In August 1942 the German Sixth Army reached this industrial city on the Volga, and the fighting turned into months of street and factory combat against Chuikov's 62nd Army. On 19 November Operation Uranus encircled more than 250,000 Axis troops. Field Marshal Paulus surrendered on 31 January 1943 and the last pocket on 2 February; about 91,000 prisoners marched into captivity. The battle turned the war in the East.
Here in the story
Battle
Soviet and German veterans describe the battle for the city on the Volga and the encirclement of the 6th Army.
Here in the story
Battle
Thrown into the city, the men assault a factory and fight room by room, even arranging a brief truce with the Soviets to recover the wounded.
Front line
Stripped of their rank, the survivors clear mines in a penal unit while winter sets in and the Red Army closes the ring.
Front line
As the 6th Army collapses, the last men of the platoon try to slip away from the city across the snow.
Here in the story
Landing
Packed onto barges under Stuka attack, Vassili lands in the burning city and is thrown straight into a suicidal assault.
Battle
Among gutted buildings and a wrecked railway yard, Vassili and König stalk each other in a game of patience and bait.
Here in the story
Battle
Five soldiers turn a ruined apartment block into a fortress and adopt Katya, a girl who refused to leave her home.
Battle
German forces fought street by street for the city on the Volga, until a Soviet counteroffensive in November encircled the Sixth Army. Its surrender in February 1943 was Germany's first great defeat and a turning point of the war.
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