What was the Battle of Stalingrad and what was its significance?

1 Answer
Apr 7, 2017

The German Case Blue offensive in the summer of 1942 objective was the Caucasus Oilfields around Baku. Stalingrad was on the left flank of the advance but drew away critical forces leading to defeat.

Explanation:

After the failure of the 1941 German offensive Hitler sacked a large number of Senior officers. With new Generals the objective for the the 1942 German summer offensive was to be resources, particularly oil.

The Case Blue offensive was initially successful but when it ran into resistance at Stalingrad it bogged down.

The Germans wanted to capture it to hold the city on their left flank but the Soviets held on. The city turned into a grinder that destroyed units. More and more units were drawn into the fight weakening the offensive to the South. The Battle started in August, by November the the Russians were holding only a sliver of the West Bank of the Volga River at Stalingrad.

The Offensive to the Caucasus Oil fields failed and was thrown back.

Back in Stalingrad the German troops were concentrated in the City while Italians, Romanians and others were holding the areas North and South of the City. The Soviet Winter offensive smashed through these weaker defenses outside the city and surrounded the Germans. All German attempts to rescue the surrounded troops failed. The Germans surrendered in February 1943 losing over 100,000 troops prisoners. Total German causalities were over 700,000. It was a turning point in the War.

The Battle of El Alamien was also in October-November 1942. The long run of losses for the Allies was over.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad