Stalingrad 1942–43 (1)

The German Advance to the Volga

Stalingrad 1942–43 (1) cover

Description

The first in a three-book series examining the Stalingrad campaign, one of the most decisive military operations in World War II that set the stage for the ultimate defeat of the Third Reich.

After failing to defeat the Soviet Union with Operation Barbarossa in 1941, Adolf Hitler planned a new campaign for the summer of 1942 that was intended to achieve a decisive victory: Operation Blue (Case Blau). In this new campaign, Hitler directed that one army group (Heeresgruppe A) would advance to seize the Soviet oilfields in the Caucasus, while the other (Heeresgruppe B) pushed on to the Volga River.

The expectation was for a rapid victory – instead, German forces had to fight hard just to reach the outskirts of Stalingrad, and then found themselves embroiled in a protracted urban battle amid the ruins of a devastated city on the Volga.

The Soviet Red Army was hit hard by the initial German offensive but held onto the city and then launched Operation Uranus, a winter counteroffensive that encircled the German 6. Armee at Stalingrad. Despite a desperate German relief operation, the Red Army eventually crushed the German forces and hurled the remnants of the German southern front back in disorder.

This first volume in the Stalingrad trilogy covers the period from 28 June to 11 September 1942, including operations around Voronezh. The fighting in the Don Bend, which lasted weeks, comprised some of the largest tank battles of World War II – involving more armour than the tanks employed at Prokhorovka in 1943.

Table of Contents

Origins of the Campaign
Chronology


Opposing Commanders
Opposing Forces plus Order of Battle, 28 June 1942
Opposing Plans
The Campaign

Analysis
The Battlefield Today
Further Reading
Index

Product details

Published Jan 21 2021
Format Ebook (PDF)
Edition 1st
Extent 96
ISBN 9781472842633
Imprint Osprey Publishing
Series Campaign
Short code CAM 359
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Robert Forczyk

Robert Forczyk has a PhD in International Relation…

Illustrator

Steve Noon

Steve Noon was born in Kent, UK, and attended art…

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