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Battle of Stalingrad Essay

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From July 1942 to February 1943, Soviet forces defended the city of Stalingrad from Nazi attack. The battle began during the summer offensive of 1942, Nazi Army groups A an B had already pushed past Stalingrad to take oil fields in south west Russia, when Hitler ordered Stalingrad be attacked (Trueman, n.d.). “Some historians believe that Hitler ordered the taking of Stalingrad simply because of the name of the city and Hitler's hatred of Joseph Stalin. For the same reason Stalin ordered that the city had to be saved” (Trueman, n.d.). Stalingrad was also the center of Soviet communications and manufacturing in the south. Since Stalingrad had such a significance to the soviet war effort and because the Soviets could not allow the …show more content…

Soviet Logistics were hampered but still functioning throughout the battle. The Soviets used the Volga river to move supplies and personnel into and out of Stalingrad. The Soviets also had functioning factories in Stalingrad producing tanks. Many of these tanks rolled off the assembly line and were immediately driven to the front line, many without paint or gun sights (Beevor, 1998). The Nazi generals had to consult with Hitler before any large decisions could be made. Messages had to be sent back to Germany then the commanders would have to wait for a response. The Soviet commanders on the other hand had their leader just across the river Volga. Commands were easily passed to Soviet commanders. National leaders on both sides refused to give up Stalingrad. The soviets refused to give up the city because they feared the blow to national morale (Trueman, n.d.). Intelligence failures existed on both sides of the battle. Stalin ignored warnings that the Nazi offensive would take place in the south of Russia and bolstered Moscow's defenses instead (Luther, 2004). Nazi leadership failed to notice the strategic withdrawal of Soviet forces while they advanced toward Stalingrad. Later in the conflict Nazi leaders ignored the indicators of a troop build up behind Soviet lines despite their allies being able to hear the sounds of the build up. The Soviets forced the advancing Nazi's to fight in an urban

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