This Day in WWII: Stalingrad (Monday and Tuesday) -- join the fun

[Brooke]

February's "This Day in WWII" will feature the Battle of Stalingrad, which ended in early February, 1943.

It was the bloodiest single battle in history, with an estimated combined total of two million casualties.  It was the largest single battle of WWII, with over two million soldiers, 25,000 artillery pieces, 2000 tanks, and 2000 aircraft.  It was a turning point in WWII, where the German forces were turned back in the east.

We will run it on:
-- February 1st at 10 pm Eastern Time in Special Events II Arena.
-- and February 2nd at 8 pm UK/3 pm ET in Special Events II Arena.

Please join us to commemorate the battle, and please help us get the word out among your pals, squad mates, and players in the Main Arenas.

All are welcome, and no preparation is needed before showing up and having fun.  You can also show up for just part of the battle in case you can't make it at the start or can't stay the whole time.

More details on the setup are here:

http://ahevents.org/this-day-in-wwii-category/battle-of-stalingrad.html

[Brooke]

One of the pilots at the Battle of Stalingrad was Lydia Litvyak: The White Rose of Stalingrad.  She had 11 victories before disappearing on a mission in 1943 at the age of 21.  She is the world's highest-scoring female fighter pilot.

[kilo2]

For the motherland comrades! 

[715]

Two million soldiers and two million casualties?  Yikes!  Not good odds.

[Brooke]

Two million soldiers and two million casualties?  Yikes!  Not good odds.

The number of soldiers fighting at any one time topped out at about 2 million, but there were more than 2 million over the whole time course of the battle.  So, the casualty rate of all participants was not 100% -- but it was extremely high.  The German 6th Army was wiped out.  One of the Soviet armies had a casualty rate of 75%, I think.

[IronDog]

I think Kursk also ranked high in the number of participants.Stalingrad was a clinic on how to flank an enemy.Three satellite countries covering the Germans northern flank.They had to put the Italians in the middle to keep the Hungarians and Romanians from fighting each other!

[Bravo80]

      Not to be technical, but the bloodiest battle in WWII was "The Battle for Moscow", I know that because I lost a bet over it believing that "The Battle for Stalingrad" was.

[oakranger]

"POANHA - MATb 3OBET!"   

In translation-- "Mother Russia demands your help"

[Brooke]

      Not to be technical, but the bloodiest battle in WWII was "The Battle for Moscow", I know that because I lost a bet over it believing that "The Battle for Stalingrad" was.

Could be -- they were both huge, bloody battles.  The references I looked at had Stalingrad edging out Moscow for most combined casualties (including soldiers removed from battle due to illness in addition to wounds), but I didn't do an exhaustive search.

[Brooke]

Just a reminder that this one runs twice:

Monday at 10 pm Eastern Time in Special Events II.
Tuesday at 8 pm UK time (3 pm ET) in Special Events II.

[Bravo80]

Well Brooke, if you find it, let me know.  I'd love to get my 20 bucks back.  I hate loosing bets with lawyers, lol.

[Brooke]

Well Brooke, if you find it, let me know.  I'd love to get my 20 bucks back.  I hate loosing bets with lawyers, lol.

I was going by the Wiki entries, which took the stats from seemingly credible references:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Moscow

[Brooke]

Well Brooke, if you find it, let me know.  I'd love to get my 20 bucks back.  I hate loosing bets with lawyers, lol.

I was going by the Wiki entries, which took the stats from seemingly credible references:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Moscow

[Brooke]

The fun starts tomorrow (Monday)!  (Then again on Tuesday for the European time slot.)

Hope to see a bunch of you there.

[Brooke]

This Day in WWII, in February, 1943, the Battle of Stalingrad was coming to an end.

It was the bloodiest single battle in history and a major turning point in WWII.

Please join us today at 10 pm Eastern Time in Special Events II to commemorate This Day in WWII.

All are welcome.  No preparation is necessary, but if you do want more details on the event, more info is here:
http://ahevents.org/this-day-in-wwii-category/battle-of-stalingrad.html