After the defeat of the Moscow campaign, the Germans were forced to give up the all-out attack. /kloc-in the summer of 0/942, they launched a major attack on the south wing of the Soviet-German battlefield in an attempt to capture the Caucasus and Stalingrad and cut off the Soviet strategic supply line. In May, the Germans defeated the Soviet attack in the Battle of Kharkov. In mid-July, its "B" army group headed for the Don bend and approached Stalingrad.
Stalingrad, West Donetsk Industrial Zone, connects Kuban Grain-producing Area and Baku Oilfield in the Caucasus to the south, Urals New Industrial Zone and Soviet strategic reserve assembly area to the east, and Moscow to the north. If Hitler captured Stalingrad and seized the rich economic resources and strategic materials of the former Soviet Union, it would greatly strengthen Hitler's strategic advantage. Hitler, together with Japanese fascists, will create a situation of being attacked from both sides, destroy the former Soviet Union in one fell swoop, and then concentrate on dealing with the United States, Britain and China to realize his ambition of dominating the world. Therefore, attacking Stalingrad was Hitler's key attack on the former Soviet Union. The gain and loss of Stalingrad is related to the fate of the entire Soviet-German war.
In the face of strong enemies, Stalingrad's soldiers and civilians stood ready and shouted the slogan of never taking a step back. The city has established four defense corridors, namely, the outer corridor, the middle corridor, the inner corridor and the urban corridor. The military and civilians organized 83 militia enemy-killing battalions to fight against the main force.
In July 1942, the battle began. The Germans launched a fierce attack on the Soviet frontier and finally rushed to the Don River at the end of July. Realizing that the existing strength of the "B" army group alone is not enough to capture Stalingrad, the German high command transferred the Fourth Tank Army from the Caucasus to attack the city from the ground. The Soviet high command also readjusted its military deployment. After a bloody battle, the Germans were blocked on the west bank of the Don River for nearly a month. The Germans stormed the Soviet Union with powerful tanks and superior forces, and finally crossed the Don River and appeared on the Volga River north of Stalingrad on August 23, posing a serious threat to the urban area and splitting the Soviet Union in two. At the same time, the Germans bombed the city in turn, dispatching thousands of planes every day on average and dropping more than * * * 1 10,000 bombs, making the city a scorched earth. But this did not make the Stalingrad people yield, but aroused their revenge and anger. The tractor factory in the northern suburbs is only one and a half kilometers away from the Germans. The workers braved the enemy's heavy artillery fire and aerial bombardment and continued to produce and repair damaged tanks. After assembling the tanks, many workers drove them directly to the front to participate in the battle.
On the afternoon of September 14, the Germans broke through the Soviet line and rushed into the city center. Fierce street fighting has begun! The Germans have obvious advantages. But the defenders of Stalingrad stubbornly resisted and fought to the death with Dekou who rushed into the city. Every block, every building, even every floor, every room and every roadblock has to be contested repeatedly, and sometimes it takes days, dozens of days or even months to decide who belongs to it. The fighting was unprecedentedly fierce, and only a few dozen Soviet divisions were left, still holding their ground.
By the time the battle went to 165438+ 10/8, all the German reserve forces had been exhausted. The main force at the front line was exhausted and could not move. The Germans were forced to turn to defense. Hitler's plan to capture Stalingrad quickly and the whole campaign plan of 1942 in summer and autumn went bankrupt.
It was also the beginning of the Soviet attack that the Germans turned to attack. Under the auspices of zhukov and Aleksandr Aleksandr Vasilevsky, representatives of the High Command, the Soviet army made a counterattack plan and made a lot of preparations for the counterattack. At this time, the German "B" army group has been at a disadvantage after several reinforcements. More importantly, the Soviet army has high morale and confidence in victory; German morale was low and was shocked by the heroism of the Red Army.
1942165438+1October19 In the early morning, the Soviet Southwest Army first launched an attack in the northwest of Stalingrad, and 2000 guns exploded at the same time. By nightfall, the Soviet army had penetrated 25-30 kilometers. 165438+1On October 20th, Soviet troops launched another attack in the south. 165438+1On October 23rd, two Soviet troops attacking from the northwest and the south joined forces in Karachi, Tskichi and Marinof, completing the encirclement of 330,000 troops of the German Borius Corps, and then gradually compressing the encirclement. At this time, the Soviet army had mastered the air superiority, and the Germans could not transport food, ammunition and reinforcements from the air. Pim Nick Airport, the only German air base in the encirclement, was also occupied by the Soviets. The Soviets cleverly deceived German pilots by using airport lighting and radio navigation equipment. At that time, they didn't know that the airport had been occupied by the Soviet Union, and dozens of German planes that landed immediately became "caged birds" of the Soviet Union.
The besieged Germans had to slaughter and eat up the cavalry horses because of hunger; Every soldier can only get100g of bread and 30g of oil every day; Tanks have also become a pile of scrap metal because of lack of fuel. The Germans are desperate and become turtles in a jar. 1943 65438+1On October 8th, the Soviet army issued an ultimatum, and Boris refused to surrender after making a request to Hitler. The encirclement is getting smaller and smaller. 654381October 24th, Boris surrendered, and he demanded Hitler again, but Hitler still ordered him to hold his ground. On the evening of 26th, the German army was divided into north and south: the south cluster army was commanded by Boris and the north cluster army was commanded by Stuart Lecorps. On October 30th, 65438/KLOC-0, Boris telegraphed Hitler: "The troops will eventually collapse within 24 hours." Hitler rushed to generate electricity, knighted the struggling fascist officer, awarded Boris the rank of "Marshal", and other 1 17 officers were also promoted to the first level. The next day, Boris and all the officers and men of his headquarters were captured in the basement of the central department store; On February 2, the northern cluster army also surrendered. At the same time, the Sixth Army of Germany and the Fourth Army of Tanks near Stalingrad, the Third and Fourth Army of Romania and the Eighth Army of Italy were all defeated by the Soviets, leaving the Volga River and fleeing westward.
The battle of Stalingrad lasted six and a half months from July 1942 to February 2/943. The total number of Germans killed, injured, captured and missing was about 654.38+0.5 million, accounting for a quarter of the total German troops on the Soviet-German battlefield at that time.
American and British newspapers compared the Battle of Stalingrad to the Battle of Verdun. However, its significance is far from the battle of Verdun. It was not only the turning point of the Great Patriotic War of the former Soviet Union, but also the turning point of the Second World War. From then on, the Soviet army won the strategic initiative and began to shift from strategic defense to strategic attack. However, the fascist group began to fall apart, and the Germans began to shift from strategic attack to comprehensive defense, and even lost ground. The Battle of Stalingrad really became the decisive point of Hitler's demise.
The victory of Stalingrad greatly enhanced the international prestige and status of the former Soviet Union, inspired the anti-fascist struggle of people all over the world, and greatly changed the power contrast between the Allied countries and the Axis countries, which was of great significance for Germany, Italy and Japan to completely defeat fascism on various battlefields in the world.