Stalingrad, Siege of

The Siege of Stalingrad was a crucial battle in World War II, halting the German advance into the USSR. General von Paulus and the German 6th Army entered Stalingrad in August 1942, but encountered fierce resistance. Battle-weary and short of supplies, they were eventually forced to surrender on 1 February 1943.

In World War II, German siege of Soviet city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) August 1942-January 1943. The siege of Stalingrad was a horrific campaign, with both sides sustaining heavy casualties - the Germans lost some 400,000 troops while there were over 750,000 Soviet military casualties and an unknown number of civilian deaths. The Germans were finally driven out by a massive Soviet counterattack launched in November 1942.

Stalingrad was the objective of German Army Group B during the 1942 campaign to occupy the Caucasus region. The city was reinforced by the Soviets, and General Friedrich von Paulus, the commander of the German 6th Army, began attacking with units as and when they arrived instead of waiting until all his army had reached the area. As a result the Soviets were able to concentrate and destroy them one by one, whereas they might not have resisted a massed attack. Von Paulus halted his piecemeal attacks, waited for reinforcement by 4th Panzer Army, and launched the first major assault on 19 August 1942. The initial advance through the suburbs was relatively smooth, but once into the built-up areas it became a house-to-house battle which went on for two months without either side gaining any advantage.

While staving off the Germans the Soviets were preparing a massive counter-attack with 1 million troops, 13,500 guns, and 894 tanks commanded by Marshal Georgi Zhukov. This was launched on 19 November and swept around the flanks of the 6th Army and encircled it. Fending off German attempts to relieve von Paulus, the Soviets then set about destroying the 6th Army until it surrendered on 31 January 1943 with the loss of 1.5 million troops, 3,500 tanks, 12,000 guns and mortars, 75,000 vehicles, and 3,000 aircraft.