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Battle of Stalingrad
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Causes - German Objectives The first onslaught of Operation Barbarossa in 1941 had carried the German armies to the outskirts of Moscow and Leningrad. In the summer of 1942 Hitler's main target was the oil fields of the Caucasus – their capture would deprive the Russians of their fuel supply as well as give the Germans a shorter supply line. Simultaneously the German Sixth Army was ordered to take Stalingrad; a long urban strip strung out along the west bank of the Volga. If this was done successfully Stalingrad would serve as an anchor to the Northern flank of the larger German drive into the Caucasus oil fields and control of the city of Stalingrad would have cut Soviet transport links with Southern Russia via the Vulga River. Why Stalingrad? Hitler was determined to capture it as it was a major manufacturing centre and the key to the communications system of southern Russia, it also became an obsession of his because it simply had Stalin’s name in it. In German hands it would block Russian attempts to destroy German armies between the Don and Caucasus. But Stalin was equally determined to defend it, not least as it bore his name. His order was read out to every Soviet soldier - 'Not a step backwards!' By July 1942 the oil fields seemed to be at Hitler's mercy.
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