Stalingrad The Cauldron of Doom -...

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Stalingrad – The Cauldron of Doom

13 September 1942 – 2 February 1943

Russia’s and Germany’s “Verdun” of World War II

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Germany’s

Furthest

Advance into

Russia in

WWII

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German Army Front•Spring / Summer Offensives

•Advances S.E. in Effort to Seize

Key Oil Producing Regions of

the Caucasus Mountains.

German 6th Army•General von Paulus

•300,000 Germans Soldiers

•Lacking Significant Armor

•Germany will be at the Greatest

Extent of their Supply Line

•Advance on Stalingrad

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City of Stalingrad

“Modern” Factor City

Showpiece of Russian Industry

Volga River

Pre-War Population of 850,000

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Heaviest fighting

in the city will

take place at the

Tractor Factory.

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Three Dominant Factories

Dzerzhinsky Tractor Factory

Barrikady Ordnance Factory

Red October Steel Plant

Red October Plant

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The Fighting Becomes Static – Does Not Change

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Intensity and Savagery

of the Fighting

Fighting is House to House

In the Sewers

In the Factories

Becomes a Battle of Attrition

•Hitler Wants to Capture the City =

Stalin’s name

•Stalin wants to Save City = His name!

Nikita Khrushchev Serves as a Political

Commissar at Stalingrad!

Becomes a Battle of Supply

Russians Reinforcing across the Volga River

Germans Bring in by Air – Importance of

Airfields!

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Soviets Launch

Operation “Uranus”

Germans Surrounded!!

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Becomes a Battle of Logistics

Encirclement Cuts Off Germans

Creates the Kessel (“Cauldron”)

Soviet Supply Line Improves

Moves Across the Volga

Men / Material / Food

German Supply Line Shrinks

Depends on Airfields

Requires 800 Tons Supplies Daily

Luftwaffe only delivers 120 Tons

Daily

German Soldiers Begin to die of

Malnutrition – Starvation!

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The End!

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2 February 1943 – The End

Approximately 300,000 Germans Entered

160,000+ Dead (Axis = 500,000+)

130,000 Captured (91,000 at end)

1955 – Only 6,000 Returned to Germany

22 Generals including von Paulus

Most catastrophic defeat in German

history!

Campaign Cost Axis (Romania, Italy,

Spain, Hungary) between 500,000 –

850,000 casualties.

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Stalingrad Becomes for

Russia a Symbol of

Sacrifice

279’ Tall / Weight =

7,900 Tons of Concrete

“The

Motherland

Calls”

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1.1 Million Casualties

• 485,751 Dead

Pre-War Stalingrad = 850,000 Residents (workers)

Post-Battle Stalingrad = 9,800 Civilians left in city

Start 14 September 1942 – End 2 February 1943

141 Days of Continuous Combat

3,445 Russians Died Each Day!

14,500 Russian Soldiers (= one division) Executed

by Russian Military Police for Cowardice or

Desertion!

German War Dead

40,000 in Mass Grave!

Russia’s Price for Victory at Stalingrad

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From 19 November 1942 (Start of Uranus)

through 2 February 1943

• 154,885 Dead

• 330,892 Wounded

The Hero of StalingradSoviet General Vasily Chuikov

• Gains Fame as the Defender of Stalingrad

Barmaley Fountain

6 Children & a Crocodile

Russia’s Price for Victory at Stalingrad (‘Cont)

Enters Russian

History as their

Greatest Victory!