Battle of Stalingrad: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 23:13, 7 October 2005

Revision as of 23:20, 7 October 2005

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With no end to the fighting in sight, the Germans started transferring heavy artillery to the city, including several gigantic 600 mm mortars. Soviet artillery on the the Eastern bank of the Volga continued to place German positions under fire. The Soviet defenders used the resulting ruins as defensive positions. German tanks became useless in heaps of rubble up to eight meters high. If they still were able to move forward, they were taken under Soviet anti-tank fire from the rooftops.

[[Soviet sniper]]s also successfully used the ruins to hide in. They inflicted heavy casualties on the Germans. The most successful sniper was only identified as "Zikan", being credited with 224 kills by [[November 20]], [[1942]]. [[Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev]], subject of the Hollywood film [[Enemy at the Gates]] was credited with 225149 kills during the battle.

For both Stalin and for Hitler, the battle of Stalingrad became a question of life and death. Soviet command moved the Red Army's strategic reserves from the Moscow area to the lower Volga, and transferred all available aircraft from the entire country to Stalingrad. The strain on both military commanders was immense: Paulus developed an uncontrollable tic in his eye, while Chuikov experienced an outbreak of [[eczema]] that required him to bandage his hands completely.