Please join us to commemorate This Day in WWII: Stalingrad, Feb 2

[Brooke]

Join us to commemorate the Battle of Stalingrad, which ended February 2, 1943.

For This Day in WWII, we will run the Battle of Stalingrad in Special Events II arena on Wednesday, Feb 2 at 3 pm Eastern (8 pm UK time) and at 11:59 pm Eastern time (have to run it after another even scheduled that day).

All are welcome.  To play, just show up, read the Arena Message, and join the fun.
 
It was the bloodiest single battle in history, with an estimated combined total of two million casualties by the end. It was the largest single battle of WWII, with a peak participation of 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.

[Dace]

Shameless bump..

[Anaxogoras]

-- La-5FN (at a10 only), P-39D, P-40E, Hurricane IIC, I-16, Il-2, Boston III.

[Brooke]

That plane list is made up of what's available and relatively balanced one side vs. another.

For Soviet planes, here are the numbers they used overall in WWII (which includes a decent number of P-39's, Hurris, and A-20's).  Used what we could, and used a P-40 to simulate some of the earlier Yaks/Laggs/Migs.

Yak-9, 16769  (not many in early 1943)
La-5, 9920 (but have to balance, or it would be all La-5's)
I-16, 9004 (we have it)
Yak-1, 8720 (don't have it)
Yak-7, 6339 (don't have it)
LaGG-3, 6258 (don't have it)
La-7, 5753 (not in 1943)
P-39, 5007 (from US)
Yak-3, 4848 (don't have it)
MiG-3, 3120 (don't have it)
Hurricane, 2952 (from UK)
P-63, 2421 (from US) (not in 1943)
Spitfire, 1331 (from UK)

Il-2, 29937

Pe-2, 11427 (don't have it)
SB-2, 6656 (don't have it)
Il-4, 5256 (don't have it)
A-20, 2700 (from US) -- using boston iii as closest match version
Tu-2, 2527 (don't have it)
DB-3, 1528 (don't have it)

[macleod01]

Kinda shows why we need more ruski planes!

[Anaxogoras]

Exactly, I know Brooke has done the best he can.

[Brooke]

I really liked Stalingrad when we ran it a year ago.  Lots of good fighting and action, both in the air and on the ground.

[Brooke]

The Battle of Stalingrad was where the world's two greatest female aces were fighting at the time -- the White Lily of Stalingrad, Lydia Litvyak, credited with 12 kills, and Yekaterina Budanova, credited with 11 kills.  They flew Yak-1's at Stalingrad.

Lityvak


Budanova


Both died in battle shortly after Stalingrad.  They were 21 and 26 years old.

[Karnak]

If we ever get a Yak-7, I think the default skin should be in Lydia Litvyak's colors.

[Brooke]

The brooding winter landscape of Stalingrad awaits the battle to come.