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Decisive Battle Of World War Ii: Battle For Stalingrad Essay, Research Paper

The Decisive Battle of World War II:

The Battle for Stalingrad

The Battle of Stalingrad was fought between the invading forces of Nazi Germany and the forces of the Soviet Union who were defending the city. The battle was fought from August 1942 to February of 1943. This was the decisive battle of World War II because it ended the German offensive as well as destroying much of the German armies. Though the early stages of World War II focused on Europe, Hitler had diverted his attention to Russia by 1941. At first, the huge German war machine focused on Leningrad and Moscow. This attack failed; and so by the summer of 1942 Hitler wanted to invade southern Russia. Against the advice of his generals-Hitler attacked Stalingrad. The German forces took much of the city. German armies surrounded the city and so the Russians were trapped and would remain so for several months. When reinforcements arrived for the Soviets they surrounded the Germans and forced them to surrender. The Battle of Stalingrad not only destroyed much of the German army, but also ended their offensive in Russia and ultimately resulted in Germany’s defeat in the Second World War.

World War II began after years of German dominance in central Europe. Germany had annexed many nearby nations before war was finally declared in September 1939. Nazi Germany had many early successes because their military had been mobilized for a long time while the allies, who at this point were only Britain and France, were less prepared (especially the French). Hitler wisely signed a non-aggression pact with Stalin, and by doing so Germany easily overwhelmed Poland and other lands in Eastern Europe by the end of 1939. By this point, the allies were entrenched in France expecting a repeat of World War I. In the spring of 1940, the Nazi blitzkrieg continued as they occupied Denmark, Norway, and Holland. Now, Germany turned toward France and surprised the allies by invading through Belgium. Within several weeks France was occupied and the British had been driven off the continent. By July 1940, Germany dominated nearly all of continental Europe, as Italy was an ally and Russia was neutral. Germany saw Britain as its last remaining enemy and so prepared for an invasion. In order to do so Hitler recognized that air supremacy would be necessary for any successful invasion to take place. The German air force, the Luftwaffe, was met with great resistance, and by late 1940 Hitler gave up hope of an immediate invasion of Britain. At this point, the best strategy for Germany would have been to attack North Africa and the Middle East, as this would give Germany the Suez Canal and therefore would cut off Britain’s supply of oil. Instead, Hitler’s obsession with a vast Eastern European empire had already determined that his next course of action would be to invade the Soviet Union. With Western Europe secure, for the time being, Hitler decided to embark on a massive campaign through the Soviet Union. This was known as Operation Barbarossa. It would eventually be the greatest land battle in history, with over 25 million casualties from its beginning in June 1941 to its end in July 1943-when the Soviets began a counter offensive that would eventually lead to Germany’s defeat in 1945.

Operation Barbarossa was flawed from the start. First, it didn’t start until the summer of 1941 as Hitler had been occupied in the Balkans during the spring. Hitler did not think much of the lateness of the beginning of his invasion because he anticipated a quick victory before the Russian winter, which had stopped Napoleon, set in. Hitler also greatly underestimated the power of the Red Army. In the beginning, both sides had over 3 million men each. However, while the Germans had only 3300 tanks, the Soviets had 20,000, which gave them a distinct advantage even though many of their tanks were obsolete. Another problem for Germany was Hitler’s lack of tactical knowledge. This was shown when he at first pushed towards Moscow then split up his forces to attack Leningrad to the north, and the Caucasus, as well as Moscow. These factors would make it seem as though Operation Barbarossa was doomed from the start, but this was not so.

The Luftwaffe played key roles, including the destruction of the Soviet air force. The Luftwaffe destroyed the largest air force in the world in only two days. General Rychagov, the Commander of Russian Aviation, was sentenced to death for what Stalin called “treasonable activity” (defeat in battle). Despite Hitler’s tactical incompetence, his armies quickly advanced thanks to the tactics that the German generals employed. The German army was very mobile and so could easily surround and overwhelm Russian armies (that usually surrendered soon afterwards). German tactics led to staggering defeats for the Russians–who often lost ten lives, compared with only one German life. In August of 1941 one of Hitler’s generals, Guderian, contacted him. Guderian requested that an attack be made on Moscow, but Hitler said to stick with the current strategy. Hitler was angry, but admitted to Guderian; “Had I known Russian tank strength?I would not have started this war.” Despite Hitler’s concerns, the Germans were still successful, having captured Minsk, Smolensk, and Kiev. Finally, in October, Hitler agreed to attack Moscow. In late November the attack on Moscow, known as Operation Typhoon, began. The attack failed, and at the end of 1941 Hitler wondered what could be holding Russia together. The Russians had lost 3 million men and half of its economic base. Russia still had 9 million men that were of military age and had produced 4,500 new tanks over the winter, and so a continued war favored Russia since at this point Germany could not match those numbers.

In May of 1942, Hitler began Operation BLUE,

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