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==Turning point: The Battle of Stalingrad==

==Turning point: The Battle of Stalingrad==

{{See also|Battle of Stalingrad}}

{{See also|Battle of Stalingrad}}

[[File:Stalingrad1.jpg|right|300px|thumb|German tanks became the enduring symbol of Nazi oppression and atrocities in Russia for generations.]]  

[[File:Battle of Stalingrad.PNGg|right|300px|thumb|]]

 

In the third year of war Germany began to suffer from a lack of important resources such as oil. Hitler therefore ordered the German army to take the city of Stalingrad and the oil fields of Baku in South Russia. The operation failed after the 6th German army and parts of the 4th Panzer army were encircled in Stalingrad and completely annihilated. The [[Battle of Stalingrad]] marked a turning point in the war and the Soviet Union started launching their own offensives.  

In the third year of war Germany began to suffer from a lack of important resources such as oil. Hitler therefore ordered the German army to take the city of Stalingrad and the oil fields of Baku in South Russia. The operation failed after the 6th German army and parts of the 4th Panzer army were encircled in Stalingrad and completely annihilated. The [[Battle of Stalingrad]] marked a turning point in the war and the Soviet Union started launching their own offensives.  

===Situation in the East===

===Situation in the East===

It is fairly common to describe the Nazi-Soviet War as a three-phase affair, with the phases largely determined by the degree of strategic initiative. In the first phase (call it June 1941 to November 1942) Germany had dominant strategic initiative and launched major offensive operations in Barbarossa and Case Blue. In this period, virtually all of the Red Army’s attempts to go on the strategic offensive collapsed with heavy casualties, as at Kharkov and Rzhev. In the second phase (roughly from December 1942 to November 1943) the Red Army was able to attack with great success, but the Germans still retained the ability to organize operations of their own (most notably the Battle of Kursk). In the third and final phase (December 1943 to the end of the war), the Red Army held full-spectrum dominance and the Wehrmacht could do little more than desperately try and fail to hold its positions.  

It is fairly common to describe the Nazi-Soviet War as a three-phase affair, with the phases largely determined by the degree of strategic initiative. In the first phase (call it June 1941 to November 1942) Germany had dominant strategic initiative and launched major offensive operations in Barbarossa and Case Blue. In this period, virtually all of the Red Army’s attempts to go on the strategic offensive collapsed with heavy casualties, as at Kharkov and Rzhev. In the second phase (roughly from December 1942 to November 1943) the Red Army was able to attack with great success, but the Germans still retained the ability to organize operations of their own (most notably the Battle of Kursk). In the third and final phase (December 1943 to the end of the war), the Red Army held full-spectrum dominance and the Wehrmacht could do little more than desperately try and fail to hold its positions.  

 

The closing months of 1943 marked a new phase in the war, but the men in the Wehrmacht eastern army hardly noticed. There was no operational pause, no obvious phase change, only a continuous and rolling wave of Red Army offensives - sequential operations in action. The Soviet autumn offensives put the Red Army on the attack everywhere, with Field Marshal [[Erich von Manstein]]'s Army Group South falling back in a desperate state to get behind the Dnieper River.

The closing months of 1943 marked a new phase in the war, but the men in the Wehrmacht eastern army hardly noticed. There was no operational pause, no obvious phase change, only a continuous and rolling wave of Red Army offensives - sequential operations in action. The Soviet autumn offensives put the Red Army on the attack everywhere, with Field Marshal [[Erich von Manstein]]'s Army Group South falling back in a desperate state to get behind the Dnieper River.