Battle of Stalingrad

August 23, 1942 – February 2, 1943 · Eastern Front Theater

Phases

1. 1Aug 23 — Sixth Army Reaches the VolgaAugust 23 – September 12, 1942
2. 2Sep–Nov — RattenkriegSeptember 13 – November 18, 1942
3. 3Nov 19–23 — Uranus: The Trap SpringsNovember 19–23, 1942
4. 4Dec — Winter Storm FailsDecember 12–29, 1942
5. 5Jan 10–Feb 2 — The End in the RuinsJanuary 10 – February 2, 1943

August 23 – September 12, 1942

On a single Sunday, August 23, Paulus’s panzers reach the Volga north of Stalingrad while 600 bombers turn the city into a firestorm — perhaps 40,000 civilians die in the opening week, and Stalin forbids evacuation. The city that bears his name will be held: Order No. 227 has already gone out — “Not one step back.” Chuikov’s 62nd Army is backed against a mile-wide river with the ferries under constant fire.

• ➤6th Army (Paulus) — Out of the Don bend to the Volga bank
• ➤4th Panzer Army — The southern pincer into the suburbs
• ●Aug 23 — the firestorm raid; 40,000 die in the first week
• ●The Volga ferries — the only way in or out