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The beginning of Stalingrad
Stalingrad offensive begin -
No. 227
Stalin issues NO. 227(“Not one step backward”). The order declared, “Panic makers and cowards must be liquidated on the spot. Not one step backward without orders from higher headquarters! Commanders…who abandon a position without an order from higher headquarters are traitors to the Fatherland.” -
Battle of El Alamein
The Battle of El Alamein marked the culmination of the World War II North African campaign between the British Empire and the German-Italian army. Deploying a far larger contingent of soldiers and tanks than the opposition, British commander Bernard Law Montgomery launched an infantry attack at El Alamein on Oct. 23, 1942. -
Operation Torch
Allied Invasion of North Africa. On November 8, 1942, the military forces of the United States and the United Kingdom launched an amphibious operation against French North Africa, in particular the French-held territories of Algeria and Morocco. -
Operation Uranus
Operation Uranus was the code name of the Soviet 19–23 November 1942 strategic operation in World War II which led to the encirclement of the German Sixth Army, the Third and Fourth Romanian armies, and portions of the German Fourth Panzer Army. -
Soviet Princes meet at Kalach
Soviet troops meet in near the Kalach River, trapping between them the entire German 6th Army still fighting to take the city of Stalingrad. -
operation Winter Storm
A German offensive in World War II in which the German 4th Panzer Army unsuccessfully attempted to break the Soviet encirclement of the German 6th Army during the Battle of Stalingrad. -
Conference in Casablanca
On January 14, 1943 the Conference in Casablanca opened, with President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and their staffs attending to plan the Allied European strategy for the next phase of World War II. -
Germans surrender
Von Paulus held out until January 31, 1943, when he finally surrendered. Of more than 280,000 men under Paulus’ command, half were already dead or dying, about 35,000 had been evacuated from the front, and the remaining 91,000 were hauled off to Soviet POW camps. -
The end of Stalingrad
The Sixth Army was surrounded by seven Soviet armies. On January 31 Paulus disobeyed Hitler and agreed to give himself up. Twenty-two generals surrendered with him, and on February 2 the last of 91,000 frozen starving men (all that was left of the Sixth and Fourth armies) surrendered to the Soviets.
