The Battle of Stalingrad Every Week with Maps

[@WorldWarTwo]

Play Call of War for free on PC, Android or iOS: 💥 callofwar.onelink.me/q5L6/WorldWarTwo Receive a New Player Special Pack, valid for 30 days only! This video was an ENORMOUS effort to produce. A big thank you to Conflict of Nations for making it possible, as well as our team: Indy Neidell for research, writing, and narration Daniel Weiss for map animations and video editing Sietse Kenter for map research Chris K and Jamie N for script writing and research

[@jonny-b4954]

Ya'll should check out the KZbin channel Tik's maps of Stalingrad. Absolutely incredible, every, single building in the city is represented to scale. It's wild

[@jerrycoob4750]

An effort well spent!

[@spykezspykez7001]

How pay2win is this?

[@agc4556]

23:32 What happened, the titles say October 9th but Indy says October 4th?

[@iVETAnsolini]

I love TIKs Stalingrad series! The maps are super detailed

[@2Links]

A whole hour of maps and Indy's narration. What a treat

[@todiathink8864]

He's great!

[@najroe]

A treat Indeed

[@Whatisthisstupidfinghandle]

This was an awesome and unexpected treat !

[@stumpe9662]

gonna get a good sleep tonight

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you Ben

[@TheEndofZombieShakespeare]

I remember once reading in Antony Beevor's Stalingrad that Paulus' hobby was recreating battle and planning maps of the Napoleonic wars. Honestly, it's easy to understand why, watching figures and arrows moving across a map is pretty fun.

[@lawrencesmeaton6930]

Which makes sense, he was clearly a very methodical organiser. Paulus was the staff officer in charge of wargaming Operation Barborossa to test for it's flaws. His conclusions? The Wehrmacht would need to defeat the Red Army and force a surrender in Belarus/Ukraine as there were insurmountable logistical obstacles past that point. He was off course correct. The Wehrmacht limped to the gates of Moscow and, exhausted, nearly got annihilated. Says something of his character that he was happy to lead the 6th Army, knowing the war was probably lost at the culmination of Barborossa.

[@SmilingIbis]

It's always fun until the frostbite sets in.

[@pax6833]

@@lawrencesmeaton6930 I mean he was half right. He predicted they couldn't go much further than that but the Axis also weren't out of the fight either. I mean, Operation Typhoon smashed the Red Army for a *second* time, and if the Germans had not overextended, they could've gone into 1942 much stronger.

[@winowmak3r]

When I was young I would take the little plastic soldiers from a RISK board game and do the same thing but for the US Civil War. It can be a lot of fun.

[@marktaylor6491]

And why playing games that do this are so addictive.

[@perihelion7798]

The scale of this fighting boggles the mind. More Russian soldiers died in this battle than all US dead during WWII, on all fronts. These maps [great work!] show movements of Army Groups, not regiments or battalions. Massive piles of frozen corpses stacked like cordwood. Grisly piles of frozen limbs, like some horrible display in a nightmare butcher shop. The dead had parents, siblings, wives, children - they were humans. Statues are raised, bands played, colored cloth and pot metal awarded to the surviving soldiers... But only after those soldiers had to drag hundreds of thousands of corpses into mass graves. I think we all want our lives to have sort of meaning, but we don't want that meaning to be a single sad statistic among millions of other dreary statistics, while our stiff, frozen body is thrown into a hole. I appreciate this episode, as it shows the massive scale of death and destruction around Stalingrad. Brigade sized units attacking and defending a single building, over and over again. It's hard to grasp.

[@perihelion7798]

@quotetheraven90 It was a human meatgrinder. 70% of the German losses in WWII were on the Eastern Front. However, there was another extremely vicious war going on in the Pacific, where the Japanese fought to the death, as did the allies. On Iwo Jima, America suffered 27,000 casualties, and about 11,00 dead, while Japan lost 25,000 dead. Virtually no prisoners on either side. And Iwo Jima is about 1/4 the size of the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.

[@hansolafsliper3113]

@@perihelion7798 like 200 Japanese surrendered on Iwo Jima, they were fanatical.

[@perihelion7798]

@@hansolafsliper3113 Brainwashed is a better word. The Allied soldiers knew about the Bataan death march, so no surrender there.

[@hansolafsliper3113]

@@perihelion7798 "fanatical" was maybe to politically loaded. Batshit crazy is maybe better.

[@NormAppleton]

You're good. I hear the meat grinder too.

[@NatoHoro]

Meanwhile, at German High Command: - Sir, we intercepted a Russian message to their whole line. - Well, what is it, what does it say?? - Prepare Uranus. - Oh Shhhhhhit

[@marcovaccari7276]

Greatly underrated

[@LowEnd31st]

What are you 12?

[@NatoHoro]

@@LowEnd31st Why u mad tho?

[@juncheok8579]

​@@LowEnd31stwhat are you, 13?

[@davidbuckley2435]

The thing I had never realised until watching this series' episodes on Stalingrad is just how close Chuikov and Yeremenko were to losing the West bank of the Volga. Zhukov really did come in at the last possible moment to save the day. Had he been delayed again it's entirely possible the city would have fallen. Not that it would have made much difference to the success of Uranus. Still, for the Soviet soldiers in the city, it must have come as a great relief to feel the pressure lift off them as victory became possible again.

[@RobbyHouseIV]

As you mentioned at the end of your post, even if 6th Army took the whole of Stalingrad they would still have been swallowed up by Uranus. It probably would have been tougher going for the Soviets but I don't see German success taking the city altering what was soon to come.

[@aaronwhite1786]

From what I remember in the Stalingrad book I just read (Lighthouse of Stalingrad), assuming I'm remembering right, when the Germans were encircled, there was an army group sent to see if they could break them out of the cauldron they were trapped in. They were close enough that the German commanders trapped inside could see them in the distance being engaged, but that was as close as their rescue ever got. Even reading the book and getting ready to watch this, I don't think I can imagine what it must have been like to be the soldiers in the battle just slogging through each day, hoping you don't die like the countless others you've already watched die.

[@ChrisCrossClash]

@@RobbyHouseIV The thing is as we know Hitler was a complete and utter idiot, but the forces trapped in Stalingrad could have broken out with Manstein counter attacks close to the city in any case the forces could have broken out if they wanted too, It was Hitlers fault alone for the destruction of the 6th army and elements of the 4th Panzer Army.

[@3dcomrade]

​@@ChrisCrossClash no, Manstein cant break the siege. The forces blocking his way outnumbered him TIK has a video on it

[@ChrisCrossClash]

@@3dcomrade I mean even before the ring was shut they could have broken out 100%

[@hmk5123]

Poland fell in 28 days. In the same period of time, the Germans gained a few ruined building in Stalingrad. France fell in 38 days. In the same period of time, the Germans had only managed to cross the street in Stalingrad.

[@janpierzchala2004]

France enjoyed support of 200,000 British soldiers and 50,000 experienced Polish soldiers. Poland enjoyed no support and Soviets attack instead 17 days after Hitler attacked. Soooo - France should have stood ground for 100 days to match the great Poles.

[@janpierzchala2004]

Also the Hell fortress fought 32 days, not 28, and the last regular army unit, commanded by Major Hubal, fought till late winter 1940

[@dartko1783]

Poland fell in 35 days, France in 53.

[@mr.nobody2515]

@@IslamistSocialist371bruh Soviets didn’t expect German invasion either. Stalin didn’t believed till the last hours

[@bigdaddyburchy]

The resource and experienced man power difference for germany between the invasion of poland compared to what they had towards the end of the barbarossa operation is a factor of this

[@raylast3873]

51:01 this is actually wrong. Manstein never actually gave a breakout order to Paulus, even though he was repeatedly queried about it. The claim that he gave the order comes from Manstein‘s memoirs, but the war diaries and communication records of the respective armies make it clear that he didn’t. Everyone wants to be remembered as having defied Hitler, but the reality at the time was quite different. Notably, a breakout also didn’t make military sense from the German point of view.

[@lasa0031]

yes, of course all german generals wanted to act like they always knew what was the best course of action, their words arent trustworthy.

[@trooperdgb9722]

Agreed. Manstein wanted Paulus to take the initiative... and presumably the responsibility. The eternal "Staff Officer" Paulus was never going to do anything without orders.. Can't really blame him, and from everything Ive read it certainly seems that any real breakout was impossible by that time. Manstein was correct that the longer the 6th Army held out, the better for the rest of the Eastern Front... One author suggested Manstein suffered a sort of "Survivors guilt" later..hence the somewhat skewed account...

[@ArmaDino22]

@@trooperdgb9722 if I remember correctly, Paulus wanted to break out initially. Hitler said no and ordered him to hold the ground. That's when Mannstein proposed the idea that he can break the encirclement and save Paulus.

[@elbeto191291]

The sheer amount of troop movements and actions in probably six months of fighting is unthinkable. And you guys managed to show it in a really simple (and tactical and strategical) way too! I congratulate you all on this one.

[@rayceeya8659]

I applaud you guys. This is 90s Discovery Channel quality work. Back before they got inundated with "reality" TV shows and "Ancient Aliens". It reminds me of the Battlefield series. I think that was BBC originally though. Really spectacular work for a bunch of guys on KZbin. Again more professional than what you see on American "educational" TV these days.

[@DragonMacer1]

I think we all can agree tat this was epic, entertaining ans also very informative document. With Indy's narration and quality work TG team put to this, this was just great.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you.

[@Publius_Staso]

Конев

[@Frankly3]

I think you should watch TIK History Channel's Battlestorm Stalingrad Series

[@kikufutaba524]

I have read most of Col. Glantz's tomes on Stalingrad. I believe you did a great service with your description of this horrible battle. Thank you for you research and fine presentation.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you Kiku

[@tonykeith76]

​@@WorldWarTwo A great great work!!! How long it taken?

[@NikhilSingh-007]

"Glantz's tombs"?

[@Qossuth]

@@NikhilSingh-007 It's GENERAL GRANT not Colonel Glantz, and everybody knows who's buried in his tomb. At risk of cultural confusion, this is a veiled reference to standard US joke question: "Who is buried in Grant's tomb?" See first link provided by google for "grant's tomb joke" for explanation :)

[@markprange4386]

Tomes

[@Якрутой-ь6ш]

Мой дед воевал с первого выстрела, Брестская Крепость продержалась 2 месяца в окружении, сражаясь до последнего солдата, мой дед дошёл до Берлина, и вернулся домой, Слава всем погибшим😢

[@dondozer]

путин = Гитлер

[@jones2005]

my great grandfather was on the opposite side, but was injured right before the battle of the city itself and was taken to a hospital in Kiew, where he died. Bless you and your family.

[@TerminalConstipation]

Imagine you're an 18-year-old Italian. You grew up near some sunny beach in southern Italy, swimming in the Med and chasing girls. The Christmas of 1942 finds you deep in Russia, getting overrun by the Red Army. And all you can wonder is, "how the hell did I end up here?"

[@basilhanas8453]

Play stupid games win stupid prizes.

[@CarrotConsumer]

@@basilhanas8453 Poo poo pee pee

[@SidKafizz]

Fascism, that's how.

[@stralabastro142]

The ARMIR was composed entirely by italian soldier born in north/centre Italy so it's really unlikely that a soldier from south italy would be sent to Russia and especially to an Alpini unit. For instance I live in northern Italy, my great uncle fought in Russia, and the majority of the grandfathers or relatives of people in north Italy fought in Russia. Unfortunately the high command and mussolini were idiots unlike general Messe and the brave italian soldiers.

[@toasteddingus6925]

​@@basilhanas8453you're from the Midwest or the south huh? Gaaaawdddd you guys all post the same sh*t

[@CareyMcDuff]

Thank you for doing this! After watching your coverage of Stalingrad, I thought it (your coverage) was so powerful that it would be worthwhile to do exactly this (collecting all the coverage in one video), but then I thought that would be too much to ask. I'm glad you found a sponsor for this.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks Mark, very glad you enjoyed it.

[@monco82]

Thank you! For me as a History teacher, this kind of material is pure GOLD! I can only imagine the huge amount of time spend in research and in animations for this to be possible. So again thanks you for all the great work you do!

[@Flying_Lexus]

I hope you know about TIK's Stalingrad series. They are very in depth.

[@Ronald98]

@@Flying_Lexus Fully agree , TIK is a good researcher

[@broyhan]

would be really boring for kids...

[@KokosNaSnehu2]

Tik is boring even for adults. His videos are mainly whining about "stupid" historians that don't see history exactly like him.

[@stevebarrett9357]

Your lecture made me wonder about the 10th NKVD division since it seemed to be important to the defense. 'Regular' rifle divisions were supposed to have 3 rifle regiments with supporting artillery (and other) units. NKVD divisions had 3-5 regiments but no other supporting units. When the Germans started to approach Stalingrad, the 10th apparently supplemented its 5 regiments with 2 training tank battalions (30 tanks), 2 battalions of commissar students, an armored train, a railroad regiment, naval infantry and some militia. While probably highly motivated, I expect their casualties were significant with no integrated artillery support. I am a bit amazed that the unit survived to become the 181st rifle division. Reference Charles C Sharp, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Volume VII. A great episode btw. Kind of a WW2 Stalingrad in a nutshell. Nicely done.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you for watching, Steve

[@raylast3873]

All the units in the Soviet OOB took massive casualties, and they often didn‘t have support weapons to speak of. On the other hand, 62nd Army did have significant artillery support, just none of it was *in* Stalingrad, as Chuikov moved it to the right bank early in the battle.

[@reborninflames2188]

Excellent. David Glantz's incredible series on Stalingrad focuses (at least to some degree) on the conflict as it unfolded street-by-street & building-by-building. But only someone with Glantz's obsessive level of detail could do that.

[@Rahel_Rashid]

You are in for a treat. Look up TIK's Battlestorm Stalingrad series. The kind of shit you'd be into. It's fucking amazing!

[@reborninflames2188]

@@Rahel_Rashid Cheers Rahell. Much appreciated!

[@Rahel_Rashid]

@@reborninflames2188 Most welcome!

[@rogerjclarke]

Outstanding work, congratulations to the Timeghost team for producing such a marvelous historic body of work.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you rogerjc, we appreciate your kind words

[@marklaurenzi1609]

Love the map work Time Ghost puts into this! So meticulous!

[@DiegoBatosta]

How so, @@jakubstanicek6726?

[@jakubstanicek6726]

@@DiegoBatosta Its the details. Depicted units, movements and frontlines, all are very approximate. The Operation Uranus for example, both north and south, some of it is actually wrong.

[@hohooooooooify]

@@jakubstanicek6726 yeah I can see that still can appreciate the effort even though eastery was a beast with it

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks Mark! The team works hard on these every week and we appreciate the kind words!

[@Partalainen]

@@jakubstanicek6726 Was your first comment deleted?

[@SKaspszak]

I have no idea how I missed this a year ago!!! This is EXACTPY what I have been wishing for all my life (at least the part of it that I have been obsessed with WW2 Eastern Front history...) thank you, bless you, I cannot be more grateful. This is the only battle my mind won't wrap fully around and a map special is the tool. Thank you

[@ethanmagnuson2988]

Once this war is done, I would love a special by the map crew showing their creative process. As a cartographer myself, I’m extremely impressed at the quality of their work.

[@goldenageofdinosaurs7192]

This is amazing work, Indy. You guys should be so proud of this channel.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you. We're proud of our audience and the TimeGhost Army above all. To have such an enthusiastic, thoughtful, gracious audience is more than we could hope for. Stay tuned my friend

[@GeorgE-yo5yc]

All this unimaginable pain and suffering.. it is soul crushing to think there are millions of lost lives behind those little moving squares on the map.

[@sonsofthewestredwhiteblue5317]

53:16 “Feed Romanenko to the pigs, Errol.” - Joseph Stalin

[@gunman47]

Well, I wonder how long this video will be, given how long the Battle of Stalingrad was...

[@jtgd]

Meh, 6 hours

[@petertiagunov5666]

Well done. By the book. Thanks!

[@devinevans5088]

This is truly an amazing series! I hope you guys plan to do more of these full map specials with other parts of the war. Honestly, it would be incredible if you did a video like this for the entire war, going through the frontline changes in a condensed version like you did here. Fantastic stuff!

[@6omega2]

This is fascinating. Thank you. It's like watching a horror movie in slow motion, from the German perspective. The Germans were utterly and obsessively fixated on the city of Stalingrad, blinding them to the extreme danger building up on their thinly held flanks to the north and south of the city. A monumental failure of German intelligence, not to have realized the enormity of the Russian forces massing for attack on their flanks. And you have to hand it to STAVKA, because what they accomplished here was brilliant.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you, well stated. Check out all our other specials too, and our weekly episodes. And tell your friends!

[@cosmo1084]

why are you calling soviet forces russian forces?

[@arthas3330]

​@@cosmo1084 thats typical for everyone, outside of past socialistic republics and those who really have russians.

[@KarlChilcott-vb6ep]

Halder told Hitler it was disaster if carried on.....Hitler got rid of him for Zistler

[@connorbranscombe6819]

@@cosmo1084Because the Soviets were a Russian empire? It’s like getting confused by the term German soldiers, you know there were plenty of French, Poles, Danes, Austrians and other nations fighting for the Nazis right? It’s the same thing. You call them Germans to keep things nice and simple.

[@cobalt2672]

I'm not sure of it exactly, so I might be paraphrasing a little, but a quote from the main series sticks with me: "Only in Stalingrad does a man know the definition of a kilometer. One hundred meters; 100,000 centimeters." If Hell has existed on Earth, this has to be close to it.

[@dexterdog62]

It’s a common misconception that Manstein ordered Paulus to break out of Stalingrad. That order was NEVER given. Paulus and the Sixth Army were never in a position to realistically even attempt a breakout. Lack of fuel was the main obstacle, and even if they had attempted a breakout they would surely have been destroyed in the open steppe by the Red Army.

[@elijahsdad]

I cannot imagine how much time and research went into this one video. This incredible amount of history has been provided to us for free. We are so lucky! Thank you, Indy!

[@WorldWarTwo]

Wow, thank you! We work hard to ensure that we deliver the very best we can, comments like this go a long way for us.

[@WorldWarTwo]

You're welcome! It was a colossal amount of time, BUT was spread out over most of a year writing the regular episodes. It was not quite as time consuming consolidating it all into one long special, though,

[@nathanweitzman9531]

Find the money for an Bagration episode. Find sponsors, maybe @Paradox if TimeGhost isn't enough. Bagration, and really the entirety of the advance of the Red Army from Kursk to Berlin is a black hole of mystery here in the popular imagination of the United States. You have a chance to put things like Bagration on a more even level of awareness with D-Day, as it deserves.

[@modest_spice6083]

Paradox Interactive could and should definitely sponsor this, but they have a track record of not discussing ANY war crimes at all in its games (yes, even the Holocaust), and this channel has its War on Humanity vids talking about war crimes left and right. So I guess I am not sure if that bit would happen.

[@WorldWarTwo]

@Nathan Weitzman and @modest_spice we've actually done a couple of collaborations with HOI4, you can see them here kzbin.info/www/bejne/fpTYln-shat8Z80 and here kzbin.info/www/bejne/fmTVZXyIo5yAqtU . If they wanted to sponsor another project like this we'd be open to talk 😉

[@kouadio7274]

When you guys posted the video I was like " 1 hr seems a bit long...". At 50mins I was like " only 10 mins left!? 1hr is definitely not long enough" LOL. Thanks again guys as usual great job, Much love to the Team ❤️ ps: You got me addicted to your new visuals I can't get enough of it.

[@criso6164]

Excellent 'Special'. Thought I’d watch over a couple of sessions but ended up watching in one sitting as it just drew you in with the detail and Indy's clear narration. Having watched this all play out week by week in the regular episodes it was good to see it all stitched together in one video. Thanks.

[@dabibibibibi455]

After watching most of the show, and there's still a lot to go, I'm convinced that the Soviet Union was the single greatest contributor for the destruction of Nazism

[@polarvortex3294]

There's plenty of evidence that supports the idea that the Soviets did the most to defeat the Nazis. There's also evidence, to my mind, that the British & Americans, combined, did the most. What works in favor of the Soviets' is the brutal simplicity of their accomplishments. You can just add up the units eliminated, the equipment destroyed, the land captured... The effect of the Anglo-American effort is harder to discern. I mean, how much did the British blockade of Germany weaken the Axis? What was the effect of strategic bombing? or the massive aid sent to Russia? And there are many hard to answer questions, in general... Like, was destroying the Kriegsmarine & Luftwaffe worth more than breaking the back of the German army? Is capturing an Italian soldier in 1940 more of a contribution than capturing one in '42? Does Soviet trade and cooperation with the Germans from Sept. '39 to June '41 detract from what they did later? Even comparing battles is tough. Compare Tunisia to Stalingrad, for instance. Way more Axis surrendered in Africa. Tiger tanks were lost. And the German air force was obliterated trying maintain an "air bridge" between continents. The loss also augured Italy's exit from the war and an invasion of Europe from the south. Yet Stalingrad intuitively seems more significant. The argument will last forever, I guess. But don't bother asking a Russian. They always zero in on their most favorable stat, and ignore almost everything else. "Who killed the most Germans?" they ask.

[@evryatis9231]

@@polarvortex3294 the soviets destroyed germany's war capacity, full stop. Germany's finest officers, bravest and most well trained men, died, in the millions, in russia. One cannot even fanthom how much effort it would have taken the americans to achieve the same results. Sure, had the allies not pushed as hard in Africa, germany would have been able to send more troops to the east. Or could they have? With how strained their supply lines there were, with troops nearing famine in the caucasus mountains? Come on, even a simple game like HOI4 can simulate this for you. Without a war with the soviets, as any allied power, you have no chance of landing and liberating europe. There is virtually no doubt, for any sane person, that the overwhelming majority of the efforts that led to the collapse of nazi germany was made by the soviets. Who cares about the kriegsmarine when the red army, numbering at its peak nearly 12 million soldiers, beats you up to berlin?

[@Bipolar.Baddie]

In terms of actual combat, there's no question about it. Most historians believe that the Soviets inflicted between 65-80% of all German casualties during the war, not including those who died of exposure, disease, or starvation.

[@senorpepper3405]

Ww2 was won on soviet blood and American logistics

[@oskr152]

​@@senorpepper3405don't forget british intelligence

[@danielnavarro537]

How a year has passed from the major Battle of Stalingrad. And from the year of 1942, the Allies won a series of battles against the Axis. And the Axis now began to face a superior enemy. But in the year of 1942, everything hung in the balance. Godspeed to those who perished in the Battle of Stalingrad.

[@hohooooooooify]

Agree completely it's hard not to see German soldiers as the proverbial "bad guy's" in a situation like this even though I couldn't imagine a war like this was for either side

[@DrJones20]

@@hohooooooooify huh?

[@Shapar95]

@@hohooooooooify how are they bad? Everyone is shades of grey. Bias is the enemy of understanding history.

[@hohooooooooify]

@@Shapar95 "unprovoked attack"

[@connorbranscombe6819]

@@Shapar95 Probably something to do with the 10+ million Soviet civilians they massacred, or the 600+ villages torched by the Wehrmacht as they marched into Belarus. 600 villages massacred in BELARUS ALONE, but yeah why would ANYONE think the Germans are bad guys in WW2? Also yknow, they started the whole thing.

[@alexamerling79]

Thank you Indy and Timeghost for this treat! These maps really do show how close quarters and intense Stalingrad was. House to house, hand to hand, street by street...This battle was the epitome of meatgrinder.

[@sonsofthewestredwhiteblue5317]

37:06 *”60 THOUSAND SOLDIERS!!* ….. *CAN YOU DIG IT?*

[@jacobmcdaniel6359]

I'm a huge fan of Kings and Generals and have been watching WW2 since about a month in. I literally giggled with glee at the idea of having the war map storytelling with Indy's narration. I frickin' love this channel. Thank you!!!!

[@WorldWarTwo]

We love you too, Jacob! Thank you for watching

[@lumburgapalooza]

5:15 The way you gave us those dimensions made it seem like you were just eyeballing it in real time on a hill overlooking the battlefield and I love it.

[@danyboy773]

What an absolute treat, huge props again to the insane quality of history content we get to experience on this amazing channel, big props to the whole team as usual 🙌

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you danyboy, we appreciate your kind words of support

[@Fem_Sensational]

“The street is no longer measured by meters but by corpses ... Stalingrad is no longer a town. By day it is an enormous cloud of burning, blinding smoke; it is a vast furnace lit by the reflection of the flames. And when night arrives, one of those scorching howling bleeding nights, the dogs plunge into the Volga and swim desperately to gain the other bank. The nights of Stalingrad are a terror for them. Animals flee this hell; the hardest stones cannot bear it for long; only men endure.” ― Max Hastings (Journal)

[@jimward204]

Thank you very much for your excellent portrayal of the battle I believe was the turning point of WWII in Europe. I have been a student of the Eastern Front of WWII for 55 years and this is the best map study I've seen to date. Again, thanks for all of the hard work!

[@Materialist39]

This makes me appreciate how truly tenacious the Soviet defenders were, often outnumbered and outgunned, but fighting literally back to the wall for their lives. I am sure it’s been discussed in the main series, but I think in collective memory the blocking detachments get a far too much attention. I can’t image those in the city needed much convincing given the existential stakes.

[@Yu-hx5jo]

Nazis were out their to EXTERMINATE the Entire Soviet population especially Slavs and Jews. What do you expect ? Ofc they will fight like hell. They were fighting for their EXISTENCE.

[@anderskorsback4104]

That's true, and when it comes to blocking detachments and other instances of extreme discipline, such measures only work if a large part of the army complies of its own choice. Because the troops ultimately outnumber the enforcers of discipline, and can mutiny and turn their guns on them if they don't feel like dying for a cause they don't believe in. It's those very existential stakes that allow such extreme discipline to work. Other regimes, such as WW1 Imperial Russia, that tried to crank up the discipline with punitive measures ended up collapsing instead.

[@RealJulWhite]

@@anderskorsback4104 Well, the soviets had order 227, which means if you run you get executed, they executed thousands in Stalingrad alone

[@mick2403]

Cant believe its been 8 years since i first saw Indy on TGW in 2014. Couldnt be happier that we're still doin world war history

[@WorldWarTwo]

❤️

[@edlee1813]

Thanks!

[@RadX_98]

The most Iconic Battle in humankind, it gives me shivers thinking of it and it’s name STALINGRAD. Bloodiest battle in history, unbeatable. So interesting and dark.

[@zeitgeistx5239]

Not really. Your just euro centric. And also not the worlds deadliest by far. The Japanese used biological warfare. And Nazi’s starved out Leningrad.

[@RadX_98]

@@zeitgeistx5239 You’re denying it’s the bloodiest battle in history? Ok .. hahhahah

[@AG26498]

@@zeitgeistx5239 it IS the bloodiest battle in history. To give you a perspective. The casualties of Stalingrad where nearly 3 times as much as the ENTIRE Western front.

[@walterfonk6287]

@@AG26498 that's a very intersting statistic, though where is its sources?(I won't deny its the deadliest battle, but 3 times the western front is too much)

[@MichaelMyers87]

@@zeitgeistx5239 The Siege of Leningrad was a long siege that was a split up into smaller battles over almost 2 and a half years. Not just 1 single battle.

[@Damorann]

I think you guys should do this format for a number of long and large battles. It is a great recap from the week by week scenario and it might give you guys more people to come to the channel as introduction videos. Great work.

[@soumyadiptamajumder8795]

On a strategic level the Soviet victory at Stalingrad marked the end of German offensive capabilities. Never again would the Axis powers be able to successfully launch a major offensive in world war 2. In terms of formations defeated, the Soviet destroyed the 6th German army, as well as the 2nd Hungarian army. The Romanian and Italian armies were also so bloodied that they more or less pulled out of the eastern front entirely, losing Germany over 1 million allied troops along with their own casualties. The immediate result territory wise of the victory at Stalingrad, was a general offensive long the entire Volga front, recapturing thousands of square miles and liberating millions of people who had been under Nazi occupation. In terms of Soviet capabilities, the Soviets learned 3 important lessons at Stalingrad. They learned how to plan major offensives in the long term. Prior to Stalingrad, the average planning time for Soviet offensives were just 2 weeks. Afterwards the planning time on average increased to over a month at the operational level, and half a year at the strategic level. Such as Kursk, which had a little over 40 days of preparation for the defense. The Soviets learned of the importance of a dedicated defensive doctrine, which was able to absorb large scale offensives in depth. Prior to Stalingrad the Soviets were desperately lacking defensive tactics. These new tactics would once again be tested at Kursk just a few months after Stalingrad. The Soviets learned how to fight in urban combat. The doctrine of Soviet assault platoons and squads was refined at Stalingrad, and was developed into a highly effective combined arms unit, which would form not only the core of all future urban combat, which the Soviets were much more successful with than most other nations in WW2, but also form an integral part of combined arms doctrine for most nations in the future. More than a little credit for this should go to Vasily Chuikov the Soviet commander of the 8th Guards army. The Soviets lost some of their oil supply as both Germans and Soviets tried to deny each other oil fields during the battle, it would take some time before Soviet oil supply was stabilized in the Caucasus region again. Obviously this also meant denying the Germans the oil supply permanently. Finally, after Stalingrad (and Kursk to some extent), other countries began believing in Soviet victory as well, and from the summer of 1943, western allied aid to the USSR increased a lot, when it was negotiated at the London protocol. Stalingrad is called the turning point of WW2 for a good reason.

[@ert8968]

I disagree with calling it the turning point for the war. The way i see it the there are only two turning point in the second world war. As you may know a turning point is the point where a something changes the direction. Lets say one diraction is axis victory and one diraction is allied victory. At the strat of the war the french and british production and manpower reserves were greater then the german ones meaning that if nobody attacked then the allied would win simpliy by outnumbering the germans 3 to 1. So the first turning point was the 1940 west front offensiv. After this offensiv the british were alone and the germans had italian, french, polish and the production from a few other countrys. The axis were winning. Now lets say the UDSSR lost Stalingrad 2 weeks before operation uranus. There would not have been a great pocked and there would have been harder fighting but the germans would still have lost some ground and a few units would no longer be able to fight. Futhermorer this was only the start of soviet offensives. Meanwhile the US and the UK were already planing the invasion of italy. So even if the Stalingrad battle would have been a victory the germans would stil loose the war in 1945 or 1946. Meaning the turning point of the war was before the battle of stalingrad. The true turning point of the war needed to be between the battle of stalingrad and the battle for britain. Maybe you can argue it was the winter offensiv in 1941/42 or you can argue it was pearl harbor, or the battle for egypt. Sometimes the thing that changes the war is one speech, one telephone call or one ship, other times it is a huge battle. In the second world war in europa i would say the turning point was at the start of the invasion of the udssr. If the germans had not invaded then rommel might had the support to take egypt and the near east. Meaning that the Mediterranean Sea would became the axis lake with only malta and gibralter being in allied hands. Turkey and spain would see axis troops everywhere and would either join them or be invaded. Of course if the germans hadnt invaded the udssr in 1941 then they would still have lost because they declared war against the usa after pearl harbor.

[@amanilov]

I never thought that an hour long video about maps would have me at the edge of my seat. Great job! Now I finally understand the chronology and that the battle was much larger than the most publicized area in the pocket near the Volga.

[@CrimsonTemplar2]

Great job Indy & team.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you for watching as always, CT2

[@premyslfiala9795]

Díky!

[@yourfriendlyneighbor-_-2898]

Imagine repeatedly telling your men "come on lads one more final assault"

[@markusvienna231]

My grandmother's brother was in Stalingrad. He survived the city, but not the imprisonment. Of 40,000 Austrians, only 1,200 returned. We don't know exactly where he is buried. His last memory is his name on a gravestone in vienna. a lost soul.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Never Forget -TimeGhost Ambassador

[@bwv1044]

31:32 "Battle for Martenovskii shop" by Army University Press KZbin channel is highly recomended. You can see there exactly how the assault looked like on Red Ocober Factory in game like visuals.

[@mukhtarsyajaratun1025]

many people doesnt realised that the Germans seem to lack success on their strategic objective contrary to their tactical success. while the Soviet may have been pushed several times managed to gain their strategic objective in later operations as strategic operations was their utmost priority to gain more and more favourable positions in the front

[@neilaleksandrov2655]

Wow this beats most documentaries on this battle.. play by play, beautiful

[@realdylanoof]

My 2 favorite youtubers collaborating, I love it!

[@stevew6138]

Yep, a map special on these epic battles is a boon to us history buffs.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks steve, glad you liked it

[@rathernotsay8185]

If you are interested in that, try TIK history’s battlestorm series on Stalingrad

[@WILLIAMSMITH-zu7uh]

I requested before that grid lines be imposed and just seen this. What an effort to show the proximity of advances, retreats and close combat. I early on got so impressed by the content and great bibliography credits it my longest viewing series on You Tube. I learned at an early age in a neighborhood of 101st Airborne veterans as well as a friends dad being a Darby Ranger many nuances of the War. A few episodes ago Indy sang an airborne troop song I hadn't hear since 1966 by one these veterans sons. He ain't gonna jump no more.

[@kennethkorri7775]

This is the kind of thing I've been waiting decades for ever since I got a West Point map book of all the major battles of WW2 after Saving Private Ryan came out and shifted my childhood love of WW2 history from the air war to the ground war.

[@brunozivkovic1304]

Congrats on 1 million views 👏

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you! -TimeGhost Ambassador

[@johnlambert2478]

Magnificent work. Things like this are just incredible displays of effort by the channel. My favorite WWII content since WWII In Color. Thanks for all your hard work guys!

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you, we are glad that you enjoy it.

[@TheSYPHERIA]

WW2 Operations maps are my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE THING!!! This is your best video yet!!!

[@WorldWarTwo]

We'll keep that in mind! ;)

[@robertm.8653]

I love map episodes! Time to play hoi4 again I guess...

[@goldenageofdinosaurs7192]

I absolutely love maps. I can (and do) pour over them for hours.

[@jtgd]

Lol

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks Robert, glad you enjoyed the maps!

[@zenon-s5x]

I can only say "WOW" .this the by far best analysis i have ever seen.

[@Mitra131]

This is the best Stalingrad movie ever made

[@raylast3873]

It objectively isn‘t. Look up Battlestorm Stalingrad by TIK.

[@Frank-jg4tq]

@@raylast3873what, the 51 videos at 40 minutes a pop? Yeah nah this is objectively indefinitely better for how much information it condenses into one hour long video

[@raylast3873]

@@Frank-jg4tq no. Just no. Battlestorm is longer but it‘s level of research and detail is also off-the-charts better. It‘s a better series. I‘m measuring how good it is, not how well it condenses the information. Not everything needs to be 10-minute clickbait.

[@andrewdenzov3303]

Excellent video. And humongous battle. Real meat grinder. 2M men. I was at the mamaev kurgan when I was 12. It’s impossible to describe how it feels.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you for watching, andrew

[@wacko031290]

This sort of content is my jam! Whenever Kings and Generals put out super cuts of their various series I'm on it! Hopefully this sort of stuff can be done for other battles as well like Kursk or North Africa

[@TheSword2212]

What do you think is better, this Stalingrad series or TIKHistorys?

[@davidcollins2648]

Maps the most informative graphics possible to describe complex actions such as Stalingrad and this was masterfully done with superb narration. Both sides in the conflict deserve praise for skill and bravery. Few wars were ever fought with such sustained intensity.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks for the kind words and thanks for watching!

[@acdcdave1387]

Wow, I didn't expect such a massive video. Thanks for all your hard work Timeghost, I sincerely appreciate this ;)

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you David, your words mean a lot to us. Stay tuned

[@BumBumTheBarbarian]

feels small, but I super appreciate the map scales shifting with the zooming in and out for all these maps. truly masterclass quality work

[@annehersey9895]

I swear, just when we get lulled into a rhythm of videos, you surprise us with something new, different or special. It makes me excited daily to see if there is a new morsel awaiting! You really outdo yourself time after time! Thanks for the tireless work on bettering product and production! World War Two and all of the Time Ghost productions are definitely the best items I’ve found yet!

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you so much!

[@antonleimbach648]

That was fantastic. I grew up across the street from a Hungarian family from Romania. Their grandfather lost an eye at Stalingrad. He didn’t know much english but he used to repeat to anyone who would listen………..”Never underestimate the Russians!!”

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you for sharing about him

[@kantemirovskaya1lightninga30]

Thank you team for all putting this all together in one episode. This was a very drawn out battle and while I really enjoyed the week to week having it all recapped in one place is really nice. Thanks again, listened to it twice so far and will probably watch it again when I get home from work

[@hermansims2296]

An old disabled U.S. Army Infatryman here. I have watched and enjoyed many of the episodes you have produced and I can say that this is the one I've enjoyed the most. Thank you so much for all your hard work.

[@WorldWarTwo]

We’re so happy you’re enjoying! Thank you for your service!

[@joelb8653]

That was amazing, like a master class. I'm so proud to be a member of the army.

[@pokecraftmaster8781]

Thank you so much for this! The Week by week one that was going on was starting to drive my head crazy with how much was happening, so a focus on Stalingrad is fantastic. Thank you!

[@brianazcona458]

What a pleasant surprise! Thank you for putting it all together like this.

[@Unfassbarer]

Danke!

[@WorldWarTwo]

Bitte!

[@jasondrew5768]

Good video Indy and your excellent team!

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you Jason!

[@michaelbruce6190]

This is the best program I’ve ever seen on Stalingrad, awesome job. I’ve always wondered what would have happened if the Germans just bypassed the city or had taken the city outright.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks for the compliment @Michael Bruce!

[@markreetz1001]

Okay, so you're telling me Von Manstein, didn't save Paules, Goring couldn't keep Paulus supplied, Paulus never broke out? What a revolting development this is! Gee, didn't see that coming!! Great stuff Indy. I didn't think I would stay interested through the whole thing but I did! Very enjoyable learning about all this at the same time. Week to week is great, but it's nice to hear it being all put together!

[@WILLIAMSMITH-zu7uh]

Like your perspective as I learned from this channel Paulus was sent to North Africa to attempt to stop Rommel's advances and supply usage knowing Barbarossa was coming and the materials would be needed- which was not shared with Rommel. Now Indy says and sites letters sent by Paulus to wife with his failure to stop Rommel and wanted to take command of Africa Corps she replied he would serve a greater purpose in Barbarossa knowing full well what Rommel didn't. Thanks Indy.

[@cynicalautist1774]

I will gladly watch all this. I often feel way out of my depth with the weekly episodes. This really helps

[@AllanGilber]

Great idea. Hope they make more things like this.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks Allan

[@10fanatic1]

Everytime I saw the week by week coverage with Stalingrad, I thought it would be a great idea to string them together. This is even better!

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

[@2lt.hyakutaro382]

"Ammunition and anti-equipment for resistance do not equipped" - Indy

[@GopaiCheems]

Yeeees! The Barbarossa map video was so great, hope this one is as good if not better!

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you for watching

[@mth469]

Soviets played on German fears of dieing in Stalingrad by continuously playing over the loudspeaker in German: "Stalingrad...Mass Grave 💀" Played continuously throughout the city day and night.

[@ericfrehlich8800]

This is beautiful. Thank you Indy and team and the Time Ghost army!

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you.

[@mattw785]

You do a great job with this stuff, please keep going!

[@razorboy251]

Good Lord what an epic video! I hope we'll get as big a map recap for D-Day and Bagration. :)

[@WorldWarTwo]

Except for simply not having the time, there is one thing that ties our hands in creating major special projects like this one- getting the funding to actually be able to produce it. It is highly unlikely that we could raise the hundreds of thousands of Euro to do a project like this one on Bagration for example. People who are interested in and study the war know of it, but the mainstream audience doesn't, and to raise the kind of money needed we'd have to have a project that appeals to the mainstream. There's also the point that covering the events of a single day plays into our chronological narrative, while Bagration covers weeks, as do many other such "highlights" of the war. Any big special project needs a format, a "packaging" that works, and a hook- for D-Day it's easy; it's 24 hours of coverage. But what would it be for Bagration? As for doing a huge Stalingrad something or other- that's big enough in people's minds, but it would've had to begin being worked on back in January (at least), and by then we had just finished the Pearl Harbor Minute-by-Minute, so realistically we wouldn't have been able to get the financing for a new special project together so quickly. Also, after working 70 hour weeks on Pearl Harbor for months, nobody on the team was in any shape to dive into a new extra workload on top of the regular content work straight away. Because that is the reality of it: any special project we do is indeed extra, and is done on top of the work we do with the regular content, which is well over 40 hour weeks as it stands. We still plan on doing all sorts of specials and extra regular episodes and things like that for all major events of the war, so it's not like we're actually leaving something out.

[@Johnnysboy3987]

"A sudden southern armoured thrust to counter Uranus" Me: woah where did this come from I was watching a stalingrad video

[@nigeh5326]

As always great work by all concerned 👍 Only issue watching was the lack of a date on the map so we can see at a glance which day is being covered. I know a few will mention TIK’s coverage of the battle and will suggest you collaborate with him but I would guess his political view would clash with your own so maybe it’s best if both channels continue to produce work separately for us to enjoy.

[@rp-hr1qs]

Or one of that feature of youtube where creators can place chapters, basically a segment, in their videos. In this video, the dates can be the chapters.

[@thebunkerparodie6368]

The big issue with TIK is it make him not credible, when he say stuff like hitler is a socialist or that the holocaust couldn't happen in a free market germany (when it could, I don't see why a free market nazi governement wouldn't use the wehrmacht, SS and einsatzgruppen to carry it out), it make me doubt his credibility in other topic (and his 5h video can easily be debunked because his definition of socialism main flaw is its too large, the state controlling/intervening in the economy mean I can include guy like pinochet in it and if zemmour was in charge, he'd be a socialist under this definition, not a far righter).

[@brenthud2170]

TIK is a shit channel that pushes political agendas instead of presenting actual history.

[@robberbarron7602]

@@thebunkerparodie6368 Tiks definition of socialism makes perfect sense.

[@thebunkerparodie6368]

@@robberbarron7602 no, the state controlling/intervening in the economy mean every contry with a state is socialist, it's way too wide to be useful and I can use it to define any far right leader as socialist (guess zemmour is one now, after all if he become the president, he'll intervene/control the french economy) and I really dislike how he use the holocaust when it'd happen no matter if the nazis were socialist or not.

[@LTrotsky21stCentury]

This video is probably one of the best visual presentations of the Stalingrad battle which has ever been presented.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you for your kinds words comrade. -TimeGhost Ambasador

[@pancakelover151]

Thanks for this amazing video Indy! I cannot even grasp how much research and hard work went behind for creating this masterpiece

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you!! Our team works hard on these episodes every week, and we can't do it without your support! Join the TimeGhost Army today and help us make more of those specials! www.patreon.com/join/timeghosthistory

[@blackgate4735]

@@WorldWarTwo now I have another favorite you tube channel. Good job👍

[@Taggerung77]

This was awesome. Thank you!

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you!! Glad you enjoyed! :)

[@andreasharatsis4739]

thank you for this version of events covering the stalingrad battle, in your normal weekly coverage i tend to forget the previous weeks chain of events, this was great to see the offensives take place consecutively one after the other!!! very pleased!!! thank you!!!😁🤓😁

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you Andreas!!

[@andreasharatsis4739]

@@WorldWarTwo it's my pleasure!! thank you for replying! i have left comments on a few sites in you tube but you guys reply!! thanks for reading my comments! keep up the good work you do i really enjoy your content on the war!!

[@raylast3873]

33:39 it was extremely important that Zhukov took his time in executing Uranus and delayed it when necessary. The previous Soviet offensives almost universally suffered from being hasty and poorly prepared, often attacking piecemeal. This includes Zhukov‘s relief attacks at Kotluban in this battle, both Stalin‘s demands and the catastrophic situation in Stalingrad constantly forced Zhukov and Rokossovsky‘s hands during those operations and prevented a better-prepared attack on more advantageous ground. On the contrary, Uranus succeeded because it was well-prepared, and well-coordinated, striking only when all the moving parts were in place and brought maximum force to bear on the weakest areas in the Axis frontline (rather than relatively well-defended areas as had previously been the case). The result was exactly the kind of breakthrough that the Germans had tried and failed to pull off during this entire campaign, breaking so rapidly into the German rear that by the time anyone realized the extent of the danger, the Soviets had already closed the pocket, and it was too late to do anything about it.

[@cecilstehelin1277]

Really interesting how the Soviets (intentionally or not) used the German’s strengths against them. Allowing the unstoppable armoured spearhead to charge deep into enemy territory and become entangled then, attacking the weak flanks. It’s like Tai chi or something, redirecting your enemies punch back against them lol.

[@aprilecotton2060]

It was not planning. It was the fact stalin was throwing millions of teenagers into a corpse grinder, even germany wasnt that evil. How could they account for this. No one in their right mind would send 1 million kids into machine gun fire without a weapon, but stalin did and won. Sad and pathetic

[@seankauder9721]

It's like a repeat of Hannibal's victory at Cannae

[@seankauder9721]

@presidenteden6498 I'm talking about the specifics of how the encirclement happened. The attacking army has a very strong center with much weaker forces from foreign vassal states covering the flanks. The defending army deliberately moves their strongest forces to the flanks, allows their center to retreat from the stronger center of the attacking force until a bulge is formed, then the defending army uses their strongest forces to attack the flanks and complete the encirclement. This is almost exactly what happened at Cannae, except Hannibal was outnumbered 2:1 and still managed to win a crushing victory, demonstrating the effectiveness of the double encriclement tactic

[@aprilecotton2060]

@@seankauder9721 remember, the USSR didn’t have any strong units or divisions. Sadly stalin had no issue sending in 8 million 16-18 year olds with no weapons or armor, dying to machine guns, to win. It had nothing to do with tactics. The germans were killing 50 to 1, but sadly they could not account for such sadistic tactics from stalin. They did not fall for a trap, they literally just got overran but young boys

[@slavikfurious890]

@@aprilecotton2060 Please, try to watch none of the films like "Enemy at the Gates" or play games like Call of Duty. It is totally fake for more hipe. Meanwhile, that time if your age is lower than 18 you couldn't get in the Red Army even if you will - first documentary check in military enlistment office and "sorry, no way, go home". If they dont check it, the chief of the office can be imprisoned by NKVD. You dont believe but many volunteers lied on his age, faking the passport just to participate in defending their motherland. People under the age of 18 were often evacuated and working in the plants far away from the front. Or were volunteers in fireman brigades (such it was in Leningrad), or were working in the hospitals or field medics. And that time nobody has any armor other than a helmet, lol. I strongly recommend to read about this battle and about all eastern front totally a memories by Helmut Weltz "Verratene Grenadiere" (Betrayed soldiers).