The rise and fall of the Nazi State. Part IV: From triumphs to retreat.

The rise and fall of the Nazi State. Part IV: From triumphs to retreat. German prisoners trudge through the streets of Stalingrad - Wrapped in blankets or anything else they could find to protect themselves from the bitter winter weather, German prisoners are marched through the snowy streets of tattered Stalingrad after the Russians destroyed Germany and Rumanian armies numbering 330,000 men outside the gates of the city. The German siege of Stalingrad, marking the point of farthest German advance in Russia, was ended on January 31, 1943, and the remnants of the Nazi armies, with many high-ranking generals, surrendered to the Russians two days later. The following Summer German troops again tried a large-scale offensive in Russia but were steadily pushed back until by March 26, 1944, the Germans had been driven across the border into Rumania, where the invasion of Southern Russia had been launched in 1941. The bitter fighting in Russia cost the Germans millions of casualties and prisoners and they paid heavily in equipment destroyed or captured.