By: Sonia Doobay & Linda Stacho Battle of Stalingrad By: Sonia Doobay & Linda Stacho

Battle of Stalingrad Took place from July 17, 1942 to February 2, 1943 during the Second World War Stalingrad was known as Tsaritsyn until 1925 and since 1961 has been known as Volgograd (named after the Volgo River)

Hilter’s Plan Called Operation Blue Intended to do 2 things: Seize Stalingrad Seize the Caucasus

Importance of stalingrad Stalingrad was important because it was a major industrial city and the Caucasus region is filled with oil and this would provide a lot of oil for the German Navy. If Hitler could overtake Caucasus, he would cut off fuel to Stalin’s war machine.

The 2 Routes

Why the City of Stalingrad? Major industrial city A constant flow of raw materials going up and down the Volga River Volga River- vital transport route between the Caspian Sea and Northern Russian Many believed it was Hitler’s ego that made him take Stalingrad because of his nemesis Joseph Stalin

Stalingrad Before the War (Main Square in Stalingrad)

Stalingrad housing Main Square in Stalingrad

Joseph Stalin Leader of the Soviet Union from the mid 1920’s-1953 Responsible for the industrialization of the Soviet Union He instituted several multi-year plans- greatly increasing the industrial capacity of the country Later immersing himself in political culture When the Nazi’s invaded in WWII he helped to rally the Soviet people to deat the Nazi’s Joseph Stalin & Georgi Dimitrov

Flaws in Hitler’s Plan The Germans lines would be tremendously thin because it had 2 objectives Von Mainstein, involved in the Crimean campaign urged that Operation Blue focus on one goal

Hitler’s Perseverance Hitler insisted the attack be made, and sent the 6th Army to Stalingrad and the 4th Panzer army toward Caucasus 6th Army under Friedrich Paulus 4th Panzer Army under Ewald von Kleist Paulus Kleist

Georgy Zhukov – KEY FIGURE December 1, 1896 to June 18 1974 Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Union Army Created Operation Uranus which was used to defeat the Germans

Paulus – key figure September 23, 1890 to February 1, 1957 He was a major German commander, who commanded the 6th Army assault on Stalingrad during Operation Blue Paulus surrendered to Soviet force on January 31, 1943 after clear word from Hitler that he was to fight until the last bullet Hilter expected Paulus to commit suicide for his decision, because there was no record of a German field marshal ever being captured alive

Strength of Both Armies German Army Russian Army Led by Paulus Led by Zhukov 1,011,500 men 1,000,500 men 10, 290 artillery guns 13,541 artillery guns 675 tanks 894 tanks 1,216 planes 1,115 planes

6th Army By summer they had reached the suburbs of Stalingrad and the west bank of the Volga River German troops were taken back from the Soviet’s defence of the city and hit the streets in fierce fighting Fighting hand-to-hand combat Never succeeded because areas captured by Germans were re-taken by Russians at night

4th Panzer Army Sustained massive loss

Operation uranus Operation Uranus was created by Georgy Zhukov. The first phase of the counter-offensive Russians used some of the Germans tactics from the past and learnt from their mistakes. The main purpose of this operation was to attack the Germans from the North & East. They would then meet up at the West and trap the Germans.

Operation saturn Second phase of counter-offensive December 1942 until February 1943 The first stage was to cut off the Germany’s Army Group A. Germany ended up having no choice but to retreat because the Soviet lines were very tough and the winter conditions made it tough 90,000-prisoners, 5000-returned to Germany

Germans were Trapped The Soviets trapped the Germans in the city of Stalingrad by circling them around Unable to break out, Germans had to face the Russian winter. Not prepared, the temperatures dropped to well below zero and food, ammunition and heat were short in supply Hitler promoted Paulus to field marshal encouraging him to stick it out Luftwaffe sent supplies by air

Surrender Paulus surrendered the army in the southern sector on January 31, 1943 280,000 men under Paulus’ command, half were already dead or dying 35,000 had been evacuated Remaining 91,000 hauled off to Soviet POW camps

National Mourning Day In Hitler’s fury he ordered National Mourning Day not for the men lost at the battle but for the shame von Paulus brought on the navy. Paulus was also stripped of his rank Hitler commented “The God of War has gone over to the other side.”

German Loss Complete army was lost 91,000 Germans were taken prisoner Massive loss of manpower and equipment Axis forces (comprised of German, Italian, Romanian and Hungaria troops) suffered 800,00 casualties Soviets lost more than one million 6,000 survived to return to Germany

Soviet victory The Soviets were so happy that their plans had had been executed successfully! This showed that Germany is not invincible.  The Soviet defenders of Stalingrad, the city was awarded the title Hero City in 1945

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