Transcript Battle of Stalingrad

Battle of Stalingrad
 Part of Operation Barbarossa-the German
invasion of the Soviet Union (USSR)
 Barbarossa begins June 1941, Stalin
furious about violation of non-aggression
pact by Hitler
 Battle of Stalingrad November ‘42 – Feb
1943
Overview
 Turning point in European war after Germany
loses battle and entire 6th Army.
 Hitler unreasonably wanted troops to hold
Stalingrad and dismissed commanders at will, so
few dared to tell him the truth about conditions
and losses.
 “I saw then that he (Hitler) had lost touch with
reality. He lived in a fantasy world of maps and
flags.”
 Germans too far from supply lines, got
surrounded, starved, froze.
Battle Info
 Germans advanced quickly at first, but
were unprepared for cold, no winter gear.
 USSR killed 13,000 of their own troops for
running away.
 Soviets used penal units, little ammo, no
radio
 Germany underestimated Soviets, got
encircled in Operation Uranus
Conditions
 290,000 Germans got trapped.
 Urban fighting
 Snipers were well supplied
 No fuel meant no water
 German troops began to starve to death
 Dead bodies not buried
Casualties
 91,000 German POWs, 21 Generals captured
 General Paulus not released by Soviets until 1953
 Red Army suffered 1.1 million casualties,
485,751 were deaths
 Civilian casualties for USSR-18 million, 18
million military
 Total dead for USSR around 26 million, 5 times
the total for Germany