After their stunning, bloody defeat at Stalingrad, the Germans withdrew west to the Donets River in Ukraine, and the Red Army swept ahead as much as 800 km. But the Germans were still a potent force, and in March 1943, were ready to retake Kharkiv.  Map 1: The counter-attack in the Donbas Map 2: The advances on Kharkiv  Map 3: Withdrawal from the Rzhev salient Maps 4 and 5: The front in March 1943 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

After the 6th Army's surrender at Stalingrad, rapid, far-ranging mobility returns to the war on the Eastern Front, as German and Soviet forces advance and retreat hundreds of kilometres. Map 1: The Kuban Bridgehead   Map 2: Operation Star    Map 3: Von Manstein's counter-offensive    A Tiger tank near Kharkiv, 1943   Source: Pinterest. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

The Red Army finally scores two major victories in January 1943 — in the two cities where it mattered most.  The surrender of the Sixth Army:  https://stalingrad.net/german-hq/surrender/surrender.htm  Map 1: End of the battle of Stalingrad   Map 2: Operation Iskra    Source: Wikipedia Photos: The surrender at Stalingrad    Left to right: Field Marshal F. Paulus, C-in-C, 6th Army; Gen. W. Schmidt, Chief of Staff; Col. Adam, Paulus' adjutant.    General Konstantin Rokossovsky, commander of the Don Front that captured the 6th Army in Stalingrad.    The aftermath in Stalingrad. Source: Wikimedia Commons.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

The Germans in the Stalingrad cauldron reject the Soviets' final offer of surrender. The Red Army responds by crushing the cauldron.  Map 1: The end of the Kessel Source: Military History Now (https://militaryhistorynow.com/2021/01/15/battlefield-stalingrad-four-maps-that-tell-the-story-of-world-war-twos-pivotal-struggle/)  The ultimatum to Stalingrad:  https://www.stalingrad.net/russian-hq/the-russian-ultimatum/rusultimatum.html  Images:   3-engine German transport plane lands at Pitomnik airfield.   Red Army soldiers attack in the ruins of Stalingrad. Sources: Antony Beevor, Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege 1942–1943. Penguin Books, 1998. Antony Beevor, The Second World War. London, UK: Little, Brown and Co., 2012. William Craig, Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad. Old Saybrook, CT, USA: Konecky & Konecky, 1973. Anthony Tucker-Jones, Slaughter on the Eastern Front: Hitler and Stalin’s War 1941–1945. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: The History Press, 2017 Sound effects by Zapsplat (https://www.zapsplat.com/).      Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

For the Germans of the 6th Army, Christmas 1942 was a hungry Yule in the  freezing Cauldron. Map 1: Operation Uranus, November and December 1942    Map 2: Operation Winter Storm: The German relief attempt    Map 3: Operation Winter Storm stalled    Failure: Luftwaffe supplies the trapped 6th Army in the Kessel   Failure: Operation Winter Storm    German soldiers in the Kessel/Cauldron   Red Army soldier writes home, December 1942    By December, the Red Army soldiers' morale was very different from the Germans'. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Warfare usually slows down in winter. Not so in Russia in 1942. The Germans launch another huge attack to relieve the 6th Army in Stalingrad. But the Red Army has its own ideas.  Map 1: The long, long German lines to Stalingrad   Map 2: Operation Uranus Source: Awesome stories Map 3a: Operation Winter Storm Source: https://alchetron.com/cdn/operation-winter-storm-ee2a434c-cf0a-4ef4-a3c3-e87d2e84c08-resize-750.jpeg  Map 3b: Operation Winter Storm fails Source: WWIIincolor.com  Historical pictures   A Panzer III on the steppe in southern Russia, December 1942  Source: Wikimedia Commons  Soviet forces in southern Russia, winter 1942. Source: Wikimedia Commons  Sources: Antony Beevor, Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege 1942–1943. Penguin Books, 1998. Antony Beevor, The Second World War. London, UK: Little, Brown and Co., 2012. Anthony Tucker-Jones, Slaughter on the Eastern Front: Hitler and Stalin’s War 1941–1945. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: The History Press, 2017 Sound effects by Zapsplat (https://www.zapsplat.com/).    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

As three Red Army Fronts move on the German flanks west and south of Stalingrad, two more attack the Rzhev-Vyazma salient west of Moscow. Is it a diversion, or is Mars the twin of Uranus? Map 1: The Rzhev-Vyazma salient Map 2: Operation Mars   Historical images Workers from Moscow suburbs handing over new tanks to Soviet servicemen. Source: Commons:RIA Novosti (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:RIA_Novosti) Sources Antony Beevor, Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege 1942–1943. Penguin Books, 1998. Antony Beevor, The Second World War. London, UK: Little, Brown and Co., 2012. Geoffrey Roberts, Stalin's General: The Life of Georgy Zhukov. London, UK: Icon Books, 2012. David Glantz, Zhukov's Greatest Defeat: The Red Army's Epic Disaster in Operation Mars, 1942. Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press, 1999. Anthony Tucker-Jones, Slaughter on the Eastern Front: Hitler and Stalin’s War 1941–1945. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: The History Press, 2017 Sound effects by Zapsplat (https://www.zapsplat.com/).    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

The Soviet high command's strategy to defeat the Germans at Stalingrad took the invaders by surprise.  Map 1: The German flanks   Map 2: Operation Uranus in action   Red Army soldiers in winter camouflage charge across the steppe   The T-34 in action in Uranus    Northern and southern pincers meet    Red Army commanders from the 5th Tank Army and the 4th Mechanized Corps meet on the steppe near Kalach, 23 November 1942. The end of the beginning.    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

The third installment describing the biggest single battle in history: the siege of Stalingrad.  By November 1942, the casualties for attackers and defenders was unsustainable for both sides. The Soviet high command, Stavka, makes a new plan.  Pavlov's House Map 1: The city of Stalingrad Map 2: The plan for Operation Uranus Sources Antony Beevor, The Second World War. Antony Beevor, Stalingrad: the Fateful Siege 1942–1943. . William Craig, Enemy at the Gates. Anthony Tucker Jones, Slaughter on the Eastern Front: Hitler and Stalin’s War 1941–1945. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

In the autumn of 1942, the German 6th Army with Romanian, Hungarian and Italian armies in support, ground into Stalingrad—a hell of their own making.  Map: Stalingrad city layout   Photos   Red Army soldier prepare to defend Stalingrad suburb   Stalingrad on fire after bombing, 2 October 1942  The Red October Factory's ruins became hiding places for Red Army defenders    Loading a Katyusha rocket launcher Katyusha from military museum General Friedrich Paulus  Second from left, Gen. Vasily Chuikov in his headquarters in Stalingrad, 1942. Sources Antony Beevor, Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege 1942–1943. Penguin Books, 1998. Antony Beevor, The Second World War. London, UK: Little, Brown and Co., 2012. William Craig, Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad. Old Saybrook, CT, USA: Konecky & Konecky, 1973. Anthony Tucker-Jones, Slaughter on the Eastern Front: Hitler and Stalin’s War 1941–1945. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: The History Press, 2017 Sound effects by Zapsplat (https://www.zapsplat.com/).  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.