Battle Of Stalingrad Essay
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Battle of Stalingrad
After losses and failure of “Operation Barbarossa”, Hitler now had new objectives in the war. He planned to drive Soviet forces out of the Southern Steppes and the Caucasus region and taking over the abundant supply of natural mineral wealth, especially oil, which was a key ingredient for Germany’s war machine. Another reason was that Axis forces could have direct access to the Middle East and be able to have the military capability for a final annihilating sweep Northward through Soviet forces in Moscow. Hitler also believed that overtaking of Stalingrad (now Volograd) would lead to the downfall of the Soviet Union.
The Germans plan was to send two simultaneous attacks to capture the rich southern oil field of Stalingrad. Hitler wasn’t moved by his generals warnings that his armies were not strong enough to carry both objectives at the same time. This massive military offensive was called Operation Blue.
In May of 1942, Hitler launched operation “Blue” by sending armies A and B to sweep east to Stalingrad, south to Astrakan, Grozny, and to the Caspian Sea. The Soviets, knowing that the capture of Stalingrad would be catastrophic for there ability to withstand the German army, still did not move in forces guarding Moscow. Stalin did not want to put Moscow in a position that would vulnerable to other German attacks. If the German army took Stalingrad the Soviets would be completely cut off from their own oil supply. As a result, the German army captured Rostov and other key cities in the Crimean region. They were now ready to attack Stalingrad.
Now July, the Axis forces had had the advantage with 250,000 troops from Germany, Hungary, and Italy pouring into the outskirts of Stalingrad. Stalin still being very stubborn, kept the bulk of his forces north to protect Moscow from attack. As a result, Army group B moved across the Don River north of the city collapsing Soviet forces an forcing them to retreat across the entire Southern Front. The German 6th Army, commanded by Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus pushed forward into Soviet forces and began to enter the city from the west. At the same time Stalin was moving the 64th and 62nd Armies to take position eight miles from Stlaingrad. The Soviet armies were able to slow the German forces from advancing for the mean time.
On August 19th, the 6th German Army was commanded by Paulus to strike the first attack on Stalingrad, with the support of the 4th Panzer army. The German army also sent 1,000 planes to drop incendiary bombs on the city. Air raids such as this one were very destructive because most of the buildings were made of wood. These attacks proved disastrous for the Red Army. Stalin was very concerned about the situation, he moved forces to the Southern front and worked frantically to stabilize German assaults on the beleaguered city.
Fighting now was very harsh and neither side had many gains. One German general said, “the mile as a measure of distance was replaced by the yard. Through the months of September and October fighting was now at very close ranges. Hand to hand combat was very common and many battles were fought with knives or bayonets. The fighting was continual and didn’t stop for the sun or the moon. Sometimes it might slow down, but minutes later it would start again with new energy. At times you couldn’t hear single shots...
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