In the summer of 1941, the 6Th Army began its Russian campaign and completely mastered the enemy. It quickly “liberated” several million square miles of the Ukraine and attained a level of professional excellence unmatched in modern warfare.
When the German troops opened hostilities against the Soviet Union, they met an enemy whose arm and training they had largely under-estimated. According to German intelligence reports, the Soviet forces on the German eastern boundary amounted to one hundred rifle divisions, thirty tank divisions and twenty-five cavalry divisions.
Soon after the Germans invaded, Joseph Stalin gave a speech on November 7, 1941 in an attempt to rally the people of the Soviet Union against the Germans. The overall goal of this speech was to mobilize the people and the soldiers and give them hope as they continued pushing back against the Germans.
In its opening stages, (June and July) operation Blue was highly successful as enormous numbers of Russian soldiers and material were captured by the panzer divisions.
The Soviet High Command (Stavka) had anticipated Hitler's attack and had been preparing for it for a long time.
Towards the end of October, the general momentum of the offensive had stalled and the Sixth Army of Germany was detained in costly street fighting in the industrial city of Stalingrad.
The fight for Stalingrad was a grueling conflict that lasted from August 23, 1942 until February 2, 1943. Both the Soviet Union and Germany stopped at nothing in order to achieve victory. As a result, the casualties amounted to around 2.2 million, making it the bloodiest battle that had ever taken place.
The Third Reich had kept the news of the German Army’s defeat from the German people until the end of January 1943. On January 31, programming on the radio was interrupted as Anton Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony played, and the German people learned the truth about the Battle of Stalingrad.
Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943)
