This Day in History, 1942: Fierce fighting turns Stalingrad into a 'Cauldron of Death'

David Zec cartoon in the Vancouver Sun on the Battle of Stalingrad, Sept. 18, 1942. Nazi German invaders are  depicted as a monstrous hand threatening a Soviet soldier, whose back is against the wall. The Battle of Stalingrad is considered the turning point in the Second World War. It first ran in the London Daily Mirror.

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On Sept. 18, 1942, German and Soviet forces were fighting to the death at the Battle of Stalingrad.

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The outcome of the battle was very much in doubt: up to that point, Nazi forces had pretty much run roughshod over the Soviets.

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But Soviet dictator Josef Stalin decided to have his forces make a stand at the city named after him, which was an important industrial centre, and could be a German launch point for the coveted Soviet oilfields in the Caucasus.

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The world watched in trepidation, a feeling captured by a dramatic David Zec cartoon in the Sept. 18 Vancouver Sun. (It originally ran in the London Daily Mirror.)

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It depicted the dark hand of a monster — Nazi Germany — threatening a Soviet soldier, whose back is against the wall. The soldier bears a shield with the hammer and sickle, and wields a sword.

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It’s a courageous move, but the viewer gets the feeling it may prove futile — the monster seems much bigger. The feeling was reinforced from the news stories of the day.

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“Reds in Stalingrad to Fight ‘House by House’ ‘Until the Last Man,’ said the banner headline in the Sept. 17, 1942 Sun.

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“A powerful Nazi army, described as ‘fighting like devils,’ battered into the northwest outskirts of Stalingrad today, but the Red Army made plain its intention to fight ‘house by house, street by street and pillbox by pillbox’ to the last defender before relinquishing the Volga River city.

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“An assault on the northwest outskirts of Stalingrad carried the Nazis to nearly nine miles from the centre of the city. It was reported that out of a total German assault army of possibly 1,000,000 men about 450,000 troops are hammering at the narrow northwest front.”

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Russian forces fighting at Stalingrad, 1942. GAZETTE

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To make matters even more miserable for the combatants, M.S. Handler of British United Press wrote “the struggle is raging in a continuous downpour of heavy rain which is soaking the entire battlefield and turning roads into quagmires.”

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The Province reported “German and Russian infantrymen battled in the attics and cellars of a northwestern section of Stalingrad today after the gates of the city finally had been opened to the invaders by massed tanks.

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“Bombs rained down without a letup on the defending army — made up of soldiers, red marines and armed civilians — and on the buildings within the smoking city on the elbow of the Volga as waves of Nazi dive-bombers hurled themselves into the assault.”

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The following day The Sun ran an illustration of the battle, titled “Stalingrad’s ‘Last Ditch’ Fight.” The cutline said “The Russians, outnumbered three to one, are contesting every step of the German advance.”

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The Province said the Russians were “fighting a titanic ‘counter-attack or die’ battle, (and) had wiped out two German wedges that penetrated into the streets.”