Why would the Battle of Stalingrad be considered a turning point in World War II?
1 Answer
Apart for being the worst defeat suffered by the Wehrmacht up to that moment it represents the moment of maximum expansion of the German forces after which they will only retreat (up to reaching Berlin) and never advance again.
Explanation:
At Stalingrad the German Army lost an entire army (the Sixth) together with Generals and a Field Marshall (Von Paulus) involving in this disaster most of its allies (Rumanians and Italians) that received a terrible blow from which they would never recover.
The German Army from this point onward started a slow and bitter retreat sometimes winning local engagements but never advancing as they were used to at the start of the invasion of Russia (operation Barbarossa) when they defeated and encircled immense Russian armies capturing hundreds of thousands of prisoners and huge quantities of enemy weapons and hardware.
