![]() ![]() After a fighting retreat across the steppe from the Don River to the Volga, the Red Army made a stand at Stalingrad, as directed by Stalin’s Order No. It achieved primary importance, largely because of the symbolism of its name, by the late summer of 1942. ![]() Stalingrad (now called Volgograd) was not, in fact, Germany’s primary objective when it first planned Operation Blau, but a secondary objective designed to protect the flank of the forces engaged in the Caucasus and to prevent Soviet reinforcements. After Stalingrad, Germany never regained the strategic initiative. These events were a turning point in the war-some say, the turning point. ![]() Casualty figures range from 1 to 2 million civilian and military deaths. It began with Operation Blau (Blue), the German summer offensive in 1942, aimed at capturing the oilfields in the Caucasus region, and it ended with massive Soviet counteroffensives in November, culminating in the surrender of the German 6th Army in February 1943. One of the largest and longest battles in history, it encompassed both maneuver and static warfare, steppe and urban fighting, and summer and winter conditions. The battle of Stalingrad was part of the strategic conflict that occurred in the southwestern Soviet Union in 1942–1943. ![]()
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