Actual+History

Actual Outcome

What actually happened at Stalingrad As Commander of the Soviet Union, **Stalin** decided to protect the Soviet town of Stalingrad. Stalin was so determined to defend and maintain this town, that his orders were, “Not a step backwards”(Trueman 1). German Panzer tanks called the Sixth Army was on the move and already near, Germany believed it would be  a for sure victory due to success in the past. However, Germany didn’t know that their Panzer tanks would have a great difficulty fighting when forced into a small area. With the result of Panzer tanks in a small space, the Sixth Army lost almost 40,000 in month. Despite the casualties, the Germans eventually captured most of //Stalingrad//, but the //U.S.S.R.// was still hanging on with //62nd Army//, who was being led by General **Chuikov** (Ray 100).

**__ Occupation of Stalingrad by U.S.S.R. __** With the U.S.S.R. barely hanging on to the remnants of //Stalingrad//, more re-enforcements where arriving day after day. Pretty soon German troops would find themselves being surrounded and out gunned by the U.S.S.R. With artillery at the ready and the //Red Army moving in on Stalingrad//, they offered the surrender of the Sixth Army, which was being led by General **Paulus**. **Paulus** asked **Hitler** for  permission to surrender, but was denied and told, “Surrender is forbidden” (Ray 102). A week later, most of the Sixth Army had been killed off and the remaining 90,000 troops and 24 generals where placed into captivity by the U.S.S.R. (Ray 103).

**__ Significance of the Battle of Stalingrad __** This battle changed the whole outcome of the war. It was demoralizing and a huge blow to the Germany army. The reason why this was such a significant battle was because it kept the German army from moving farther East into Russia and kept Germany from obtaining the Caucasus oil fields, in which they vitally needed in order to continue on in winning the war. Annotation