Where Hitler lost the war
Turning point of the Second World War: In the late autumn of 1942, Soviet troops separated the 6th Army from the rest of the German Wehrmacht - and hundreds of thousands of soldiers were deadly trapped.
13 images
Source: Reuters
1 / 13
Turning point of the Second World War: in late autumn 1942, Soviet troops surrounded the 6th Army of the Wehrmacht and other German troops in Stalingrad. And hundreds of thousands of soldiers were deadly trapped. Most of them froze to death, starved to death or died in fighting and in Siberian captivity.
One year after the attack on the Soviet Union in 1942, German units advanced deep into the south of the country on a summer offensive. The sphere of power of National Socialist Germany was never again to be greater than in the summer of 1942. Until it lost Stalingrad.
In the picture: the later exposed bones of a soldier who died near Stalingrad. The rusty remains indicate a rifle made by the Soviet Union.
Source: AFP
2 / 13
Attack by the Germans: At the end of August 1942, the 6th Army under General Friedrich Paulus reached Stalingrad on the Volga. The city, which is now called Volgograd, was not only an important industrial location for the Soviet Union. Because it was named after the Soviet dictator Stalin, taking it had a high symbolic value, also for the Germans.
In the picture: German soldiers advancing on Stalingrad.
Source: Federal Archives
3 / 13
Stalingrad was also an important target for strategic reasons: Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler promised himself that by taking it, he would control shipping traffic on the Volga - an important supply route for the Red Army. In addition, the Wehrmacht and their allies were to take the Caucasian oil fields in the next advance.
Pictured: Air raid on Stalingrad in September 1942.
Source: Federal Archives
4 / 13
Building by building, street by street: in tough battles with many dead, the German Wehrmacht captured around 90 percent of the city. In mid-November 1942 the situation changed suddenly.
In the picture: German soldier in the street fighting for Stalingrad.
Source: dpa
5 / 13
The pincer grip of the Red Army: On November 19, 1942, Stalin's soldiers attacked the German lines north and south of Stalingrad - and within a few days surrounded the entire 6th Army and a number of other troops.
Pictured: Soviet soldiers advance in combat in Stalingrad.
Source: DPA
6 / 13
General Paulus asked Hitler to be allowed to order his troops to break out of the cauldron. But the megalomaniac "Führer" categorically refused. Instead, the chief of the air force, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, promised to supply the trapped with airplanes. The necessary supplies of medicines, food and equipment did not materialize.
In the picture (from left): Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, dictator Adolf Hitler, Martin Bormann, Hitler's secretary. The recording was made in 1944 in the "Wolfsschanze".
Source: AFP
7 / 13
The attempt by German troops to penetrate from the outside to the boiler failed in December 1942. One day before Christmas Eve, Hitler renewed his order to hold out - and thus sealed the fate of hundreds of thousands.
Pictured: Soviet artillery firing into the Stalingrad pocket in the winter of 1942/43.
Source: AP
8 / 13
Dying in Stalingrad: the remaining Germans and their allies from Romania and other countries starved in the cauldron. The temperatures sometimes fell below minus 40 degrees Celsius. Thousands of inadequately equipped soldiers froze to death, others died as a result of malnutrition.
In the picture: Red Army soldier with German prisoners of war in Stalingrad.
Source: AFP
9 / 13
On January 18, 1943, the German defense lines collapsed, and the Red Army split the pocket in two.
In the picture: German tank wrecks in Stalingrad
Source: AFP
10 / 13
On January 31, 1943, Commander Friedrich Paulus gave up in the southern basin. The day before, Hitler had promoted him to General Field Marshal - in the hope that he would die a "heroic death". Until then, no German marshal had been captured in history. Two days later, the remaining Germans in the northern basin also surrendered. Some fanatical Germans hid in the sewers and continued to fight.
Pictured: Paul during interrogation by Soviet officers
Source: AFP
11 / 13
Stalingrad was almost completely destroyed after the battle, and the armed forces are considered to be one of the bloodiest in human history. The death toll varies between 700,000 and 1.5 million, depending on the source.
Pictured: Stalingrad after the fighting
Source: AP
12 / 13
About 90,000 German soldiers survived the battle for Stalingrad and were taken prisoners of war. Many did not survive the hardships and conditions in the Siberian camps. Only about 5000 Stalingrad fighters returned after the war.
Pictured: German prisoners of war after the fighting ends
Source: Mikhail Mordasov / AFP
13 / 13
In Hitler's Germany, the fall of Stalingrad was taken as a beacon by many. Nazi opponents like the White Rose in Munich used the battle as an opportunity to call for resistance. The brown regime declared a "total war", but the defeat could no longer be averted.
After the Battle of Stalingrad, the Red Army pushed further and further west - and in April / May 1945 was finally able to take Berlin.
Pictured: In today's Russia, the Soviet Stalingrad fighters are still revered. A colossal statue from the times of the USSR commemorates the resistance of the Soviets.
Keywords
1. Where Hitler lost the war
2. allintitle: Where Hitler lost the war
3. How Hitler lost the war
4. allintitle:How Hitler lost the war
إرسال تعليق