It is a battle still celebrated today in modern Russia as the very heart and soul of their courage and fortitude against an invading army. On the surface, the Molotov–Ribbentrop non-aggression pact of 1939 between Hitler and Stalin gave each what they wanted. But Hitler wanted more. Extra land for the German people and the annihilation of the Slavs were central to his plan. All went well, until Stalingrad stood firmly in his way. The city’s refusal to break came at a terrible cost in lives. But if the Nazis had managed to defeat the Soviet forces and taken the city, how might the Eastern Front, and the rest of the war, have been different?
Would the Nazis have continued their expansion eastwards and what may this have looked like?
I don’t think that’s likely. When the Germans got to Stalingrad in late summer 1942 and began the months-long struggle for the city, the German military was already stretched to breaking point. Keep in mind – the battle for Stalingrad was only part of a much bigger campaign. In spring and summer 1942, Hitler had sent his Wehrmacht on an offensive through eastern Ukraine and southern Russia, aiming at the Caucasus. The goal was oil: some in Chechnya but far more around Baku, in present-day Azerbaijan. Hitler’s empire in Europe had very few sources of oil – basically limited to some from Romania. That wasn’t nearly enough to wage theof the Caspian Sea and use that oil to fuel his war.
