The Battle of Stalingrad was a very unique battle. There were several things that

made it such a unique battle. One of the things was that the battle was fought in a city.

The fighting was street by street, block by block, and sometimes even house by house.

Another thing that made the battle unique was how it started. The Nazi forces charged into

the city with tanks and guns firing wildly and constantly, but when they got into the city they

realized that their fire was not being returned. They figured that the city was deserted and

they weren't even going to have to fight. Some took out mouth organs and others started to

dance around. Then all of the sudden Soviets appeared with guns all over the place and

German troops began to drop like flies as they were picked off by snipers. More and more

German soldiers continued to pour into the city and eventually the Germans leveled the

playing field, but Communist Russia had made its presence felt by the Germans and

everyone could tell that a rugged battle lay ahead. These main reason are what made the

battle so unique compared to other battles in World War II.

The standoff at stalingrad was also important in many aspects. For one thing, it

was a turning point in the war on the Eastern front between Germany and the Soviet Union.

It was here that Hitler was defeated by the Soviets and the USSR showed that it was a

military power to be reckoned with. The battle is now thought of as the beginning of the

end for Hitler and his Third Reich. From this point on, the Germans were continually

pushed back westward and out of the Soviet Union. Hitler had been planning to split

Communist Russia into two pieces at the city named after the leader of Russia and

eventually take over, but Stalin was able to stop him. Another thing that made the battle

important was that there was an oil field near by called he Caucasus that Hitler's troops

were trying to take control of, this plan was also foiled, and the Germans were forced to

retreat.

The USSR had signed a non-aggerssion pact with the Nazis earlier in the war because they weren't

ready, and did not want to, get invloved in the war. Hitler invaded Poland pretty easily because of this.

That event started the War, but Hitler was happy with his territory boundaries to the east, at least for a

little while. He eventually got greedy again and decided to do a blitzkrieg to the Soviet Union. It was

successful for a while. Then he got to Stalingrad and everything flipped on him. That was the beginning of

one of the most important battles in the history of the world.