The Battle of Stalingrad was the bloodiest battle the world has ever seen.
In scale, losses, and sheer brutality, nothing comes close.
The battle irrevocably turned the tide of war in the East and ensured Hitler’s plans for European
domination would never come to pass. But how well do YOU know the battle? In this video, we
take a look at the hellhole that was Stalingrad, presenting 13 lesser-known facts along the way.
The city of Stalingrad straddles the Volga River in southern Russia.
Its position on a river bend effectively gives the city control over river traffic,
which was critical during the Second World War. Hitler’s war machine was a thirsty beast,
and needed vast quantities of oil to keep running. The oil-rich Caucasus region was a prize Hitler
would give just about anything to secure. Stalin knew this. He could not afford to lose
the strategic city to the Germans and was prepared to commit all he had to defend it. Additionally,
the propaganda value of losing “Stalin’s City” would have been catastrophic for the Allied cause.
The attack began on August 23rd 1942 with a massive air raid. Falling bombs didn’t
discriminate between soldiers and civilians. The Luftwaffe scorched the city with firebombs,
and the smoke column stretched 3.5 kilometres into the sky. The city was reduced to rubble and roads
were buried under metres-thick piles of concrete. But this gave the Soviets an unexpected advantage:
with the roads impassable, the Germans could not easily bring their superior armour to bear.
They would have to clear the city the hard way.
The Soviet defence was desperate. Everyone was mobilised. Reportedly to inspire the defenders,
Stalin forbade the evacuation of much of Stalingrad’s civilian population.
Women and children were put to work digging trenches and constructing earthworks,
while men were enlisted into workers’ militias. Many of these conscripts weren’t even given
rifles and were sent to the front unarmed. This wasn’t the case, however, for regular troops.
This was 1942, but the Soviets were fairly progressive when it came to gender equality:
everyone was permitted to fight and die for the motherland. The all-female volunteer 1077th
Anti-Aircraft Regiment put up ferocious resistance against a German attack, their
levelled AA guns doing deadly work. The German 16th Panzer Division recorded the following:
“Right until afternoon we had to fight 'shot for shot' against 37
anti-aircraft positions manned by tenacious fighting women, until all were destroyed.”
In the industrial district, the Stalingrad Tractor Factory kept producing tanks while under attack.
Their tanks rolled off the production line, crudely finished and unpainted,
and onto the front line. Still, the factory kept producing war machines
right up until the Germans burst through the front doors.
Soviet commanders pulled their troops back to concentric rings of defence inside
the wrecked city but continued launching counter-attacks, often at horrendous cost.
The Soviet 13th Guards Rifle Division was one such unlucky unit. The 10,000-strong force attacked
the hill at Mamayev Kurgan and captured Railway Station Number One. The Germans counterattacked,
retaking the railway station. The 13th attacked again, forcing their retreat. This happened no
less than 14 times in the space of six hours, in which time the 13th was worn down to just 320 men.
As August bled into September, the Soviets lost more of Stalingrad to the Axis. They were pushed
back to a tiny foothold on the banks of the Volga, but from here, they would not be dislodged. Stalin
had given his infamous Order 227, ordering no unauthorised retreats on penalty of death. Fresh
reserves were brought in from Siberia and Central Asia, swelling the ranks of the Red Army. These
brand new units crossed the Volga under heavy fire from German artillery and aircraft, only to
be hurled onto the front line once they arrived. Their average life expectancy was just 24 hours.
But as the Soviets faced mounting losses, they adopted new tactics. Snipers infested the city’s
rubble, taking out officers, radiomen, and enemy snipers from well-concealed hides.
Collapsed buildings provided perfect cover, and the constant blanket of smoke haze
further obscured them from view. Deep underground, the Soviets fortified Stalingrad’s sewer network
and used it to transport men and material. Sometimes, Soviet platoons would feign retreat,
escaping into the sewers so they could reappear behind unsuspecting Axis patrols. But the Germans
soon got wise to this trick. They fortified the sewers as well, turning them into a new
and particularly hellish battleground. Bullets fired into the compacted brickwork could ricochet
anywhere, so soldiers were encouraged to take the enemy in hand-to-hand combat.
The Germans soon learned to fear the sewers; they named the battle down there the “Rattenkrieg.”
Soviet tactics changed above ground, too. Long rifles were discarded in favour of submachine guns
wherever possible, and AT rifles were handed out liberally. The Soviets also developed a network
of fortified blockhouses from ruined factories and houses. They were compartmentalised. If one
fell to a fierce Axis attack, the others could still hold firm. Attacking one of these positions
could be a death sentence, as Axis forces had to contend with knife-wielding Soviets in the sewers,
vengeful snipers concealed in the buildings, hidden machinegun positions,
and streets choked with rubble. Even if they captured a single room in a house,
the Soviets would burrow through adjacent walls and attack them from another angle,
or come through the roof or floor. One common joke amongst Wehrmacht soldiers was that they
could fight a battle to take the kitchen, while the Soviets still held the living room.
It’s difficult to imagine a worse battlefield.
But, somehow, things did get worse. Winter closed in, and ice prevented larger boats from crossing
the Volga. The Germans pushed on, capturing 90% of the city and restricting the Soviets to just a few
small zones. Food for the surviving civilians was taken, and city dwellers consumed rats to survive.
Attrition ate away at both Axis and Soviet forces, but replacements were far more easily found in the
Red Army. The Luftwaffe flew an average of over 900 missions per day over the city, bombing,
scouting, and covering advancing forces on the ground. This took a serious toll
on their engines, something the flyboys shared with the beleaguered Axis tankers.
The men were also reaching their limits. Croatian, Romanian, Hungarian, and Italian soldiers fought
alongside the Germans throughout the battle, but they were rarely as well supplied as Hitler’s men.
They received fewer reinforcements, and while they demonstrated extreme bravery on many occasions,
the months of fatigue had taken their toll. German commanders pulled their allies back from
the front late in 1942 to cover the Axis flanks. Paulus, the chief German commander of the battle,
wanted to pull back further, but his hands were tied. In his own words, “There is still the order
whereby no commander of an army group or an army has the right to relinquish a village,
even a trench, without Hitler's consent.” He was also concerned about the weakness of his flanks—a
weakness Zhukov recognised and intended to exploit.
Recycling the same plan he had used to defeat the Japanese at Khalkin Gol four years earlier,
Zhukov launched an attack on the Axis flanks on either side of the city.
It was spearheaded by newly manufactured tanks churned out in ever-increasing numbers right
across the Soviet Union. Behind the tanks were over a million soldiers.
It happened on November 19th. Soviet tanks flattened the 3rd Romanian army. The 4th
Romanian Army was next, and a ring of steel encircled the German 6th Army inside the city.
They didn’t know it, but only 2% of the surrounded men would see home again.
Paulus requested permission to break out, but Hitler turned him down.
He ordered the force, numbering 22 divisions, to be resupplied by air.
Even with every available plane carrying supplies, only 105 of the 750 tonnes necessary for survival
were delivered daily. The 6th Army withered and began to die.
The relief from Axis air attacks reinvigorated the Soviet Air Force, and they preyed upon the
heavily laden transport planes. Within six weeks, they had reduced German air strength in the East
by a third. This, however, was one of the few offensive operations the Soviets undertook. They
knew they had the Germans pinned, so why risk lives doing what starvation could do for them?
The Soviet noose tightened, but the Germans continued resisting until January 1943.
Paulus asked for permission to surrender again and again, reporting to Hitler
that “18,000 wounded [were] without the slightest aid of bandages and medicines.”
The Fuhrer responded, “[What a] heroic drama of German history!” At January’s end,
they surrendered. Hitler never forgave Paulus, vowing to never appoint a Field Marshal again.
The Battle of Stalingrad cost the lives of roughly two million people and effectively
terminated German ambitions in the East. The Red Army was galvanised,
and their counter-stroke would force the Wehrmacht all the way back to their heartland.
General Chuikov, one of the Soviet high commanders, noted, “Remembering the defence of
Stalingrad, I can't overlook the very important question … about the role of women in war,
in the rear, but also at the front. Equally with men they bore all the burdens of combat life
and together with us men, they went all the way to Berlin.”
But what do YOU think? Did you know about the hand-to-hand fighting in Stalingrad’s sewers?
What about the plight of the 13th Guards Rifles—virtually wiped out to a man? Do
YOU think the Germans could have won without Hitler’s meddling? Let us know in the comments!