The Germans plan was to send two simultaneous attacks to capture the rich southern oil
field of Stalingrad. Hitler wasn't moved by his generals warnings that his armies were not
strong enough to carry both objectives at the same time. This massive military offensive
was called Operation Blue. In May of 1942, Hitler launched operation "Blue" by sending
armies A and B to sweep east to Stalingrad, south to Astrakan, Grozny, and to the Caspian
Sea. The Soviets, knowing that the capture of Stalingrad would be catastrophic for there
ability to withstand the German army, still did not move in forces guarding Moscow. Stalin
did not want to put Moscow in a position that would vulnerable to other German attacks. If
the German army took Stalingrad the Soviets would be completely cut off from their own
oil supply. As a result, the German army captured Rostov and other key cities in the
Crimean region. They were now ready to attack Stalingrad. Now July, the Axis forces had
had the advantage with 250,000 troops from Germany, Hungary, and Italy pouring into the
outskirts of Stalingrad. 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. The German 6th Army, commanded by Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus
pushed forward into Soviet forces and began to enter the city from the west. At the same
time Stalin was moving the 64th and 62nd Armies to take position eight miles from
Stlaingrad. The Soviet armies were able to slow the German forces from advancing for the
mean time. 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. The German army
also sent 1,000 planes to drop incendiary bombs on the city. Air raids s...