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Stalingrad : January 1943

There are few moments in history when so much was decided militarily with so intense human sacrifice and devastation as the all-force encounter between the Russians and Germans at Stalingrad. Hollywood went to great lengths to elaborate and to recreate the violence and importance of World War II battles in West Europe and Pacific implying (and brainwashing) that those battles decided the war. No, the outcome of the war was decided on the Eastern front. And among the pillars of the Russian victory, the battle at Stalingrad stands out. Yes, the battle at Kursk comes close by the intensity and consequences but there would be no Kursk if there was no Stalingrad. It is not enough to say that Stalingrad was military and psychological turning point: Stalingrad was more than just a battle, it was the supreme confrontation in an ambiance of extinction aimed at one big nation, its wealth and its culture.

I recall the event as an anniversary: by the last week of January 1943, German 6th Army was at Stalingrad reduced to two pockets crowded with starving, desperate men. Von Paulus, the commander of the 6th Army who started the Stalingrad battle on August 14, 1942, asks Hitler on January 24 for permission to surrender. The Führer replies "The 6th Army will hold its positions to the last man and the last round". On January 31, Hitler appoints von Paulus field-marshal, but this very day the newly promoted commander is forced to seek surrender terms. Of the 284 thousand German soldiers approximately 160 thousand have died in action and more than 90 thousand were sent to Siberia on foot. Russian casualties are estimated to be up to three times higher. That’s probably hard to fit into a Hollywood movie.

A jubilant Russian soldier waves the red flag

over the ruins of a building in the shattered city center.

 2009-01-25 

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