Stalingrad

80 Years Ago, the Soviet Defense of Stalingrad Began

Jochen Hellbeck explains that both Hitler and Stalin identified the city as a critical battle, committing both armies to the carnage that turned the course of the Eastern Front. 

Has Putin Heeded Warnings from the History of Urban Warfare?

by Brian Glyn Williams and Aaron Rawley

While key to the mythos of Russian patriotism, the pivotal battle of Stalingrad, along with other more recent episodes of urban warfare, show that Russian forces face a difficult and bloody task in capturing Kyiv. As Russian troops now retreat to the east, has this been a lesson learned? 

What Happened at Stalingrad?

Vladimir Putin marks Russia's bloodiest battle with the Nazis.

Historian Antony Beevor “Astonished" At Ukraine Ban On His Best-Selling Book, “Stalingrad”

Officials banned the Russian translation of the book. 

Russia’s ‘Stalingrad’ Is a Hit on Screen

The film by Fyodr Bondarchuk is very much backed by the Kremlin.

Russian general and military historian: Stalingrad turning point of WWII

It was the Battle of Stalingrad that broke the back of the Wehrmacht, says army general Makhmut Gareyev.Historians tend to disagree about the significance of the Battle of Stalingrad for the outcome of the Second World War. Many western scholars claimed that it was not the Battle of Stalingrad, but the British victory at El Alamein, where Montgomery’s Eighth Army triumphed over Rommel’s Afrika Korps in November 1942, that marked the war’s biggest turning point.For the sake of fairness, it has to be said that El Alamein made a substantial contribution to Hitler’s eventual defeat – not least because it marked the first defeat of Erwin Rommel, Germany’s legendary practitioner of blitzkrieg tactics, and because it came as a big morale boost for the Allies.However, strategically, the surrender of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad, less than three months later, was a much bigger blow for Hitler and the Wehrmacht’s morale. It marked the first major, decisive defeat on Hitler’s Eastern Front, and paved the way for the Red Army’s advance on Berlin in 1945....

90-year-old Russian WWII veteran tells of horrors and heroics during the Battle of Stalingrad

MOSCOW –  The Soviet soldiers used their own bodies as shields, covering women and children escaping on ferry boats from a Nazi bombardment that killed 40,000 civilians in a single day. It was the height of the Battle of Stalingrad, one of the bloodiest conflicts of World War II."They were all hit in the back," said 90-year-old Alexei Stefanov. "But they did not flee."Stefanov is among the few surviving veterans of the battle, which claimed 2 million lives and raged for nearly 200 days before the Red Army turned back the Nazi forces, decisively changing the course of the war. Russia celebrates the 70th anniversary of that victory on Saturday, with President Vladimir Putin taking part in ceremonies in Volgograd, the current name of the city in southern Russia that stretches along the western bank of the Volga River....

Russia revives Stalingrad city name

The Volgograd city council voted to use the name Stalingrad at city events on six commemorative days including February 2, the day Nazi forces fully surrendered to Soviet troops and May 9, Victory Day, Russian news agencies reported.The decision was made "based on the many requests of Second World War participants," said Sergei Zabednov, quoted by the city parliament's press service."Deputies have taken a decision to establish the name 'hero-city Stalingrad' as a symbol of Volgograd. We will be able to use this symbol officially in our speeches and reports and at mass events," Zabednov said....