Stalingrad

The German forces headed to Stalingrad as part of Operation Barbarossa. When heading to Stalingrad they were low on fuel. When they reached the city, the fought against a fierce red army in a battle of attrition mostly fought in the streets, due to the Germans underestimating the Red Army they were forced to fight in the harsh Russian winter, which the Russians were used to. The Germans were winning the battle in the city but were encircled by the other Russian troops which let Russia take back Stalingrad and stop the German offensive.

On the 23rd of July, 1942, Hitler ordered the German Sixth Army, lead by Friedrich Paulus to attack Stalingrad. The siege of Stalingrad was part of Operation Barbarossa, which was the German codename for the invasion of Soviet Russia. Stalingrad was an important Russian centre for industry and communications. It was located on the Volga River and could easily be used, once captured, by Germans to help the German invasion of the Caucasus area, which was rich in oil which could be used to fuel German, planes, ships, tanks and other motorised vehicles. Stalingrad represented the end of the German invasion because it was the furthest east which Germany managed to get to. The Germans lost at Stalingrad for several main reasons, the first of which is how the underestimated the fighting strength and patriotism of the Russian Red Army. The second reason was the weather, which may not seem much, but due to previous underestimations of the Russians the Germans ended up fighting in the harsh Russian winter. The third reason is that the Germans were not suited to the type of fighting which occurred in Stalingrad. The final reason was that during Stalingrad the Germans suffered from a severe lack of supplies.

Throughout the German assault on Russia, Germany had frequently underestimated the Russian fighting force. During World War II, at the Russian’s Red Army had a peak strength of twelve and a half million troops. German officers stated that while fighting in Russia, Russian troops would be killed then another wave of them would come to fill their place. This severe underestimation of the Russian Red Army led to major delays in the advance of Operation Barbarossa, leaving the German army caught up in the harsh Russian Winter. This cold fatigued the men and froze up machinery such as planes, tanks and trucks and sometimes even men’s guns froze up when water got caught in them and froze. Paulus (the commander of the German forces heading towards Stalingrad) advanced in 1942 with 250,000 men, 500 tanks, 7,000 guns and mortars and 25,000 tanks,which compared to the Russian’s forces seems small because at the time of the Soviet counter-attack, the Russian’s had 1,103,000 men 15,500 artillery, 1460 tanks and 1110 aircraft. Another problem in the German army was that they were low on fuel so they had to ration it, and another army group had priority over Paulus’s.