Description of the Battle
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The Battle of Egos
The Battle of Stalingrad was actually fought more for a principle than for a strategic advantage. Because the city bore the name of the Soviet leader, Stalin, it was believed that control of the city would have a direct effect on morale. Hitler wanted to take the city to break the spirit of the Soviets, and, in a way, to prove that he was better than Stalin. On the other side, Stalin convinced his men that to let the city fall would mean the end of Russian power, and that they could not let it happen, no matter the cost. In the end, the Russians would win the battle, bolstering their morale and causing them to begin an offensive of their own.
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Background
The Germans had been mercilessly pushing through Russia, taking land and resources as they went. However, they had just been forced to retreat from Moscow, so Hitler was looking to take a resource-rich area called Caucasus instead. He believed that the best way to take the region and push into the rest of the country would be to employ fast-moving Blitzkrieg tactics to take Stalingrad, and then the region as a whole. This plan would also cut off Russian oil and grain supplies from Ukraine, further weakening the army. When Stalin learned of this plan, he sent all nearby, available soldiers and civilians to the city in hopes of stopping it. Many of the Soviets were untrained civilians or part of workers' militias, which did not bode well for them. However, the fighting would be in very close quarters, so their lack of training or cutting edge weaponry would not have much of an effect on the outcome.
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The Leadup
The German operation that planned to take Stalingrad was called Operation Blau. This plan was designed primarily by Hitler himself, who went against most of his generals' advice to attack Moscow instead. The plan was that the German Army Group South(in Ukraine at the time) would be split in half, with one half sent to Caucasus to cut off Russian supply lines, and the other half sent to Stalingrad. The push for these locations began on June 28, 1942 when the German Army began to successfully push the Russian Army farther east. By the end of July, the Germans were within 5o kilometers of Stalingrad, ready to push for the city.
The German Plan
The Germans aimed to cut off all Russian supply lines to the city. To do this, Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to bomb any ships that tried to cross the Volga River. His plan was effective, and by July 31, 32 Soviet ships had been sunk. Next, the Luftwaffe heavily bombed the city, destroying most of the buildings. After that, the German forces moved in, and began to push for the center of the city. Once there, they established themselves and began trying to push into the industrial sector, which was still busy making weapons/tanks. However, before they could take that area, the Russian plan came into play.
The Soviet Plan
The Soviet plan was primarily to hold the city at all costs. To do this, every person who was able to fight and not necessary for industrial production became part of a workers' militia, to try to stall the German advance. Although they were untrained and poorly equipped, this plan was relatively effective, as it slowed the German advance down to a crawl. Then, when the Germans finally reached the center of the city, General Georgii Zhukov began his counteroffensive, by surrounding the Germans in the city. While the Germans may have been able to escape, Hitler had ordered them not to, so the Soviet plan worked perfectly, and most of the German soldiers were killed or taken as prisoner. In the end, the Soviet Plan proved more effective, but also led to about 50% more casualties in the process(the Axis Powers lost about 800,000 while Russia lost about 1.2 million, the number varies but these are what I found most reliably).