Left:
Pavlov's House. By Unknown - Russian State Military Archive, Public
Domain. Right: Yakov Pavlov, By Soviet military photographer - Public
Domain
The
Battle of Stalingrad might be one of the best-known battles of WWII.
The siege of the city that lasted from 23rd of August, 1942 to the 2nd
of February, 1943 saw several power shifts between confronted sides. The
Soviets declared it their definitive mission to withstand the Axis push
at Stalingrad ― the city that bore the name of their leader, Joseph
Stalin. Hitler saw the symbolic potential too and insisted on capturing
the city, no matter the cost. Street fights raged for months while
snipers scanned the devastated landscape in search of any sign of life.
Every house was a battleground. Apartment buildings were taken and lost
by storm, in a matter of hours, even minutes. Life lost all value on the
streets of Stalingrad as the Soviets believed in their superior numbers
and pushed forward, losing hundreds of thousands of soldiers. On the
strategic chessboard, those were the days when it was all or nothing.
