Timeline of the Battle of Stalingrad

Less than two weeks before World War II begins, Germany and the Soviet Union conclude the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, dividing eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence.

Germany invades Poland; 16 days later, the Soviet Union invades Poland.

Soviet troops enter the Romanian territory of Bessarabia as a prelude to annexation of the region. The move threatens German control of vital oil fields at Ploiești, Romania. Although Hitler had long contemplated war with Stalin, the proximity of the Red Army to such a vital resource causes Germany to accelerate its plans for an attack on the Soviet Union.

Italy launches an ill-fated invasion of Greece. Italian reverses on the battlefield force Germany to intervene, delaying the timetable for the invasion of the Soviet Union by a critical five weeks.

Germany launches Operation Barbarossa. Three German army groupș—consisting of some 3 million men, 3,000 tanks, 7,000 artillery pieces, and 2,500 aircraft—participate in the invasion of the Soviet Union. Within a month, the Germans advance more than 300 miles and Soviet losses number in the millions due to the encirclement and destruction of entire armies.

The last of Field Marshal Fedor von Bock’s six major offensives against Moscow reaches the suburbs of the Russian capital. By this point, Barbarossa has stalled and the harshest Russian winter in decades has decimated German armies that were sorely lacking in cold-weather gear.

Hitler issues Führer Directive No. 41, summarizing the goals of Fall Blau (“Operation Blue”), the 1942 German summer offensive on the Eastern Front. The Sixth Army under Gen. Friedrich Paulus would lead the assault on Stalingrad; Hitler sets a deadline of August 25 for the capture of the city.

Stalingrad offensive begins. While well-equipped German troops constitute the majority of Axis forces on the Eastern Front, the Italian, Romanian, and Hungarian contingents number in the hundreds of thousands. These forces are typically relegated to defensive duties, as all three armies are sorely lacking in both armor and anti-armor capabilities.

Stalin issues Order No. 227, decreeing that the defenders at Stalingrad would take “Not One Step Back.” He refuses to evacuate any civilians, stating that the army would fight harder knowing that they were defending residents of the city.

Gen. Gustav von Wietersheim's XIV Panzerkorps penetrates the Stalingrad suburbs, and that night they reach the western bank of the Volga River. Within a month, Soviet forces under Gen. Vasily Chuikov are backed into a 9-by-3 mile strip along the Volga, and combat has devolved into some of the most brutal street fighting the world has ever seen.

Gen. Georgy Zhukov launches Operation Uranus, a massive Soviet counteroffensive. Instead of assaulting the battle-hardened Sixth Army and Fourth Panzer Army in Stalingrad itself, the Soviets strike at the flanks of the overextended Axis line. The under-equipped Romanian troops defending the lines north and south of the city can do little but delay the Red Army’s advance, and the Germans are unable to effectively deploy any kind of mobile reserve to prevent an encirclement.

The two Soviet pincers meet at Kalach, a vital Don River crossing about 60 miles west of Stalingrad. The operation is a textbook execution of the kind of Kesselschlacht (“cauldron battle”) that the Germans had carried out throughout the war thus far.

Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, arguably Germany’s most gifted field commander, launches Operation Winter Storm, an attempt to breach the encirclement from the southwest. Operation Thunderclap, the proposed breakout plan for the desperate Sixth Army, is vetoed by Hitler, and Paulus is ordered to defend Stalingrad to the last.

The German position in Stalingrad is all but lost. Hitler promotes Paulus to field marshal, reminding him that no German commander of that rank has ever surrendered. Paulus reportedly tells his generals, “I have no intention of shooting myself for this Bohemian corporal.” He surrenders the following day.

The remaining 91,000 men of the Sixth Army and Fourth Panzer Army surrender; only about five percent survive captivity. Total casualties on both sides for the Stalingrad campaign approached 2 million.