The Battle of Stalingrad.

The Battle of Stalingrad. Part of the bitter street fighting which took place in Stalingrad in the Fall and Winter of 1942-43 after Hitler's armies swept over Southern Russia to this center of heavy industry on the Volga. Although the Germans pounded the city to ruins, pushing the Red Army defenders almost into the outskirts, the Russians fought on. Violent battles raged for months as the Russian counter offensive gainted momentum. Finally, February 2, 1943, the Nazis cracked and Field Marshal von Paulus and the trapped remnants of his division surrendered. The Battle of Stalingrad was won after a cost of nearly 300,000 German casualties. Hitler's boast "We shall take Stalingrad, you can depend on that" was smashed for ever. It was the turning point of the war on the Western Front.