Stalingrad: the Turning Point

The Battle of Stalingrad (August 1942 to February 1943) was the bloodiest battle in history. Over two million casualties on both sides. The fighting was so close that soldiers fought room-to-room in bombed-out buildings. Hitler refused to let his troops retreat.

The Soviet Operation Uranus encircled the entire German 6th Army, trapping 300,000 soldiers with dwindling supplies. General Paulus surrendered with the southern pocket on January 31, 1943, and the last German troops in the northern pocket gave up two days later — by then only 91,000 of them were still alive.