German defeat in Stalingrad In this section, you will learn Hitler was determined to defeat the Soviet Union and gain control of about... the Caucasus oil fields (which he desperately needed to support the 1. Germany’s German war effort). In the summer of attack on 1942, the German army attacked Stalingrad in Stalingrad. This was important as it Russia. would protect the German army from 2. The German attack while they attempted to capture attacks on Kursk and Leningrad. the oil fields. The fighting was bitter between both sides. Under the 3. Why the attacks on Russia failed. direction of Stalin, the Russian troops were told not to fall back. Every Some of the uniforms worn building was fought over. by Soviet © Teaching Packs - World War II - Page 57 soldiers during World War II. Image © ThinkStock A house ruined during By the end of November 1942, the the Battle of Stalingrad. German army was surrounded by the Russian army. The German commander Paulus asked to break out of Stalingrad to save his army, but Hitler refused him permission and instead promised supplies to keep the German troops going. However, only a limited number of supplies ever reached the German troops. Starving and without army supplies, the 90,000 German troops surrendered on 30th January 1943. Did You Know? Soldiers who were captured by the enemy became ‘Prisoners of War’ and were sent to POW camps, including Colditz Castle in Germany. The Motherland Calls is a statue that ThinkStock Images © © Teaching Packs - World War II - Page 58 commemorates the Battle of Stalingrad. Kursk The Triumphal Arch at the The Germans attempted to stop the Russians from Battle of Kursk memorial park. advancing and gaining back land after Stalingrad. This offensive was called ‘Operation Citadel’ by Hitler. The Battle of Kursk (from 5th to 16th July 1943) was one of the most important battles and the loss of men and machinery on both the German and Russian sides was huge. However, the Russians could quickly reinforce their army and replace troops as they were on home soil. The German attack on Leningrad ended in 1944, after two years of fighting. By the end of the year, all of the German troops had left Russia and the Russians were ready to attack Germany. Why did the German attack on Russia fail? • Stalin moved over 1,500 factories to stop them falling into German hands. • Hitler thought the invasion would be short and did not plan for it to last through the hard Russian winter. The Russians had scorched the earth when they retreated, so there was no shelter for the German troops who Did You Know? were exposed and starving. About two million people, 6,000 tanks and 4,000 • The German’s cruel treatment of Russian civilians led 250,000 civilians to planes were involved in the Battle of Kursk. join the resistance fighters. Image © ThinkStock © Teaching Packs - World War II - Page 59 The need for supplies In this section, you will learn Britain was dependent on importing supplies from Canada, South about... Africa and India, using cargo ships that sailed across the Atlantic 1. Why Germany Ocean. These supplies contained food attacked British and materials that Britain needed to cargo ships in the Atlantic produce weapons. Germany knew that Ocean. if they targeted these ships, the people 2. The U-boats in Britain would starve and the British used by the Germans. army would run out of weapons. Did You Know? 3. How Britain tried German forces used mines around convoy routes to defend itself and British ports. These could blow a hole in a against U-boats. ship’s hull when it made contact with them. A World © Teaching Packs - World War II - Page 60 War II mine. Image © ThinkStock The ‘U-boat peril’ German ships and U-boats (submarines) attacked these ships. At the start of the war, Germany only had 22 U-boats in the Atlantic, but they were very successful in sinking a large number of cargo ships that were bound for Britain. U-boats would attack in ‘wolfpacks’ at night and it is estimated that Britain lost a quarter of its merchant fleet in 1941. Winston Churchill claimed that nothing scared him more throughout the war than the ‘U-boat peril’. A photo of the German U-boat 534. An RAF bomber sank her in May 1945 and she is now on display in Birkenhead in England. © Teaching Packs - World War II - Page 61 Protecting cargo ships Britain attempted to protect these ships by putting them together in convoys that were escorted by large warships called destroyers. Destroyers used a device called sonar to detect the position of U- boats under the water. If a U-boat was located, depth charges were fired which would explode underwater at a certain depth. If they were near enough, these explosions could crush or tear apart a U-boat. HMS Cavalier, a C-class destroyer served in World War II. HMS Belfast struck a German mine after the start of World War II. After repairs, U-boats could only stay underwater for a limited time she returned to action in 1942. before the air on board grew unbreathable. This meant they had to surface, leaving them vulnerable to attack as they could easily be spotted by ships and aircraft. At night, British destroyers used radar and large search lights to detect surfaced U-boats. Images © ThinkStock © Teaching Packs - World War II - Page 62 The end of the ‘U-boat peril’ In 1942 over six million tonnes of British and American shipping was sunk. By January 1943, this had left Britain with only two months supply of oil. As a result, Britain produced 14 million tonnes of new ships. This turned the tide on the Germans, who began to suffer severe losses. The use of long range aircraft to detect and destroy U-boats had a devastating effect. By the end of 1943, German U-boats had only managed to sink 51 ships in the Atlantic, whilst the Germans had lost 237 U-boats. It is estimated that 72% of Germans serving on U-boats perished during the war. Did You Know? The Japanese began using ‘kamikaze’ pilots in 1944. They flew planes into US ships, killing themselves and many others. An illustration of an American World War II aircraft carrier. © Teaching Packs - World War II - Page 63 Image © ThinkStock.