Editing Battle of Stalingrad (section)

===Germans reach the Volga===
In August 1942 after three months of slow advance, the Germans finally reached the river banks, capturing 90% of the ruined city and splitting the remaining Soviet forces into two narrow pockets. Ice floes on the Volga now prevented boats and tugs from supplying the Soviet defenders. Nevertheless, the fighting continued, especially on the slopes of Mamayev Kurgan and inside the factory area in the northern part of the city.<ref>Battle for Stalingrad: the 1943 Soviet General Staff study. (1990). Choice Reviews Online, 27(05), pp. 27-2848-27-2848.</ref> From 21 August to 20 November, the German 6th Army lost 60,548 men, including 12,782 killed, 45,545 wounded and 2,221 missing.<ref name="Archived copy">{{cite web |url=http://ww2stats.com/cas_ger_okh_dec42.html |title=Heeresarzt 10-Day Casualty Reports per Army/Army Group, 1942 |access-date=17 December 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130531133930/http://ww2stats.com/cas_ger_okh_dec42.html |archive-date=31 May 2013}}</ref> Fighting for the Volga banks has been noted as the "most concentrated and ferocious fighting in perhaps the whole war".{{sfn|Werth|1946|pp=|p=206}}