General Paulus, as seen here, was the commander of all German forces present at the battle. As the battle wore on and defeat was imminent, he still attempted in vain to try and save his army from destruction by denying Hitler's direct orders to fight to the death. As a deterrent for surrender and his subsequent capture, Hitler promoted Paulus to Field Marshal, as no officer of this rank was yet to be captured alive. When news reached Hitler that Paulus had surrendered, he flew into a rage and demoted him immediately.
"What hurts me the most, personally, is that I still promoted him to field marshal. I wanted to give him this final satisfaction... a man like that besmirches the heroism of so many others at the last moment. He could have freed himself from all sorrow and ascended into eternity and national immortality, but he prefers to go to Moscow."- Adolf Hitler on Paulus' Surrender.
"He is at pains to avoid making enemies. He is slow, but very methodical. He displays marked tactical ability, though he is inclined to spend overmuch time on his appreciation."- A German Soldier in 1927 on Paulus
The god of war has gone over to the other side.
Hitlers statement to Alfred Jodl, after losses in the Battle of Stalingrad
The Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or Nazi party rose to power on 1933. The Fascist Party was led By Adolf Hitler, as seen above. He often took Military actions into his own hands and ordered no surrender of the German Army in Stalingrad. Paulus' surrender angered Hitler greatly for Germany had never failed to complete its objective before that.
Vasily Chuikov, a lieutenant general in the Red Army who was present at the Batlle of Stalingard, suffered from immense stress during the battle which resulted in an outbreak of stress-induced eczema. The outbreak was of such severity that he had to completely bandage his hands, yet he persevered along with other generals to overcome and destroy the German 6th Army.
"Every German soldier must be made to feel that he is living under the muzzle of a Russian gun."- Vasily Chuikov
"He ordered us to stand fast and save Stalingrad. So we knew then that it was 'do or die.' We could not retreat."- Russian Soldier in the Battle of Staligrad
‘Not a step back!’- Joseph Stalin issuing the order saying that retreat is not an option for the Russian Soldiers..
"The siege of September 13, 1942 to January 31, 1943 will inspire forever the hearts of all free people. Their glorious victory stemmed the tide of invasion and marked the turning point in the war of the Allied nations against the forces of aggression." Franklin D Roosevelt, congratulating Joseph Stalin on the soviet Victory at Stalingrad, 1944
The Russian Dictator during the World War, Stalin held a firm grip on the Citizens under his rule. Creating mass industrialization he had made the Red Army strong enough to fight the Germans off when they were invaded.Using the mass numbers that the Russians had he created one of the largest armies in the world.