Battle of Stalingrad

battle_name=Battle of Stalingrad

Soviet victory

The Germans inside the pocket retreated from the suburbs of Stalingrad to the city itself. The loss of the two airfields at Pitomnik and Gumrak meant an end to air supplies and to the evacuation of the wounded. The Germans were now literally starving, and running out of ammunition. Nevertheless they continued to resist stubbornly, partly because they believed the Soviets would execute those who surrendered. The Soviets, in turn, were initially surprised by the large number of German forces they had trapped, and had to reinforce their encircling forces. Bloody urban warfare began again in Stalingrad, but this time it was the Germans who were pushed back to the banks of the Volga.

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Hitler promoted Paulus to Generalfeldmarschall on January 30, 1943. Since no German field marshal had ever been taken prisoner, Hitler assumed that Paulus would fight on or take his own life. Nevertheless, when Soviet forces closed in on Paulus' headquarters in a ruined department store, Paulus surrendered. The remnants of the German forces in Stalingrad surrendered on February 2, 1943; 91,000 tired and starving Germans were taken captive. To the delight of the Soviet forces and the dismay of the Reich, the prisoners included 22 generals.

Related Topics:
Generalfeldmarschall - January 30 - 1943 - February 2

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Only 6,000 of the 91,000 German prisoners of war survived their captivity and returned home. Already weakened by disease, starvation and lack of medical care during the encirclement, they were sent to labour camps all over the Soviet Union, where most of them died of overwork and malnutrition. A handful of senior officers were taken to Moscow and used for propaganda purposes. Some, including Paulus, signed anti-Hitler statements which were broadcast to German troops. General Walter von Seydlitz-Kurzbach, offered to raise an anti-Hitler army from the Stalingrad survivors, but the Soviets did not accept this offer. It was not until 1955 that the last of the handful of survivors were repatriated.

Related Topics:
Prisoners of war - Moscow - Walter von Seydlitz-Kurzbach - 1955

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The German public was not officially told of the disaster until the end of January 1943, though positive reports in the German propaganda media about the battle had stopped in the weeks before the announcement. It was not the first major setback of the German military, but the crushing defeat at Stalingrad was unmatched in scale. On February 18 the minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, held his famous Sportpalast speech in Berlin, encouraging the Germans to accept a total war which would claim all resources and efforts from the entire population.

Related Topics:
January - 1943 - February 18 - Propaganda - Joseph Goebbels - Sportpalast speech - Total war

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By any measure the battle of Stalingrad was one of the bloodiest battles, and arguably the largest single battle in human history. It raged for 199 days. Casualties for the Axis totalled at approximately 850,000. Among those lost were 400,000 Germans, 200,000 Romanians, 130,000 Italians and 120,000 Hungarians. Soviet military losses were more than 750,000 (some statistics cite up to one million or more). More than 40,000 Soviet civilians died in Stalingrad and its suburbs; the total number of civilians killed in the regions outside the city is unknown, but was much higher.

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For the heroism of the Soviet defenders of Stalingrad, the city was awarded the title Hero City in 1945. After the War, in the 1960s, a colossal monument of "Mother Russia" was erected on Mamayev Kurgan, the hill overlooking the city. The statue forms part of a memorial complex which includes ruined walls deliberately left the way they were after the battle. The Grain Elevator, as well as Pavlov's House, the apartment building whose defenders eventually held out for two months until they were relieved, can still be visited. One may today even find bones and rusty metal splinters on Mamayev Kurgan, symbol of both the human suffering during the battle and the successful yet costly resistance against the German invasion.

Related Topics:
Hero City - Mamayev Kurgan - Pavlov's House

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