History of The Great Battles World War 2

Friends, Stalingrad was a city.

In 1942, the city was attacked by Hitler's Nazi army.

The invading army was very proud of its arm and ammunition.

On the other hand, the Russian Stalin Army deployed to protect the city...

...was also ready to go to any extent.

It was not a battle of two cities but of the ego of two dictators.

So, ego of the two and soldiers' spirit produced a stunning history of all times.

This bloodthirsty war immortalized Stalingrad in history...

...for never in history over 2 million people had died and injured in a city battle.

But it happened in Stalingrad.

A thousand planes were never downed in a single battle...

...but it came about in this battle.

Why this unforgettable decisive battle of World War II was fought?

What was the result?

Why this war is called a fight of rats?

I'm Faisal Warraich in Series "History of Battles World War 2",

...I will show you all that.

The Battle of Stalingrad was fought during World War II in 1942.

It was three years after the start of the World War II.

The enemies of Hitler's Nazi Germany, France and Britain, had been defeated.

Britain was saving its geography and the Germans had occupied France.

The Germans or their allies occupied many of the other European states.

Only a few countries were non-aligned.

Like Switzerland.

The world's largest country, Soviet Russia, was largely independent.

But the German forces were also engulfing it.

That Hitler's army had reached near the Russian capital Moscow.

Leningrad in the northwest was under their siege...

...and Soviet territory down to Ukraine had fallen to the Germans.

In this situation, the only supply line of the Soviet forces in the southern regions...

....was the 3,000 km long Volga River.

Arms and reinforcement from Moscow reached them via the Volga River.

If this river were to be cut anywhere, the southern part of Soviet Russia...

...would be cut off from Moscow, the centre of Soviet Russia.

As a result, oil-rich areas like Chechnya and Azerbaijan...

...would fall into the hands of the Germans.

Obviously, a lot of fuel was needed in the war.

So Hitler wanted to cut off the supply line of the Volga River.

This map shows that by way of cutting the river from any side...

...the supply line of South Soviet Russia could have been blocked.

But Hitler planned to cut it on the western side of the river towards Stalingrad.

This plan had two main reasons.

First, the supply of arms to Russian forces was from the Stalingrad factories...

... secondly, the city being named after Joseph Stalin had a psychological impact.

The capture of the city as such, could shake the morale of the Russian forces.

So Hitler ordered the Volga River supply line to be cut off from Stalingrad.

From Ukraine on June 28, 1942...

...two armies moved.

One army designated Army Group A, turned south to southern Russia...

...while the other, Army Group B, advanced toward Stalingrad.

The infantry advancing on Stalingrad was designated the 6th Army...

...which had tank units known as "Panzers" with it.

The number of this army was initially 270,000.

The reinforcements, later on, took this number to over one million.

This army had troops from German allies, Italy, Romania Hungary,...

...Austria and Croatia. It was not clear what was their exact number.

But a sizable army had been gathered to attack the Russians.

The Russians in Stalingrad were also not ignorant of this attack.

Full preparations were going on to face the German attack.

Just take a look at this city.

The city of Stalingrad was about 32 kilometres long...

...and a population of about 400,000.

The city Don River to the west and the Great Volga to the east.

This city was divided into southern and northern parts.

The North part had many factories and a large railway station in the middle.

And the South had most of the population.

First of all the Russian army tried to save the city...

...by shifting grains and cattle to the other side of the Volga River...

...so that the Germans could not seize them.

But 400,000 citizens who needed food, were held back in the city.

Soviet dictator, Stalin believed that the presence of civilians...

...would prompt Russian soldiers to fight more fervently.

For this war, from 16 years to 55 ...

...all men and women were called for military service.

Women and the grown-up were given shovels to dig out trenches...

...in order to stop the advance of German tanks.

In order to save oil in the stocks along the bank of the River Volga...

... young children were put into labour.

It was the child-labour...

... which was carried out by almost every major power during World War II.

Children would carry the earth and build safety walls around petrol depots.

Women were deployed at the anti-aircraft guns in the city.

To Save the city, Stalin ordered every person who could hold a gun...

...to come out to defend the city.

A runaway will be shot dead.

Initially, the Russian army in Stalingrad was 127,000.

This number reached 1.1 million as troops from other parts arrived.

Amid Russian preparations, on August 23rd, the German troops...

...reached the banks of the Volga River and the Russian army was not surprised by it.

The Russians were fully ready for it.

Soon German planes appeared and the ruination of this beautiful city began.

on the first day on August 23, the Germans carried out 1600 air attacks on Stalingrad.

In these attacks, 1000 tons of bombs were dropped from German aircraft.

The bombardment turned every wooden building into ashes.

Concrete buildings also collapsed.

Petrol tanks along the river and other infrastructures were also destroyed.

Russian girls deputed to anti-craft guns were particularly affected by the bombing.

Due to inexperience, they could shoot down only three enemy aircraft.

But some women put up a memorable fight that mended the earlier losses.

And their bravery made this war a memorable event.

It happened that 37-anti-aircraft guns in the north-west part of the city...

were all manned by the women.

These brave women opened fire on the German tanks advancing towards the city.

German tanks also started to fire.

The several hours of fighting caused much loss to the Germans.

But in the end the Germans destroyed all 37 guns...

...and the women gunners were either killed or hid in the trenches.

...As the Germans knew they were fighting the Russian women...

...they got much surprised.

However, the Germans continued to bombard the city.

An estimated 40,000 civilians were killed in airstrikes in a week.

After 28 days of intense bombardment, women, children and wounded were...

...evacuated from the city by boats.

But male citizens were not permitted to leave.

They were bound to stay inside the city and support their army.

Meanwhile, the German army was busy encircling the city.

By August 31, the Germans had occupied the banks of the Volga River.

The German troops had also reached the west of the city.

Now the Germans had surrounded the city from three sides.

Russians could get help only from the river in the east but that part...

...too was under German bombardment from air and ground.

Thus, the Russian forces in Stalingrad were practically under siege.

On September 13, the Germans encircled the city...

and began to advance in different parts of the city.

German Air Force was leading these attacks.

Now look at the intensity of the airstrikes.

9746 attacks were made on Stalingrad in 9 days from September 16 to 25.

On average, they were 975 attacks in a day.

Due to fear of the German planes, no Russian plane flew to Stalingrad in the day.

Russian planes flew in the dark of night...

...and returned after a light bombardment on the Germans.

That is, the Germans had complete air superiority on the Stalingrad front.

To evade the German air force, the Russians made a new strategy...

...known in English as "hugging the Germans."

That is, 'embrace the Germans.'

This strategy meant the Russian troops to fight the Germans so closely...

...that the German planes would not opt for bombing them.

Obviously, the bombing was to also cause life loss to the Germans.

So, this strategy turned every house and street in Stalingrad into a front.

If the Germans held a building, the Russians would take positions in another.

As the Germans advanced, the Russians through trenches and sewerage lines...

would come back to the first building,

....forcing the Germans to turn around and fight again.

The Germans were so fed up with this cat-and-mouse game that they...

...started to call it the Rats War.

Soon, the rate war led to a fight in every room of the destroyed buildings.

The positions were also told as capturing the kitchen of a certain building...

...or the fight is on for the bedroom and we need this and that, so do it quickly.

However, the 'Hugging the Germans' strategy irked the Germans to an extent...

...that they failed to maintain possession of any important target.

For example, control of the city's railway station changed 14 times in 6 hours.

Which was finally captured by the German forces.

Similarly, in a granary where food was stored for the soldiers...

...was denied control to Germans only by 50 Russians for 5 days.

Forty of them were killed...

...but 10 soldiers fled while setting afire grain in the godowns.

Another element of the Russian resistance was the snipers.

Every building in the city was reduced to rubble providing room for snipers to hide.

In the same piles of rubble, a Russian sniper "Vesley Zaitsev"...

....killed 225 Germans.

The movie 'Enemy at the Gates' was produced on the story of the same sniper.

But in spite of the fiercest resistance of the Russians...

...the German troops continued to advance into the city from different directions.

Although this advancement was very slow yet it continued successfully.

By early October, most of the southern part was under German control.

On October 7, German forces raised the Nazi flag in the southern area...

...and the German media announced that the area had been conquered.

Now the fight had shifted to the northern part...

...and here were the Russian factories.

It was the factory area of ​​Stalingrad.

The most famous was the Stalingrad Tractor Factory.

In 1942, this factory was an important line of defence for the Russians.

On October 14, the Germans attacked the tractor factory.

Meanwhile, the fight to occupy the nearby factories also started.

But the Russians again succeeded in using the "hugging the Germans" strategy.

They got positions in different parts of the huge plants and fought the Germans.

The buildings destroyed by German bombardment would serve them as front.

By the end of October, the Germans took over all factories after heavy losses.

It followed a celebration of victory.

But it was a matter of eating sweets just prematurely.

How it was?

By the time November 1942 began...

...90 percent of the city was under German control.

Along the banks of the Volga River, a few pockets of resistance were there...

...where Russian troops still stood firm. But...

...the rest of the city had come under German control.

The Germans immediately started propaganda...

...that Stalingrad had been conquered.

On November 8, Hitler celebrated victory in Munich, the capital of Germany.

But the celebrations were premature as...

...the city was not yet fully conquered.

Rather it was the time the situation was going to title in favour of the Russians.

Millions of Russian troops reached the eastern bank of the Volga River...

...and began to get ready for a major offensive against the Germans.

That is, help had reached for the Soviet forces.

At this critical juncture, Hitler committed two blunders.

He made historical mistakes.

Blunders which changed the complexion of the war.

Of them, the first blunder was the elimination of his army's airport.

The biggest weapon of the Germans against the Russians was their air force.

But now that a Russian counterattack was imminent, Hitler...

...began moving most of his aircraft from Stalingrad to North Africa.

It was done as the Nazi General Erwin Rommel stationed there was defeated.

And it strengthened the position of Britain and the Allies on the African front.

Hitler left open the Stalingrad front to reinforce his forces in North Africa.

After that the air support with the Germans in Stalingrad...

...was only 402 aircraft, which was insufficient.

The second blunder of Hilter was that the allies troops around Stalingrad...

...was provided force after continuous delay.

The Germans also had Italian, Romanian and Hungarian troops with them.

They had built a protective fence around the city to keep it under siege.

On the southern side of the city was the Romanian Fourth Army.

On the north, the Third Army and the Italian Eighth Army were stationed.

These forces had a severe shortage of anti-tank weapons and modern arms.

These forces watched the enemy's preparations across the Volga River.

They repeatedly asked the Germans for more weapons and reinforcements...

...but Hitler did not immediately provide them with any help.

German commanders were also upset due to casualties and enemy preparations.

Then the winter was also raging.

It was snowing and the temperature had dropped below -18-degree Celsius.

The German soldiers had no equipment to meet the needs of the winter season.

Rather, their entire supply line was affected.

In this situation, the German commanders urged Adolf Hitler...

...to permit them to evacuate Stalingrad and defend along the Don River.

But Hitler's ego did not allow the humiliation of retreat.

He vehemently refused.

And this refusal cost him and his army dearly.

November 19th was the day of the massive Russian counter-offensive.

Now they had to attack and not defend.

One million Russians took part in this attack named 'Operation Uranus.'

The Russians advanced in two divisions from the north and the south.

Russian troops crossed the Volga River and attacked the Romanian positions.

The stormy advance of the Russians knocked down the Romanian troops soon.

Beating all hurdles, the two Russian armies met in the west of Stalingrad...

... in Kalach town.

Within three days, Stalingrad was under siege by the Russians.

At least 300,000 German and allied troops were now trapped in the city.

Among them were thousands of Russian citizens...

...whom the Germans had taken prisoner and made them serve the army.

The Germans called them 'Hiwis' meaning volunteers.

Now the German army was trapped in Stalingrad along with its allies.

That is, the besiegers were now themselves under siege.

But even in this situation the army had one last chance...

...to escape from the city before the enemy encircled them.

And it was possible too.

But at this stage, Hitler made another blunder.

He sent a message to Commander Paulus not to strive to break the siege.

"I will send a relief force to save you."

The commander obeyed Hitler's order thus sealing the destruction of his army.

Under the command of Field Marshal Manstein, Hilter sent a relief force...

... from the south to Stalingrad.

This force was named "Army Group Done".

This force started operation in Stalingrad under the code name 'Winter Storm'.

The Germans planned after breaking the siege of Stalingrad...

... they would keep their positions along the River Volga and the city.

But the Russian forces in a quick move blocked the German relief force.

48-kilometre from Stalingrad, the winter storm stopped...

...and last-ditch attempt to save the besieged Germans failed.

Meanwhile, a few German planes delivered relief supplies to Stalingrad...

...but they were in small quantities.

The besieged Germans needed at least 700 tons of food and others daily.

German Air Force committed the delivery of 500 tons and then 300 tons a day.

But the German Air Force could deliver only 350 tons of supplies in the first week.

That is, instead of 300 tons a day, a total of 350 tons in seven days.

On it, foodstuff was only 14 tons...

...and the rest was fuel and other things.

The situation remained the same for the Germans in the coming weeks.

There were several reasons for the failure of the Nazi Air Force.

One, you know, was a serious shortage of the air force...

...or had happened done.

And air force in hand, was unable to continuous flight in bad weather.

Secondly, the Russian planes were attacking the German bases and...

...and destroying the remaining planes.

On January 18, the Russians destroyed 50 planes at a German airbase.

Now the situation in Stalingrad was getting from bad to worse.

Each soldier was given only up to 200 grams of bread daily as per of ration.

Even the horses carrying goods for the army were being killed and eaten.

The cold would freeze horses' flesh so badly that only a saw could cut it.

The uniforms of the soldiers had turned into rags.

To protect from the cold, worn-out uniforms left by the Russians...

...and their bandages were used as cover.

Some desperate soldiers even with the skin of stray dogs and dead horses...

....tried to make gloves and clothes.

But severe cold and hunger were taking countless lives.

Thousands of bodies lay scattered on the ice and no one was to bury them.

The Russian soldiers who had besieged the Germans were completely relaxed.

They had goods for protection from the cold and weapons.

They used fewer arms and more taunts at the Germans to force them to surrender.

They tortured the Germans by placing Hitler's effigies near their positions.

A card was hung around the neck of the effigies that read 'fire at me'.

Two grenades were also hidden inside every effigy...

... that would explode if any German wanted to remove the effigy.

The Russians also installed loudspeakers near the German positions.

Sad songs were played through these speakers and messages rallied...

...to demoralize the Germans.

December and January were passed by the Germans in utter agony.

But Hitler was still not ready to surrender.

On January 30, Hitler promoted General Paulus, to the rank of field marshal.

Hitler believed that a Nazi officer of this rank had never surrendered.

But the German forces were down the drain as lacs of them had died.

So what value promotions had in this situation?

Nothing was in control of the field marshal.

On January 31 new German Field Marshal went to the Russian headquarters.

The bodies of his comrades lay at every other step along the way.

Passing through them, he came to the Russian camp and surrendered.

On his order on February 2, German troops hands up came out of their hideouts...

...and surrendered to the Russians.

Of the 200,000 besieged Germans, barely 91,000...

...and a small number of allied had survived.

The rest had been killed by cold or by gunfire.

Those who surrendered were shifted to Russian camps.

Ironically, of 100,000 Germans who surrendered for survival...

....only 6,000 returned to Germany alive.

All others died in the same camps.

In the battle of Stalingrad, the Germans and their allies called the Axis...

...were killed and wounded between the number of 650,000 and 750,000.

On the other hand, the Russian army suffered much more loss.

Over 1.128 million of their soldiers were killed and wounded.

That is more than 1.1 million.

Despite this loss, the battle was won by Russia...

...and the victory at Stalingrad was decisive.

In view of this, Hitler also recalled the fighting force in southern Russia...

...that was sent to seize the oil wells that was, 'Army Group A.'

After Stalingrad, the Germans in Soviet Russia lost front one after the other.

Now the Germans had lost momentum and the Russians gained it.

Just two years after the surrender, Hitler committed suicide...

...and the German Nazi Empire ended.

The most important battle of World War II the Battle of Stalingrad was very complex.

We tried to make it simple and easy for understanding in a way...

...that accuracy of events and facts helps fully understand the story of this war.

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