The Battle of Stalingrad was doomed from the start, and here's why

A friend, now deceased, was injured at Stalingrad before it was encircled, and was sent back to Germany to recuperate. Recovered, he was again sent to the Eastern front. He said his train stopped at the station quite normally, but when he climbed out of the carriage, there was around 2,000 Russian soldiers in the station. He decided to surrender.

Soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a middle age German immigrant to Canada that I knew said she was going on a tourist trip to Stalingrad. When I asked her why she was going there? Her reply was "I lost three brothers there".

My great grandfather and Great Grand Uncle and Grand Uncle were in the Soviet army or thd Red Army. They all fought defending Moscow, but later, my Great grandfather went towards Stalingrad to defend it and survived. Then my Grand Uncle and Great Grand Uncle went towards Leningrad, and they didn't make it sadly. Later on, my great grandfather went towards Kursk fought there, and later on, he went to Ukraine to liberate it. Then Poland. And he finally made it to Berlin. Eternal memory to the heroes!

"We'll be in Moscow in 6 weeks, not a problem" - Napoleon "We'll be in Moscow in 6 weeks, not a problem" - Hitler

"In 1941 the United States entered the war on the Allies' side". To be clear, it's important to remember that the US had declared war only on Japan. It was Hitler and Mussolini then declaring war on the US that brought that great power formally into the Allied fold. Yes, American sympathies were already mostly with the British Empire and France but it was Hitler's choice to fight the US and all that followed was of his own making.

I had a German language teacher in college that was one of the 5000 German soldiers that survived Stalingrad and prison in the 1980s. At first I was doubtful but he showed us pictures, documents and the cap and jacket he wore when he returned to West Germany. Amazing story. I remember that he ate bread made out of sawdust and glue from wallpaper.

One of my German uncles was at that battle. He became a POW from 1943 to 1947. He used the time well, though. He learned Russian, Romanian and Hungarian.

This documentary on the Battle of Stalingrad is a profound reminder of the sheer scale and brutality of war. The strategic chess game played between two powerful nations amidst the unforgiving Russian winter is depicted with such intensity and detail. It's a poignant exploration of human resilience, tactical genius, and the indomitable spirit of soldiers. A must-watch for anyone interested in understanding the depths of human conflict and the turning points of World War II.

The events of the Battle of Stalingrad have been covered in numeros media works of British, American, German, Russian origin, for its significance as a turning point in the Second World War and for the loss of life associated with the battle. The term Stalingrad has become almost synonymous with large-scale urban battles with high casualties on both sides.

The Soviets never looked back from battle of Stalingrad and marched to Berlin where they were in a race against Allies to capture it.

My grandfather fought in russia and served in a replenishment companie, he told me that they had big problems to had enough equipment from the first day of operation Barbarossa. The distances grow from day to day and there where no good roads to use, on the other hand they had all kinds of trucks, captured british and french vehicles and various german made trucks like Opel Blitz, Mercedes, Borgwards and so on. It was a logistical nightmare that become even worse when the rain in the autum converts the roads in muddy swamps so the vehicles get stuck. When the first winter came they had all hands to do to keep the vehicles running and bring the supplies to the front. He says: "we knew after the first four weeks it was a stupid idea to go to war with russia, the land is too big and the russians fight like hell to defend the motherland" So i absolute agree with you that they where doomed from the first day on. (Sorry if i write some wrong grammatiks but i dont like the google translator so i dig out my old scool english) 😉😉

Not long before Case Blue, something like only 18% of the divisions in the Wehrmacht were considered suited for offensive operations. The vast majority of divisions were only considered capable of defensive or static operations. Another thing many forget is the fact that the Wehrmacht, with diminished air superiority, lost a ton of soldiers between the start of Fall Blau and the time they reached the banks of the Volga at Stalingrad in August 1942. Maybe 20-45% divisional strength by the time the battle for Stalingrad even began. This is easily the most fascinating chain of historical and military events in my opinion. Just insane.

I also just have to say: Excellent video. Thanks IWM. You provide the best historic documentaries out there.

It’s crazy to think of the vast distances German soldiers had to walk. 😵

I visited Volgograd in September 2014. So much to see and some great museums. The basement of the GUM department store where Paulus was captured is now a small museum.

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The comments are terrific. I learned a lot.

I love to see the IWM docs on these subjects. They always do a great job and add plenty of reasons to learn more about sometimes familiar topics.

A wonderful channel that deserves all respect, appreciation and pride. Accurate and useful information in a sophisticated and beautiful manner. I wish you lasting success. I have the utmost respect and admiration for your great honor for these wonderful works. I hope you success

"Let's declare a war to our enemies" "Right!, where's our resources come from to start?" "From our enemies......" They lost the war