During the Battle of Stalingrad on the Eastern Front of World War II, a German 88mm artillery shell hit a Russian supply vehicle, killing the Russian soldier inside. Walter Huckle titled his snapshot “Dead and Bread Loaded”.
In August 1942, the soldiers of the 62nd Army of the Soviet Red Army, who had retreated to Stalingrad, placed skeletons on the road to greet the German soldiers. They collected the skeletons, who were saluting from the Kerson school, by the roadside. The German Wehrmacht soldiers, who had marched into Stalingrad, thought this was a joke and enjoyed it. However, in the end, the skeletons were not a joke at all, and the Battle of Stalingrad had begun.
The Battle of Stalingrad, which lasted from July 17th 1942 to February 2nd 1943, was one of the most decisive battles of the Eastern Front in World War II. The Soviet army inflicted a devastating defeat on the German army in the strategic city and surrounding area along the Volga River named after the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. In the summer of 1942, Hitler launched a major offensive into southern Russia. He intended to destroy the remnants of the Soviet army and ultimately occupy the oil fields of the Caucasus. The initial advance went well, and the German 6th Army was ordered to capture the city. Stalin demanded that it be defended at all costs, and every soldier and civilian was mobilized.
Stalingrad was bombed heavily by the German air force, and the ruins became the stage for fierce urban warfare that lasted for months. By October 1942, most of the city had fallen into German hands, but the Russian army was holding on to the banks of the Volga River, where they had transported important stockpiles. Meanwhile, the Soviet army reinforced its forces on both sides of Stalingrad and, in November 1942, launched a large-scale attack to surround and trap the German army. The 6th Army, which had been forbidden by Hitler to retreat, held out until the exhausted remnants surrendered on February 2, 1943. The German army lost a total of 500,000 soldiers, including 91,000 prisoners of war, in the Battle of Stalingrad. The Soviet army lost 674,990 soldiers killed in action and 672,224 wounded in action, bringing the total number of dead to around 500,000.