Battle of Stalingrad

Advises Hitler the Luftwaffe can keep the Army supplied in Stalingrad, a mistake

Orders the Stalingrad Defence Committee to prepare the city for war immediately

Bock has been dismissed & Paulus placed in charge of capturing Stalingrad

The splitting of Army Group South enabled the launching of Operation Edelweiss and Operation Fischreiher, the two main thrusts of the Army Groups. Both groups had to achieve their objectives simultaneously.

The success of the initial advance was such that Hitler ordered the 4th Panzer Army south to assist the First Panzer Army to cross the lower Don river.

This assistance was not needed and Kleist later complained that 4th Panzer Army clogged the roads and that if they had carried on toward Stalingrad, they could have taken it in July.

When it turned north again two weeks later, the Soviets had gathered enough forces together at Stalingrad to check its advance

Reaches Kotelnikovo 125 miles south west of Stalingrad

Helps capture Kalach near Stalingrad

Placed in full charge of capturing Stalingrad after the dismissal of Bock

Moved up to the north-west Front

Helps capture Kalach near Stalingrad

Arrives in Stalingrad to assume command

The Swastika is raised over Mount Elbrus

Leads the 16th Panzer Division across the River Don

The 6th Army crossed the Don and Army Group B established a defensive line on one of its bends.The 6th Army reached the northern suburbs of Stalingrad later that day, beginning the Battle of Stalingrad

The 6th Army reach the Volga north of Stalingrad

After the Luftwaffe attack Stalingrad & kill 40,000 Pauluss 6th Army attack

Attacks Stalingrad from the south West

The Russians outflank & encircle the German 6th, 9th & 4th Panzer Armies

Gathers 190,000 men, 350 tanks, 340 planes & 8,000 guns on the Staingrad front

After defeating the last Soviet counter-attacks, 6th Army resumed its offensive on 2 September, linking up with 4th Panzer Army the following day. On 12 September, the Germans entered Stalingrad

Chuikov had witnessed firsthand the blitzkrieg tactics the Nazis had used to sweep across the Russian steppe, so he used the Germans carpet-bombing of the city to draw panzer units into the rubble and chaos, where their progress was impeded.

Here they could be destroyed with Molotov cocktails and Russian artillery operating at close range. This tactic also rendered the German Luftwaffe ineffective, since Stuka dive-bombers could not attack Red Army positions without endangering their own forces

It was at Stalingrad that Chuikov developed the important tactic of hugging the enemy, Guerrilla warfare, by which under-armed Soviet soldiers kept the German army so close to them as to minimize the superior firepower enjoyed by the Wehrmacht.

Put in charge of defending Stalingrad.

Advances across the Volga into the southernmost suburb of Stalingrad

Most of Stalingrad is captured but the 6th Armys flanks are exposed

Crushes the Romanians & begins to entrap von Pauluss Army

3rd Romanian Army had been transferred from Caucasus on 10 September, to take over Italian positions on the Don, opposite the Soviet bridgeheads. The Romanians were understrength and had only around six modern anti-tank guns per division.

3rd Romanian Army, on the Don River west of Stalingrad, and 4th Romanian Army, south-east of Stalingrad, had been under constant Soviet attack since September.

Hitler ordered 6th Army to remain on the defensive, rather than try to break out. It was intended the army would be supplied by air, but the quantity of supplies necessary was far beyond the ability of the Luftwaffe to carry. 6th Armys strength diminished and the Soviets gained the upper hand inside the city. Hitler forbids any retreat or surrender, they are "liquidated" by 25 January 1943

The Soviets launched Operation Uranus, a two-pronged counter-offensive against the flanks of 6th Army. With the battle for the city and the exhaustion of 4th Panzer Army, the flanks were mainly guarded by Romanian, Hungarian and Italian soldiers.

The bulk of the German tank reserve, the 48th Panzer Corps, consisted of about 180 tanks, half being obsolete Panzer 35(t)s. The two Romanian armies were routed and 6th Army, with parts of 4th Panzer Army, were encircled in Stalingrad.

The Red Army begins to encircle the German forces besieging Stalingrad

Leads the attack on the north & south flanks of the Germans

The 6th Army is completely encircled by the Red Army

Captures the supply bridge at Kalach

The Stalingrad fronts link up, 330,000 Germans are encircled. Hitler orders the 6th Army to hold their position

The south west & Stalingrad fronts link up, 330,000 Germans are encircled. Hitler orders "Where the German Soldier sets his foot, there he remains"

Zhukov begins attacking the German 5th Army & 4th Panzer Army in the rear. The 300,000 force of the German 6th Army is encircled

Following the success of Operation Uranus, the Red Army began Operation Saturn, to cut off Army Group A and all troops east of Rostov.During the German relief operation at Stalingrad, Soviet forces had been redeployed, lesser objectives substituted, and the operation renamed "Little Saturn".

Spearheaded by some of the first Tiger tanks, the offensive got within 48 km (30 mi) of the southern 6th Army front, but the Germans made no attempt to break out.

The attack fell on Eighth Italian Army and the remnants of 3rd Romanian Army, and led to the destruction of most of Eighth Army. A relief operation called Operation Winter Storm began.

The failure was followed by a siege that lasted for almost three months, during which 6th Army was destroyed

Sets the Panzers rolling to relieve Paulus trapped 6th Army. Manstein is 30 miles away from Stalingrad

Zhukov drives Hoths army back across Kotelnikov

Zhukov drives the Germans back from the north & sth. Supply lines can no longer reach Paulus on land

Zhukov drives the German forces in the north beyond the Chir & Aksay. Zhukov drives Hoths army back across Kotelnikov

Claims the Luftwaffe can supply the encircled German army at Stalingrad by air

Commands the 4th Panzer Army at the Battle of Stalingrad

The Russians outflank & encircle the German 6th, 9th & 4th Panzer Armies. Commands Russian forces on the Don River Front

Rokossovsky sends in a request for the German 6th Army to surrender, this is refused

Rokossovsky sends in a request for the German 6th Army to surrender, this is refused

The 65th Army advances 5 miles in the first day

Put in command of the air supply of Stalingrad by Hitler, Goerings deputy

The last German airfield at Gumrak is captured

The last German airfield at Gumrak is captured

The Russians offer Paulus the chance to surrender but Hitler rejects the offer

The Russians offer Paulus the chance to surrender but Hitler rejects the offer

Makes Paulus Field Marshal because a German Field Marshal has never been captured

Hitler promotes Paulus to Field Marshal because no Field Marshal has ever surenderred

Paulus, with 25 other generals, surrenders to the Russians

The Germans have lost 600,000 & the Russians 400,000. Paulus surrenders the 6th Army at the Battle of Stalingrad

The Germans under Paulus surrender Stalingrad to Rokossovsky

Paulus surrenders the German 6th Army. During the battle the Germans lose 600,000 & the Russians 400,000

The German 6th Army surrenders. Since Zhkovs counter-attack 32 Axis Divisions & 3 Axis Brigades have been destroyed

Personally accepts the surrender of Marshal Paulus & his 6th Army

The remainder of the German forces in Stalingrad lay down their arms

The remainder of the German forces in Stalingrad lay down their arms

The disaster at Stalingrad was the end of Case Blue and the territorial gains had been reversed by the end of 1943, except for the Kuban bridgehead on the Taman peninsula, retained for a possible second offensive to the Caucasus, which was held until 9 October 1943