Stalingrad: Deadly Battle of WWII

Stalingrad (known, since 1961, as Volgograd), was under siege by the German Sixth Army. The great city northeast of the Black Sea, on the Volga River, was the scene of the deadliest battle in military history. Historians estimate nearly 2 million people died before the fighting was over in early 1943.

Why did so many people perish? They were sacrificed in a 5-month battle of wills between Hitler (who believed he, and his Army, were invincible) and Stalin (for whom the city, founded in 1589 as Tsaritsyn, had been renamed in 1925.)

They were sacrificed even though Hitler and Stalin had agreed to a secret Non-Aggression Pact on August 23, 1939. (Follow the links to see the signed original and the signing ceremony. Legend records Hitler's reaction to the agreement: "I've got them!")

The battle for Stalingrad (this Russian link is a picture of the city before its destruction) started at 6 p.m. on August 23, 1942. Within hours Stalingrad became an inferno as 1,000 German planes carpet-bombed an industrial city filled with wooden houses and oil tanks. Sleeping children were hurled from their beds while hundreds of families were buried alive in the rubble of fallen buildings.

The horror had only begun.