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Hitler altered his original plan for Stalingrad by planning to capture it and Caucasus simultaneously. The southern army group was split into southern group A and Southern group B. Group A was headed under Field Marshal Wilhelm List while group B was headed under Field Marshal Maximillion Von Meichs

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The Battle of Stalingrad starts as the Germans have advanced into the Soviet Union. The battle was influential for the future of the war the goal was to take Stalingrad and cut off transport links with southern Russia. It also served to help the Gerans push further in and take the oil fields.

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During The Battle of Stalingrad Stalin issued a very controversial order. The order was Order No.227 which decreed that none of the defenders at Stalingrad were allowed to take "One Step Back" claiming that any who did would be shot and killed. He also claimed no civillians were allowed to evacuate the city in the end this cost the Russians an unknown amount of troops of their own hands.

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German spearheads had broken through the city's northern suburbs during which the Luftwaffe had rained down incindiary bombs on Stalingrad. This resulted in the destruction of most of the city's wooden houses and pushing back The Soviet Sixty-Second Army. After being pushed back the army made a determined stand under the command of General Vasily I. Chuikov.

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This was a huge critical point in the war the Soviets had their backs so close to the Volga River that supplies crossings were coming under German fire. However not all was as it seems the lack of proper equipment, heavy losses, and fatigue were setting into the German army. This caused the Germans to become dispirited signaling a turn in the battle.

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This became a huge turning point in the battle as it was the start of a soviet counteroffensive codenamed Operation Uranus. It consisted of launching two spearheads to the north and south of the German salient whose tip was at Stalingrad this completely caught the Germans off-guard a they didn' know the Soviets could mount such a force. The main point of the Operation was to attack the German weaker flanks instead of the army in Stalingrad consisting of the German Sixth Army and Fourth Panzer Army.

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On the 23rd Operation Uranus had reached its completion the two pronged attack had met up in the city of Kalach roughly 60 miles west of Stalingrad. This meet up completed the encirclement of the Germans they had managed to break through the weaker flanks which mostly consisted of unmotivated Hungarian, Romanian, and Italian troops. The troops in Stalingrad wanted to go support their trrops in the west however Hitler didn't want to retreat from the Volga River claiming the Luftwaffe would now supply what they needed however the air troops could never deliver enough making the Stalingrad troops weaker and weaker.

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Operation Winter Tempest was launched by the Germans in mid-December of 1942 that ultimately led to failure for various reasons. The operation involved forming a special unit under the command of Field Marshal Erich von Manstein the objective of this unit was to rescue the forces in Stalingrad by pushing eastward However Hitler didnt allow the Stalingrad forces to push westward and meet up with the rescue squad. This ultimately led to the destruction of the Stalingrad forces as Manstein despite his prowess lacked the reserves too break through the Soviet encirclement singlehandedly .

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After the failure of the Germans rescue the Soviets resumed their offensive this was know as Operation Saturn the goal was to shrink the circle around the Germans, stop anymore relief attempts, as well as setting up the final capturization of the Stalingrad forces. By this point the Volga River had now frozen over however the Soviets used this to their advantage by sending the Soviet forces and equipment over the ice into the city at various points. At this point The German forces were strongly encouraged by Hitler to stand their ground and fight tom the death.

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This was the start of Operation Ring a final stage to the numerous operations launched by the Soviets it mostly just included the Soviets closing in and forcing the Germans to surrender. This was clear to the Germans as well they had been completely enclosed and saw no way of escape however Hitler still called for them to fight to the death. This left the newly promoted Field Marshal Paulus in a very tough position as, if he surrendered he'd disobey Hitler but if he kept fighting it would cost the lives of him and his men.

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On January 31st Field Marshal Paulus went against Hitler and gave himself up to the soviets he was then swiftly followed by twenty-two generals. On Febuary 2nd the rest of sixth and fourth army surrendered to the soviets this army had minly consisted of 91 000 frozen and starving men. After the battle the soviets had recovered over 250 000 Germanand romanian corpses the Axis losses totalled around 800 000 between the dead, wounded, captured, and missing; of the 91 000 who surrendered however only around 6 000 returned.

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The loss at Stalingrad was a huge blow to the Axis so heavy in fact it was the first failure of the war that was publicly acknowledged by Hitler. This loss put Hitler and the Axis on the defensive while boosting Russian confidence the battle was a huge turning point in the war as now the Germans wer being driven back utof Russia. The Soviets ended up pushing the Germans back all the way to Berlin by the end of the war while the other Allies pushed from the other sides.

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In 1945 Stalingrad had been proclaimed a Hero City of the Soviet Union due to its defense of the motherland in 1959 a memorial complex began construction dedicated to "the Heroes of the Stalingrad Battle". The construction was later completed in 1967 with its focal point being The Motherland Calls a 172 foot tall statue of a winged female figure holding a sword aloft. The complex holds the tomb of Chunikov who went on to lead the drive to Berlin and who died 40 years after the battle of Stalingrad.

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https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Stalingrad
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/soviet-counterattack-at-stalingrad
https://omniatlas.com/maps/europe/19421229/

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Battle of Stalingrad | History, Summary, Location, Deaths, & Facts | Britannica

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Battle of Stalingrad, successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad that was a turning point in favor of the Allies in World War II. Russians consider it to be one of the greatest battles of their Great Patriotic War, and most historians consider it to be the greatest battle of the entire conflict.