📅 On This Day in Military History
1 event across history
The most destructive battle in human history. Germany's 6th Army fought its way into Stalingrad in brutal street-by-street, building-by-building combat. Soviet General Zhukov then launched Operation Uranus, encircling the entire 6th Army. Hitler refused to allow a breakout. Paulus's 300,000 men slowly starved and froze through the Russian winter. On February 2nd, 1943, 91,000 survivors surrendered.
The war's true turning point on the Eastern Front. After Stalingrad, Germany never successfully went on the offensive again. The myth of Wehrmacht invincibility was shattered. The strategic initiative shifted permanently to the Soviets. 'Not one step back' — Stalin's order — had held.
Full battle details →