Do you understand what happened at Stalingrad ? During Fall Blau , the Germans launched an strategically weak offensive . By attacking deep into Southern Russia , they extended their front lines dangerously thin . AGS was composed mainly of German allies , Romanians , Hungarians and Italians , and 2 German armies that made up its mobile striking power . When 2 German armies were committed to an attack on Stalingrad , the Soviets saw an opportunity . By seizing the banks of the Volga strongly but fighting toothandnail for the city , they realized that they could pin down the most dangerous elements of AGS in a very vulnerable location . The fight in the city was pure attritition , but the strategic movements that ended the battle were not . The Soviets launched an immense offensive that bowled over the Italians and Romanians defending the flanks of the German armies at Stalingrad . They encircled the 6 th army in the city itself , and also scattered the 4 th Panzer army that was supporting it . AGS was sent reeling for a good month , and was never able to break the encirclement . The 6 th army was starved and trapped , and eventually surrendered en masse . A similar trick happened during the Battle of Moscow . The German units outside Moscow were so depleted and worn out that a massive Soviet counterattack reversed almost all their gains from the month before , and also trapped 2 German armies in a vulnerable salient near Rzhev . However , the Soviets were unable to complete the encirclement . These were no magic tricks to the Stalingrad campaign , it was just an excellent set of strategic and operational plans . The Red army had been severely bloodied by Barbarossa , but its commanders had learned valuable lessons from their disaster . STAVKA had figured out which commanders were reliable , what to expect from Soviet offensives , and the strengths of the German military . 1942 was a difficult year , but it was largely a series of backandforth offensives rather than a clear advantage to either side . Stalingrad destroyed an enormous amount of German materiel , and the Nazis never recovered . Kursk isn ' t even a story , it was just a hopeless German failure .