The battle of stalingrad and the effect on the German war effort.
The Battle for Stalingrad was fought during the winter of 1942 to 1943. In September 1942, the German commander of the Sixth Army, General Paulus, assisted by the Fourth Panzer Army, advanced on the city of Stalingrad. His primary task was to secure the oil fields in the Caucasus and to do this, Paulus was ordered by Hitler to take Stalingrad. The Germans final target was to have been Baku.
Stalingrad was also an extremely important target to the Germans as it was Russia’s centre of communications in the south as well as being a centre for manufacturing.
At the start of September 1942, the German Army progressed to the city. The Russians, already destroyed by the power of the German Blitzkrieg during Operation Barbarossa, had to make a last stand especially as the city was named after the Russian leader, Joseph Stalin. For the
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Adolf Hitler said that "We have to hide this news from the German people" because he was afraid that it would damage the German efforts for the war they were in the middle of. This first major loss was important to the Allied victory because the morale of the German army was lowered and the German army was Completely weakened by all of the wasted resources they used on the Battle of Stalingrad that did not help them to a victory. For example, Germany had to be very careful with their gas rations during that battle, and after they had retreated, they had even less than they did at the start of the battle. This would have made it easier for the Allies to win because the German opponent would be weaker and not able to travel as far due to the lack of gas. So, this is why the Battle of Stalingrad was a central component in the Allied win during World War II, and also a significant effect on the German war effort as the tide