Ethan Rihn

Mr. Palcsey

Honors English 10

4/27/18

The Battle of Stalingrad: The Turning Point

World War Two started from the German invasion of Poland and became one of the bloodiest wars ever

fought. The war was between the Ally powers, consisting of Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and United States,

who were against the Axis powers, consisting of Germany, Italy, and Japan. During the war, Germany proved to

be the most dominate country in Europe through the conquest of European countries and eventually invaded the

Soviet Union. During the war, Germany faced few setbacks and had great military success until the German

leader, Adolf Hitler, launched Operation Barbarossa, which was to invade the Soviet Union, who was led by

Joseph Stalin. Initially, the German army, called the Wehrmacht, were successful in attacking the Soviet Union

until they fought the Battle of Stalingrad, in which they would suffer their first loss. During World War Two, the

Battle of Stalingrad turned the tides of the war for the Allied powers by preventing the fall of Russia and causing

the German retreat.

Operation Barbarossa had left the Soviet Union in a poor military condition. "In the beginning the

Russian war effort was almost hopeless. Stalin had wrecked the Red Army with his purges, and it was in no

condition to fight" (P. Hoyt 21). Stalin had hurt the Red Army since he took little action against the German

invasion and made poor military decisions. In Hitler's first attack, it became clear that Stalin's actions were

hurting the Soviet Union since he wouldn’t answer requests to save armies or evacuate vital resources (P. Hoyt

20). This led to German success in Russia because it also caused the Red Army to be unprepared for battle, so

most battles ended in retreat. Germany was in a better condition and had a higher morale than the Soviets. During

the initial invasion, the Wehrmacht faced some casualties but gained large amounts of land but were also stopped

at Moscow.
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After Operation Barbarossa had weakened Russia, Hitler launched his second offensive named Case Blue.

It was meant to take control over most of Russia's important natural resources, including coal mines and oil fields,

to cripple the Russian economy (Hellbeck 7). The offensive targeted the Caucasus in southern Russia and if taken

would help the Germans to flank the Moscow Front and thus end the war with the Soviet Union. It would end the

war because Russia would fall with its capital, Moscow since that was where all government operations were.

The German army that would complete this operation was known as Army Group South who were divided into

Army Group A and Army Group B for the operation. Army Group A was to take the Caucasus and Army Group

B was to move north and take Stalingrad on the Volga River. However, Hitler made his first mistake, by

interfering with the plans and sent Army Group A and part of Army Group B to take the Caucasus which left the

Sixth Army, the remaining force of Army Group B, to flank north to take Stalingrad alone. The Sixth Army

would take Stalingrad to defend Army Group A, by moving north and swinging off of Stalingrad to stop any

Soviet attack. However, this was a mistake because Hitler had not realized that the Soviets had made Stalingrad

their main objective of their war and were willing to use every resource which included sending three Russian

armies to defend the city (P. Hoyt 102). This mistake would lead to the German retreat because it would allow

Russia to recover through the battle of Stalingrad. This mistake also overextended the Wehrmacht by spreading

them out and which would be exploited by the Red Army to help Russia turn the tides of the war. Case Blue

began and the Sixth Army with only a few others Axis divisions marched on Stalingrad.

The Sixth Army was led by General Friedrich Paulus, who had little experience in war, and was moving

towards Stalingrad. Paulus had to travel 200-miles to reach Stalingrad while the Soviet armies were rushing by

train to reach Stalingrad too (P. Hoyt 93). Upon reaching the city, Paulus had the Luftflotte, the Germany

Airforce, bomb the city before entering Stalingrad. But this was the second German mistake because as Anthony

Beevor states, "Massive bombing raids had not only failed to destroy the enemy's will, their very force of

destruction had turned the city into perfect the killing ground for the Russians to use against them" (Robertson

33). The ruble created by the bombing allowed the Russians to hide and endure the battle so Russia could recover

from their previous losses but if this didn’t happen then the Russians may have lost the battle which would in turn

lead the collapse of Russia. However, Paulus did bomb the city because it was same strategies the Wehrmacht
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had used when attacking Leningrad and Moscow by using the air force to destroy the city and then use infantry to

march in, but this time German were not prepared. Previously, Hitler had restricted the German army from

fighting in Leningrad and Moscow, thus when the Germans had to fight in Stalingrad then they had no city

fighting experience (Robertson 32). This flaw in the Wehrmacht gave the Russians an advantage in the inner city

of Stalingrad and was one of the main reasons the Russians were able to endure the German attack and stave off a

nationwide collapse. Hitler’s actions because it caused the Sixth Army to struggle to fight the Soviets in

Stalingrad. Paulus had overlooked both of these factors and launched his first attack on Stalingrad.

Paulus’ first attack was initially successful and the Sixth Army was quickly moving through the suburbs

of Stalingrad, but upon reaching the city is when the attacked slowed. The Russians exploited the Sixth army’s

lack of city-fighting experience and battle in close quarters inside buildings and houses which led to high German

casualties. Paulus had a total of attacks on Stalingrad that had a reoccurring theme of low ammunitions and high

German casualties which halted each attack. Paulus’ third attack could have taken Stalingrad, which would have

led to the fall of Russia because of the exponential amount of resources the Russians put to defend Stalingrad

would have been lost. Paulus’ third attack targeted northern Russian factories, which were essential for the

Russians to keep fighting in Stalingrad. Paulus was able to reach the Volga River and had taken two major

factories along with several blocks in the city which was outstanding progress (Robertson 38). This attack lasted

for a month but the Russians were able to endure their setbacks and halt Paulus’ attack and this put the Six Army

into a terrible condition especially with winter approaching. Jochen Hellbeck explains, "The Sixth Army

exhausted itself in countless major and minor offensives in the ruins of the city"(9). These were each of Paulus’

attacks which never followed any strategy or plan to stop Russian reinforcements but to only defeat every Russian

army in Stalingrad which was an impossible task for only the Sixth Army and instead wore down the strength of

the Six Army. Paulus’ costly attacks combined with the Russian advantages in the city ruble allowed for the

Russians to wear down the Sixth Army which allowed Russia to mend itself as the battle grew in Stalingrad.

The overall battle in Stalingrad lasted for six months and began to form a general aura of the battlefield.

Military progress was very slow, houses and even floors of buildings became major military objectives due the
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close quarter combat. The Russians avoided the German air bombing by sticking to the tactic of being as close to

the enemy as possible. This increased close quarter combat which was not favorable for the German army skill set

and so allowed the Russians to survive. Later, Stalin instituted the ‘Not One Step Back’ policy that prohibited

surrender. This was part of the reason for the Russian endure during every attack by Paulus that allowed the

Russians to prevail. To ensure this policy, the Soviet secret police took control over all boats in the Volga River

behind Stalingrad and allowed no soldier to leave. However, a German general noticed that Stalingrad attracted

Russian forces from all directions to fight (Robertson 35). This was because Stalin forced an extreme nationalistic

feeling to spread throughout Russia to encourage the Russians to fight back which gave the Russians a ‘never

surrender’ attitude which was crucial in this battle because that attitude contributed to the Russians’ willingness

to sacrifice. This attitude was necessary to prevent the collapse of Russia and allow recovery because this

willingness led to hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers who died so Stalingrad would not fall. This can be

seen with William Hoffman, a German soldier, who wrote, “The Russians are fighting desperately like wild

beasts, [they] don’t give themselves up”(403). Also, the average Russian soldier had to survive in worse

conditions than the Germans during this battle and needed this attitude to survive. The Russian soldier had to be

“willing to subsist on a few crusts of bread for a week, to accept hardships that were totally foreign to western

armies, and not only to survive but to fight very well"(P. Hoyt 283). That attitude was needed to endure those

conditions. The fighting of this battle gradually wore down the Sixth Army while Russia was constantly receiving

reinforcements who were willing to sacrifice.

Stalin saw the situation in Stalingrad and called in his best Field Marshal, Georgi Zhukov, who had directed and

won countless battles before World War Two which gave Russia another advantage over the Paulus who was not

experienced. Stalin placed Zhukov in charge of the Stalingrad Front and Zhukov was directing defensives as the

Sixth Army attacked. After weeks of planning, on November 13, Marshal Zhukov was presented his plan, known

as Operation Uranus, to Stalin in the Kremlin (Hellbeck 10). Operation Uranus was a counter-attack that would

use Russian armies to break through the Romanian armies spread-out on the Don Front, on the sides of

Stalingrad. Stalin approved it and if successful it would trap the Sixth Army in Stalingrad and cut them off from

gaining supplies. This would completely turn the tides of the battle since the Russians would then have the upper
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hand and destroy Germany’s most powerful army on the Eastern Front. Zhukov prepared the operation and

waited for the perfect opportunity to begin which after Paulus’ fourth attack in which the Sixth Army had used up

its current power (Robertson 40). Zhukov launched the operation and it was successful and within hours had left

the Sixth Army trapped. The attacked succeed because Zhukov had exploited the German weakness of being

overextended and this was the turning point of the battle. Paulus requested to break out but Hitler refused and told

the Six Army to stay and defend and said he would send supplies by air. However, very few shipments of

supplies actually made it to the Germans and the Sixth Army needed about 500 tons of supplies per day (Hayward

26). This caused the Sixth Army to run low on essentials especially food and ammunitions which made them

vulnerable. This can be see with William Hoffman, an entrapped German soldier, who wrote, “rations have been

cut to such an extent that the soldiers are suffering terribly from hunger” (405). The encirclement lasted for two

and a half months which was worsened for the Germans with the Russian winter and their own starvation.

However, the German General Manstein was approaching to break the encirclement and provide supplies which

gave the Sixth Army hope, but the Russian armies were able to defeat Manstein since Russia was able to improve

it’s military through the time earned by Stalingrad’s fighting. Manstein’s defeat left the Six Army’ fate to either

come to death or captivity. So, Hitler promoted Paulus to Field Marshal which showed Hitler’s true intention, to

make sure Paulus fought, since no German Field Marshal had ever been captured before, so Hitler assumed that

Paulus would either commit suicide or fight to the death (P. Hoyt 270). However, Paulus instead decided to

surrender the remaining Sixth Army that same day and he surrendered 91,000 German soldiers to the Russians.

The aftermath of the loss wounded Germany, and the surrender in Stalingrad shocked the entire world.

The battle had not only destroyed the entire Sixth Army but also all the Hungarian, Romanian, and Italian armies

that had been sent to fight during the battle of Stalingrad (P. Hoyt 279). Hitler had taken these small Axis armies

as reinforcements during the battle but when the Sixth Army surrendered then these armies were left to be hunted

by the Russians which led to a need for German retreat. Also, this battle had caused the Eastern Front to fall into

Russian favor, who had a growing army and industry due to the time the battle gave Russia. However, Germany

could never reach full strength because of this battle which gave the Russians an even larger advantage on the

Eastern Front. The battle caused Germany to retreat, since Germany could not match the growing Russian
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industry after the German surrender. The battles that followed on the Eastern Front were dominated by the

Russians who began to have a growing industry and to start large offensive attacks. These offensives by the Red

Army pushed the Eastern Front out of Russia. The German’s could not sustain the Eastern Front with the growing

Red Army and were force to retreat. This was an impactful win for Russia because of the risks that were placed

on the battle. If Paulus won at Stalingrad then the Volga River would have been open to the Germans (P. Hoyt,

102). This would allow the Germans to easily capture Moscow since Stalin had invested all of Russia’s resources

to fight the Battle of Stalingrad. If Moscow fell then that would cause a political vacuum to occur all over Russia,

but Russia won the Battle of Stalingrad and thereby instead were able to end the German campaign in Russia with

the losses of Hitler’s largest armies.

Overall the Battle of Stalingrad staved off the fall of Russia because of the Russian willingness to

sacrifice and the interference of Hitler along with his costly decisions. The battle also caused Germany to retreat

because after the surrender then Germany and the Axis powers had lost major armies and allowed the Red Army

to grow stronger than any Germany army left on the Eastern Front. These events allowed the Battle of Stalingrad

to be the turning point of the war since the recovered Red Army pushed the Wehrmacht back to Berlin from

Stalingrad. Overall, in war any mistake made can cost the success of the war with the persistency and willingness

of the enemy.

Works Cited:

Hayward, Joel. Stalingrad: An Examination of Hitler's Decision to Airlift. 1997.

Hellbeck, Jochen. Stalingrad: the City That Defeated the Third Reich. PublicAffairs, 2016.

Hoffman, William. “Diary of a German Soldier.” Sources of the Western Tradition, II, pp. 414–417.

Hoyt, Edwin Palmer. 199 Days: the Battle for Stalingrad. Robson Books, 2001.

Robertson, William Glenn, et al. Block by Block: the Challenges of Urban Operations. Combat Studies Institute,

US Army Command and General Staff College Press, 2003.