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Mikey Koenig

Mr. Palcsey

10-8

April 24, 2018

Adolf Hitler’s relationship with his most valuable ally, The Soviet Union, was held

together out of mutual fear and a shared distrust. From the beginning, both Germany and the

USSR had an agreement that the sides would remain neutral and at all costs would avoid military

confrontation. However, since early 1940, Hitler had been planning to invade his fellow allied

country. (Holmes 189) It was on June 2, 1941 when Hitler’s troops invaded the USSR, thus

beginning Operation Barbarossa, which was the start of the fall of the Third Reich (Kirchubel

14). It was unknown to Hitler that in the following years his troops would experience major

losses, extreme conditions, and that his decision to invade the USSR would be a choice that

historians would debate for centuries.

Adolf Hitler invaded most of the Soviet Union within a couple of weeks, abandoning his

previously successful strategy of “Blitzkrieg.” (Kirchubel 17) This was a tactic that sent planes

armed with bombs, machine guns, and smaller arms to lead the battle and bombard the city until

little but rubble remained. After this, units of well-armed soldiers would clear the city with tanks

and smaller, armored vehicles. This was a strategy that allowed Hitler to completely take large

countries such as Poland in a matter of weeks. After Hitler decided to invade the Soviet Union,

this strategy was abandoned. This was one of the most disputable decisions that Hitler made on

his campaign to overtake all of Europe. (Kirchubel 17)

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Germany faced one of their toughest decisions to this point: How many troops would be

sent to fight on the Western front? Hitler’s officials underestimated their previous allies and

advised that only 80-100 units would be needed to defeat the Soviet Union. (Kirchubel 20) After

plowing through some of Russia with little resistance, it appeared that they were right. It seemed

to all work out for Germany when they took Moscow with barely any effort. It appeared that

their campaign in Russia would be easy and quick. They soon realized they were mistaken when

they reached the city named after the Soviet dictator himself, Joseph Stalin, in Stalingrad. This

location held a six-month battle which tested the endurance of both Germany and the Soviet

Union. It was arguably the bloodiest (Craig 34) and most important battle of the twentieth

century, and it creates a valid case for historians who want to question Hitler’s sanity and

intentions. (Ziemke 241)

The Battle of Stalingrad began on July 17, 1942. Bombing runs were initiated by the

Luftwaffe early to turn most of the city to rubble. It was soon after that German forces were

mobilized and sent into the battlefields of Stalingrad. They thought it would be as simple as

taking Moscow- This was far from the truth. Soviet troops were told to stand their ground by

Joseph Stalin, and officers were told to kill their own men if any attempted to flee from the

battlefield. (Beever 402) Stalin promised his troops that aid would arrive within due time, and he

commanded that they give no hope to the Nazi’s who were looking to end the fight quickly.

Americans, British, and French leaders offered immense aid to their struggling ally in the West.

(Holmes 193)

As soon as The Soviet Union gained aid and reinforcements it seemed that they had the

upper hand on Hitler’s forces. This was a common misinterpretation that occurred many times

during this Battle. Hitler realized weeks after failing to obliterate Stalingrad as he had previously
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planned that he needed more troops to fight his enemy. He ordered Hungarian, Italian, and

Austrian troops to the battlefield. Although leaders of weaker nations were ordering large

portions of their troops to a battle to be slaughtered, they feared Hitler’s power. 450,000 of

Germany’s allies died at Stalingrad due to this fear. (Holmes 390) As Hitler’s power grew, the

more vulnerable his allies became, which made it easier for Hitler to take advantage of them and

put them on the front lines of a battle where the life expectancy for incoming soldiers was one

day. (Holmes 389)

Staggering numbers of weaponry were sent to Stalingrad by the Allies, which included

13,500 guns, 1,400 planes, and 824 tanks. (Holmes 378) This forced Germany to withdraw

forces from the Eastern Front, which made them more vulnerable as Soviet troops battered them

in the West. It was evident during this time that Germany’s military could no longer fight a two-

front war. Stalin sent a large bulk of his troops to defend the Volga River, which was a strategic

point that was necessary to hold in order to win the Battle of Stalingrad.

As the Russian Winter rolled in, millions of Axis troops were threatened by a lack of

food and severe temperature drops. Nobody from the German lines were prepared for close-

quarter-combat fight, as most of their supplies were cut off. However, it was now that the

German officials decided to make a push to overtake the Volga River and destroy the few

strongholds that were still run by the Soviets. At this point, 90% of the city had been overrun by

Germans. (Ziemke 227) Supplies had been cut off from the Volga due to the cold winter. The

majority of Soviet troops were cut into two sectors, which the Germans were in between. As all

hope seemed gone for the Russian troops, officials ordered a counter-offensive which killed over

60,000 Germans in three months. This helped force German troops off of the land previously

gained and forced them to retreat. Soviets gained more land after the counter-offensives and
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after the end of 1942, Russian slowly gained land back and would refuse to give it up for the rest

of the battle.

Stalingrad was a city that honored the Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin. It was here that the

six-month long battle took place, which tested both the Allies and the Axis. Hitler saw this city

as a focus point to take during his Western campaign. (Kirchubel 203) Hitler knew that the city

which shared the name of his former ally was the key to turning the tides in his favor in the

West. If his troops could take down a city that was named after Stalin himself it would

symbolize an end to the communist power in Russia. German troops fought fiercely but later

survivors recounted how Soviet troops defended their homeland with pure valor and heroism.

(Beever 382) As the war waged on, four million Soviet citizens signed up for the war effort to

honor their homeland and fulfill their duty to defend their country.

Germany had taken much of Stalingrad and used the much weaker Hungarian forces to

watch their flanks. Russia took advantage of this, moving in from all sides and decimating their

enemy after initiating Operation Uranus, the Soviets main offensive. German troops no longer

had the fuel to fight a battle that they soon realized was no longer vital to the war. It was not

long after the initiation of Operation Uranus that the Germans retreated far behind the lines they

had once controlled. It was clear that Germany’s allies offered much less assistance than the

Soviet’s allies. Together the Allied Powers were able to resist the probably decimation of most

of the Soviet Union.

The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the bloodiest and harshest battles of the twentieth

century. Many Historians believe that if Operation Barbarossa had never occurred, the entire

war on the Western front would have had a completely different outcome. This great

achievement did not come without a price. Over 1.1 million Soviets died in Stalingrad. Six-
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Hundred-thousand Nazi troops were killed and a total of two-hundred and fifty-thousand soldiers

from both sides were taken as prisoners of war. (Ziemke 231) Had Germany’s leader, Adolf

Hitler, decided to keep his ceasefire with the USSR it is likely that Germany would have never

been stopped as they advanced for power and their campaign in Europe would have expanded to

much more of the world.