

to be diverted to face the allies

in north africa while the axis side had

also brought in pilots from the royal

romanian air force who had destroyed

roughly

61 soviet aircraft in stalingrad the

germans

suffered the consequences of having to

string their air force

across multiple battle zones

additionally

by mid-november the russians launched a

new

counter-offensive code named operation

uranus

and planned by generals georgie zhukov

alexander vasilevskiy

and nikolai voronov beginning on

november 19th

the attack was organized in two

spearheads

both north and south of the german

forces

and took the latter completely by

surprise

strategically the soviets opted not to

strike

against germany's sixth army and fourth

panzer army but instead

aimed for the weaker flanks less

protected

under-supplied undermanned and made up

of a demoralized team of hungarian

romanian and italian troops the germans

weaker flanks

proved easy to penetrate for the soviets

and both spearheads were reunited on

november

23rd completely encircling germany's

armies in stalingrad

a plea was made to the german chancellor

to allow a retreat to reunite with the

german forces outside the city but the

armies stuck in stalingrad

were simply told to stand and fight

because the focus wasn't taking every

part of the city

the flanks were not strengthened enough

winter had now arrived

and supplies including food were now

dwindling for the trapped german troops

the luftwaffe was supposed to supply the

ground forces

but failed to deliver enough supplies

finally

as december ticked on germany's

chancellor

ordered to bring together a special army

corps

to rescue their fellow fighters from

stalingrad

in a disastrous move the chancellor

refused again

to let the trapped forces try and break

through the encirclement

manstein and his army were simply unable

to advance through the soviet line

which now launched operation saturn

intending to tighten their grasp around

the enclosed germans

germany's chancellor again told his men

to keep fighting

to the death even if need be nonetheless

following the soviet launch of operation

ring on january 10

1943 the german field marshal frederick

paulus who had been prompted along with

a reminder from his chancellor that no

field marshal had ever surrendered

reached his limit on january 31st

paulus accompanied by 22 of his generals

gave himself up two days later the only

remaining 91 000

troops of the german sixth and fourth

panzer armies

surrendered themselves to the soviet

union of the 91 thousand men who

surrendered

only a few thousand would ever return

home while the rest

died in soviet prisons or labor camps

two hundred and fifty thousand german

and romanian bodies were recovered by

the russians after the battle ended

and the total number of casualties

between the german

hungarian romanian and italian troops

from stalingrad

is believed to number more than 900

000 roughly 40 000 civilians are

believed to have perished as well which

was a predictable outcome in response to

stalin's refusal to evacuate his

citizens before the combat took place

and others being forced to fight the

answer to

why there were so many casualties in the

battle of stalingrad

is likely a combination of many things

for one the civilian involvement in the

conflict played a role

another factor was stalin's not one step

back order

which prevented any retreats regardless

of the circumstances and

required an instant execution of any

soldier

who still attempted to back down anyway

in addition

the civilians and troops within the city

would have been weakened by lack of

necessary food and supplies

which had been cut off during and even

before the battle truly began

both by the germans and by the decision

the soviets had made to ship

their grain and other stores out of

stalingrad

as another factor many soviet soldiers

sent as reinforcements

drowned while attempting to cross the

volga river and others

were very poorly equipped the life

expectancy of a russian soldier and

stalingrad during the battle

was around 24 hours the mass deployment

of troops for this battle

and the psychological and economic

importance of this city

made the battle more deadly as the

germans focused on

cleaning the city and not on protecting

the flanks with more men

and logistics meanwhile the soviet

soldiers were not allowed to retreat

and many were forced to fight not being

prepared for battle

essentially the battle of stalingrad was

a deadly struggle

for both sides but it appears that the

politics and

policies of stalin's soviet union and