Sei sulla pagina 1di 3

Stephen Pokowitz

Language Arts
Marzullo
2/27/12
Stalingrad: Annihilation on the Volga
Stalingrad was one of the most famous battles in history and was a turning point on the eastern
front during WWII. Stalingrad was fought over a 199 day period from September 22, 1942 until February
2, 1943 when the last German troops surrendered. One of the deadliest battles in WWII, Stalingrad
changed the tide of the war by making the Germans go on the defensive and by stopping the German
progress into Russia.
The Germans crossed the Don River on July 24, 1942; Stalingrad was only 40 miles away (Shaw
120). The Germans haste to get to Stalingrad caused them to only punch a hole in the Don River, which
was mostly controlled by the Soviets. The Germans were too overconfident, so they lazily worked their
way to Stalingrad. Also, their march was undisciplined because they expected no resistance. Since
Stalingrad was spread out along 30 miles of the West Bank of the Volga, the Germans thought it would
easily be cut in half and conquered. General Paulus, the commander of the 6 th army, was unexceptional
and Stalingrad was his first major battle (135). Stalingrad was the third largest industrial city in Russia
and produced more than a quarter of its motorized vehicles, including tanks (156). Consequently, if
Stalingrad was lost, Russia would lose a major industrial center. Hitler wanted Stalingrad badly because it
was named after his arch nemesis, Joseph Stalin, and it allowed him to turn and advance on Moscow to
the North. Similarly, Stalin wanted to defend it for the same reasons. By early October, the Germans had
captured 90% of Stalingrad but the Soviets still held on in the Northern factory district.

In late July 1942, Stalin gave his Order 227 known as Not One Step Backwards, which told his
commanding officers at Stalingrad to shoot any soldier who wavered (Sommerville 103). In addition,
even women and children helped build up defenses for the Russians. The Russians tactic was to eliminate
the Germans use of tanks, artillery, and Luftwaffe by establishing a front line as close to the Germans as
possible, making it easier for the enemys heavy guns to hit their own troops. In the Northern factory
district, where the Russians were still holding out, many tanks were driven out of the factories by the
factory workers without paint or gun sights (102). Also, Soviet snipers were a huge part of the battle for
Stalingrad. They systematically took out German officers with the infamous Mosin-Nagant 91/30 sniper
rifles (Awesome Stories). In fact, one Soviet sniper was so famous among the Germans with over 230
kills, that they dispatched a sniper from Berlin to go to Stalingrad to kill him specifically. Bombardment
by the Luftwaffe gave the Soviets rubble to take cover behind and many times this led to house to house
fighting, which took thousands of lives. The Russians used guerrilla warfare and a series of tunnel and
roof systems that wound all the way around the city. Therefore, the Germans believed that the Russians
were using dirty tricks to kill them because they would spend all day clearing a street, only to have the
Russians be back there overnight. Stalingrad wasnt one main assault, but thousands of scrimmages that
led to mass casualties. The invasion was originally called Operation Blue, but the fighting was so fierce
that the German soldiers gave it a new name, Rattenkrieg, or war of the rats (Awesome Stories).
Those are not people in the elevator, they are devils and neither fire nor bullets can touch them-Willi
Hoffman, German soldier at the Battle for the Grain Elevator in Stalingrad (WWII Visual History 194).
Vodka was vital to keep Russian soldiers nerves up and it was more important than food to the Russians
(Shaw 147). Many Russian and German commanders were replaced because of extreme stress due to
stagnant progress and huge casualties. German General Paulus, for example, developed a tic in his left
eye (Shaw 139).
During all of this bloody fighting, General Zhukov had built up over one million men and
thousands of vehicles on the German armys flanks. Germanys flanks were defended by untrained and

ill-equipped Romanian and Italian troops. Consequently, Zhukov counterattacked and annihilated the
Romanian and Italian armies and encircled General Paulus troops inside Stalingrad. Hitler still thought
the battle could be won and wouldnt let Paulus break out of the pocket and assured him they could be
resupplied by air; Hitler was wrong. Under heavy fire, the Luftwaffe couldnt even get a third of the
supplies necessary to Paulus. On January 30, 1943, Hitler promoted Paulus to Field Marshall in hopes that
he would commit suicide (Shaw 189); on January 31, 1943, Paulus surrendered and the Russians captured
over 250,000 German troops. They were sent to Soviet Labor Camps and only six thousand survived.
Stalingrad casualty reports say that the Russians suffered over 750,000 casualties, 40,000 of
which were civilians (Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia). On the other hand, the Germans lost 850,000
men and Germanys allies lost over 450,000 men (Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia). Thus, Germany
suffered a blow from which it could never recover and put them on the defensive for the rest of the war,
which would eventually go all the way to Berlin and the defeat of the Nazis. Stalingrad was a turning
point on the Eastern front and gave the Russian people the hope they needed to win the war. In essence,
the day that Germany lost Stalingrad was the day that the Germans lost the war and Hitlers statement that
Stalingrad would never leave German hands was proven incorrect. Overall, Stalingrad was the biggest
battle of all time and was Russias utmost triumph.

Potrebbero piacerti anche