Battle of Stalingrad
After losses and failure of "Operation Barbarossa", Hitler now had new objectives in the war. He planned to drive Soviet forces out of the Southern Steppes and the Caucasus region and taking over the abundant supply of natural mineral wealth, especially oil, which was a key ingredient for Germany's war machine. Another reason was that Axis forces could have direct access to the Middle East and be able to have the military capability for a final annihilating sweep Northward through Soviet forces in Moscow. Hitler also believed that overtaking of Stalingrad (now Volograd) would lead to the downfall of the Soviet Union. The Germans plan was to send two simultaneous attacks to capture the rich southern oil field of Stalingrad. Hitler wasn't moved by his generals warnings that his armies were not strong enough to carry both objectives at the same time. This massive military offensive was called Operation Blue. In May of 1942, Hitler launched operation "Blue" by sending armies A and B to sweep east to Stalingrad, south to Astrakan, Grozny, and to the Caspian Sea. The Soviets, knowing that the capture of Stalingrad would be catastrophic for there ability to withstand the German army, still did not mov
The Stalingrad Battle became the turning point on the Eastern Front. Soviets had paid a huge price for victory with over a half of a million casualties. The battle showed the world that the mighty German machine was vulnerable and it gave confidence to the Soviets Armies start pushing the invaders out of the Soviet Union. While the Germans were still held at Stalingrad, Soviet Marshall Zhukov and General Vasilevsky devised a plan called Operation Uranus. They spotted weakness in the Germans flanks and knew that they could overpower them. The Soviets then secretly began to mobilize one million troops; 14,000 heavy guns; 1,000 tanks; and 1,350 aircraft to attack the weak German flanks. The Soviets did an excellent job of concealing their plans and the Axis forces were caught with their pants down. Now July, the Axis forces had had the advantage with 250,000 troops from Germany, Hungary, and Italy pouring into the outskirts of Stalingrad. Stalin still being very stubborn, kept the bulk of his forces north to protect Moscow from attack. As a result, Army group B moved across the Don River north of the city collapsing Soviet forces an forcing them to retreat across the entire Southern Front. The German 6th Army, commanded by Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus pushed forward into Soviet forces and began to enter the city from the west. At the same time Stalin was moving the 64th and 62nd Armies to take position eight miles f
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 968
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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