12/29/2023 0 Comments Wwii battle groupUnfortunately there were never enough artillery, infantry, and tanks to do the job swiftly and although the pattern was effective it still came with a high cost in casualties. ![]() German tactics followed a successful pattern: Luftwaffe airstrikes, then artillery, then advancing infantry with tanks in support. The level of violence and resulting destruction between the two sides became truly unimaginable as the Germans pushed to capture the extreme northern and southern ends of the city by the end of August. The fighting in Stalingrad quickly turned into some of the most high-intensity urban combat in history. The Soviets used the great amount of destruction to their advantage by adding man-made defenses such as barbed wire, minefields, trenches, and bunkers to the rubble, while large factories even housed tanks and large-caliber guns within. With an influx of refugees caused by the war, the city’s population was over nine hundred thousand by 1941 and although many had left a large number remained within the city, resulting in the deaths of an estimated forty thousand Russian civilians who were working in the military factories. The 6th Army’s Germans ground their way forward against the 62nd and 64th Armies’ Soviets, aided by the Luftwaffe and German artillery, which slathered the city with thousands of tons of high explosives and destroyed most of the city’s buildings. Initial fighting for Stalingrad’s outskirts began on Augwith an opening air offensive. In the opening months of the battle the German 6th Army drove hard for the city while the Italian 8th Army and Romanian 3rd Army guarded Army Group B’s northwestern flank along the meandering Don River and the German 4th Panzer Army and Romanian 4th Army guarded the southeastern flank along the salt lakes south of Stalingrad. Hitler thus split Army Group South into two smaller army groups, with Army Group A continuing south toward the Caucasus while Army Group B diverted east toward the city. Seizing the city would allow half of Army Group South to provide a certain level of protection to the other half by shielding the latter’s northeastern flank as it advanced to the Caucasus thus, its capture at the operational level was considered crucial by the Germans. The city was also an attractive target because it produced Soviet armored fighting vehicles and other military equipment. The German Army Group South’s original strategic intent was to advance to and seize the Caucasus oil fields but German leader Adolf Hitler’s additional strategic desire to capture the city named after his rival, the Soviet Union’s Joseph Stalin, was too tempting to refuse. ![]() The battle nearly guaranteed that Germany had begun the path to defeat on the Eastern Front. Known as the biggest defeat in the history of the German Army, the battle destroyed Germany’s reputation of invincibility and sent the country into a more-or-less defensive mode for the duration of the war. The battle was fought by the Axis powers of Army Group B-principally the German 6th Army commanded by Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus within the city-and the Soviet Union’s Stalingrad Front and its subordinate 62nd Army (commanded by General Vasily Chuikov) and 64th Army (commanded by General Mikhail Shumilov). ![]() The Volga flows southwesterly into the city, passing through it before turning directly east and then curving gently to the southeast toward the Caspian Sea. The majority of the city rests on the west bank of the Volga River 970 kilometers southeast of Moscow. ![]() The city is in the southwestern region of what was then the Soviet Union. The Battle of Stalingrad (modern-day Volgograd) occurred from Augto Februduring World War II (1939–1945).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |