The Battle of StalingradTopic: The battle of Stalingrad

Key Ideas: Importance of Stalingrad, Operation Blue, Operation Saturn, Operation Uranus

Key Conclusions to me made: it was a turning point in the war where Germany lost

The Battle of Stalingrad

• What:• A battle between Germany & its

allies and the Soviet Union, for Stalingrad

• When:• Winter, 1942-1943• Effects:• Germany lost their old reputation

as being invincible

Pictures of the Battle of Stalingrad

Key Fact 1: Importance of Stalingrad

-Major industrial city on banks of Volga River

-Also Russia’s center of communication

-(Vital transport route between Caspian Sea and Northern Russia)

-Control of the city would cut Soviet transport links with Southern Russia using the Volga River

Importance of Stalingrad (continued)

- If Germany won Stalingrad, it would also allow them to get the rich oil fields of Caucasus

- It was also Stalin’s city.

- Hitler wanted to capture the city that had the name of his enemy

- City’s capture would also be a propaganda achievement. It would have been good for Hitler, for people to know he had beaten his enemy Stalingrad 1942

Caucasus oil fields 1942

Operation Blue- Code name for the attack that Adolf Hitler ordered on the Soviet Union’s oil fields in the Caucasus region in 1942.

- Failed due to the sixth army – was effectively destroyed at the BATTLE OF STALINGRAD.

Operation Blue (continued)

- The operation was divided into 2 groups.- Group A were to attack south towards Rostov, and wipe out through the Transcaucasus heading for the Caspian Sea while taking oil-fields at Maikop.- Group B’s primary task was to provide strong Northern flank along the Don, while cutting the vital Soviet freight traffic on the Volga.

Key Fact 3: Operation Saturn

-December 1942 until February 1943

-Red Army Operation on Eastern front of WWII

-The first stage was to cut off the Germany’s Army Group A.

-24th Dec tanks raided Tatsinskaya(The closest air base to Stalingrad)

-29th Dec Germany had no choice but to retreat.

Key Fact 3: Operation Saturn (Continued)

*90,000-prisoners, 5000-returned to Germany

*By January the Hungarian Army was destroyed (Second Stage)

*Germany had to retreat.

*Krusk, Karkov, and Rostov were captured on Feb 1943.

*Stalingrad was 400 miles off West, they had to delay the offensive until 25h February.

Operation Uranus- A german force was encircled during Operation Uranus.- Zhukov and Vasilevsky were the two leaders.- Zhukov’s Plan was to collect enough resources to keep Paulus German 6Th Amry busy while Soviet troops build 5five new tank armies.- The Germans is surrounded in Stalingrad, The Soviet now attacks the weak fronts held by poorly equipped Romanian armies.

Operation Uranus (Continued)

- Germans Sixth Army had lost more troop because of the Soviet ground attacks (January 31, 1943).- The Luftwaffe promised to help resupply the Germans but never did because of the lose of transportation vehicles and weather conditions.- By February 2nd 250,000 German Sixth Army troops has surrendered to the Soviet.

How Did This Affect the War?

- It was a turning point in the war

- German troops were stopped during their progression across Russia

- Unexpected German defeat gave Soviet Union hope

-Germany lost their old reputation as being invincible

Conclusion• Re-state event• The Battle of Stalingrad was a war fought between

Germany and the Soviet Union for Stalingrad.• What was the result of the event?• More than 1 million casualties• It was the bloodiest war in human history• How did it affect the war?• It was a turning point in the war, where it went from

Germany winning, to Germany losing

3 Discussion Questions for Class

1. If Germany hadn’t been stopped in this battle, how do you think it would affect the war?

2. If Stalingrad wasn’t named after Stalin, do you think Hitler would still want to attack it?

3. If one of the operations didn’t happen, do you think that Germany would’ve been stopped during their progression across Russia?