A Soviet mortar team advance at Stalingrad, 1942

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

Throughout September and October 1942 the Germans advanced towards the River Volga, gradually capturing more and more of Stalingrad until the defenders of the 62nd Army were hemmed into a tiny pocket along the Volga. The Germans had occupied 90 per cent of the city when the Red Army launched a devastating counter-attack code-named 'Operation Uranus'.

The offensive was launched from the steppes to the north and south of the city. It punched through the over-stretched and weakly defended German flanks and surrounded the 6th Army inside Stalingrad. The latter surrendered on 2 February 1943. Over 400,000 Germans, 200,000 Romanians, 130,000 Italians and 120,000 Hungarians were killed, wounded or captured during the battle.

One of 26 British and Soviet official photographs