Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943) was the bloodiest single engagement in military history, with combined casualties exceeding one million, and the strategic turning point of the entire war. Hitler fixated on capturing the city bearing Stalin's name for symbolic reasons; Stalin refused to evacuate it for the same reason. German forces fought house by house through the ruined city, and by November had reduced the Soviets to a thin strip along the Volga. Operation Uranus (November 1942) encircled the German Sixth Army of 300,000 men; Hitler refused retreat; the Army surrendered on 2 February 1943. Field Marshal Paulus became the first German field marshal ever to be taken prisoner. The defeat shattered the myth of German invincibility, demonstrated Soviet capacity for large-scale offensive operations, and shifted the strategic initiative permanently to the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front. Stalingrad, together with the Battle of Kursk the following summer, marked the irreversible turning of the tide in the war against Nazism.
- Year: 1942 CE
- Category: Military
