Stalingrad was an urban stretch along the west bank of the Volga River. It was a strategic location because it was a gateway to the Crimea and the rich oil fields of the Caucasus. The German attack began on June 28, 1942. On August 23, 1942, the German 6th army reached the Volga just north of Stalingrad. The Russian army was on the east bank of the river. Hundreds of Luftwaffe bombers heavily bombarded the city, and would continue to do so daily for weeks, destroying or damaging virtually every building in the city. (http://greyfalcon.us/Russia%20In%20World%20War%202.htm)
The fighting in Stalingrad was reduced to an endless series of small battles for every street, every building, every floor, and sometimes for every room in a building. Some key positions in Stalingrad changed hands up to 15 times during the battle, with terrible bloodshed. The Russians had an advantage in night fighting among the ruined buildings and factories, sometimes using just knives or grenades instead of guns. The ruined city was a perfect killing zone for a large number of snipers, of both sides, including the head of the German army’s sniper school, who was sent to Stalingrad to hunt the Russian snipers and was killed by one of them. (Id.)
The average life expectancy of a reinforcement soldier entering the fighting in Stalingrad was as low as 24 hours! Whole units were sacrificed in Stalingrad’s desperate defense. One Russian unit that perhaps sacrificed the most human life was the elite 13th Guards division. These soldiers were sent across the Volga into Stalingrad just in time to repel a German attack, and 30 percent of the 10,000 warriors of the 13th division were killed in the first 24 hours of their arrival. Of the 10,000, only 320 survived the battle of Stalingrad, a horrible 97 percent death rate. But, they saved Stalingrad in the most critical moment. (Id.)
It’s important to note that Hitler’s initial directive did not demand the occupancy of the city of Stalingrad. The military objective would have been achieved if the Wehrmacht was “…to reach Stalingrad itself, or at least to cover it with heavy artillery, so that it will no longer be an industrial or transportation center.” (Id.)The German army achieved this objective with minimal losses on the first day of the battle. It was the stubborn attempt to occupy the city itself to the last, and later Hitler’s refusal to retreat from Stalingrad, that cost him his entire southern campaign. Once his forces entered the city, Hitler became obsessed with occupying Stalingrad, and remained obsessed with it despite the advice of his generals, until the large German force in and near Stalingrad was destroyed. (Id.)
The Russians counterattacked on November 19, 1942. Germans, commanded directly by Hitler, failed to protect their flanks and became surrounded. In addition, like in the battle of Moscow a year before, the harsh Russian winter returned, sharply reducing the German army’s mobility and observation capabilities. By late January 1943, 20 months after the invasion, Field Marshall Paulus and the German Sixth Army, consisting of 100,000 German soldiers, surrendered and Operation Barbarossa had been defeated. (Id.)
On February 2, 1943, the last German resistance ended. Hitler was furious. He accused von Paulus and Hermann Göring, commander of the air force, for the tremendous losses, instead of blaming himself. The Germans lost almost 150,000 soldiers, and 91,000 more were captured by the Russians. Together with the losses of their Romanian and Italian allies, the German side lost about 300,000 soldiers. The Russians lost 500,000 soldiers and civilians. (Id.)
There are several songs about the Battle of Stalingrad. Interestingly, they were written and recorded by European bands several generations after World War II. It is also interesting to note the comments about the songs on YouTube where Germans and Russians throw angry diatribes at each other.
“Stalingrad,” by Nightingale, a Swedish band (2004) gives a description from the point of view of the German soldier. (https://youtu.be/nwB8A0xo9ZI)
The memories remain from when I was alive
All I used to be is buried in the snow.
I lie there all alone far away from home,
I fought until the end, with nothing to defendAnd we were told that we were heroes
Not to be defeated
We found it out the hard way, they all lied
I can see the few remaining dying all around me
And none of them will go to heavenLet me take you back to where it began
Remind you of the pain gathered here todayI was young, the road before me wide and never-ending
Heading for a life of you and me
The days of joy, the tears of laughter
Echoes here forever.
The time had come to prove I was a man.One of a million marching into a certain grave
I made the war my enemy, no glory to the brave
If only I could find, a way to ease my mind
Leave all this pain behind.
Why I am here? Tell me why!The world I knew was out of reach
Reality was under siege
The innocent was torn apart
In this hell out there; we were dying one by oneFar away from the battlefield
By the choices made our fate was sealed
The visions of a mind insane
Is to blame for this massacre in vainNever to retreat
Never say surrender
The winter and the cold
The invincible defender
They had the nation and Mother Nature on their sideI was told I’d be a hero
I would be rewarded
But I don’t see the stone upon my grave
Now I am just a lonely spirit
Trapped inside a nightmare
The souls of all I’ve killed won’t let me go
“Stalingrad,” by Accept, a German band was written by Peter Baltes, Mark Tornillo, and Wolf Hoffmann (2012). (https://youtu.be/4nqhGCd8kus)
Out along the Volga
Minds set to kill
Men standing ground with iron willDeathmatch approaching
Evil in stride
Never giving quarter to the other sideGunfire and bloodshed
Shredding flesh and bone
As young men die in the killing zoneThrough streets and factories
Fighting hand to hand
Be prepared to die for the MotherlandSo hungry, so cold
But there can be no surrender
For creed and pride, take hold
Blood is the cry, we’ll do or die
For Stalingrad
Stalingrad
It’s the battle of StalingradTwo soldiers dying
Battered and blind
Enemies no more they’ve come to findMission forgotten
Now brothers in death
They hold each other abreast to the final breathSo hungry, so cold
But there can be no surrender
For creed and pride, take hold
So hungry, so cold
We’re only following orders
We gave our hearts and souls
Brothers we fight, frozen in time
In Stalingrad
Stalingrad
Frozen in time
Stalingrad
Yeah all brothers we fightThe battle of Stalingrad…
The lyrics for “Stalingrad,” by Sabaton, a Swedish band, were written Joakim Broden. (2005) (https://youtu.be/UMI1g8dovQ0)
Fresh from Moscow
Over Volga came to comrades aid
City in despair
Almost crushed by the Führer’s armyOh, it’s colder than Hell
Hitler’s forces advancingThe sound of the mortars
The music of death
A grand symphonySee your friends fall hear them
Pray to the god your country denies
Every man dies alone and when your
Time comes you will know that it’s timeStalin’s fortress on fire
Is this madness or HellThe sound of the mortars
The music of death
We’re playing the devil’s symphony
Our violins are guns conducted from HellOh Stalingrad
MratnimiatAre you playing?
Do you follow the conductors lead?
No one knows you
No one cares about a single violinPlay the score of the damned
Know the devil within
After the Stalingrad debacle, the Germans were in general retreat on the eastern front. They decided to try one last desperate attempt to halt the Red Army, at Kursk, in the Ukraine. On July 4, 1943, the Battle of Kursk, the greatest tank battle of World War II and the last major German offensive in the east, began. The battle involved two million troops and 6,000 tanks. The Germans were soundly defeated. Thanks to their “Lucy” spy network, which operated in high ranking sources in Germany via Switzerland, the Russians didn’t just expect the German attack, they knew all about it. And, they set a trap. http://greyfalcon.us/Russia%20In%20World%20War%202.htm)
After the Battle of Kursk, the war on the eastern front was a long Russian advance, in which the Russian army returned to all the territory it lost to the Germans, conquered all of Eastern Europe, and reached all the way to Germany and ultimately to Berlin where they met the American and British troops coming from the west. The Germans could no longer attack or stop the Russian advance, and were just pushed back in a long retreat.
The song “Stalin Wasn’t Stallin’,” was written by Willie Johnson, leader of the Golden Gate Quartet (1943) and sung by the Golden Gate Quartet. It is a humorous look at how the Russians turned Hitler around and changed the direction of the war. (https://youtu.be/C5uRgmCqpoY)
Stalin wasn’t stallin’
When he told the beast of Berlin
That they’d never rest contented
Till they had driven him from the landSo he called the Yanks and English
And proceeded to extinguish
The Fuhrer and his vermin
This is how it all beganNow the devil, he was readin’
In the Good Book one day
How the Lord created Adam
To walk the righteous wayAnd it made the devil jealous
He turned green up to his horns
And he swore by things unholy
And he made one of his ownSo he packed two suitcases
Full of grief and misery
And he caught the Midnight Special
Going down to GermanyThen he mixed his lies and hatred
With fire and brimstone
Then the devil sat upon it
That’s how Adolf was bornNow Adolf got the notion
That he was the master race
And he swore he’d bring new order
And put mankind in its placeSo he set his scheme in motion
And was winnin’ everywhere
Until he up and got the notion
For to kick that Russian bearStalin wasn’t stallin’
When he told the beast of Berlin
That they’d never rest contented
Till they had driven him from the landSo he called the Yanks and English
And proceeded to extinguish
The Fuhrer and his vermin
This is how it all beganYes, he kicked that noble Russian
But it wasn’t very long
Before Adolf got suspicious
That he had done somethin’ wrong‘Cause that bear grabbed the Fuhrer
And gave him an awful fight
Seventeen months he scrapped the Fuhrer
Tooth and claws, day and nightThen that bear smacked the Fuhrer
With a mighty armored paw
And Adolf broke all records
Runnin’ backwards to KharkovThen Goebbels sent a message
To the people everywhere
That if they couldn’t help the Fuhrer
God, don’t help that Russian bearStalin wasn’t stallin’
When he told the beast of Berlin
That they’d never rest contented
Till they had driven him from the landSo he called the Yanks and English
And proceeded to extinguish
The Fuhrer and his vermin
This is how it all beganThen this bear called on his buddy
The noble fighting Yank
And they sent the Fuhrer runnin’
With their ships and planes and tanksNow the Fuhrer’s havin’ nightmares
‘Cause the Fuhrer knows darn well
That the devil’s done wrote the welcome
On his residence in hellStalin wasn’t stallin’
When he told the beast of Berlin
That they’d never rest contented
Till they had driven him from the landSo he called the Yanks and English
And proceeded to extinguish
The Fuhrer and his vermin
This is how it all began