For educational purposes
The Battle of Stalingrad is infamous as one of the largest, longest and bloodiest engagements in modern warfare.
From August 1942 through February 1943, more than two million troops fought in close quarters.
Nearly two million people were killed or injured in the fighting, ultimately turning the tide of World War II in favor of the Allied forces.
The annihilation of an entire army amidst the charred and frozen ruins of Stalingrad was catastrophe for Nazi arms.
Thereafter, the colossus of the Red Army was never to lose the initiative in the East.
The Battle of Stalingrad was not originally a primary objective of Hitler's 1942 offensive, the city quickly became the focus of his entire campaign.
As the battle developed, both Hitler and Stalin became locked in a contest of wills, and Stalingrad, a place of horrors.
Through broken streets and fire blackened buildings men fought room by room. In damp, rat infested basements the wounded lay, untended with the dying and the dead.
With winter came the last act in the drama, the Soviet counter-offensive, the destruction of the Romanian, Hungarian and Italian Armies and the encirclement of the mighty German 6th Army.
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