The Third Reich under the leadership of Adolf Hitler invaded the Soviet Union on the 22nd of June 1940 called as Operation Barbarossa, which caught the Soviet forces by surprise. The Soviet forces suffered a lot of causalities and were being pushed back on all fronts.
As per the historical records, as the Germans advanced many atrocities were committed against the people of the Soviet Union by the German Army.
The main reason for the widespread atrocities against the Soviets was due to the fact that the Germans considered them to be of inferior race and this was actively demonstrated by the propoganda ministry under the the leadership of Dr. Josef Gobbles, the third most powerful man in the Third Reich.
The Germans launched a very quick offensive against the Soviets which was a complete blow for the Soviet Union and Stalin as most of the factories were located towards the west of the country which produced most of the tanks and ammunition for the Union.
On September 30 1941, Hitler launched an operation to capture the capital of the Soviet Union itself – Moscow which was a decisive Soviet victory as the Soviets had made preparation for the eventuality. The invasion had left the German armed forces with low amount of fuel and ammunition.
Due to the loss at Moscow, Hitler ordered the German Army to capture the southern part of the Soviet Union known as the Caucasus as the area was full of oil reserves and if the Germans could capture the region, they could cut off the Red Army’s ability to conduct long range operations and the ability to use huge amount of vehicles.
The German High command ordered the Sixth army to capture the key city of Stalingrad all by itself which was under the command of Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus to capture the city which was defended by Five Soviet Armies namely the 28th, 51st, 57th, 62nd and the 64th armies commanded by General Andrey Yeryomenko who fought street by street and house by house which was one of the reasons for the huge number of causalities on both sides.
The battle lasted from 23rd August 1942 to 2nd Februray 1943 which counted about 1.2 million causalities on both sides. According to the location and the historical records, the battle was fought in a very cold climate which made things difficult for both the sides as well as the general population of the city.
On 19th of November 1941, the Red Army launched Operation Uranus which targeted the Romanian armies which were protecting the flank. The Romanian armies were overrun and the 6th German Army was surrounded. Adolf Hitler ordered the 6th army to hold the position and forbid them to withdraw.
On 2nd February 1942, the German 6th army surrendered and 91,000 soldiers were taken prisoners and sent to the Soviet Gulags where most of the soldiers perished due to starvation, diseases and mistreatment by the Soviets. Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus became the highest ranking general to become a prisoner during the war before the final surrender.
The war showed the dominance of the Red Army and the turning point during the war.