“[During the Battle of Stalingrad] The Soviet forces themselves had suffered terribly. In the battle which occupied the winter months of 1942-43, over a million Soviet troops were killed.

The life expectancy of a soldier at the front was 24 hours.

Yet Stalingrad was singly the most important conflict of the war in Europe.” (Lynch, 2008, p.94).

The Germans lost 200,000 killed, with 91,000 prisoners (of which only 6,000 survived captivity), and the Sixth Army (one the most successful in the war) had been destroyed. the Sixth Army had:

• Been the first to invade Belgium;
• Took Paris;
• Took part in the invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece; and
• In 1942, broke through from Karkov to Stalingrad.

Reference

Lynch, M. (2008) Stalin’s Russia, 1924-53. 4th Ed. London: Hodder Education.