Most Important Battles Challenge (5)

The Battle of StalingradYear: 480 BCArmies: Germany and other Axis Nations (Friedrich Paulus) vs. Soviet Union (Vasily Chuikov) The BattleWhat started a small battle led to the most important battle of World War 2. In 1942, the German 6th Army made up of 270,000 men was sent to attack Stalingrad, a Soviet city named after the nation's leader near the Volga River. The small amount of Soviet defenders did their best to stop the German army and soon the city was deadlocked for months. German and Soviet troops fought around the wreckage of the city. Soon the Germans and Soviets had millions of troops in and around the city.By late 1942, the Soviets launched Operation Uranus which was an operation involving massive amounts of soldiers surrounding the Axis troops. The German commander, General Friedrich Paulus, asked Adolf Hitler allow a withdrawal, but Hitler refused. The Luftwaffe (German air force) tried to re-supply the 6th Army from the air, but failed. Two German Panzer divisions under the command of General Erich von Manstein were sent to try to breakthrough the Soviet troops, but failed. Eventually, the 6th Army was forced to surrender. Had the Germans won?If the Germans won, they would have won a great victory against the Soviets. Most Soviet oil fields are in the south near Stalingrad and if the Volga is captured then the Soviets would be unable to transport their oil up the river. The Soviets would lose a very valuable resource to the German war machine. This is because the oil field ins the caucuses would be guaranteed to be taken as the Germans in the south could focus their efforts there. The Germans could also set up on a defensive line on the bank of the Volga in case of counter attacks by the Red Army (so they might fail instead win when they launched their counter attack.The Germans would likely then continue their campaign in the south, further spread out Soviet forces as they moved on which would contribute to the campaigns in the north and the center. This means the USSR would have a major problem and if the Germans capture Stalingrad, Leningrad, and Moscow, then this likely would have led to the Soviet surrender.What happens after the USSR's surrender. The Germans take the land they want in the Soviet Union, mostly eastern Russian to get the important Ukraine, Crimea, Belarus, and the Baltic States. this was he could get resources to fuel his great empire. Death camps might be built in the new German territory leading to the genocide of people that the Nazis considered enemies.All attention in war would turn to the west, where the Germans would no doubt reinforce the garrisons defending the new Atlantic Wall (a series of fortifications along the coast of western and northern Europe). This would make Allied military actions to invade Europe impossible, as they would not be succesful. The Germans would then put more money into their air force, navy, and the science departments.The Luftwaffe and the German Navy would have more aircraft and ships to taken on the Allied ships and the V-2 rockets would be built to bomb Britain. This might lead to the possible construction of the nuclear rockets. Bombing Britain with an atomic warhead would be devastating leading to either Britain's surrender or atomic warfare. If Britain surrender, then the United States has to rely on building up the military in Africa (from Vichy France and Italian territory) to continue further operations.Britain may not surrender due to the arrival of the United States' own atomic project. This would mean a deadly time of war between the Allies with their atomic bombs and the Axis with theirs, possibly leading to the destruction of all of Europe and even the world. Sources1. http://en.wikipedia.org...2. http://en.wikipedia.org...3. http://en.wikipedia.org...http://www.youtube.com...