What led up to the Battle of Stalingrad?

Answer 1

The simple answer would be that Germany wanted to occupy the city of Stalingrad as to Hitler, it would seem to be a catastrophic blow to the USSR moral if Hitler took over the city, which was called Stalingrad (named after Joseph Stalin).

Even though the above is true, there is far more to it. Having been stopped at t Moscow, Adolf Hitler began contemplating offensive plans for 1942. Lacking the manpower to remain on the offensive along the entire Eastern Front for the rest of the war , he decided to focus German efforts in the south with the goal of taking the oil fields, which would result to draining of soviet mechanized vehicles and lender the Soviets defenseless against the German Panzer division's. Code named Operation Blue, this new offensive ,which began on June 28, 1942, and caught the Soviets, who thought the Germans would renew their efforts around Moscow, by surprise. Advancing, the Germans were delayed by heavy fighting in Voronezh which allowed the Soviets to bring reinforcements south.

Due to Hitler's stress on how long the battles on the eastern front was, he split Army group south to Army group's A and B, Army group A would go for the oil fields, while Army Group B was ordered to take Stalingrad to protect the German flank. Reason for the attack onto Stalingrad apart from moral reasons was the the Volga River near Stalingrad was a key Soviet Transport hub.

After the Germans bombed the city of Stalingrad, which led it to be a massive pile of rubble, the German 6th Army, leaded by General Field Marshall Friedrich Paulus went to push for the Volga River near the city of Stalingrad. However, on September 13, Paulus and 6th Army began pushing into the city. This was supported by 4th Panzer Army which attacked Stalingrad's southern suburbs. Driving forward, they sought to capture the heights of Mamayev Kurgan and reach the main landing area along the river. Engaged in bitter fighting, the Soviets fought desperately for the hill and the No. 1 Railroad Station. Receiving reinforcements from Yeryomenko, Chuikov battled to hold the city.

This was the building up to battle of Stalingrad but it wasn't until August it officially started. Between the 2 dates, the Germans and Soviets were engaged in a brutal street fight when guns becomes nearly useless and both sides had to resort to urban guerrilla warfare.

Answer 2

On June 28, 1942 the Germans launched Operation Blue in the southern sector of the Eastern Front. In prelude to the battle the German high command divided army group South into Army Group A and Army Group B. Army group A under the command of General von List consisted of the 4th Romanian Army, the 1st Panzer Army, the 11th Army and the 17th Army. Their main objectives was to capture and control the Caucus mountains region, with the ultimate objective for the 1st Panzer Army under General von Kleist being the Baku oil fields. Army Group B under the command of General von Wiechs consisted of the 2nd Army, the 3rd Romanian Army, the 2nd Hungarian Army, the 6th Army, the 8th Italian Army, and the 4th Panzer Army. This Groups objective was to gain control of the Volga River, eventually leading them to the city of Stalingrad. Many of Hitlers advisers thought that he was stretching their lines too thin by trying to capture everything at once; a thought shared my many of todays hstorians. Nevertheless, Hitler claimed infallibility and continued with his plan.

Answer 3

When Hitler was winning in Russia, he wanted to take the oil fields in southern Russia. He sent a massive force to seize them. However, Hitler became impatient, so he diverted some of the force to seize the city on the river Volga, which was the chief way for the Russians to transport oil from the oilfields to other parts of the country. This city was called Stalingrad.

Answer 4

the lack of food and ammo

Answer

In the more "meta" (large picture) sense, the Nazi defeat at Stalingrad was due to a massive strategic blunder by Hitler.

While cities are useful marker points to use on a map when planning an offensive, in and over themselves, cities have very little military or strategic value. In fact, most of the value of capturing a city is in Propaganda effect (which, can sometimes be significant). However, in terms of actually militarily winning a conflict, conquest of a city is less important than two other factors: defeating the enemy in the field, and destroying the means by which your enemy can produce war material and transport that material to its fighting forces.

That is, the "proper" goal of the southern offensive of Operation Barbarossa was the oil fields of the Caucasus, which supplied the vast majority of the fuel and petroleum products that the Red Army needed to function. A secondary goal was to defeat the Red Army in the field, killing or capturing as many of them as possible, to cripple the immediate ability of the USSR to defend itself.

Unfortunately, Hitler interfered with the execution of Operation Barbarossa - when he saw the initial successes of the plan, he began to tinker with it, rather than leave the general goals as they stood and let the local theater commanders to direct the fighting as they saw fit.

Rather than have the entire force of Army Group South continue its drive to the Caucasus oil fields from their point in the eastern Ukraine, Hitler directed that this force be split in two, with the majority of German forces being sent towards the Caucasus, and a modest German force together will allied Italian and Romanian forces be sent towards Stalingrad. The nominal purpose was to destroy Stalingrad as a transportation hub, though the real reason appears to be Hitler's desire to score a propaganda victory by capturing Stalin's namesake city.

It just goes downhill from there for the Germans. von Paulus's 6th Army was delayed in starting the offensive until early August (rather than early July). The focus of the campaign soon becomes the capture of the city itself, rather than the destruction of the Soviet forces protecting it. The Germans give up mobile warfare (where they held a significant edge in capability) for the slow slog of an urban siege (where the Soviets excelled). When the Soviets counterattack during the winter of 1943, Hitler refuses von Paulus permission to withdrawl from the city to properly fight the Soviets out in the open (where von Paulus can fight effectively). The 6th Army is cut off, and the less-competent Romanian and Italian forces (in conjunction with some German forces) are unable to re-connect with the 6th Army, now stuck (and surrounded) inside Stalingrad itself. Finally, the 6th Army is forced to surrender due to lack of supplies.

Bottom line: Hitler's change of the initial assault plan against the Caucasus leads to both a fatal weakening of that attack (which ultimately fails) and the disaster at Stalingrad. Stalingrad could still have been salvaged, except for Hitler's interference once again, and some conflicting personalities in the German High Command (and friction between von Paulus and other regional commanders).

Answer 5

it started as a counter-attack to a German attack on the Soviet Union and there was a fight

Answer 6

We dont call it stalingrad anymore. PLease refer to it as battle of volgograd please. My graND FATER DIED THERE. hAVE SOME COMPASDSION FOR YOUR SUPERIORS MAGGOT.