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Oliver Stone: The Untold History of the United States

Stalingrad

Posted by history-admin on 30 January 2008


Named after the Soviet leader himself Hitler fixes his sights on Stalingrad, a powerhouse of the Soviet war machine. Within two months German troops reach downtown Stalingrad, what follows is three months of bitter fighting, civilians and soldiers alike caught up in a bloody war of attrition.



A Soviet counter attack encircles German troops in Stalingrad forcing their surrender.



The battle of Stalingrad is a major physiological turning point of the Second World War.



What are your thoughts of this battle?

29 replies so far...

  1. JoeStarlin

    10:12 PM, 20 February 2008

    Stalin had no patience for a seige. He ordered his Generals to go into Stalingrad and take it back, street by street, house by house. That is a real Battle.

  2. strathern

    2:21 PM, 19 February 2008

    Stalingrad was a sieg not a battle

  3. JoeStarlin

    10:21 PM, 18 February 2008

    Stalingrad was the greatest battle with the biggest body count fought in the worst conditions. It was Hitler's mind against Stalin's resources. The world two most powerful men throwing everything they could into battle. The victor could go on to others' oil fields and finish them off.

  4. janiebquick

    1:54 PM, 18 February 2008

    Stalingrad is my 2nd choice after the Battle of Britain. This Battle was absolutely crucial to the outcome of the war, and what the Russians went through was unbelievable. I wonder how many of us today could withstand the deprivations that they did. I believe that Hitler's losses in Russia, tipped him over the edge from megolomania into insanity. Psychologically he never recovered, and WW11 was won right there.

  5. theCanadian

    7:06 PM, 17 February 2008

    Well, I vote Stalingrad as the most critical battle of WWII is not listed. I believe that the war in Europe decided the war with Japan. While the industrial machine the Japanese had built up since Perry's visit and the Meiji Restoration was impressive, it could not match the capacity of the USA. Comparatively, the Germans equalled (if not exceeded) American production in 1943-44. For Japan to have been successful, Germany had to win, something I believe the Imperial Government of Japan refused to recognize. The blitzkrieg assault on the Soviet Union broke when the Siberian Troops and the bitter cold devasted the Nazis at the gates of Moscow (perhaps the most critical win for overall victory by either side in WWII). The spirit of the German command and perhaps the remnants of Hitler's sanity failed comletely after Stalingrad. Of the battles of the Second World War, the greatest of them in men and material is Stalingrad. 2 million casualties, and God knows how many civilians, to pay for a city that bore Stalin's name. Stalingrad gets my vote.

  6. Paleraider

    12:05 AM, 17 February 2008

    I agree and The Battle Of Britain as the greatest battle its a classic case of what if's. I feel If the Germans had not strayed with their bombing and stuck to the Airforce,Airfields,and Radar the war might have been very different Hilter might have consolidated his conquered ground and built up his forces and then attacked Russia with a stronger Army in Manpower and resources which then may have been a very different war.Instead the glorious German 6th Army who had taken France was tasked with taking Stalingrad with the whole of Russia at stake the city re-named after Stalin himself the Russians had everything to loose Hitlers greed for oil to lubricate his war machine,doomed the German Army from then on Russia had the numbers and resources,And the fact that nobody had ever conquered Russia because its so vast was not on Hitlers side . "But what if "

  7. RememberMe

    9:04 PM, 15 February 2008

    I think the battle for Stalingrad and the defeat of the German 6th Army in the East was the turning point that started the demise of the 3rd Reich and played a major roll in their defeat in WW II.

  8. Johnmack

    5:18 PM, 13 February 2008

    I think that the Battle of Stalingrad and the defeat of the German Sixth Army was the turning point of WWII in the European Theatre and it broke the back of the Nazi invasion of the USSR.The Red Army was always on the attack after winning this battle.I agree that Antony Beevor's book on the subject is brilliant;as is his account of the fall of Berlin.He has also written avery good book about the Spanish Civil War,a conflict which had greta implications for WWII which followed it

  9. JoeStarlin

    9:54 PM, 12 February 2008

    Starlingard broke the German advance and allowed the Russians to go on and defeat Germany and takeover Eastern Europe for the next 44 years.

  10. rangaramone

    7:06 PM, 12 February 2008

    Im really into the whole world war 2 scene as all of my grandfathers fought in it.My great grandfather fought in the battle of stalingrad and was lucky to survive.And as i looked into the battle more,i came to realise the enormity of the battle.In the span of 6 months the Germans suffered 850 000 casualties while the Russians suffered 750 000. And the other reason i think its the greatest battle of ww2 is because of the political side of the battle.The 2 greatest dictators of the 20th century cut at each others throats as Nazism and Communism met in catastrophic porportions.The battle of stalingrad was what i and many others think is the greates battle of world war 2.

  11. Tankmaster

    3:04 PM, 10 February 2008

    Great battle. It show that the German army can be crushed

  12. Dietrich

    2:07 PM, 10 February 2008

    The wizard how did midway usher in the nuclear age nukes would have been used anyway eventually whether it be in the pacific or in Europe. Anyway saving Australia dosent matter the war still would have been won without Australia u nationalistic fool.

  13. TheWizard

    3:33 PM, 08 February 2008

    General Zhukov......what a brilliant military mind. What use of the T34 tank..........wider tracks so it could navigate the beautiful but deadly Russian mud. German tanks sank into the mud due to smaller tracks. Between August 21, 1942 and February 2, 1943. The resistance and courage by the Russian People is shown in the true story of a Sniper using a Mosin Nagant rifle to dispatch German commanders and if not available the infantry See the movie ENEMY AT THE GATE with Joesph Finnes.........Two Thumbs up !!! However SORRY the battle of Midway was the most decisive as it NOT ONLY saved Australia but ushered in the Nuclear age. See my other post under Midway. While important it was definately a TACTICAL masterpiece BUT as STRATIGIC value it was not on thre same significance as MIDWAY.

  14. MattC2000

    1:13 PM, 08 February 2008

    For me it is a toss up between Stalingrad and Kursk. In the end it has to be Stalingrad. The Western war was always the side show, critical at times, but the Eastern Front was where the war was to be won and lost. There were many strategic and tactical mistakes made by the Hitler and the High Command but they did not backfire in quite the same way as Stalingrad. How far could they have advanced, and what objectives might they have achieved if Hitler had not become obsessed by Stalingrad? Time was always and ally of Russia not the Germans. Even so, in 1942 Germany was still had enough to prevail. By 1943, the Russian industrial war machine made a Kursk type victory inevitable. formidable

  15. UniqueSove

    2:40 PM, 07 February 2008

    It's difficult to decide which was the most pivotal and significant battle throughout the entire war. For me, it has to be broken down into the various fronts and arenas where the war occurred. However, on the Eastern front, the momentous act that led to the demise of the German forces was not the battle of Stalingrad itself, but the pre-delays insinuated by the German assistance of Italian forces in Greece prior to operation Barbarossa. This effectively drew the war closer to winter for the Germans, and proved the most decisive in leading to their failed offensives in Russia. Also, not striking Moscow when about (I think) 50km or so outside the city, instead going for Kiev and dividing the forces. If the Germans had have Persisted with the attacks on Moscow, it might well have been a very different result. Excluding those facts, the 'Greatest Battle' fought in Russia was Stalingrad due to the reasons in the video and the battle being marked as Germany's first major defeat, especially on the Eastern front forcing the remainder of the war into a gradual withdrawal of German forces.

  16. Dietrich

    10:19 PM, 06 February 2008

    Csaifert and elmerskelpie how did you 2 get 4 years between feb 1943 and april-may 1945?

  17. laboodle

    3:50 PM, 06 February 2008

    I vote this as the most important battle of the war. After Stalingrad, the tide turned for the Nazis. Even if the Battle of Brittain had been lost, along with the desert war, I think this battle would have seen the Germans routed anyway. While this war was not overly important for strategic purposes, it did show the Nazis could be beaten.

  18. mkvr32wa

    11:27 PM, 05 February 2008

    I voted Stalingrad as the most important battle. Idealogically it was the pivotal battle between Socialism & Nazism. Hitler viewed Stalingrad as Stalin and the destruction and capture of the city became almost fanatical on Hitlers behalf. The end game however was the destruction of the infamous German VI Army, from which the Germans on the Eastern Front never fully recovered.

  19. RamboGuy

    9:01 PM, 05 February 2008

    I voted for Stalingrad in lieu of the most important battle of WW2 which I believe was the battle for Moscow in late 1941. The most potent axis war machine (in both wars) was the German Army and it was Moscow where it was stopped and blunted. The Soviet Union was able to "manage" the Stalingrad campaign, trading space then drip feeding troops and material into Stalingrad and was much better rescourced by then. This is in contrast to the desperation in the early stages of the Battle for Moscow.

  20. ouROBOros

    7:51 PM, 05 February 2008

    Some excellent comments in this thread. Agree with the others re. Beevor's book. He has also written a similar narration on Berlin, which is equally superb.

  21. elmerskelpie

    9:01 PM, 04 February 2008

    I must agree with "theread59" on Antony Beevors book, it is a superb narration of this battle. For mine this is the greatest battle on the eastern front , although Kursk was larger in numbers , this was the turning point of the European theatre. The sheer cruelty involved on both sides was unbelievable and it provided the Russians with a real sense of belief. This belief carried them all the way to Berlin 4 years later.

  22. ColinFraser

    6:20 PM, 04 February 2008

    There were only 4 battles that won the war for the Allies, Battles of Britain, Stalingrad, Kursk and Midway. There were others of great importance, eg, New Guinea, Battle of the Atlantic, but those 4 are the ones that really did change the war. Of them all, Stalingrad showed the Russians could mix it up with the Germans, and be a match for them. No other army could have done that. No other army actually did. If it wasn't for Stalingrad, then Kursk, it is extremely unlikely the D-Day landings would have been successful. Without the Russians pushing from the East, and draining resources and men from the Western and Southern fronts, the war may have had a very different outcome.

  23. csaifert

    11:23 PM, 03 February 2008

    The Germans until the ill fated swing away from moscow toward Stalingrad still controlled the eastern theatre of war. Hitler at this point had never really through such a huge army that was ultimatel a panzer army best suited to large sweeping movements into a urban battle. Hitlers then refusal to allow the army to break out caused the complete distruction of the most important of all German battle groups on the Eastern front. From this point the Germans begun a slow 4 year retreat which most likely no other army could have held for so long but would cost so many more lives.

  24. Markus31

    9:44 PM, 03 February 2008

    The battle for Stalingrad was more than the loss of millions, it was the ideological battle between Stalism and Nazism. The setting a freezing city where the real brutal image of war surfaced. Truly the greatest battle of WWII

  25. theread59

    2:26 PM, 03 February 2008

    The turning point of the war in Europe and the end untimately for the Nazis. It is hard to pick this or Kursk as the most decisive, but this resulted in such loss, and recrimination for years after WW2. Read "Enemy At The Gates" by William Craig and be moved by the first hand accounts of those on both sides or another excellent account by Antony Beevor, "Stalingrad".

  26. ancientaustin

    9:20 PM, 02 February 2008

    In my opinion Stalingrad was 'the straw the broke the camel's back'! Though I still feel that the battle of Kursk was the most pivotal of world war 2. Stalingrad was a major turning point in my mind and transformed the once powerful nazi germany into a withdrawing force. It showed the world that Germany could be beaten!

  27. noblejoel

    7:14 PM, 02 February 2008

    agree, the new site looks ace. difficult to define greatest battle, though many were great.

  28. BarryBrockbank1959

    1:32 PM, 02 February 2008

    I consider this battle saw the physical demise of the Wehrmach army and was the major turning point of the war in the toughest theatre of the war

  29. wednesday

    11:43 PM, 01 February 2008

    I had no idea that almost 2 million people perished in this conflict - a truely staggering number that surely must make it the worst death toll of WW2. A remarkable story, but I'm still sticking with The Battle of Britain as 'the greatest', despite it being somewhat unclear on what grounds we're judging them. I'm very impressed with the new website and all the video.

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