World War II Stalingrad battle Stalingrad had the most deaths in a battle ever, there were over 2 million deaths all together.

Stalingrad (know, since 1961, as Volgograd). The great city northeast of the Black sea, on the Volga river, was the scene of the deadliest battle in military history. Historians estimate nearly 2 million people died before the fighting was over in early Stalingrad

Soviet Resistance The Soviets had to rout, they camped north and south of Stalingrad. (Rout- a gathering) Part of the Russian troops would invade from the north the rest would move up from the south. They meet in the middle at Kalach.

The siege of Stalingrad Stalingrad did not surrender. General Paulus, in charge of the German offensive, settled in for a long winter in the city. Soviet commanders prepared to hold out. As winter approached, the German troops were at a potential disadvantage. No one liked the idea of spending Christmas with few supplies in a pitiful camp near the city of Stalingrad. The Germans were ill- equipped. Letters that survive reflect the soldiers’ despair. Most German troops had expected to be long gone before the brutal Russian winter set. Vasily Zaitsev. The most famous sniper of all, had arrived in Stalingrad with the 284 th Division on September 20,1942. using the skills he had learned as a boy.

The Duel Vasily Zaitsev, Known as Vasha to family, grew up in the foothills of Ural Mountains. His grandfather taught him to hunt in the taiga, the nearby Siberian forest. When he became a man, Zaitsev remember what his grandfather had taught him. Soviet commanders end of such an experience

Hitler’s Surrender The Soviets had to rout, they camped north and south of Stalingrad. (Rout- a gathering) Part of the Russian troops would invade from the north the rest would move up from the south. They meet in the middle at Kalach. Front lines, stationery for so many weeks, now changed daily. Hitler, refusing to believe his men were trapped, refused to allow Paulus to escape or surrender. The only movement Paulus had was to move his headquarters to the southern section of the city. By the middle of December, the Germans planned their own attack, called "Operation Winter Storm." Trying to break free between December 12 and 18, their efforts produced little more than frustration. The brilliant strategy of Zhukov, Vasilevsky and Vernon had outwitted the men of the Third Reich. (Follow the link to a terrific animated map from the Hungarian University of Szeged. Once it’s loaded, you can follow the course of the Soviet counter attack.) Stalin was Time Magazine's 1942 Man of the Year! By January 8, 1943 the Soviets offered Paulus surrender terms. He refused. At the end of January, sensing the situation was hopeless, Hitler promoted Friedrich Paulus to Field Marshall. His reason? A not- so-subtle reminder that no German Field Marshall had ever surrendered. Paulus had only one option, according to the Fuhrer: commit suicide.

German surrender Seeing another alternative for himself and his men, Paulus followed his own judgment. On January 31, 1943 he surrendered. By February 2, 1943 both the northern and southern parts of Stalingrad were back in Soviet hands. Hitler had sustained a massive defeat from which he would never recover. Allied supplies helped the Soviets actualize their stunning military reversal. Churchill provided Hurricane fighters and tanks while the Americans contributed jeeps, trucks and food. But the credit for this extraordinary victory belongs to the Soviet people. Some who endured incredible deprivation for so many months are still alive today. Russian commanders whose strategy outmaneuvered the enemy were given high honors. Women and girls, working long hours, made the war materiel that won the war. And the men who pushed the German war machine out of Stalingrad ultimately caused Adolf Hitler to do what he wanted Friedrich Paulus to do: Commit suicide. As an ultimate affront to the man who caused so much anguish, the Russians (it is said) took part of Hitler’s skull back to Russia at the end of the war. Giving explicit orders to burn his body, so no conquering soldier could find any of his remains, Hitler’s last order was not carried out. There wasn’t enough time for his body to completely combust before the Red Army stormed his bunker.

Ten months after the German surrender, Winston Churchill recognized the extraordinary suffering and heroism of the Stalingrad people. He presented the jeweled "Sword of Stalingrad" to the Soviet leader. It bears this engraving: To the steel hearted citizens of Stalingrad, a gift from King George VI as a token of the homage of the British people. At the end of the war, Field Marshal Paulus was called as a witness at the Nuremberg War Trials. He was not charged with war crimes. Taken prisoner after his surrender, he had aged dramatically. He died in Dresden February 1, He never saw his wife again. On a Stalingrad (now Volgograd) hill called Mamayev stands the largest statue in the world. Three times higher than the American Statue of Liberty, “Mother Russia” is a tribute to the memory of all those who suffered in the deadliest battle in military history.