The German Sixth Army under Friedrich Paulus entered Stalingrad in late August 1942 with approximately 330,000 men. By November 19, those men were encircled by Soviet Operation Uranus. By February 2, 1943, when Paulus surrendered, approximately 91,000 men marched into Soviet captivity. Of those, roughly 6,000 survived to return to Germany—the last in 1955.

Why Stalingrad Was Fought

Hitler's fixation on the city bearing Stalin's name had strategic logic: Stalingrad controlled the lower Volga River, the primary supply artery connecting the Caucasian oil fields to the rest of the Soviet Union. Cutting the Volga would sever Soviet oil supplies. The operational problem was that capturing Stalingrad required the Sixth Army to advance into an urban environment where German tactical advantages—maneuver, air superiority, combined arms—were progressively negated by rubble.

The Urban Battlefield

Soviet defenders under General Vasily Chuikov adopted 'hugging the enemy' tactics—maintaining such close proximity to German lines that German air power and artillery could not be used without hitting their own troops. The battle contracted to building-to-building, floor-to-floor, room-to-room fighting. The Grain Elevator changed hands fifteen times. The Barrikady gun factory was fought over for months.

Operation Uranus and the Encirclement

Soviet planning for the counteroffensive was concealed with remarkable security. Soviet reserves accumulated north and south of the city over two months without German intelligence detecting the scale. On November 19, 1942, Soviet forces struck the Romanian armies—deliberately targeted as the weakest point—and closed the encirclement in four days. Hitler ordered Paulus to hold and promised relief. The relief operation came within 30 miles before being halted. Paulus's men were starving and freezing. He surrendered February 2, 1943.