Why was the Battle of Stalingrad significant in ww2?

Answer 1

It was only significant if the Germans lost, which they did. The Soviets destroyed the 6th Army, which, in turn, forced the other half of Army Group South (engaged in capturing the Caucasus and Baku oil fields) to withdraw to the north-west to regroup and form a new defensinve line. The failure to capture the oil fields cut off the Axis powers from any hope of finding a large enough fuel source to continue an effective war, essentially sealing their fate with that of the 6th Army.

If the Soviets lost, the war was not lost as they had plenty of room to retreat further into the hinterland. Their resources in manpower, tanks, war factories, etc., meant they would've enventually won the war by sheer weight of numbers.

From that point onward the Germans lost the strategic offensive. The outcome of the war was still up for grabs after the defeat at the gates of Moscow, but after Stalingrad, it was all but over. The localized battles at Kursk, D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge were fought when the outcome was no longer in doubt. The loss of the Sixth Army, men and material, was something the Wehrmact never recovered from.

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Why was the Battle of Stalingrad significant in ww2?

Answer 3

The 1st answer pretty much somes it up, but it you are looking for more detail here is some...

As a result of the battle, the Axis powers suffered roughly 850,000 casualties (one-quarter of their strength on the Eastern Front), and lost a huge amount of supplies and equipment. The Axis forces were never able to fully recover from this loss and were eventually forced into a long retreat out of Eastern Europe, after the great battles of 1943-1944. For the Soviets, who also suffered great losses during the battle, the victory at Stalingrad marked the start of the liberation of the Soviet Union, leading to eventual victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.

Answer 4

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/H51sT

The scale of the battle and its effect on the outcome of the war in that it might have changed the course of the war or one of the fronts. Hence Stalingrad changed the course of the Eastern Front - the battle involved well over a million troops and ended in the total destruction of a German army and a great propaganda victory for the Red Army.

Answer 5

Stalingrad was the meat grinder of the German Army. The 6th army was wasted trying to take the city and a lot of great military experience in the German Army was lost (Same reason the Japs lost after the battle of Midway, lose of expereance carrier crews and pilots) . The battle saved the supply road of oil from the Caucasus. Without the oil, The planes, tanks, and trucks of the USSR would become useless. This was not the first battle the Germans lost and they were strategic (BATTLE OF BRITAIN & THE BATTLE FOR MOSCOW) but it stop the eastern movement completly.

Answer 6

Hitler had been warned by many of his generals and by members of his general staff that fighting a war on two fronts would lose him the war, but he went ahead and took on the Soviets, opening his war to both an eastern and a western front.

The Battle of Stalingrad was very significant because it was really the key turning point in the war. Many people say that the invasion at Normandy was the turning point, but I think they are wrong. Hitler committed so many troops to Stalingrad that once he lost, his power was severely weakened. He took a gamble, one which would have been brilliant had he succeeded, and he lost.

After Stalingrad, the Soviets didn't just stay put and lick their wounds, they marched westward. What that did essentially is create a huge pincer attack on both sides of Germany's forces. Hitler was brilliant with the pincer maneouvers, so I hope the irony wasn't lost on him! He now had to contend with Allied forces squeezing him from both sides. It's was a situation I don't envy, and one that no one could really survive. After his huge defeat at Stalingrad, there were two options left to him. He could surrender, or he could fight to the last man. He chose to go for the latter option, eventually ending his own life in a bunker in Berlin while Allied troops sacked the city.

It's important to note that the Battle of Stalingrad had one other result which isn't always mentioned in the history books. It really broke the morale of Hitler's forces. If you read books written by Germans, both civilians and military people, you see that after Stalingrad there's a definite shift in attitude about the war. People who had been hopeful of winning stopped believing they would win, and started just hoping they would make it through to the end alive. A friend of mine, who was born in Germany, and who was a little girl during the war, once told me that the German people were so tired they didn't care who won--they knew the Allies were coming, either from the West of from the East, and they just hoped for a quick resolution. Apparently, it was obvious to everyone but Hitler that the war was over when he withdrew from Soviet soil.

I hope that helps.

Answer 7

battle stalingrad significant ww2

Answer 8

The Germans invaded Russia in June 1941. Even though Stalin knew that the Germans intended to attack, he did not put forces on alert, had planes stop patrols, etc so as not to antagonize HItler. Thus, when the Germans invaded, they made incredible gains and took many thousands of Russian prisoners.

In 1941 and again in 1942 Germany was winning. German forces got to Leningrad (today, renamed St. Petersburg). In the south, they got to the Black Sea and past the Volga River. In the center, they got close to Moscow.

By 1942, the front had stabilized along the Volga River. in the south center, during the fall of 1942, General Von Paulus' Sixth Army was ordered to take Stalingrad.

Stalingrad had symbolic relevence because it was named after Josef Stalin, the Communist leader. His goal was to keep control of the city. In a fierce struggle which continued for months through late 1942 and into 1943, the Russian and German armies fought over the city.

Late in the fall, the Soviets managed to encircle Stalingrad. The Germans at that point could have fought their way out, and in fact Von Paulus asked for directions in this regard, but he was forbidden to retreat. Hermann Goering, the Luftwaffe (air force) commander, pledged that the Luftwaffe could keep the soldiers supplied by air, which helped sway Hitler that Stalingrad was winnable.

Unfortunately for Goering and the Luftwaffe, supplying 600,000 men with everything they needed proved impossible. The Germans lost a lot of planes trying to supply their forces and in the end the soldiers in Stalingrad were barely hanging on. During the winter, the Russians were able to mobilize a shift a lot of their Siberian army units to the West and bring them against the Germans. These units were equipped and trained to fight a winter war: something the Germans were not.

Hitler made Von Paulus a Field Marshal and gave him the hint that Field Marshals never surrendered. Needless to say, it didn't work. Shortly after his promotion, Von Paulus, with no supplies, no hope of supplies, surrounded on all sides and becoming hopelessly outgunned and outshelled, surrendered.

This marked the beginning of the end for Germany. The Russian front after Stalingrad swung the other way. The Russians were able to mobilize new tank forces and armies, and in 1943 pushed the Germans back time and time again. IN 1944 they pushed the Germans back into Polish territory, and in 1945 pressed into Germany proper as Germany collapsed. Stalingrad is significant because it destroyed the myth of German "Aryan" superiority (the German belief that the Aryan race, tall, blond, blue eyed) \, destroyed the belief that the Wehrmacht (German army) was invincible (it had won all of its battles up to that point, or at least hadn't lost any significant engagements), and denied Germany almost over half a million troops it could have used had Hitler allowed Stalingrad to be evacuated.

Answer 9

In the case of the Battle of Midway, Japan lost her four best carriers, Soryu, Hiryu, Kaga and Akagai, along with hundreds of planes and most importantly, the irreplacable train crews for loading planes with bombs or torpedo. In one battle Japan was doomed. She could never recover even parity with the US, let alone superiority.

Answer 10

It ended the east ward expansion of Nazi Germany and effectively ended the war. Germany was not going to win the war nor even keep from losing, after losing at Stalingrad.