Seventy-nine years ago, Soviet popular heroism triumphed in Stalingrad.

By José Reinaldo Carvalho - Seventy-nine years ago, on February 2nd, the Soviet Red Army, relying on the unprecedented heroism of the masses, triumphed in one of the most important episodes of World War II – the Battle of Stalingrad.

The victory on the banks of the Volga against an army that considered itself invincible changed the course of the Patriotic War of the Soviet peoples and created the conditions to decide the outcome of the Second World War. Stalingrad was the prelude to the great Soviet offensive that would only end on May 2, 1945, with the definitive annihilation of the Wehrmacht in Berlin and the raising of the communist flag on the dome of the Reichstag. 

Operation Barbarossa, launched by the Nazis in June 1941, was in full swing. The main targets were the cities of Leningrad, the capital Moscow, and the industrial park in the Stalingrad region.

The Nazis' objective with Operation Barbarossa was the swift conquest of the Soviet Union. They reached the gates of Moscow but were repelled. 

The rapid initial advance turned into a slow and arduous one. By mid-1942, the city of Stalingrad had become a key objective for Adolf Hitler. The city was an important industrial park of the Soviet Union, situated on the banks of the Volga River and serving as a gateway to the mineral and oil-rich Caucasus region.

It is always good to remember that the second front of war in Western Europe had not yet been opened. The European powers still harbored the hope that the Nazis would defeat the Soviet Union, trapped in a mentality that combined "dishonor" with "defeat," to use the expressions of one of their leaders, Winston Churchill. "You had the choice between war and dishonor; you chose dishonor and you will have war," he said in a speech to the British House of Commons in October 1938, after the signing of the Munich agreements. "We chose defeat without war, and the consequences of this will follow us on our path." 

Given the lack of a second front in Western Europe and after being contained at the Battle of Moscow in December 1941, Nazi Germany launched new divisions on the war front against the Soviet Union.

The occupation of Stalingrad was a strategic maneuver by the Germans in order to once again pave the way for the occupation of Moscow. The Soviet command understood Hitler's plans and attached great importance to the battle in defense of Stalingrad. Thousands of citizens, mobilized by the Communist Party and imbued with revolutionary patriotism, worked tirelessly to fortify the city.

After bloody fighting, the Germans penetrated Stalingrad. The Soviet military command, with the people fighting, created the conditions for a strong counter-offensive. In November 1942, the Red Army launched an attack and surrounded the German forces. 

In the occupied city, mass heroism erupted; the people fought man to man, every house was a trench, every inch of urban territory was contested with bullets. In total, approximately 2 million people died during the fighting in Stalingrad.

On February 2, 1943, the Battle of Stalingrad culminated in a Soviet victory. Stalingrad did not surrender; Stalingrad won.

The triumph at Stalingrad was of extraordinary importance; it marked the beginning of a radical turning point not only in the development of the Great Patriotic War, but also in the development of the entire Second World War. As Stalin said, the twilight of the German army was beginning.

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