bs

slow down, but minutes later it would start again with new energy.

The fighting was continual and didn’t stop for the sun or the moon. As a result, the German army captured Rostov and other key cities in the

Crimean region. Stalin still being very stubborn, kept the bulk of his forces north to

protect Moscow from attack. As a result, Army group B moved across the Don River

north of the city collapsing Soviet forces an forcing them to retreat across the entire

Southern Front. Now July, the Axis forces had

had the advantage with 250,000 troops from Germany, Hungary, and Italy pouring into the

outskirts of Stalingrad. At the same

time Stalin was moving the 64th and 62nd Armies to take position eight miles from

Stlaingrad. Fighting now was very harsh and neither side had many gains. On August 19th, the 6th German Army was commanded by Paulus to strike

the first attack on Stalingrad, with the support of the 4th Panzer army. Air raids such as this one were

very destructive because most of the buildings were made of wood. Hand to

hand combat was very common and many battles were fought with knives or bayonets. They were now ready to attack Stalingrad. The German army

also sent 1,000 planes to drop incendiary bombs on the city. uld vulnerable to other German attacks. These attacks proved

disastrous for the Red Army.