I.

Introduction

Battle of Stalingrad (1942-1943), World War II battle that halted the German advance into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

The Battle of Stalingrad lasted from August 1942 to February 1943. It involved the German Sixth Army and the Fourth Panzer Army, totaling about 290,000 troops, against the Soviet Red Army led by General Georgy Zhukov and General Aleksandr M. Vasilyevsky. Historians disagree about whether the Battle of Stalingrad was a turning point in World War II (1939-1945), but there is common agreement that after the Soviet victory at Stalingrad (present-day Volgograd), the German army, known as the Wehrmacht, was in retreat until it was driven from Soviet territory.