Battle of Stalingrad

For the 1949 Soviet film, see The Battle of Stalingrad (film). For other uses, see Stalingrad (disambiguation).

Battle of Stalingrad
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II

Clockwise from top-left:
Date17 July 1942[Note 2] – 2 February 1943[Note 3]
(6 months, 2 weeks and 2 days)
Location
Stalingrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
48°42′N 44°31′E / 48.700°N 44.517°E / 48.700; 44.517
Result Soviet victory
Territorial
changes		 Expulsion of the Axis militaries from the Caucasus, reversing the German-led advances of the 1942 Summer Campaign
Belligerents
  Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Units involved

Nazi Germany Army Group B:

Nazi Germany Army Group Don[Note 4]

Soviet Union Stalingrad Front:

Soviet Union Don Front[Note 5]

Soviet Union Southwestern Front[Note 6]

Strength
During the Axis offensive:

During the Soviet counter-offensive:
  • ~600,000–1,011,000 personnel[2][3]
  • 640+ tanks
  • 732 aircraft (402 operational)[4]
 During the Axis offensive:
  • 187,000 personnel
  • 2,200 artillery pieces
  • 400 tanks
  • 300 aircraft[5]



During the Soviet counter-offensive:
  • 1,103,000–1,143,500 personnel[3][6]
  • 13,451 artillery pieces
  • 894 tanks[6]
  • 1,115 aircraft[7]
Casualties and losses
  • 800,000[8]–1,500,000 casualties[9]
  • Nazi Germany Germany:
    300,000+ (6th Army and
    4th Panzer Army)[10][11][12]
    400,000+ (all units)[13]
  • Fascist Italy Italy:
    114,000[14]–130,000[15]
  • Kingdom of Romania Romania:
    109,000[14]–200,000[15]
  • Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946) Hungary:
    120,000[15]–143,000[11]
  • Hiwi: 19,300–52,000[16]
  • Total dead: c. 500,000[17][18]
  • 900 aircraft destroyed
  • 1,500 tanks destroyed
  • 6,000 guns destroyed
  • 744 aircraft; 1,666 tanks; 5,762 guns captured
See casualties section.
  • Soviet Union 1,347,214[19]–2,672,000 casualties[20]
    674,990–2,000,000 killed or missing
    672,224 wounded or sick
  • Total dead: c. 1,000,000[21]
  • 2,769–5,654 combat aircraft[19]
  • 4,341 tanks (25–30% were total write-offs.[22])
  • 15,728 guns
See casualties section.
Total dead: 1,100,000–3,000,000+[23][24][25][20][26]

The Battle of Stalingrad[Note 8] (17 July 1942 – 2 February 1943)[27][28][29][30] was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II, beginning when Nazi Germany and its Axis allies attacked and became locked in a protracted struggle with the Soviet Union for control over the Soviet city of Stalingrad (now known as Volgograd) in southern Russia. The battle was characterized by fierce close-quarters combat and direct assaults on civilians in aerial raids; the battle epitomized urban warfare,[31][32][33][34] being the single largest and costliest urban battle in military history.[35][36] It was the bloodiest and fiercest battle of the entirety of World War II—and arguably in all of human history—as both sides suffered tremendous casualties amidst ferocious fighting in and around the city.[37][38][39][40][41] The battle is commonly regarded as the turning point in the European theatre of World War II,[42] as Germany's Oberkommando der Wehrmacht was forced to withdraw a considerable amount of military forces from other regions to replace losses on the Eastern Front. By the time the hostilities ended, the German 6th Army and 4th Panzer Army had been destroyed and Army Group B was routed. The Soviets' victory at Stalingrad shifted the Eastern Front's balance of power in their favour, while also boosting the morale of the Red Army.

Both sides placed great strategic importance on Stalingrad, for it was the largest industrial centre of the Soviet Union and an important transport hub on the Volga River:[43] controlling Stalingrad meant gaining access to the oil fields of the Caucasus and having supreme authority over the Volga River.[44] The city also held significant symbolic importance because it bore the name of Joseph Stalin, the incumbent leader of the Soviet Union. As the conflict progressed, Germany's fuel supplies dwindled and thus drove it to focus on moving deeper into Soviet territory and taking the country's oil fields at any cost. The German military first clashed with the Red Army's Stalingrad Front on the distant approaches to Stalingrad on 17 July. On 23 August, the 6th Army and elements of the 4th Panzer Army launched their offensive with support from intensive bombing raids by the Luftwaffe, which reduced much of the city to rubble. The battle soon degenerated into house-to-house fighting, which escalated drastically as both sides continued pouring reinforcements into the city. By mid-November, the Germans, at great cost, had pushed the Soviet defenders back into narrow zones along the Volga's west bank. However, winter set in within a few months and conditions became particularly brutal, with temperatures often dropping tens of degrees below freezing. In addition to fierce urban combat, brutal trench warfare was prevalent at Stalingrad as well.

On 19 November, the Red Army launched Operation Uranus, a two-pronged attack targeting the Romanian armies protecting the 6th Army's flanks.[45] The Axis flanks were overrun and the 6th Army was encircled. Adolf Hitler was determined to hold the city for Germany at all costs and forbade the 6th Army from trying a breakout; instead, attempts were made to supply it by air and to break the encirclement from the outside. Though the Soviets were successful in preventing the Germans from making enough airdrops to the trapped Axis armies at Stalingrad, heavy fighting continued for another two months. On 2 February 1943, the 6th Army, having exhausted their ammunition and food, finally capitulated after several months of battle, making it the first of Hitler's field armies to have surrendered.[46]

In modern-day Russia, the legacy of the Red Army's victory at Stalingrad is commemorated among the Days of Military Honour. It is also well known in many other countries that belonged to the Allied powers, and has thus become ingrained in popular culture. Likewise, in a number of the post-Soviet states, the Battle of Stalingrad is recognized as an important aspect of what is known as the Great Patriotic War.


Cite error: There are <ref group=Note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=Note}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ Bergström 2007.
  2. ^ Glantz & House 1995, p. 346.
  3. ^ a b История Второй Мировой войны 1939–1945. В 12 томах. [History of the Second World War 1939–1945. In 12 volumes.] (in Russian). Vol. 6. Коренной перелом в войне. Воениздат. 1976. p. 35.
  4. ^ Hayward 1998, p. 225; Bergström 2006, p. 87.
  5. ^ Bergström 2007, p. 72.
  6. ^ a b Glantz & House 1995, p. 134
  7. ^ Hayward 1998, p. 224.
  8. ^ Wilson, Peter H. (2023). Iron and Blood: A Military History of the German-Speaking Peoples since 1500 (1st ed.). Harvard University Press. p. 580. ISBN 978-0-674-98762-3.
  9. ^ Великая Отечественная война 1941–1945 годов. В 12 т. [The Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945, in 12 Volumes] (in Russian). Vol. 3. Битвы и сражения, изменившие ход войны. Кучково поле. 2012. p. 421. ISBN 978-5-9950-0269-7.
  10. ^ Walter Scott Dunn, Kursk: Hitler's Gamble, 1943, p. 1
  11. ^ a b Walsh 2000, p. 165.
  12. ^ Jochen Hellbeck, Stalingrad: The City That Defeated the Third Reich, p. 12
  13. ^ DiMarco 2012, p. 39.
  14. ^ a b Frieser et al. 2017, p. 14.
  15. ^ a b c Craig 1973, p. xii.
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference Portrait was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Bell 2011, pp. 104–105.
  18. ^ Childers, Thomas (2017). The Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany (1st ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 518. ISBN 978-1-4516-5113-3.
  19. ^ a b Переслегин, Сергей Борисович; Панин, А. (2005). Сталинград: цена победы [Stalingrad: The Price of Victory] (in Russian). Terra Fantastica. p. 118. ISBN 5-7921-0673-8.
  20. ^ a b Соколов, Борис (2014). Чудо Сталинграда [The Miracle of Stalingrad] (in Russian). Алгоритм. pp. 235–236. ISBN 978-5-4438-0489-7.
  21. ^ Rees, Laurence (30 March 2011). "Hitler's Invasion of Russia in World War Two". BBC History. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  22. ^ Hill, Alexander (2016). The Red Army and the Second World War. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107020795.
  23. ^ Popov, P. P.; Kozlov, A.V.; Usik, B.G. (2008). Turning Point: Recollections of Russian Participants and Witnesses of the Stalingrad Battle. Leaping Horseman Books. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-9751076-6-9.
  24. ^ Hanson, Victor Davis (2020). The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won (reprint ed.). Basic Books. pp. 136, 308. ISBN 978-1541674103.
  25. ^ Rees, Laurence (1999). The War of the Century: When Hitler Fought Stalin. BBC Books. p. 177. ISBN 978-0-563-38477-9.
  26. ^ Hoyt, Edwin P. (1993). 199 Days: The Battle for Stalingrad. Tor Books. p. 276. ISBN 9780312854638.
  27. ^ Werth 1964, p. 441: "Broadly speaking, the Battle of Stalingrad may be divided into the following stages: (1) July 17 to August 4, when the main fighting was still inside the Don Bend."
  28. ^ Великая Отечественная война 1941–1945 годов. В 12 т. [The Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945, in 12 Volumes] (in Russian). Vol. 3. Битвы и сражения, изменившие ход войны. Кучково поле. 2012. p. 252. ISBN 978-5-9950-0269-7. July 17, 1942 in Russian historiography is considered the beginning of the Stalingrad War.
  29. ^ Hardesty, Von; Grinberg, Ilya (2012). "Stalingrad". Red Phoenix Rising: The Soviet Air Force in World War II. University Press of Kansas. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-7006-1828-6. Epic in scope and meaning, this bloody conflict endured for 199 days, beginning in July 1942 and ending in February 1943.
  30. ^ Wills, Matthew (17 July 2017). "How the Nazis Created the Myth of Stalingrad". JSTOR Daily. Retrieved 23 March 2024. Seventy-five years ago in July of 1942, the battle for Stalingrad began.
  31. ^ Anderson, Gregory K. (1 June 2003). Urban Operations: Theory and Cases (Master's thesis). Naval Postgraduate School. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  32. ^ Spencer, John; Geroux, Jayson (28 June 2021). "Urban Warfare Project Case Study #1: Battle of Stalingrad". Modern War Institute. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  33. ^ DiMarco 2012, p. 27.
  34. ^ Walsh, Stephen (2020). "The Battle of Stalingrad, September–November 1942". In Fremont-Barnes, Gregory (ed.). A History of Modern Urban Operations. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 55. ISBN 978-3-030-27088-9.
  35. ^ Intrec Inc (1974). "Weapons Effects in Cities. Volume 1". Technical Report – via DTIC.
  36. ^ Johnson, Kevin D (1991). "Intelligence Preparation of the Urban Battlefield". Advanced Military Studies – via DTIC.
  37. ^ Winchester, Charles D. (2011). Hitler's War on Russia. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 91. ISBN 9781849089906.
  38. ^ Roberts, Andrew (2012). The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War. HarperCollins. pp. 320, 324, 345. ISBN 978-0-06-122860-5.
  39. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hellbeck-2015a was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  40. ^ Krinko, Evgeniy F.; Medvedev, Maksim V. (1 February 2018). "Demographic Consequences of the Stalingrad Battle". Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta. Seriâ 4. Istoriâ, Regionovedenie, Meždunarodnye Otnošeniâ (in English and Russian). 23 (1): 91–104. doi:10.15688/jvolsu4.2018.1.9. ISSN 1998-9938.
  41. ^ Hanson, Victor Davis (2020). The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won (Reprint ed.). New York: Basic Books. pp. 3, 136, 308. ISBN 978-1541674103.
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  46. ^ Shirer 1990, p. 932.