The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943)[8][9][10][11] was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in the south-western Soviet Union. Marked by constant close quarters combat and direct assaults on civilians by air raids, it is the single largest and bloodiest battle in the history of warfare. The heavy losses inflicted on the Wehrmacht make it arguably the most strategically decisive battle of the whole war.[12] It was a turning point in the European theatre of World War II–the German forces never regained the initiative in the East and withdrew a vast military force from the West to replace their losses.[1]
The German offensive to capture Stalingrad began in late summer 1942 using the 6th Army and elements of the 4th Panzer Army. The attack was supported by intensive Luftwaffe bombing that reduced much of the city to rubble. The fighting degenerated into building-to-building fighting,
and both sides poured reinforcements into the city. By mid-November
1942, the Germans had pushed the Soviet defenders back at great cost
into narrow zones generally along the west bank of the Volga River.
On 19 November 1942, the Red Army launched Operation Uranus, a two-pronged attack targeting the weaker Romanian and Hungarian forces protecting the German 6th Army's flanks.[13] The Axis forces on the flanks were overrun and the 6th Army was cut off and surrounded in the Stalingrad area. Adolf Hitler
ordered that the army stay in Stalingrad and make no attempt to break
out; instead, attempts were made to supply the army by air and to break
the encirclement from the outside. Heavy fighting continued for another
two months. By the beginning of February 1943, the Axis forces in
Stalingrad had exhausted their ammunition and food. The remaining
elements of the 6th Army surrendered.[14]:p.932 The battle lasted five months, one week, and three days.
http://armakhno.narod.ru/doks/Odessa_Massacre.mp4
http://armakhno.narod.ru/doks/ct_usa.mp4
https://youtu.be/5WZ6GykrrIU
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