Feb 2, 1943 Germans surrender at Stalingrad in the first big defeat of Hitler

World War II Time Line | home

Nov 11, 1918 - World War One ends with German defeat. | Sept 14, 1930 - Germans elect Nazis making them the 2nd largest political party in Germany. | Jan 30, 1933 - Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany. | May 10, 1940 - Nazis invade France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; Winston Churchill becomes British Prime Minister. | June 22, 1941 - Germany attacks Soviet Union as Operation Barbarossa begins. | Dec 5, 1941 - German attack on Moscow is abandoned. | Dec 7, 1941 - Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor | Dec 8, 1941 - States and Britain declare war on Japan. | Dec 11, 1941 - Germany declares war on the United States. | Feb 2, 1943 - Germans surrender at Stalingrad in the first big defeat of Hitler's armies. | May 13, 1943 - German and Italian troops surrender in North Africa | July 9/10, 1943 - Allies land in Sicily. | June 6, 1944 - D-Day landings. | Oct 11, 1944 - U.S. air raids against Okinawa. | Dec 16-27, 1944 - Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes. | April 30, 1945 - Adolf Hitler commits suicide. | May 2, 1945 - German troops in Italy surrender. | Aug 6, 1945 - First Atomic Bomb dropped on Hiroshima from a B-29 flown by Col. Paul Tibbets. | Aug 9, 1945 - Second atomic bomb dropped, on Nagasaki, Japan. | Sept 2, 1945 - Formal Japanese surrender ceremony on board the MISSOURI in Tokyo Bay as 1000 carrier-based planes fly overhead; President Truman declares VJ Day.

Feb 2, 1943 - Germans surrender at Stalingrad in the first big defeat of Hitler's armies.

By January 21, the Soviets recapture both airfields in Stalingrad; the Germans are completely cut off. Four days later, the Soviet forces attacking the city meet in the middle of Stalingrad. Only two pockets of German resistance remain. On January 31, Paulus surrenders the southern pocket; the northern pocket surrenders on February 2. All across the Eastern Front, those German units not cut off or encircled are retreating. The tide of Operation Barbarossa now begins to ebb.

The Soviets report removing 147,000 German and 47,000 Soviet bodies for burial. The defeat enrages Hitler, saddens the German populace, and heartens the Soviet Union and the Allies.