Smelling blood, President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced at the conclusion of the Casablanca Conference in Morocco between himself, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and their joint chiefs of staff (January 14–23, 1943) that the Allies would require nothing less than Germany’s “unconditional surrender.”. Contributor: C. Peter Chen ww2dbase The southern Russian city of Stalingrad was a major industrial city, producing tanks, among other equipment, for the Soviet war effort. Despite the setbacks of the previous year, Hitler wanted to go on the offensive. In terms of location, the city sat on the flank of the route toward the oil fields in the Caucasus region, while it was also a major … Hitler's decision to launch a campaign at the Caucasus regio… However, he had not taken into account the stand that the Russians would take in defence of the city named after their leader. Left: German infantry try to find cover in the wilderness of rubble that Stalingrad had become. One railway station changed hands 14 times in six hours. The defensive front was also ment to protect the supply lines transporting oil back to … In December of 1941, after suffering multiple losses, the Soviet Union counterattacked German forces in the Battle of Moscow, successfully … German guns fired. -Germans wanted the oil fields of the Caucasus region-begins sept. 1, 1942-Germans capture much of the city in street fighting-nov 23, 1942 Germans get trapped in the city-German commander Von Poulus ordered to fight to the death-between jan 31 and feb 2, 300,000 German troops surrender-a major turning point on the eastern … As the conditions were becoming hostile, Hitler played his last card. Bitter fighting raged for every factory, rubble-strewn street, house, basement, stairwell, and sewer. Each street was fought over by hand-to hand combat and areas that had been captured by one side during the day were often re-taken in the night. In September 1942, General Paulus (Germany) advanced towards Stalingrad, assisted by the Fourth Panzer Army. This meant the Germans had to face the Russian winter, where temperatures dropped well below zero. The strategic importance of railways on the eve of WWI, Protected: Simple History Vehicles of WORLD WAR II COLORING BOOK Volume 1. 2: 718). Only 6,000 POWs lived through their ordeal to return to their homeland after the war. Neither side could afford to lose the battle for city and thus it descended into one of the most bloody in the whole of the Second World War. The failure of the German army was a full-blown disaster. The 199-day battle for control of Stalingrad produced a monumental two million casualties on both sides. Ignoring the Soviet capital Moscow, whose fierce defense combined with a brutal winter had prevented its capture earlier in the year, Fall Blau (Operation Blue in English) was instead directed south toward the strategic Caucasus oil and mineral fields and important centers of Soviet war industry. Stalingrad was located in the Soviet Union and was a major industrial center. ... operating in the southern extremity of the southern Russian SFSR in an effort to simultaneously capture the city of Stalingrad and the Caucasus oil fields. Therefore, the famous city on the Volga, Stalingrad, must be "held at all costs." It was also a large industrial city producing large amounts of armaments for the Soviet war effort. Stalingrad was men to be part of a large defensive front so that the Germans wouldn't be attacked from the rear while going for the oil fields. In the spring of 1941 the Armed Forces High Command activated the so-called Oil Detachment Caucasus for the purpose of taking over the oil fields. However, German forces occupied vast swathes of Soviet territory and industry, and the war was still going fairly well for the Germans. On August 23 Gen. Friedrich Paulus’ Sixth Army, part of Army Group South (B), entered the outskirts of Stalingrad (today’s Volgograd), a vital manufacturing and transport center upstream from Rostov. Dispatching some 3 or 4 million soldiers to the Eastern Front, Adolf Hitler hoped for a rapid victory.It was an all-out effort to crush the Soviet threat by capturing Ukraine to the south, the city of Leningrad — p… On June 28 th, 1942, Operation Blau/Blue commenced with multiple German and Romanian units were to capture the Caucasus Oil Fields for a plentiful supply of fuels. The Wehrmacht's drive into the Caucasus in August 1942 seemed unstoppable, and taking the oil cities of Maikop, Grozny, and Baku would have solved one of Germany's most serious strategic problems. In 1942, Germany's Fall Blau was initially aimed at capturing or interdicting shipments of oil from the Caucasus to the rest of the Soviet Union. June 28, 1942 On this date in 1942 on the Eastern Front, Adolf Hitler launched Germany’s second summer campaign against the Soviet Union in two years. From the start of Operation Barbarossa, when German troops invaded the USSR in June 1941, until the end of the war, Azerbaijan produced 75 million tonnes of crude oil, 80% of the … Whilst at least initially, the Germans took control of much of the city they couldn’t fully control it. Leading up to the Battle of Stalingrad, the German Wehrmacht had already suffered multiple setbacks in Russia. His first task was to secure the oil fields in Caucasus. The German armored advance resembled a knife slicing through a stick of butter—a rerun it seemed of the summer of 1941, when the Red Army fell apart on the first armored impact. On the Soviet side, it is believed well over a million Soviet soldiers were killed. Instead, the successes of the summer and the symbol of "Stalingrad" itself lured them into … German army at the Battle of Moscow. Finally, the city was also named after the Soviet Union’s leader and Hitler’s hatred of Stalin meant he could not let it go unconquered. The Eastern Front and the Mediterranean The Battle of Stalingrad • Hitler wants to capture Caucasus oil fields and destroy Stalingrad • Soviets defeat Germans in bitter winter campaign - Over 230,000 Germans, 1,100,000 Soviets die • Battle a turning point: Soviet army begins to move towards Germany 2 SECTION NEXT The … In order to complete this task, Hitler ordered Paulus to take Stalingrad, with the final target being Baku. In addition, Germany also wanted to invade the region’s oil fields. Stalin sent Soviet reinforcements but they had to cross the Volga River and many of them drowned under the weight of their clothing and weapons. At the end of the war Stalingrad was In 1945 Stalingrad was officially proclaimed a Hero City of the Soviet Union for its defense of the motherland. Hitler actually concentrated his efforts on taking the Caucasus more than he did on Stalingrad at the beginning of Operation Fall Blau, he dedicated the entire Army Group A to the conquest of the oil fields in Bakou while the Army Group B had to secure its flanks by getting deeper in Russia and securing the Volga, making it … Germany had launched Operation Barbarossa, its ill-fated invasion of the Soviet Union, in June 1941. The Battle of Stalingrad. At that time the Germans expected that their advance into the Caucasus would be so rapid that the Russians would not be able to severely damage the oil wells, and the … Making steady progress across the empty Ukrainian steppes, Army Group South (A) took the key railway junction and river port Rostov-on-Don on July 23, and then drove south to the oilfields in the Caucasus. Nevertheless, Hitler demanded his soldiers fight to the last bullet but by January they had no choice but to surrender. Battle of Stalingrad, August 23, 1942, to February 2, 1943 It’s objective: the Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus Mountains. Soviet military operation… The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the most important battles of the Second World War. Meanwhile the Russian Army was galvanised by its heroic victory and began to push the Germans back in other parts of Eastern Europe. Undeterred, Hitler mounted “Operation Blue” in the spring of ’42 to seize both the rich oil fields in the Caucasus and the region’s rail junction and industrial center in Stalingrad. Left: A reconnaissance photo of a railway station burning in Stalingrad, late August 1942. But Hitler underestimated the Russian army. After all, the ferocity of the fighting at Stalingrad shocked the Germans, who were used to the relative ease of their Blitzkrieg tactics. Photo from late August 1942. The Battle of Stalingrad lasted about a year. This left the German army completely outnumbered and surrounded. The German offensive slowed as it entered the mountains in the southern Caucasus and did not reach all of its 1942 objectives. Neither Germany nor the Soviet Union could have foreseen the horror that would face each other at Stalingrad. Right: German bombers flatten Stalingrad’s industrial center, November 16, 1942. The Germans captured the city probably the the second week in November 1942. Left: Beginning on August 23, 1942, the Luftwaffe bombed Stalingrad block-by-block for five straight days. Right: Stalingrad’s desperate defenders realized that their best defense consisted of anchoring their defense lines in numerous buildings. (The first had been Operation Barbarossa begun the previous June, which had been intended to knock the Soviet Union out of the war.) Operation Uranus … Ranging from July 1942 to February 1943 the battle is considered by many historians to have been the turning point in the war in Europe. Germans plan to capture the Russian oil fields. Stalingrad is bombarded from air by artillery. The great irony was that Hitler may not have needed to take Stalingrad. For the same reason, however, Stalin ordered that his city had to be saved at all costs. The Luftwaffe retained air superiority into early November, but after flying 20,000 individual sorties, its original strength of 1,600 serviceable aircraft had shrunk to 950. Battle of Stalingrad, successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad that was a turning point in favor of the Allies in World War II. The Germans called this ever-present, often unseen urban warfare Rattenkrieg (“Rat War”). Things changed on July 9th when Hitler launched a huge attack to take both Moscow and the remaining oil fields in the Caucasus in one move. In order to encourage his army, Hitler made Paulus his Field Marshal on January 30, 1943 . Topic. Disaster at Stalingrad: An Alternate History by Peter G. Tsouras enables the reader to know details about the history of the battle of Stalingrad. The Battle of Stalingrad … They had made great inroads into the oil fields of the Caucasus (south-west Russia) which could have fuelled the war effort. Captured German soldiers after the Battle of Stalingrad, January 1943. Suddenly they were faced with hand-to-hand combat, often only yards away from the enemy. V olgograd sits just above the Caucasus, an industrial city on the west bank of the Volga. After the Soviet breakthroughs in the region around Stalingrad, the German forces in the Caucusus were put on the defensive. The German army was also low on food and ammunition. My main interests include the Second World War and Communism, especially in Russia and the former Yugoslavia. Wrecked buildings in Stalingrad. Four out of five Soviet aircraft, tanks and trucks used in World War II ran on fuel produced in Baku refineries from oil extracted in the Baku oil fields. S01:E07 - The Battle of Stalingrad After the failure to take both Moscow and Leningrad, Hitler sets his sights on the oil fields in the Caucasus. For the heroism of its defenders, Stalingrad was one of four cities awarded the title “Hero City” in 1945. If captured, the Red Army will lose 70%-90% of all its oil resources. Russians consider it to be one of the greatest battles of their Great Patriotic War, and most historians consider it to be the greatest battle of the entire conflict. The great irony was that Hitler may not have needed to take Stalingrad. Instead Hitler turned his attention to Stalingrad. Operation Barbarossa, launched in June 1941, failed to achieve Hitler's objective of decisively defeating the Soviet Union in a single campaign. After August 25, the Soviets stopped recording civilian and military casualties as a result of air raids. Even though armies were diverted to Stalingrad and even Leningrad, the Germans managed to capture Maikop, and came within 50 miles of Grozny. (Fall Blau) of which the battle became a part. Their eastern push into the Soviet Union had been so successful. The Battle of the Caucasus is a name given to a series of Axis and Soviet operations in the Caucasus area on the Eastern Front of World War II.On 25 July 1942, German troops captured Rostov-on-Don, Russia, opening the Caucasus region of the southern Soviet Union, and the oil fields beyond at Maikop, Grozny, and ultimately … By November the Russians launched a devastating counter-offensive. Likewise, Russians could not let the Germans get hold of the oil fields in the Caucasus - The Russian Army was led by Zhukov with around 1,000,500 men, who were fighting against Paulus' army of 1,011,500 men. Instead Hitler turned his attention to Stalingrad. That same day a massive German air raid on Stalingrad caused a firestorm that killed thousands of civilians and turned the city of 900,000 residents into a landscape of rubble and burned ruins. Battle of Stalingrad Summary On August 23, 1942, Hitler and General Friedrich Paulus sent out their troops to seize the oil fields in the Caucasus Mountains and the City of Stalingrad. I am currently studying for a PhD in History, a subject I am fascinated by. The Luftwaffe also rendered the River Volga, vital for ferrying supplies into the besieged city, unusable to Soviet shipping. The battle drained German army of its resources and after its defeat it went into full retreat in Eastern Europe. For example, Caucasus campaing , this book mainly focuses on, was largely overlook ,for the Battle of Stalingrad,notwithstanding the main strategic goal of the operation was obtaining the source of oil field in Baku. The Battle of Stalingrad bled the German Army dry and turned the war in the East decisively against Nazi Germany. In 1942, the German Army (Wehrmacht Heer) launched Operation Edelweiss which was aimed at advancing to the oil fields of Azerbaijan. Battle of the Caucasus is similar to these military conflicts: Case Blue, Operation Little Saturn, Eastern Front (World War II) and more. Stalingrad—situated on the Volga River, 566 miles southeast of Moscow—was a large industrial city but of limited strategic significance. Some 105,000 enemy prisoners were led away, most to their deaths. Firestorms killed anywhere from 25,000 to 40,000 people. Smoke rises due to the explosion. The Germans killed 2,500 Soviet soldiers each day, day after day, three times their losses. For the heroism of its defenders, Stalingrad was one of four cities awarded the title “Hero City” in 1945. By September 1942, the German army began to advance on the city. Six armies of over a million men led by Marshal Zhukov surrounded the city. Copyright © 2012–2020 World War II - Day By Day. More than 1,000 tons of bombs were dropped on the city, but Stalin forbade any evacuation from the city, even of children. The Germans loss of such a vast amount of manpower and equipment seriously hindered the rest of their war in Eastern Europe. Paulus’ Sixth Army was inexorably drawn into a Soviet quagmire from which it was nearly impossible to escape. Their eastern push into the Soviet Union had been so successful. After all the city was an important centre for Soviet Union communications and transport to southern Russia. The book's exhaustive detail in numerous battles shed light on event that might have change the the direction of … This is not to mention the 40,000 civilians killed as well. It estimated that more than 800,000 Axis forces were killed, wounded or captured. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, OILFIELDS, STALINGRAD IN NAZIS’ 1942 CROSSHAIRS, World War II: The Definitive Visual History from Blitzkrieg to the Atom Bomb, The Secret History of World War II: Spies, Code Breakers, and Covert Operations, TIME-LIFE World War II in 500 Photographs, A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II, Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir By One of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of WWII, A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II, Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II, Spymistress: The True Story of the Greatest Female Secret Agent of World War II, The Longest Winter: The Battle of the Bulge and the Epic Story of WWII's Most Decorated Platoon, The Liberator: One World War II Soldier's 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau. 17 Jul 1942 - 2 Feb 1943. 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