Wehrmacht occupies southern France

© Seuss Hitler: „Just raise your hand like this and soon all your problems will be solved!“

On 7 November 1942 American and British troops landed in Algeria and Morocco. Soon after that, on 11 November, the German Wehrmacht marches into the heretofore unoccupied part of southern France. Since France’s defeat in the summer of 1940 a French government has ruled there under the aged Marshall Henri Pétain, the victor of the battle of Verdun in the First World War. The „Vichy Regime“ works closely with Hitler’s Germany and is very unpopular with the majority of Frenchmen. It becomes totally insignificant after the invasion by German troops.

Counter offensive by the Red Army at Stalingrad

The struggle for the strategic industrial city of Stalingrad on the Volga has become a prestige contest between Adolf Hitler and the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Stalin’s orders to the Red Army say, „Not one step backwards!“ In spite of this, the 6th Army under Major General Friedrich Paulus succeeds by mid-November in capturing about 90 per cent of the city in bloody house-to-house combat. On the morning of 19 November 1942, with a sudden burst of fire from 3,500 guns, the Soviets open a two-pronged counter-offensive north and south of the city.

Source: panorama.volgadmin.ru Detail from the largest russian painting (2000 square meters): "Defeat of the Fascists Armies at Stalingrad", created by seven painters between 1943/1944 and 1982 (today presented in the Volgograd State panoramic museum)

On 22 November the Soviet ring closes around Stalingrad. The 6th Army is trapped in a cauldron. On that same evening Hitler issues orders to hold out and declares the Battle for Stalingrad to be a symbol for German determination to prevail. However, the German Luftwaffe proves itself to be – contrary to the assurances of Hermann Göring – in no position to sufficiently supply the surrounded troops from the air. Contrary to Hitler’s orders Paulus refuses to attempt to break out of the cauldron. On 31 January 1943 the 6th Army is forced to capitulate. Ca. 150,000 German soldiers were killed and 91,000 are taken prisoner. The victory in the Battle of Stalingrad is considered the decisive turning-point for the allies in the struggle against Hitler’s Germany.