The Battle of Stalingrad, also known as the Battle of Stalingrad, is a major turning point in the Second World War and one of the bloodiest and largest battles in human history. The main armies participating in the war were the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. This battle has become a famous battle in the history of human war, with heavy casualties on both sides and indifference to civilian sacrifice.
It is generally believed that the battle includes the following parts: the large-scale bombing of Stalingrad (now called "Volgograd") by the Germans; The Germans invaded the city; Street fighting in urban areas; Soviet red army camp; Finally, the Germans and the Axis allies were wiped out. The total number of casualties in this war is estimated to be over 2 million. The Soviet government refused to provide detailed casualty data at that time because it was afraid that too many casualty statistics would affect the people. Axis lost a quarter of its troops on the eastern front in this battle, and it didn't recover until the final defeat. For the Soviet side, the victory of this battle marked the beginning of recovering occupied territory, and finally ushered in the final victory of 1945 against Nazi Germany in May.
Activity background
1941On June 22nd, Nazi Germany and its Axis allies launched the "Barbarossa War", flagrantly invaded the Soviet Union, and the Soviet-German War broke out. The Germans occupied a large area of the western Soviet Union like lightning. The Soviet army, which suffered a series of blows in the summer and autumn of 194 1, won the first victory in Moscow in February of that year. Due to the lack of war equipment and stable supply lines to cope with winter, the over-consumed Germans suffered a serious blow at the gates of Moscow and were counterattacked in some areas.
In the spring of 1942, the German frontier position was basically stable. However, because the central army group was greatly weakened, the Germans gave up their plan to attack Moscow again. Some German commanders hoped that the unexpected strategic direction of the Soviet Union would bring immediate results. Some people, especially Hitler, think that attacking Moscow is too obvious. Therefore, Germany began to plan to launch a new round of offensive on the northern or southern front. In addition, because the United States declared war on Japan after being attacked by Pearl Harbor, Germany realized that time was quite urgent. Hitler hoped to end the Eastern War or weaken the Soviet Union as much as possible before the American army had a chance to join the European battlefield. Because there are Caucasian oil fields in the south of the Soviet Union supporting the Soviet war machine, connecting the Volga River and large areas of farmland in Central Asia, Germany hopes to advance into this area and weaken the Soviet Union's economic and war potential as much as possible.
Half-life: blue shift
Germany plans to dispatch the southern army group to attack at full speed, quickly cross southern Russia and control the oil fields in the Caucasus. This summer offensive was named "Operation Blue" (German: Fall Blau). The troops involved in the operation include the Sixth Army, the Seventeenth Army and the First and Fourth Armored Forces. 194 1 year, the Yugoslav army occupied Ukraine and was moved to the planned attack area.
But in strategic planning, Hitler stepped in and ordered the army to be divided into two army groups. The Southern A Army Group consists of manstein and Paul. Ludwig? Ewald. Feng? Kleist commanded, according to the original plan, he pushed south to Xi- Gao? Pappa Army Group includes the Sixth Army led by friedrich paulus and the Fourth Armored Army commanded by Herman Holt. Its goal is to cross the Volga River eastward and occupy Stalingrad.
Hitler attached so much importance to the occupation of Stalingrad for several reasons: this is the main industrial city along the Volga River, and the occupation of Stalingrad will ensure that the Germans attack the left wing of the Caucasus; In addition, the name of this city is Hitler's sworn enemy Stalin. If we can capture the city, it will put a lot of pressure on our opponents. Of course, Stalin also attached great importance to the defense of the city named after him.
1the secret order of war issued by Hitler on April 5, 942: Order 4 1. It is attempted that once the weather and terrain conditions are met, the Germans will win the initiative again, eventually annihilate the remaining effective forces of the Soviet Union and seize its most important war economic resources as much as possible. Concentrate all available forces on the main operational direction of the southern section, aiming at annihilating the enemy in front of the Don River, and then occupying the oil fields in the Caucasus and the passage leading to the Caucasus Mountain.
Early activities
Operation Blue was originally scheduled to start in May 1942. However, some German and Romanian troops involved in the operation are encircling Sevastopol in Crimea. Until June of that year, the city was still not occupied, forcing Germany to postpone the blue operation several times. At the same time, the Soviet Union Timoshenko Yuan Shuai led the main force of the South Army to launch the second battle of Kalkoff, but it was defeated.
1On June 28th, 942, as a prelude to Operation Blue, the Southern Army Group launched an attack in southern Russia. The two German army groups attacked from the northeast of Kursk, the northeast of Kharkov, Slavyansk and Stalinist respectively. The Soviets were forced to retreat 100-300 km, and the Germans invaded the bend of the Don River. The A army group in the south continued to advance to the Caucasus oil field, and the B army group in the north aimed at Stalingrad.
The German attack was very successful at first. The Soviet army made little effective resistance on the open grassland and quickly retreated eastward. Although the Soviet Union tried to consolidate the defense line, another part of the German army attacked from the flank, which led to the collapse of the defense line. The Germans surrounded the Soviets twice and wiped out most of them. The first time was in the northeast of Kharkov on July 2, and the second time was in the Rostov-Obilas region of Mirilov a week later. At the same time, the Hungarian Second Corps and the Fourth Armored Corps also launched a surprise attack on Fo Ronnies, and captured the city on July 5.
The German high command appointed the Sixth Army of Army B under the command of paulus to attack Stalingrad. The Sixth Army was a powerful German army at that time, with six armies (including two armored armies) *** 18 divisions, about 250,000 men, 740 tanks and 7,500 guns or mortars, supported by the Fourth Air Force 1200 combat aircraft.
Because the Sixth Army achieved satisfactory results in the early stage of the campaign, Hitler directly took part in the command and ordered the Fourth Armored Corps to join the South Army Group A and head south. Due to the narrow and small number of local roads, the Fourth Armored Corps and the Sixth Corps were caught in traffic jams. The two legions had to stop to divert thousands of cars from the road. This delay caused huge losses, delayed the attack at least 1 week, and failed to attack Stalingrad in one fell swoop. Because the Fourth Armored Army failed to cooperate with the A Army Group to surround the Soviet Union, Hitler changed his mind again and ordered the Fourth Armored Army to rejoin the attack on Stalingrad.
The Soviet headquarters began to gradually understand the intentions of the Germans. The Soviet Supreme Command was determined to stick to Stalingrad. Therefore, in July of 12, the Soviet army established the Stalingrad Army (replaced by Lieutenant General Goldov on July 23rd) with the commander of Timoshenko Yuan Shuai, and it was composed of the 62nd, 63rd and 64th Army transferred from the Soviet strategic reserve and the 2nd1,28th, 38th and 57th Army of the former Southwest Army. The Stalingrad army can actually invest 12 divisions, about160,000 men, 2,200 guns and mortars, nearly 400 tanks and 454 aircraft. Its task is to defend the defense zone from pavlovsk to Yarskaya, Coulmeau, with a length of about 530 kilometers and a depth of 120 kilometers. In July, the Soviet Union made a plan to defend Stalingrad. East of Stalingrad is the wide Volga River. On the other side of the river is the newly established 62nd Army, and its commander is Cui Kefu. His task is to defend Stalingrad at all costs.
Close combat in Stalingrad.
On July 1942, the Battle of Stalingrad kicked off. With the support of artillery and aviation, the German Sixth Army was divided into two assault groups, north and south, in an attempt to break through the Soviet defense line, develop an attack in the general direction of Karachi, and surround the Soviet troops on the right bank of the Don River. On July 23, the German army broke through the Soviet right-wing defense line, and the situation was in a hurry. Stalin appointed Lieutenant General Goldov to take the place of the elderly Marshal Timoshenko to command the Stalingrad army, and sent Alexander Aleksandr Aleksandr Vasilevsky as the representative of the High Command to Stalingrad to help direct the war.
By the end of July, the German army had advanced its position to the other side of the Don River. The Germans used the allies of Italy, Hungary and Romania to consolidate their defense. The Sixth Army is only a few tens of kilometers away from Stalingrad, and the Fourth Armored Corps, which is located in the south of the Sixth Army, also began to move northward to help attack the city. In the south, Army Group A has penetrated into the Caucasus. It is no longer possible to provide support to the B army group in the north.
On July 25th, the Germans attacked the right-wing position of the 64th Army of the Soviet Union in an attempt to cross the Don River near Karachi. The next day, the Soviet 64th Army was forced to retreat across the Don River. On August 1 day, Holt's 4th Panzer Corps joined the attack, and the Germans broke through the defense line of the Soviet 5 1 Army. In order to defend this direction, some troops of the Stalingrad Army formed the Southeast Army on the 7th (under the jurisdiction of the 64th, 57th and 5th 1 Army, the 8th Army of the Guards1Army and the 8th Army of the Air Force, and the 62nd Army was added on the 30th, with General Elemenko as the commander), and by the 7th1Army, the Soviet troops retreated to the periphery of Stalingrad.
In order to strengthen the fighting spirit of Stalingrad defenders, Stalin issued Order No.227 on July 27, 1942, stipulating that any soldier who disobeyed the order and left the fighting post or retreated would be shot. Its slogan is "Never take a step back!" .
In the middle and late August, the German high command adjusted its deployment and assembled 265,438+10,000 people, 2,700 guns and mortars, 600 tanks and 65,438+10,000 planes. Paulus's 6th Army and Hawke's 4th Armored Army launched a "pincer offensive" against Stalingrad from the west and southwest respectively.
On August 23rd, the 14 Panzer Corps of the German Sixth Army headed for the Volga River north of Stalingrad in an attempt to carry out a surprise attack along the Volga River from the north and seize the city. On that day, the Germans first dispatched hundreds of planes, and then dispatched 2000 planes to bomb Stalingrad at night. A book review of the History of World War II published in Britain after the war said: "This is a pure terrorist attack. Its purpose is to slaughter as many peaceful residents as possible, crush the Soviet Union, demoralize and spread panic." The Soviet high command transferred the 24th Army and the 66th Army from the reserve, and together with the Stalingrad Army, launched a counterattack against the Germans from the north to stop the enemies in the northwest suburbs. The German high command continued to send more troops and transferred its main force to Stalingrad in an effort to capture Stalingrad in the shortest possible time. The German 4th Panzer Corps, which attacked South Road, broke through the Soviet defense line and threatened the Soviet rear of Stalingrad's frontal defense.
The Soviet High Command appointed zhukov as the Supreme Deputy Commander and rushed to the front of Stalingrad to bid. In late August and mid-August, the Soviets launched many counterattacks from the north and south to relieve the pressure on Stalingrad. After fierce fighting, both sides suffered heavy casualties. By September 12, the Soviet army had retreated to the periphery of the city, and all the peripheral defense zones were lost.
Fierce street fighting in Stalingrad
The 62nd Army under the command of Lieutenant General Cui Kefu and the 64th Army under the command of Major General Shumilov accepted the task of defending the downtown area of Stalingrad. On September 13, the Germans invaded the city, and the two sides fought fiercely street by street, floor by floor and house by house. Stalingrad has become a rubble field, and 80% of the residential areas in the city have been destroyed. In this city full of rubble and ruins, the 62nd Army of the Soviet Union stubbornly resisted, and fierce gun battles took place in every street, building and factory in the city. The number of German casualties invading the city is increasing. Although the Germans frequently bombed the east bank of the Volga River, the Soviets got a steady stream of supplies and support from there. The average survival time of the Red Army soldiers who just entered the city is no more than 24 hours. The main tactic of the German army is the joint operation of various services and arms, and it attaches great importance to the ground bombing coordination of infantry, engineers, artillery and air force. In order to counter this tactic, Soviet commanders adopted a personal strategy, trying to get their front lines close to the Germans. As a result, German artillery units could not use long-range attacks. The Germans called this battle for defending the city without seeing the enemy "Rattenkrieg", and even joked that "even if we occupy the kitchen, we still need to fight in the living room."
On the commanding heights of the city, on a mountain called Mamayev Hill, the most brutal fighting took place. Two armies alternately occupied this highland. In a counterattack, the Soviet army actually sacrificed 10000 soldiers in one day. The repeated competition in the railway station reached 13 times. In a large grain warehouse, the soldiers of the two armies were close together and could even hear each other's breathing. After several weeks of hard fighting, the Germans had to evacuate the warehouse. In another part of the city, a unit under the command of Jankov Pavlov occupied an apartment building in the center of the city and stubbornly resisted. The soldiers buried many mines near the building, installed machine guns on the windows and opened the partition wall in the basement for communication. This tenacious fortress was later proudly called "Pavlov Building" by the Soviets.
As the Germans could not see the end of the battle, they began to dispatch heavy armored troops, including 600 mm mortars, into the city. However, Soviet artillery units on the east bank of the Volga River put the Germans under their fire. The Red Army defense forces in the city still use the ruins to fight. Because the city is full of rubble and abandoned buildings several meters high, the German tanks are useless. Even if the tanks can move forward, they will encounter Soviet anti-tank weapons on the roof.
In addition, Soviet snipers successfully used the ruins as bunkers, causing great casualties to the Germans. As of1October 20th, the most successful sniper, Chikan, has killed 224 enemies. In the future, he will become the protagonist Vasily Zaytsev in the Hollywood movie Enemy at the Gates. Another sniper also set a killing record of 149 people.
For Stalin and Hitler, the Battle of Stalingrad was a decisive battle. The Soviet headquarters shifted its strategic focus from Moscow to the Volga River region, and mobilized all the air forces in the country to support Stalingrad. Commanders of both armies are under great pressure. German commander paulus suffered from eye muscle spasm, and Cui Kefu also suffered from eczema in the basement headquarters where there was no sunshine, so that he had to completely bind up his hands.
After three months of bloody fighting, the Germans finally advanced slowly to the Volga River in June 5438 +065438+10, and occupied 80% of the city, dividing the remaining Soviet troops into two narrow pockets. In addition, the Volga River began to freeze, making it impossible for the Soviet Union to deliver supplies to the defenders in the city. Despite this, the fighting near the highlands of Mamayev and the fighting in the factory areas of the northern cities are still very fierce. Among them, the battle between the Red October Factory, the tractor factory and the roadblock factory is well known all over the world. When Soviet soldiers had a gun battle with the Germans, workers in the factory repaired damaged tanks and other weapons, and sometimes even repaired weapons directly on the battlefield. Tanks are driven by factory worker volunteers. These tanks often drive directly from the production line of the arsenal to the battle front, and even have no time to paint and install the shooting sight. Paulus's adjutant and commander of the German Sixth Army wrote in this day's battlefield diary: "The Soviets launched a counterattack with the support of Stalingrad citizens. The citizens also took up arms and showed great courage. On the battlefield, you can see the workers in overalls who were killed, with rifles and pistols in their stiff hands. In the cockpit of the destroyed chariot, there were killed workers. We have never seen such a thing. " On June165438+1October 1 1 day, the Germans tried to capture the city for the last time and advanced towards the Volga River south of the barricade factory, but their offensive was a spent force.
"Iron Clamp Attack" of the Soviet Red Army's Counter-offensive
During the siege, Germany, Hungary, Romania and other troops who helped defend the flank of Group B all asked the headquarters for more assistance. For example, the 2nd Hungarian Army Corps (backward in equipment and training) is responsible for protecting the area 200 kilometers north of Stalingrad. This makes its front line very narrow, even in some areas, there is only one platoon to defend the whole 1-2 km defense line. The Soviets kept several attack points on the south bank of Volga River, posing a potential threat to the B Army Group. But Hitler paid too much attention to the siege itself and refused the request for reinforcements from the flanking forces. Therefore, Franz Halder, Chief of Staff of the German Army, expressed his worries and objections. As a result, Hitler dismissed him at the end of September and appointed Kurt Zeitzler as the new Chief of Staff.
On September 28th, the Stalingrad Army was renamed the Don Army (Commander is Lieutenant General rokossovsky), and the Southeast Army was renamed the Stalingrad Army. In autumn, zhukov, commander-in-chief of the Red Army in charge of the overall strategy of Stalingrad, began to gather troops on both sides of the city. The north of the German army is made up of Hungarian and Romanian troops, with backward equipment and low morale. Zhukov's strategy is to keep the Germans in the city, and then surround them in Stalingrad by attacking their weak periphery. The code name of this strategy is "Operation Uranus", which echoes the "Operation Mars" aimed at the German Central Army Group.
1942165438+1October19, the Soviet red army began to implement the Uranus operation. The main force commanded by General Wa Tuting consists of three regiments (1 Guards Regiment, 5th Tank Regiment and 2 1 Regiment). A * * consists of 18 infantry division, 8 tank brigades, 2 motorized brigades, 6 cavalry divisions and 1 anti-tank brigade. On the eve of the attack, the Romanian army seems to have noticed it and kept asking for reinforcements from the headquarters, but Wolfenstein Castle refused. Romania's 3rd Army, which was responsible for defending the flank of the 6th German Army, was defeated by the Soviet Union only one day after the start of the battle because of its absolute inferiority in number and lack of sophisticated equipment.
165438+1On October 20th, the Soviets launched the second attack in the south of Stalingrad. The Romanian Fourth Army, which was responsible for defending the area, was the first to be attacked. Romanians, mainly composed of cavalry, were quickly annihilated. After that, the Soviet army quickly advanced to the west. Two days later, they joined forces in Karash City and completed the siege of Stalingrad. About 250 thousand German, Romanian and Italian troops and some Croatian troops were trapped in this encirclement, including tens of thousands of Soviet soldiers still fighting in the city. Only about 50,000 men of the German Sixth Army left the encirclement. A new weapon developed by the Soviet Union: Katyusha rocket launcher (nicknamed [Stalin's organ], which looks like an organ made of multiple tubes). Katyusha rockets can launch up to 48 rockets on a motor vehicle at the same time. This weapon has a nearly perfect performance in destroying enemy tanks.
1On October 30th, Hitler said in a public speech that he would never retreat from Stalingrad. Castle wolfenstein was anxious for the Germans to make a breakthrough in the west of the encirclement, but Goering, commander of the German Air Force, claimed that the Air Force had the ability to supply the Sixth Army through the "air bridge". The successful air transport record in the encirclement of Dieyansk a year ago made German generals still fantasize about maintaining the combat effectiveness of the Sixth Army through powerful air transport. However, the biggest difference between the two airdrops is the difference in scale. The Sixth Army is almost twice as large as the ordinary German army. In addition, it is surrounded by a part of the Fourth Armored Army. Facts have proved that the German Air Force simply does not have the transport capacity to provide such a large-scale supply of troops. After the Battle of Crete, the strength of the German Air Force has never recovered, and its transportation ceiling of 300 tons per day cannot meet the demand of 500 tons per day. But Hitler still supported Goering's plan and once again stressed that the besieged troops must never surrender.
The airdrop plan soon failed. Bad weather conditions and powerful Soviet anti-aircraft guns made it impossible to maintain the German air bridge. According to statistics, the Germans only get about 10% of the needed materials, and these transport planes have to transport the sick and wounded back from the encirclement. The sixth legion gradually felt the threat of hunger.
On the other hand, the Soviet army is constantly strengthening the encirclement of Stalingrad and starting to narrow the encirclement. In 65438+February, the "Winter Storm Operation" organized by the German 57th Panzer Corps, which attempted to rescue the besieged troops from the south, was successfully blocked by the Soviet Union. Herman. The reinforcements commanded by Holt are only 25 kilometers away from Stalingrad, so we can't push any closer. The Soviet army launched a counterattack to repel it 150 ~ 200 km. Forcing the German high command to finally give up the attempt to rescue the besieged group. This created favorable conditions for annihilating the Germans surrounded by Stalingrad. The severe winter in Russia began to show its terrible power. The ice on the Volga River is getting thicker and thicker, so Soviet troops can supply their troops more conveniently. The Germans in the encirclement consumed all the heating fuel and medical supplies, and thousands of soldiers died of hunger, cold and malnutrition every day. Some officers ignored Hitler's orders and tried to persuade paulus to break through quickly. But paulus was afraid of being accused of disobeying military orders, so he insisted on staying put.
1943 65438+ 10, the Soviet red army launched another round of offensive codenamed "Operation Jupiter", trying to break through the Italian defense line in the Don River area and capture Rostov. If this operation is successful, the rest of the German southern army will be completely besieged in the Caucasus. Although the Soviets never approached Rostov, this action forced the Germans to be more than 250 kilometers away from the Germans in the encirclement of Stalingrad. In fact, the Sixth Corps has completely lost its reinforcements.
The downfall of the German Sixth Army.
The besieged Germans began to shrink their lines from the suburbs of Stalingrad to the city. The fall of Pionni Airport and Gumrak Airport means the complete end of German air transport and casualty evacuation. Germans are desperately short of food and ammunition. Despite this, the Germans still stubbornly resisted because they believed that the Soviet army would execute the surrendered soldiers. Fierce street fighting broke out again in Stalingrad. On the contrary, the Soviet army was also surprised by the huge number of Germans in the encirclement, so it continued to consolidate the encirclement.
194365438+1On October 30th, Hitler awarded paulus the title of German Marshal. Since no German general of this rank had ever been captured alive before, Hitler also hoped that paulus could fight to the end or commit suicide. However, when the Soviets invaded castle wolfenstein, a department store, paulus chose to surrender. [The Sixth Army Radio Station is about to close! Russian troops have occupied it! Long live the Bolsheviks and God bless Germany! On February 1943 and 1 day, the besieged Sixth Army sent a famous telegram to Berlin, which finally touched the Germans. From then on, I broke the news and surrendered. 1February 2, 943, the rest of the German troops besieged in Stalingrad declared their surrender. 9 1000 German soldiers who were extremely hungry and tired were captured. To the great surprise of the Soviet Union and the great disappointment of the Germans, the prisoners of war included 22 generals. Hitler was extremely disappointed with the new marshal and publicly stated that "paulus was only one step away from entering the glorious hall, but he still chose to retreat."
Of the 9 1000 prisoners of war who surrendered, only 6,000 survived and returned to the motherland. Because most of the soldiers themselves were malnourished, lacking medical care and medicine, and the Red Army sent them to prison camps all over the Soviet Union for forced labor, most of them died of overwork and malnutrition. A dozen senior officers were taken to Moscow to be used as political propaganda tools of the Soviet Union. Officers, including paulus, issued an anti-Hitler manifesto and publicized it to the Germans. Walter. Feng? Cedritz? General Kurzbach even proposed to form an anti-Hitler army from German prisoners of war, but the Soviet Union did not accept this proposal. It was not until 1955 that these senior prisoners of war were repatriated.
Although the official German media stopped reporting the good news several weeks before the end of the battle, the German people didn't know about the Stalingrad tragedy 1943+0 until the end of June. This is not the first blow to the Germans, but this defeat is incomparable in scale and strategic significance. February 18, German Propaganda Minister Joseph? Goebbels made a famous Sportpalast speech in Berlin, encouraging the German people to accept the idea of total war, that is, to use all the resources and strength of the whole country to fight to the end.
Battle result
No matter from what angle, the Battle of Stalingrad is one of the most tragic battles in the history of World War II and even human war. The whole campaign lasted 199 days. Due to the huge scale of the campaign, the number of casualties has never been accurately counted. In the final stage of the campaign, the Germans still dealt a heavy blow to the Soviets, while the Soviets almost wiped out the elite divisions of the Germans-the Sixth Army and the Fourth Armored Army. Many scholars estimate that the Axis forces suffered 600,000 casualties in this battle, including 300,000 Germans, 0.5 million Romanian troops, 70,000 Italian troops, 50,000 Hungarian troops and about 50,000 Soviet surrendered troops. The proportion of German casualties and captives is very high (about 96,000 people were captured). At the same time, the Soviet Union also paid a heavy price, with a total casualty of around 300,000. In just 1 week after the German invasion of this city, more than 40,000 Soviet citizens were killed. There is no accurate statistics on the number of civilian deaths in the whole campaign, but it can be said that it far exceeds this figure.
To commemorate the heroic deeds in the Battle of Stalingrad, the city was named "Hero City" in 1945. In 1960s, the Soviet Union erected a 52-meter-high "Monument to Russian Mothers" on Mount Mamayev outside the city. The statue includes the ruins that were blown up in the battle. The granary and Pavlov building, which witnessed fierce fighting, still receive future generations to visit.