Stalingrad, Battle of

The Battle of Stalingrad is a major and decisive battle of the Second World War in which Nazi Germany and its allies fight the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in the southwestern Soviet Union.

The battle takes place between 23 August 1942 to 2 February 1943 and is marked by constant close-quarters combat, and lack of regard for military and civilian casualties.

It is among the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare, with the higher estimates of combined casualties amounting to nearly two million.

The heavy losses inflicted on the German army make it a significant turning point in the whole war.

After the Battle of Stalingrad, German forces never recover their earlier strength, and attain no further strategic victories in the East.

The German offensive to capture Stalingrad commences in late summer 1942, and is supported by intensive Luftwaffe bombing that reduces much of the city to rubble.

The German offensive eventually becomes mired in building-to-building fighting; and despite controlling nearly all of the city at times, the Wehrmacht is unable to dislodge the last Soviet defenders clinging tenaciously to the west bank of the Volga River.On 19 November 1942, the Red Army launches Operation Uranus, a two-pronged attack targeting the weak Romanian and Hungarian forces protecting the 6th Army's flanks.

After heavy fighting, the weakly held Axis flanks collapses and the 6th Army is cut off and surrounded inside Stalingrad.

As the Russian winter sets in, the 6th Army weakens rapidly from cold, starvation and ongoing Soviet attacks.

Command ambiguity, coupled with Adolf Hitler's resolute belief in their will to fight further, exacerbates the German predicament.

Eventually, the failure of outside German forces to break the encirclement, coupled with the failure of resupplying by air, leads to the final collapse.

By the beginning of February 1943, Axis resistance in Stalingrad has ceased and the remaining elements of the 6th Army have either surrendered or been destroyed.

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