Battle of Stalingrad | Madugong Labanan noong World War 2

The Battle of Stalingrad is known as one of the most important battles of the Second World War This epic battle between the USSR and Nazi Germany lasted for 6 months where it witnessed some of the most brutal and bloody battles of World War II After taking over Poland, Norway, France and Low Countries Nazi Germany took over almost the whole of Europe Because of this, Adolf Hitler had the confidence to return his non-aggression pact to the USSR That's why on Sunday, June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany started Operation Barbarossa the plan to take over the USSR It was a big surprise for Joseph Stalin More than 3 million soldiers of the Wehrmacht crossed the border of his country including thousands of tanks, airplanes and artillery pieces The German forces were divided into three armies Army Group North was fighting in the north towards Leningrad Army Group Center was fighting in Smolensk and Moscow and Army Group South was fighting in Baku Oilfield and Stalingrad The Germans quickly took over Belarus, Ukraine and other territories of the USSR They also surrounded the cities of Moscow and Leningrad in the north Despite the rapid advance, the Nazis were defeated by the Soviets in just one campaign The Soviets stopped the long advance of the Germans in exchange for their thousands of soldiers In May 1942, the Germans restarted a new offensive against the USSR This was Fall Blau or Case Blue Based on this plan, Army Group South was divided into two from Eastern Ukraine Army Group A under Wilhelm List was formed by 1st Panzer and 17th Army which was ordered to march to the south towards the Baku Oilfields of Caucasus Army Group B under Fedor von Bock was formed by 6th German Army, 4th Panzer Army, 2nd Romanian Army, 1st Italian Army and 1st Hungarian Army These battles were ordered to attack Stalingrad For Hitler, it is very important for them to occupy the Baku Oilfields and the city of Stalingrad First, if they can occupy the Baku Oilfields in Caucasus they can use it to supply their oil needs and supply it to the Soviets Second, for the city of Stalingrad, it is important because of the industrial and political reasons The city of Stalingrad is the main city that produces important materials for the Soviet Army In fact, a large number of T-34 tanks are being built in the city of Stalingrad In addition to this, there are millions of tons of bombs and bullets Next, this city protects the Volga River where this river supplies products from Stalingrad to other parts of the USSR The name Stalingrad is similar to the name of Joseph Stalin, which means the City of Stalin Therefore, the fall of Stalingrad will be a great political turning point for the Germans The Blue Case of May started, but it did not start because of the Battle of Kharkov and Siege of Sevastopol Although the Germans lost in these two battles, their operation was delayed in order to ensure that they will reach the cold in the city of Stalingrad At the end of August 20, Army Group B arrived outside Stalingrad Before the battle began, Joseph Stalin ordered to bring food, animals, and important machinery to the Volga River in order to avoid being hit by the Germans However, he prohibited the evacuation of more than 400,000 civilians The battle began with a heavy aerial bombardment of the Luftwaffe where it dropped an estimated 1,000 tons of bombs This bombing of Stalingrad resulted in hundreds of civilian deaths and a large firestorm that hit almost all wooden structures Many houses and factories also collapsed This bombing lasted for more than five days where after this, there was no longer a structure that could bomb the Germans Despite this, Stalin still did not stop the evacuation of civilians This is because the civilians will continue production in the factories of Stalingrad In addition, Joseph Stalin also believes that the soldiers will be more courageous if they know that they are protecting the inhabitants of the city The German Luftwaffe or Air Force quickly destroyed the Soviet airplanes where they were able to take control of Himpapawid The 1077th Anti-Aircraft Regiment met the German 16th Panzer The 1077th Anti-Air Regiment is made up of female volunteers who are in charge of transporting the aircraft of Germany They used their weapons against the tanks of the Germans The 16th Panzer was completely destroyed because of the effective fire of the female soldiers The 1077th Regiment was only able to retreat when they were surrounded and their canyons were destroyed one by one Aside from the soldiers, the civilians also fought The civilians were organized to become a militia where they retreated even without guns or armaments Despite all of this, the unceasing advance of the Germans was not stopped where they besieged the north and south part of Stalingrad At the end of September 5, the Soviets carried out a large counteroffensive to reclaim the entire city However, they were beaten where they destroyed 30 of their 120 tanks Two weeks after this, on September 18, the Soviets again carried out an attack It was again beaten because of the support of the German Luftwaffe The German Stuka dive bombers were particularly effective where they destroyed 41 of their 106 tanks The Stuka dive bomber is a single-engine monoplane designed to perform fast and deep dive bombing to be more effective in destroying targets on the ground The Stuka dive bomber was proven to be effective during the first part of World War II where it destroyed a lot of tanks from Western Europe to the Soviet Union In the middle of September, the Germans destroyed the Mamayev Kurgan, an important fort outside Stalingrad and the Railway Station No. 1 The Soviet 13th Guard was ordered to reclaim the Mamayev Kurgan and the Railway Station No. 1 from the Germans The Railway Station No. 1 changed hands 14 times within 6 hours After the brutal battle between the Railway Station No. 1 and the Mamayev Kurgan, the Soviet 13th Guard withdrew Only 320 of its 60,000 soldiers were saved On the other side of Stalingrad, a brutal incident took place where a large number of Soviet soldiers stopped attacking the Germans within two months Under the command of Sgt. Yakov Pavlov he led a platoon of 50 soldiers and 10 civilians to protect a four-storey house Using landmines, machine guns, and anti-tank rifles Pavlov stopped the advance of the Germans for almost two months This house was known as Pavlov's House by both Soviet and German soldiers Because of Pavlov's defense, the joke spread that more Germans died during the siege than the whole of Paris The tactics of the Germans during World War II was based on the Combined Arms Tactic where tanks, infantry, artillery, and airplanes were deployed As an answer to this tactic of the Germans, the Soviets started the tactic of Hugging the Germans According to this plan, the Soviets will approach themselves and the headquarters of the Germans at all times In this way, the Germans will not be able to attack their planes, tanks, and artillery because of the fear of friendly fire or to hit their own soldiers In short, the Blitzkrieg or Lightning War that the Germans were expecting from the beginning of the war was not used in Stalingrad The houses and the destroyed roads served as a shield so that the German tanks will not be able to maneuver The Soviets also occupied the houses, houses, and factories in the city They also made ditches between the buildings so that their soldiers can move their positions and make an ambush against the Germans Even the water pipes under the city were also used by the Soviets The battle was brutal and head-on against the tight-knit Lagusan, Quarto, and Gosali in Stalingrad For the veterans of the battle, the Germans already occupied the hall but the Soviets still held the kitchen In this example, you can see that almost all parts of the city became a battlefield The battle in Stalingrad is known as the Rattenkrieg or Lightning War The destroyed buildings and houses also became a co-occupied battlefield for the snipers of both Germany and Soviet Union The main target of these snipers were the officers the food and water carriers and the artillery spotters Every day, hundreds of soldiers and officers were killed by the snipers in the battle Vasily Zaitsev was a well-known sniper of the Soviet Union There were 225 confirmed killed in the battle The battle became a heavy cost for both sides Even so, the Soviets were in advantage because their reinforcements and supplies were continuously arriving from the Volga River Meanwhile, the Germans were having a hard time delivering aid and supplies to their soldiers because it was too far The situation of the Germans was getting worse because of the cold weather Between September and October, the Germans surrounded the factories producing bullets and T-34 tanks inside Stalingrad These are the Volgograd Tractor Plant, Barricade Arms Factory and the Red October Steel Plant By the end of November, the Germans already occupied almost 90% of Stalingrad Even so, because the Germans were too focused on Stalingrad, they neglected their defense in the North and South Only the allies of Germany were guarding here while the Italians and Hungarians were guarding in the North Meanwhile, the Romanians in the South while the Soviets neglected this Under the leadership of George Zhukov and Alexander Vasilevsky, they started Operation Uranus or the counter-offensive plan of the Soviets According to this plan, the Soviets will send the weakest Axis Forces in the North and South and they will imprison the Germans inside Stalingrad On November 20, 1942, two Soviet Armies crossed the Volga River and attacked the Axis Forces from different directions The Allies of Germany quickly fell to the heavy tank attack of the Soviets The two Soviet Armies met in the town of Kalach This resulted in the German 6th Army and 4th Panzer being defeated inside Stalingrad The German 6th Army is considered the cream of the crop or the most elite army of Germany Its size is twice compared to the usual German Army Moreover, it has more experience in battles compared to all other German Armies The German 6th Army is determined to be saved from Stalingrad The German commanders asked Adolf Hitler to attack and leave the encirclement But this means that they need to retreat and clear the town of Stalingrad Hitler did not allow this because it will be a big blow to the morale of the Germans In addition, Hermann Göring, the commander of the Luftwaffe, promised that he can support the 6th Army and 4th Panzer with their needs using airplanes The 6th Army and the 4th Panzer need 700 tons of supply every day Unfortunately, only 160 tons of supply can be delivered by the Luftwaffe every day This led to the Soviets to invade the German airbases to force them to fly to more distant airbases which resulted in less supply Hunger and disease of the Germans because of the lack of supply, food, and the coming of winter Thousands of Germans died of hunger and cold before they were attacked by the Soviets A new army under Field Marshal Meinstein tried to save the 6th Army and 4th Panzer but they were unable to reach Stalingrad On January 1942 the commander of the 6th Army General Friedrich Paulus asked Hitler to give up but instead Hitler promoted General Paulus to Field Marshal This is a symbol that he cannot give up because if he does he will be the first the highest officer of Germany to give up the war Despite Hitler's persistence, the 6th German Army which was continuously suffering from cold, hunger, and disease was also forced to give up on February 2, 1943 Stalingrad was the first defeat of the Germans during World War II The Axis Force suffered more than 700,000 casualties more than 200,000 of them were wounded Many guns, mortars, machine guns, rifles, tanks, trucks, airplanes, and other materials were taken by the Soviets from the retreating Germans Despite their defeat, the cost of this battle was higher than the cost of the Soviets More than 1 million were casualties of the Soviet Union almost half of them were wounded The defeat of the Germans in Stalingrad was the beginning of their gradual defeat The Germans were no longer able to advance in the East and the momentum of war to the Soviets and their allies We still have a lot of history to talk about so make sure to click the like and subscribe button Again, I am Sir Ian and see you in the next video