Editing Battle of Stalingrad (section)

===Initial attack===
{{See also|Bombing of Stalingrad}}
[[File:German Summer Offensive, 24 July-18 November.PNG|thumb|upright=1.3|The German advance to Stalingrad between 24 July and 18 November]]
German forces first clashed with the [[Stalingrad Front]] on 17 July on the distant approaches to Stalingrad, in the bend of the [[Don (river)|Don]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ziemke |first=Earl F. |author-link=Earl F. Ziemke |url=https://history.army.mil/html/books/030/30-5-1/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111190413/http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/030/30-5-1/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 January 2012 |title=Stalingrad to Berlin: The German Defeat in the East |publisher=Office of the Chief of Military History |year=1968 |pages=37–38 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Петрович |first=Трут Владимир |date=2018 |title=Особенности тактики ведения боевых действий советских войск в период Сталинградской битвы |url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/osobennosti-taktiki-vedeniya-boevyh-deystviy-sovetskih-voysk-v-period-stalingradskoy-bitvy |journal=Вестник Волгоградского государственного университета. Серия 4: История. Регионоведение. Международные отношения |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=13–25 |issn=1998-9938}}</ref> A significant clash in the early stages of the battle was [[Battle of Kalach|fought at Kalach]], in which "We had had to pay a high cost in men and material&nbsp;... left on the Kalach battlefield were numerous burnt-out or shot-up German tanks."{{sfn|Adam|Ruhle|2015|pp=33–34, 39–40}} Military historian [[David Glantz]] indicated that four hard-fought battles – collectively known as the Kotluban Operations – north of Stalingrad, where the Soviets made their greatest stand, decided Germany's fate before the Nazis ever set foot in the city itself, and were a turning point in the war.<ref name="Deadliest Battle-2011">{{cite episode |title=Deadliest Battle |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/deadliest-battle-program-trascript/665/ |series=Secrets of The Dead |network=PBS |date=11 November 2011 |season=10 |number=9 |type=transcript |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160202160315/https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/deadliest-battle-program-trascript/665/ |archive-date=2016-02-02}}</ref> Beginning in late August and lasting into October, the Soviets committed between two and four armies in hastily coordinated and poorly controlled attacks against the Germans' northern flank. The actions resulted in over 200,000 Soviet Army casualties but did slow the German assault.<ref name="Deadliest Battle-2011" />

The Germans formed bridgeheads across the Don on 20 August, with the 295th and [[76th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|76th Infantry Divisions]] enabling the XIVth Panzer Corps "to thrust to the Volga north of Stalingrad." The German 6th Army was only a few dozen kilometres from Stalingrad. The 4th Panzer Army, ordered south on 13 July to block the Soviet retreat "weakened by the 17th Army and the 1st Panzer Army", had turned northwards to help take the city from the south.{{sfn|Adam|Ruhle|2015|pp=28, 30, 40, 48, 57}} On 19 August, German forces were in position to launch an attack on the city.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1943-02-02 |title=1943: Germans surrender at Stalingrad |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/2/newsid_3573000/3573003.stm |access-date=2024-03-24 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hanson |first=Victor Davis |author-link=Victor Davis Hanson |title=The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won |publisher=Basic Books |year=2020 |isbn=978-1541674103 |edition=Reprint |location=New York |pages=318 |language=en}}</ref>

On 23 August, the 6th Army reached the outskirts of Stalingrad in pursuit of the 62nd and 64th Armies, which had fallen back into the city. Kleist said after the war:

{{blockquote|The capture of Stalingrad was subsidiary to the main aim. It was only of importance as a convenient place, in the bottleneck between Don and the Volga, where we could block an attack on our flank by Russian forces coming from the east. At the start, Stalingrad was no more than a name on the map to us.{{sfn|Clark|2011|p=157}} }}

The Soviets had enough warning of the German advance to ship grain, cattle, and railway cars across the Volga out of harm's way. This "harvest victory" left the city short of food even before the German attack began. Before the ''[[German Army (Wehrmacht)|Heer]]'' reached the city itself, the ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' had cut off shipping on the Volga. In the days between 25 and 31 July, 32 Soviet ships were sunk, with another nine crippled.{{sfn|Bergström|2007|p=69}}

''Generaloberst'' [[Wolfram von Richthofen]]'s ''[[Luftflotte 4]]'' dropped some 1,000 tons of bombs on 23 August, with the aerial attack on Stalingrad being the most single intense aerial bombardment at that point on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]],<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Rees |first1=Laurence |url=https://archive.org/details/warofcenturywhen0000rees |title=The War of the Century: When Hitler Fought Stalin |publisher=BBC Books |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-563-38477-9 |pages=142 |language=en}}</ref> and the heaviest bombing raid that had ever taken place on the Eastern Front.<ref name="Jones-2011">{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Michael |title=Total War: From Stalingrad to Berlin |publisher=John Murray |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-84854-246-4 |location=London |pages=36 |language=en}}</ref> At least 90% of the city's housing stock was obliterated as a result.<ref name="The National WWII Museum | New Orleans-2022">{{Cite web |date=2022-09-09 |title=Unsung Witnesses of the Battle of Stalingrad |url=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/unsung-witnesses-battle-stalingrad |access-date=2023-01-02 |website=The National WWII Museum {{!}} New Orleans |language=en}}</ref> The [[Stalingrad Tractor Factory]] continued to turn out [[T-34 tank]]s up until German troops burst into the plant. The [[369th (Croatian) Reinforced Infantry Regiment]] was the only non-German unit selected by the ''Wehrmacht'' to enter Stalingrad city during assault operations, with it fighting as part of the [[100th Jäger Division (Wehrmacht)|100th Jäger Division]].

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-B22081, Russland, Kampf um Stalingrad, Luftangriff.jpg|thumb|left|Smoke over the city center after aerial bombing by the German [[Luftwaffe]] on the central station]]

[[Georgy Zhukov]], who was deputy commander-in-chief and commander of Stalingrad's defence during the battle, noted the importance of the battle, stating that:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chaney |first=Otto Preston |url=https://archive.org/details/zhukov0000chan/mode/1up |title=Zhukov |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |year=1971 |isbn=9780806144603 |pages=216 |language=en}}</ref>{{blockquote|It was clear to me that the battle for Stalingrad was of the greatest military and political significance. If Stalingrad fell, the enemy command would be able to cut off the south of the country from the center. We could lose the Volga{{snd}}the important water artery, along which a large amount of goods flowed from the Caucasus.}}Stalin rushed all available troops to the east bank of the Volga, some from as far away as [[Siberia]]. Regular river ferries were quickly destroyed by the Luftwaffe, which then targeted troop barges being towed slowly across by tugs.{{sfn|Craig|1973|pp=25, 48}} It has been said that Stalin prevented civilians from leaving the city in the belief that their presence would encourage greater resistance from the city's defenders.{{sfn|Beevor|1998|p=106}} Civilians, including women and children, were put to work building [[trench]]works and protective fortifications. Casualties due to the air raid on 23 August and beyond are debated, as between 23 and 26 August, Soviet reports indicate 955 people were killed and another 1,181 wounded as a result of the bombing.{{sfn|Bergström|2007|p=73}} However, death toll of civilians due to the bombing has been estimated to have been 40,000,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Beevor |first=Antony |title=Stalingrad |publisher=Penguin Books |date=1999 |location=United Kingdom |pages=106 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Jones-2011" /> or as many as 70,000,<ref name="The National WWII Museum | New Orleans-2022" /> though these estimates may be exaggerated.{{sfn|Hayward|1998|pp=188–189}} Also estimated are 150,000 wounded.<ref>{{harvnb|Bellamy|2007|p=507}}</ref>

The [[Soviet Air Force]], the ''Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily'' (VVS), was swept aside by the Luftwaffe. The VVS bases in the immediate area lost 201 aircraft between 23 and 31 August, and despite meagre reinforcements of some 100 aircraft in August, it was left with just 192 serviceable aircraft, 57 of which were fighters.{{sfn|Bergström|2007|p=74}}

Early on 23 August, the German 16th Panzer and [[3rd Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|3rd Motorized Divisions]] attacked out of the Vertyachy bridgehead with a force 120 tanks and over 200 armored personnel carriers strong. The German attack broke through the 1382nd Rifle Regiment of the [[87th Rifle Division]] and the 137th Tank Brigade, which were forced to retreat towards Dmitryevka. The 16th Panzer Division drove east towards the Volga, supported by the strikes of [[Henschel Hs 129]] ground attack aircraft.{{Sfn|Isaev|2019|p=178}} Crossing the railway line to Stalingrad at 564&nbsp;km Station around midday, both divisions continued their rush towards the river. Around 15:00, [[Hyacinth Graf Strachwitz]]'s Panzer Detachment and the ''kampfgruppe'' of the 2nd Battalion, 64th Panzer Grenadier Regiment from the 16th Panzer reached the area of Latashanka, Rynok, and Spartanovka, northern suburbs of Stalingrad, and the Stalingrad Tractor Factory.{{Sfn|Glantz|House|2009b|pp=335–336}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-B22478, Stalingrad, Luftwaffen-Soldaten in Ruinen.jpg|thumb|German soldiers clearing the streets in Stalingrad]]
A Soviet female soldier stated about the battle that:<ref name="Hastings-2011">{{Cite book |last=Hastings |first=Max |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/allhellletloosew0000hast/page/309/mode/1up |title=All Hell Let Loose: The World at War 1939-1945 |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2011 |pages=309 |language=en |chapter=The Furnace: Russia in 1942}}</ref>{{blockquote|I had been imagining what war was like{{snd}}everything on fire, children crying, cats running about, and when we got to Stalingrad it turned out to be really like that, only more terrible.}}One of the first units to offer resistance in this area was the [[1077th Anti-Aircraft Regiment]],{{sfn|Beevor|1998|p=106}} covering the Stalingrad Tractor Factory and the Volga ferry near Latashanka. The majority of the regiment was composed of men, but its directing and rangefinding crews and unit headquarters were made up of women. Several women also crewed anti-aircraft guns. The 1077th was notified of the German tanks' approach at 14:30 and its 6th Battery, dominating the Sukhaya Mechatka ravine, claimed the destruction of 28 German tanks. Later that day, its 3rd Battery on the road between Yerzovka and Stalingrad, saw particularly intense fighting against the 16th Panzer, reportedly fighting "shot for shot."{{sfn|Beevor|1998|p=108}} Two women were decorated for their actions that day, and the regiment's report praised the "exceptional steadfastness and heroism" of the women soldiers. The regiment lost 35 guns, eighteen killed, 46 wounded, and 74 missing on 23 and 24 August. The 16th Panzer Division's history mentioned its encounter with the regiment, claiming the destruction of 37 guns, and the unit's surprise that its opponents had in part included women.{{Sfn|Isaev|2019|pp=179–180}}{{sfn|Beevor|1998|p=108}}

In the early stages of the battle, the NKVD organised poorly armed "Workers' [[militia]]s" similar to those that had defended the city [[Battle of Tsaritsyn|twenty-four years earlier]], composed of civilians not directly involved in war production for immediate use in the battle. The civilians were often sent into battle without rifles.{{sfn|Beevor|1998|p=109}} Staff and students from the local technical university formed a "tank destroyer" unit. They assembled tanks from leftover parts at the tractor factory. These tanks, unpainted and lacking gun-sights, were driven directly from the factory floor to the front line. They could only be aimed at [[point-blank range]] through the bore of their gun barrels.{{sfn|Beevor|1998|p=110}} Chuikov later remarked that soldiers approaching the battle would say "We are entering hell", but after one or two days, they said "No, this isn't hell, this is ten times worse than hell".<ref name="Hastings-2011" />

By the end of August, Army Group South (B) had finally reached the Volga, north of Stalingrad. Another advance to the river south of the city followed, while the Soviets abandoned their [[Rossoshka]] position for the inner defensive ring west of Stalingrad. The wings of the 6th Army and the 4th Panzer Army met near Jablotchni along the Zaritza on 2 September.{{sfn|Adam|Ruhle|2015|p=65}}