Describe the Battle of Stalingrad (1942-43). Why has it been called the "turning point" of World War II?

Question

Describe the Battle of Stalingrad (1942-43). Why has it been called the "turning point" of World War II?

Answer 1

You need to ask this in "Homework Help" section.  I aint doing your homework.

Answer 2

You GOTTA see 'Enemy at the Gates', starring Jude Law about this.  Fantastic film!

Answer 3

Hitler discovered that the german army wasn't un-defeatable...

Answer 4

The Battle Of Stalingrad was definitely the turning point of the war.  The Germans, making their advance into the soviet union were unstoppable and the red army was running out of options. They had one last stronghold until Moscow and that was Stalingrad. This battle lasted almost 1 year. This took pressure off of London, while the Germans were pouring more and more troops into the battle effort, whilst the red army also exhausted all of its resources here. If this battle had not taken place, the soviet union may have fallen and there was nothing to stop Hitler from taking the rest of Europe, including Britain. This battle greatly reduced Hitlers power while the red army, after winning this battle, pushed back to Berlin meeting with the rest of the allied forces.

Answer 5

because germany destroyed 99% of it and the russians said s***w you and faught back and kicked some n**i butt! they defeted germany!!!

i wasnt there but this is what  read into it.

Answer 6

Stalingrad was a significant battle for many reasons:

1.  Likely the bloodest battle of WW2 (more than the next--Leningrad at 1.5 million though you can argue that anything that runs 6+ months isn't a battle but a campaign).

2.  First clear example of defeat of a major German force in WW-2.

3.  Staggering blow to the Germans.  The entire 6th Army as well as Field Marshall Von Paulus surrendered (less than 6,000 would return from captivity 10 years later).

Personally, I don't think it was the turning point of the war--it just seemed that way.  I think the turning point was when Hitler failed to capture Moscow in the Fall of the first year of the invasion.  From that point on, it was just a matter of time before the Germans lost--the only questions were:  how long would it take and how exactly would the defeat play out?

Describe the battle of Stalingrad...here's the 25 cent version....

1.  Germans fail to capture Moscow as per planned in Operation Barbarossa in the Fall.  Hitler learns the wrong lesson from Napoleon and orders all German troops to not retreat but instead to hold their ground.  Stuck holding some indefensible terrain, Russians offer limited counterattacks and enjoy their first successes of the war, give Germans a bloody nose, drive them back or encircle some forces in places.

2.  Come spring, Germany goes back on the offensive.  Hitler diverts forces from the attack on Moscow to the South--to Stalingrad.  The official rationale was it is was to help seize oil for a longer war.  But many think the primary reason was one of ego--it was after all "Stalin City" (the direct translation from the Russian).

3.  Stalingrad turned into a charnal house.  One location (the Railway station) changed hands 14 times in 6 hours.  Russians threw in units of scantily armed troops with orders that anyone retreating would be shot.  Germans fed in troops and Russians fed in more.  The Germans operated from a combined arms approach (infantry calling in artillery or air support) so the Russians countered with what they called a "hugging" approach--get as close to the Germans as possible so they couldn't call in support.  Desperate house-to-house fighting.  The Russians used the sewers to infiltrate behind the lines.  By late Fall, the Germans had pushed the Russians out of almost all of the City and had captured the West bank.

3.  The capture of the city created a salient.  On Nov. 19th, the Russians began operation Uranus.  They attacked the sides of the salient (held by Italian, Hungarian and Romanian armies) and broke through, which led to the 6th Army in Stalingrad being surrounded and cut off in a matter of days.

4.  The ONLY hope for the 6th Army was to have tried an immediate breakout--to abandon the city and most of their wounded.  Instead, they were assured by Goering that the Luftwaffe would supply them by air and eventually German forces would counterattack (as they'd done in the previous winter) to free the kessel.  6th Army required 800 tons of supplies a day (more if they were to have fuel for a breakout) and the maximum the Luftwaffe could provide was 117 tons (and they never reached that maximum).  230,000 Axis soldiers were trapped inside Stalingrad.

5.  There was one desperate attempt to breakthrough to the 6th Army by Manstein led by Hoth.  They didn't get close enough and in any rate, by then 6th Army didn't have the fuel to get out and would have had to abandon all of their wounded and sick.

6.  As the russians pressed in on Stalingrad, the Germans were starving to death and dying of the cold.  Eventually the roles were reversed as it was the Germans desperately trying to defend from house to house.  The Germans believed they'd all be killed by the Russians so surrender was not an attractive option.  Even starving and running out of ammunition, they continued to fight.  Eventually Von Paulus surrendered on Jan. 30th.  Significant elements of the 6th Army fought on--they surrendered on Feb. 2nd.  91,000 solders were all that was left of the 6th Army.  And most of those would die as POWs.

One German soldier managed to walk West through Russian lines to reach safety.  He died 2 hours later in a mortar attack.  That was the only known case of anyone from Stalingrad getting out after the surrender.

Answer 7

Most of Germany's army was sent to fight the USSR - there was over 1.5 million Axis troops (mainly 1.1 million German troops) at or around Stalingrad.

A huge number of German soldiers were killed or captured during the battle, and the ones left made a hasty retreat.

It is estimated that over 850,000 Axis (German, Italian, and their allies) troops were captured, wounded, or killed at Stalingrad.

Some sources estimate that over 1 million Axis soldiers were killed, captured, or wounded during the battle when you include the regions surrounding Stalingrad.