Battle Of Stalingrad Research Paper

The Battle of Stalingrad, which lasted from August 1942 until February 1943, was one of the bloodiest warfare in World War II. It was a turning point of the war because it was Nazi Germany’s first major loss during the Second World War. Most importantly, the Soviet Union stopped Nazi Germany from gaining resources and the war caused a large casualty rate of German armies.
From 1939 to 1942, Nazi Germany succeed in all of the invasions in Europe, Adolf Hitler turned his target to Soviet Union and begun to turn Operation Barbarossa into reality. After one years Hitler indicated the importance of attacking Stalingrad in Directive No. 41 (Operation Blue) of April 5th, 1942, “It was fundamentally necessary to destroy the Soviet forces in the south and then take the oilfields; but an attempt must be made to take
Stalingrad.”2 Moreover, Stalingrad was very important because it was Soviet Union’s center of communication and manufacturing. Stalin realized that if Hitler succeeds in capturing Stalingrad, he would control the enormous oil fields and half of Soviet Union, eventually all of the Europe. Stalin ordered General Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukhov to defense Stalingrad city. In September 1942, the Sixth Army under General Friedrich Paulus reached Stalingrad but the progress was very slow. Although Nazi had control nighty percent of Stalingrad in November 1942, the Russian winter was fatal for Germany armies. Finally, on February 1st, 1943, Sixth Army surrendered after being trapped by Red Army forces, “German and Axis loss were in the region of 1.5 million men and numerous equipment.”1 The cost of both Soviet Union and Germany were huge but the most severe outcome for German was they were stopped from expansion. The Soviet Union stopped Hitler getting recourses and it set the stage for Germany from invasion to defense in World War II.
The winning of the Battle of Stalingrad was not only meaningful for Soviet Union, but also the Allied powers.
The loss of manpower and equipment in this battle made German not able to launch large-scale attacks in other battlefield in Europe. Although there were no Allies troops participated in this battle, the battle is actually provide more time for Allies to prepared themselves and fight back. It was the largest mistake that Hitler made, before the battle of Stalingrad, the invading Germany armies were invincible, after the battle, the morale of the German army was lowered and the German army was weakened. “After Battle of Stalingrad, Soviet Union was confidence of Allies Power, they were no longer losing battles in the row, and also Soviet Union became ambitious and stared to fight back.”3 In conclusion, the battle of Stalingrad was one of the most significant turning points which supported the Allied victory in the late World War II. Stalin secured the important industrial city, Stalingrad that happened to be the gateway to the rich oil regions. On the other hand, the loss of this battle marked the end of Germany's advances into Eastern Europe and
Russia.