German+Invasion+of+the+Soviet+Union

= = =The Battle of Stalingrad=

Operation Barbarossa and the Battle of Stalingrad

__When and where__ The Battle of Stalingrad took place between July 17, 1942 and February 2, 1943, during the Second world war.the armed forces of Germany invaded the Stalingrad in the Soviet Union.

Who and what The battle of Stalingrad was fought between Germany and the Soviet Union which is now known as Russia. Stalingrad was considered the turning point in World War II. The Russian army bled the German army dry at Stalingrad and after this defeat the German army was in full retreat

Germany's plan was to attack the soviet union so they could have more space for resources such as oil. He also wanted to strike before England and the Soviet Union become an alliance. In April 1942, Hitler issued "war directive 41", which detailed his plan for the Russian front for summer 1942, code named Operation Blue. The plan was to concentrate all available forces in the southern flank of the long front, destroy the front line Russian forces there, and then advance in two directions to the primary and secondary objectives, which were the two most important remaining industrial centers in South Russia. the primary Advance far South-East through the mountainous Caucasus region. to capture the rich oil fields on the Caspian Sea. The secondary advance East to Stalingrad which is a major industrial and transportation center on the West bank of the wide Volga river, the main waterway of inner Russia, that runs all the way from North of Moscow to the Caspian Sea in the South.
 * Why**
 * **German Army** || **Russian Army** ||
 * **Led by Paulus** || **Led by Zhukov** ||
 * **1,011,500 men** || **1,000,500 men** ||
 * **10, 290 artillery guns** || **13,541 artillery guns** ||
 * **675 tanks** || **894 tanks** ||
 * **1,216 planes** || **1,115 planes** ||

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