Why Was The Battle Of Stalingrad Inevitable

It is valid to say that the Soviet victory at Stalingrad in 1943 was indeed inevitable. Germany had launched a massive offensive on the 12th of July 1942 named operation Blue. It was here at the city of Stalingrad that the Germans would fight one of the bloodiest battles of the war. The German sixth army faced the Soviet 62nd army. The Soldiers of the Wehrmacht would have to fight for every centimeter of land and had to battle through every house, in every sewer and factory against the might of the Red Army. The battle of Stalingrad is considered by many historians to be the turning point in World War 2 in Europe. It can be argued that the Soviet Victory at Stalingrad was inevitable by 1943 for a number of reasons that involved Supplies, Military …show more content…
The battle quickly degenerated into brutal hand to hand street fighting in which the Germans paid in blood for every inch they gained. A German Soldier wrote “The street is no longer measured by meters but by corpses…Stalingrad is no longer a town. By day it is an enormous cloud of burning, blinding smoke; it is a vast furnace lit by the reflection of the flames. And when night arrives, one of those scorching, howling, bleeding nights, the dogs plunge into the Volga and swim desperately to gain the other bank. The nights of Stalingrad are a terror for them. Animals flee this hell; the hardest stones cannot bear it for long; only men endure" (historyplace, 2014). Friedrich Paulus had lost 40,000 soldiers since entering the city and was in need of reinforcements, as a result he plead to Hitler for reinforcements. Several days later Paulus received his reinforcements, Stalin realized that Stalingrad would be a war of attrition sending three more armies into the city. Although Soviet losses were much higher, with the average life expectancy of a soviet soldier at one point being less than a day, Stalin had more men at his disposal (Hickman, 2014). As Stalingrad was nearing its end, German casualties were piling up at 20,000 men a day, as a result Hitler pulled more and more reserve divisions from his outer defenses leaving them increasingly vulnerable to …show more content…
With the ever worsening supply situation and the limited manpower of the Wehrmacht, the question began to arise, which of the two objectives should be achieved first? Stalingrad or the oil fields of the Caucasus region. At first Hitler had decided to go for the oil fields and as a result directed his fourth Panzer army further southward but upon further reflection Hitler had realized that the Russians had left Stalingrad relatively undefended. Hitler than changed his mind, sending the fourth Panzer army back towards Stalingrad which as a result bought the Russians enough time to set up strong defenses south of the city. At the same time Hitler had changed his mind again, ordering both objectives to be taken simultaneously (historyplace, 2014). For the German generals it seemed as though the Moscow nightmare was going to be repeated and urged Hitler to use all available resources to take Stalingrad with an overwhelming force rather than divide it to attack multiple targets, then go for the oil fields (historyplace, 2014). Another example of Hitler’s questionable military ability was the entrapment of the 6th army. As the weather was worsening for the thousands of wounded, starved German infantry in Stalingrad many froze to death in the harsh subzero temperatures (historyplace, 2014). Paulus new the situation was dire and pleaded with Hitler to allow the remnants of the 6th army