Street fighting in Stalingrad, October 1942

Photograph, World War Two, Eastern Front (1941-1945), 1942.

German infantry shelter in a crater during the bitter Stalingrad fighting. Both men are armed with MP40 machine pistols, the standard German sub machine gun during the Second World War. Over one million were made between 1939 and 1945. Although by this stage of the battle the Soviet pocket in the city had been greatly reduced, the 62nd Army continued to hold out with their backs to the River Volga. Their heroic defence allowed the Soviet High Command to prepare and then launch their great counter-offensive. This pushed the Germans and their Hungarian and Romanian allies back and led to the encirclement and destruction of the 6th Army at Stalingrad.

One of 26 British and Soviet official photographs.