History of Stalingrad

Bruno Gawlick

Born August 1, 1923, in Argeloten Krs. Eichniederung, Ostpreußen - missing since late December 1942.

Bruno‘s name is engraved on granite cube 21, plate 2 on the soldier’s cemetery in Rossoschka, Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad), Russia.

Soldier in the 8th Company, Staff II Batallion, 26th Panzergrenadier-Regiment of the 24th Panzer-Division, Fourth Panzer Army.

Träger der Erkennungsmarke: 136-2./S. E. B. (mot) 413 (= 2. Kompanie Schützen-Ersatz Bataillon (motorisiert) 413)

Army post Number: 32266

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Regiment/Division History

Panzergrenadier-Regiment 26 was set up on July 5, 1942 in Southern Russia. The regiment, created by the renaming of the Schützen-Regiment 26 (Rifleman-Regiment 26), was established on January 4, 1942, at the Stablack military training camp in Wehrkreis I (military district I), Königsberg, and stationed in the Rennes region of France in April, 1942. Schützen-Regiment 26 had itself been created by the reorganization of the Reiter-Regiment 22 (22nd Rider’s Regiment). Panzergrenadier-Regiment 26 was placed under the command of the 24th Panzer-Division (established on November 28th, 1941, at the Stablack military training ground in Wehrkreis I). The attack on Voronezh in June 1942 was the first major battle for the recently mechanized 24th Panzer-Division – until the previous year it had been the Wehrmacht’s only cavalry division. Nicknamed Der springende Reiter (The leaping horseman), Panzer personnel of the 24th Panzer-Division wore the cavalry’s golden-yellow Waffenfarbe (corps color) on all uniforms and insignia piping – instead of the rose-pink of the Panzertruppe - to commemorate the unit’s lineal descent from the 1. Kavellerie-Division (1st Cavalry-Division). From 1937 onwards, the Waffenfarbe of the Infantry in Panzer-Divisions wore the same rose pink piping on their uniform as the tank crews. In 1942, when Infantry Regiments were renamed Grenadiers (as historical homage to Frederick the Great’s army) and the Schützen regiments (and the soldiers in them) began to be redesignated as Panzergrenadier-Regiments, their Waffenfarbe was also changed from either white (in the case of Motorized Infantry) or rose pink to a meadow-green shade.

Units in the 26th Panzergrenadier-Regiment:

-Staff

-Regimental Band

-Staff Company (mot)

--Signals Platoon

--Panzerjäger (tank hunter) Platoon

--Motorcycle Platoon

- 2 x Battalion (mot)

--3 x Company

---Pioneer Battalion

---Panzerjäger Platoon

---Infantry Gun Platoon

---Mortar Platoon

-Flak Company (self-propelled)

-Infantry Gun Company (self-propelled)

Operation Barbarossa Relaunched

(To Stalingrad through the lens of the 26th Panzergrenadier-Regiment /

24th Panzer-Division / Fourth Panzer Army)

June 28, Sunday: Fourth Panzer Army, deployed near Kursk, attacks due East towards Voronezh.
July: The central stage of Operation Blue had been the rapid advance by the Sixth Army and Fourth Panzer Army towards Stalingrad to cut off Timoshenko’s retreating troops before the attack was launched against Rostov and across the lower Don into the Caucases. Hitler, desperate to speed up the attack into the Caucases, decides to run the two stages concurrently. Hoth’s Fourth Panzer Army is diverted southwards.
July 19, Sunday: Germans advance so fast that Stalin orders the Stalingrad Defence Committee to prepare the city for war immediately. Part of the Fourth Panzer Army advances across the Don to the east of Stalingrad.
Late July: Frustrated at the slow progress, Hitler reverts to the original plan of the Fourth Panzer Army assisting the Sixth Army to capture Stalingrad. Hoth’s armoured divisions advance north, threatening Kotelnikovo, just under 100 miles south-west of Stalingrad.
August 2, Sunday: 16th and 24h Panzer-Divisions surround eight Soviet rifle divisions and artillery west of Don; encirclement accomplished at Kalach.

Campaign and Battle of Stalingrad

(August 23, 1942 – February 2, 1943)

Stalingrad - Stalingrab

Stalingrad – Massengrab

August 23, Sunday: Stalingrad has less than 40,000 defenders to hold off the Sixth Army and the Fourth Panzer Army. The German Fourth Airfleet begins aerial assault on Stalingrad (the most concentrated on the Ostfront). Estimates of Stalingrad inhabitants vary between 400,000 and 600,000. 40,000 are killed during the first week of bombardment.

An eerie, black smoke cloud appears over Stalingrad and through thermal pressure forms into an immense black cross.

Hoth’s right flank meets heavy resistance around Lake Sarpa and near Tunutova in the hills south of Volga bend below Stalingrad. Combat group „Edelsheim” (includes the 26th Panzergrenadier-Regiment [without I. Abteilung]) steadily clears southern shore of the lake.

August 27, Thursday: First rains signal begin of rasputitsa, the autumnal rain season.
August 29, Saturday: Point units of the 24th Panzer-Division and 29th Infantry- Division swing around south-west of Stalingrad.
September 3, Thursday: The Fourth Panzer Army links up with Seydlitz’s corps to advance on western edge of city. The 24th Panzer-Divsion occupies the Dreieckswald (Triangle Forest).
September 4, Friday: The 24th Panzer-Divison begins its attack on the suburbs of south Stalingrad to the Tsaritsa Gully as a northern limit.
September 7, Monday: Battles are temporarily suspended in order to regroup.
September 8, Tuesday: The 24th Panzer-Division takes the lead in operation to capture the area between the Sadovaia Station in the north and the northern settlements of Minnina - captures Sadovaia, but division loses ten tanks.
September 11, Friday: The 24th Panzer-Division combat strength: reduction to 8,714 soldiers from the nominal strength of 15,401 with only 14 operational tanks.
September 12, Saturday: Battle for southern suburbs reaches climax and ends with large German territorial gains.

First phase of German assault: Attack on Stalingrad’s downtown and southern city areas as well as Mamaev Kurgan (September 13 – 26).

September 13, Sunday: Hoth’s 14th and 24th Panzer-Divisions and 94th Infantry- Division advance on the Grain elevator/silo in the south of Stalingrad. Main factories in central to northern Stalingrad extend northwards from Mamaev Kurgan (Tartar burial mound) for 5 miles: Lazur (‘Azure’) chemical plant, Krasny Oktyabr („Red October”) Steel/Metalworks, Barrikady weapons factory, Stalingrad Tractor Factory. Panzer Grenadiers capture Sadovaia station and the Motor-Tractor Station.
September 14, Monday: Generalmajor von Lenski takes command of the 24th Panzer-Division from heavily wounded Generalmajor Ritter von Hauenschild.

He notes that the Division still possesses 50-60% of its normal combat strength. The 24th Panzer Division is subordinated to Generalkommando des XXXXVIII. Panzerkorps, which belongs to Hoth’s Fourth Panzer Army. The 24th Panzer- Divsion captures the Waterworks and reaches west-bank of Volga. The 24th Panzer- Division divides into Panzergrenadier groups „Edelsheim” and „Hellerheim” and Panzer-Group „Lancken”.

September 15, Tuesday: Battle group „Edelsheim” fights its way along the railway line north of the Elschanka Balka, swings northwards past the cannery into Komiteskaia Street and meets up with battle group „Hellermann” just before the Stalingrad south railway station. The „Edelsheim” Panzergrenadiers take a narrow strip of land up until the railroad cross, ca. 2 km from the bank of the Volga and engage in street-fighting: Rattenkrieg/Stalingrad Academy of Street Fighting begins: savage intimacy of close-quarter combat in ruined buildings, bunkers, cellars and sewer. The Southstation is captured; part of the „Edelsheim” battle group stays in the station, another part advances to the Tsaritsa while the remaining Panzergrenadiers are sent back south to assist in the fighting in the elevated barracks.
Sometime after mid-September (exact date undetermined): From his Sammellager in East Prussia, Bruno is sent to join the 26th Panzergrenadier-Regiment of the 24th Panzer-Division.
September 17, Thursday: Battle for south Stalingrad reaches another climax. Von Lenski reports that the area south of the Tsaritsa and west of the main railroad line is secured.
September 18, Friday: Although fighting for the grain silo and cannery continues, the involvement of the Panzergrenadiers of the 24th Panzer-Division ceases in the city’s south and are moved to join the decisive battles in the northern industrial district. In the next two days, the 24th Panzer-Divsion reorganizes in the area around Ezowka, Woroponowa and the sheep farm.
September 20, Sunday: The 26th Panzergrenadier-Regiment is sent to reinforce the 295th Infantry Regiment at Mamaev Kurgan. In the next two nights, the Panzergrenadiers take over the west sector previously occupied by the 295th Infantry-Division. The left border of the 24th Panzer-Division forms the outer wing of the 389th Infantry-Divsion – the rest of the Division stays in reserve at the sheep farm.
September 21, Monday: The 26th Panzergrenadier-Regiment defends numerous Soviet counterattacks.
September 24, Thursday: ½ of the 24th Panzer Division’s soldiers fight at the battle line; at this point only 30 functional Panzers are available. The 21st Panzergrenadier-Regiment replcaes the 26th Panzergrenadier-Regiment.
September 26, Saturday: 24th Panzer-Division’s battle strength consists of two medium strength (500-700 soldiers) and two average (400-500 soldiers) Infantry Battalions and the Pioneer Battalion (300-400). Paulus declares the battle for south and central Stalingrad over except for a few Soviet bridgeheads. Next goals include occupying the worker settlements and industrial complexes in Stalingrad’s north. The 100th Jäger Divsion (Hunter/Infantry) takes over the position of the 24th Panzer-Divsion at Mamaev Kurgan; the 26th Panzergrenadier-Regiment prepares for the assault on Bannyi canyon from the west side of Mamaev Kurgan.

Second phase of German assault: Attack on Stalingrad’s worker settlements and Orlovka front projection in Stalingrad’s northern areas (September 27 – October 7).

September 27, Sunday: Soviet attacks disrupt German attack preparations. As combat group „Edelsheim” (less than 1000 active front-line troops in total including 479 soldiers from the 26th Panzergrenadier-Regiment) is attacked on both flanks while attempting to destroy numerous Soviet positions on hill 107.5 (this hill dominates the open plain between the upper and lower worker settlements „Red October”), combat group „Hellermann” comes to its assistance. Panzergrenadiers from combat group „Edelsheim” capture the premises of the municipal house.
September 28, Monday: Lower worker settlement occupied and the Skulpturny park, the „triangleforest” and a position 600 meters south of the silicate factory is reached. The 24th Panzer-Division moves within 1,5 kilometers of the ferry service „Red October” and threatens to divide the Soviet 62nd Army in two. On the furthestmost front, the 24th Panzer-Division penetrates into the northern Tractor -Works settlements – most Panzers of the Division are destroyed, leaving the task of attacking to the Infantry. Due to Soviet reinforcements, the battle at Mamaev Kurgan reaches a stand still.
September 29, Tuesday: The 24th Panzer-Division, most of the 389th Infantry-Division and 100th Jäger Divsion advances towards the „Red October” metalworks and Barrikady gun factory. Within the last three weeks of September, the LI Army Corps captures the west sector of the worker settlements „Red October” and Barrikady; the 24th Panzer-Divison manages to advance 6 kilometers in two days leaving its forces completely spent.
Late September: Taking stock: By end of September, the Sixth Army had made significant inroads into their conquest of Stalingrad. The Volga bank from Kuperosnoye in the south to the landing stage in city centre was in German hands, Mamaev Kurgan was mostly under their control, a new offensive in the northern suburbs had carved a huge chunk of territory out of the Soviet bridgehead and the defensive position across the Don-Volga isthmus withstood every Russian attack.
October 1, Thursday: Paulus sends the 24th Panzer-Division against the hills of the lower worker settlements Barrikady with the aim to reach to reach the silicate factory and gain southern access to the Tractor-Works settlements.
October 3, Saturday: Combat Strength: Attack forces of the 24th Panzer-Division include:

Attack force „Edelsheim”:

* 21st Panzergrenadier-Regiment

*26th Panzergrenadier-Regiment (without the I. Battalion)

*Kradschützen (motorcycle) Battalion 4 (without 1st and 2nd squadron)

*1./40th Panzer-Pioneer Battalion

*1/4th Panzerjäger Battalion

*III. Division 89th Panzer-Artillery Regiment and diverse Granatwerfergruppen

Attack force “Winterfeld”

*Panzer Group “Winterfeld’ with antiaircraft platoons and one pioneer platoon

*I. Battalion / 26th Panzergrenadier-Regiment

*2./4th Kradschützen Battalion

*I. Division 89th Panzer-Artillery Regiment with diverse field howitzers

Combat group „Edelsheim” battles for the „symmetrical Hausgroups” in the north- east – fighting around the hexagonal building given the name „Schnellhefter” (folder).

October 5, Monday: Spent Infantry Battalions in the 24th Panzer-Divsion include: One Infantry Battalion at 300-400 soldiers, three completely worn-out and drained (300 soldiers or less) and only the Pioneer Battalion at average strength (300-400 soldiers). Fighting continues around the „Schnellhefter” blocks and the stadium until Wednesday, October 7.
October 8 – 13, Thursday – Tuesday: Demarks days of less intense battle activities in order to spare casualties in preparation for major attack on Tractor-Works.

Third phase of German assault: Attack on Stalingrad’s industrial complexes

(October 14 – 31).

October 14, Wednesday: The strength of the 14th, 16th and 24th Panzer-Divsions are strongly eroded after over four months of combat activities – hardly enough to launch an offensive on the Tractor-Works, Stalingrad’s most north-eastern factory. The 24th Panzer-Division attacks the weapon factory Barrikady; the 21st Panzergrenadier-Regiment and the 100th Jäger Division advance south of Kazachis Street.
October 16 – 18, Friday – Sunday: The 24th Panzer-Divison reaches the edge of Barrikady factory. In operations to annihalte an encircled Soviet unit at Somorsk in the north, the 21st Panzergrenadier-Regiment comes close to the bank of the Volga. „Below”, a mixed combat group created from all remaining available forces of the 24th Panzer-Division and strengthened with the 576th Infantry-Regiment (totalling 1,500 soldiers and 19 tanks), attacks the defensive formations north of Barrikady for a decisive blow.
October 19, Monday: The deteriorated fighting condition of the 24th Panzer-Divsion includes one weak and three completely worn-out Infantry Batallions hardly fit for action. The weakened Infantry strength of the 24th Panzer-Divsion precludes any considerable particpation in further operations. Von Lensky determines that a majority of casualties result from Soviet sniper activity and artillery strikes of Stalin-organs (on average 10 soldiers per day) in conjunction with numerous infectious diseases such as jaundice and hepatitis. The 24th Panzer-Divsion is literally ausgeblutet (bled out) and young and inexperienced soldiers from the reserve verpufften wie ein Tropfen Wasser auf einem heißen Stein („extinguish like a drop of water on a hot stone”). The 24th Panzer-Divison attacks from the north-east corner of the Gun Factory in the direction of the Volga. The assault troops of the 24th Panzer-Divsion are concentrated into combat group „Below” (includes the 26th Panzergrenadier-Regiment).
Late October: The 24th PanzerDivsion and battle group „Below” deploy in the Volkhovstrevsk district north of Barrikady. Along with the 305th Infantry Division, they aim to destroy the remaining Soviet pockets of resistance and occupy the banks of the Volga. Heavy resistance results in miminal advance – by October 24, combat group „Below” has 11 tanks remaining.

Taking stock: The Orlovka salient was gone, the Tractor Factory was solidly in German hands and the Barrikady and Krasny Oktyabr factories were mostly captured. Practically all of the industrial north had been taken. While the Volga was only a few hundreds of metres away, the Russians remained entrenched and offered grim resistance.

October 29, Saturday: Contrary to the Korpsbefehl of the day, von Lenski receives instructions that a relief for refreshment will only be implemented after the complete capture of Stalingrad.

Since September 4, the date the Division first reaches the edge of the city, the Division is involved in tough combat in and around Stalingrad. It decisively participates during three weeks in the capture of the centre of Stalingrad under the control of XXXXVIII. Panzerkorps. Without a days rest, for the following six weeks, the Division is employed within the units of the LI. Armeekorps in infantry operations in the northern part of Stalingrad – the 24th Panzer-Divsion suffers heaviest casualties.

November 1, Sunday: Von Lenski receives confirmation of a new assignment for his depleted units: the 24th Panzer-Division is ordered to relieve/reinforce the 79th Infantry-Division in the southern part of the „Red October” Steel Factory and assume defensive positions (from the 100th Jäger Division on the right to the southern building of Halle 4). Instead of rest, the Divison is employed a third time in Stalingrad. The 305th Infantry-Division takes over the positions of the 24th Panzer-Division in the weapons factory and during the night of 1st/2nd November, the 960 surviving Panzergrenadiers – Bruno among them - occupy positions in Krasny Oktjiabr. Combat group „Winterfeld” is moved into reserve position; the 24th Panzer-Division forms combat group „Scheele” and consists of 8 tanks, one Panzergrenadier-Battalion as well as the Kradschützen and Pioneers of the 24th Panzer-Divsion. In this capacity, combat group „Scheele” relieves combat group „Sobottka” (79th Infantry Division) by holding the northern end of of combat group „Below’s” line in foxholes in the shadow of Halle 10.
November 3, Tuesday: Oberst von Scheele, commander of the 26th Panzergrenadier-Regiment, takes over the command of the employed Panzergrenadier Abteilungen from Oberst von Below.
November 6, Friday: Strong Soviet combat reconaissance reported for the counterattacks expected the following day, Saturday, November 7, in all sectors to commemorate the October Revolution. Heavy rain falls on the city. Russian attacks on Halle 10 repulsed; 26th Panzergrenadier-Regiment strength falls to 3 Offz., 34 Uffz., 150 men.
November 8, Sunday: Hitler’s speech in Bürgerbraukeller, München.

Fourth phase of German assault: Attack on Stalingrad’s last bridgeheads and factory facilities (November 9 - 18).

November 9, Monday: Winter arrives with temperatures dropping to -18 degrees centigrade.
November 10, Tuesday: The Soviets attack Halle 10. The 26th Panzergrenadier-Regiment, in distress as it faces overwhelming Red Army soldiers penetrating several floors of the large factory hall, manages to repulse the attack.
November 11, Wednesday: The 26th Panzergrenadier-Regiment forms an assault company under Oberleutnant Beyersdorff to particpate in Operation Hubertus that aims to clear Soviet resistance in Halle 10 (400 German soldiers to 150 Red Army soldiers). Old forward line established as Russians are driven back. Other units of the 24th Panzer-Division, supporting the 305th Infantry-Division in the weapon’s factory, suffer high caualties: 48 dead, 152 wounded and 180 missing.
November 14, Saturday: The 21st and 26th Panzergrenadier-Regiments repulse Russian attack on Halle 10 in hand-to-hand fighting.
November 16, Monday: The first snow falls. The Grenadiers of combat group „Scheele” holed up in Krasny Oktyabr realize they will spend the winter in Stalingrad.

Von Lenski sends half of his 20 tanks south to come to the aid of the 371st Infantry- Division at Kuperosnoe - the provision of a Panzer squadron to another sector further weakens the 24th Panzer-Division and provokes continued grumbling among the higher Division officers.

November 18, Wednesday: On the eve of the great Soviet counteroffensive, the tanks of the 24th Panzer-Division engage in combat activities in the house blocks to the east of the weapons factory. Grenadiers unnerved at Russian inactivity.
November 19, Thursday: Soviets launch Operation Uranus to encircle Paulus’ Sixth Army and part of Hoth’s Fourth Panzer Army: (1) The main assault, over 100 miles west of Stalingrad, launches south-eastwards from Serafimovich bridgehead, a 40-mile long stretch south of the Don. (2) An inner strike cuts down from a bridgehead at Kletskaya towards the greater and lesser Don bend. (3) South of Stalingrad, another armoured thrust attacks north-westwards to meet up with the main assault at Kalach.

The 24th Panzer-Division is left with many key units bogged down in street-fighting in Stalingrad; at 6 p.m., parts of the 24th Panzer-Division not engaged in Stalingrad are ordered to leave for area of Peskovatka and Vertyachy near Don crossings.

November 22, Sunday: An estimated 290,000 German and allied soldiers surrounded in the Kessel (Pocket/Cauldron) in Festung Stalingrad (fortress Stalingrad).
November 23, Monday: Soviet forces seal ring around German Sixth Army at Kalach. Hitler gives strict instructions that news of encirclement at Stalingrad be kept from German people.
Beginning second week of December: Increasing numbers of Wehrmacht soldiers die suddenly yet none of the 600 doctors in the Kessel venture to mention starvation.
December 12, Saturday: Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, commander of Army Group Don, launches Operation Winter Storm (UnternehmenWintergewitter). Hoth’s Fourth Panzer Army’s LVII Panzer Corps begins its north-eastward drive toward German forces in the Kessel in an attenpt to relieve the trapped army.
December 16, Wednesday: Soviet Operation Little Saturn threatens to cut off relieving forces.
December 22, Tuesday: Except for odd batches, the post delivered on this day is the last that soldiers would receive from the outside world.
December 23, Wednesday: Operation Winter Storm is abandoned.
December 24, Thursday: Stille Nacht („Silent Night”) is included in the Christmas broadcast of the Grossdeutschrundfunk. Kurt Reuber draws shares his Stalingrad Madonna with his fellow soldiers: 1942. Weihnachten im Kessel. Licht Leben Liebe (Christmas in the Pocket. Light Life Love).
December 28, Monday: On a clear day of light frosts and good visibility. Bruno Gawlick, age 19, handwrites first of two last letters. After a few quiet days, the Westfront of the Kessel is assailed on a 15km front by several rifle divisions and 40-50 tanks.
Between December 29 and January 13, 1943: Bruno types last his letter.
Between November 23 and January 20, 1943: The evacuation by air of the wounded and sick averages to 417 per day.
January 9, 1943, Saturday: The Wehrmacht rejects the Russia’s formal request for the surrender of the German army.
January 10, Sunday: The Soviets launch Operation Ring (Koltso) to subjugate the German army.
January 13, Wednesday: Regular Luftpost/Feldpost effectively ceases – soldiers are told they have this last chance to write home.
January 16, Saturday: Pitomnik airfield falls.
January 17, Sunday: The Sixth Army is forced back into the eastern half of the Kessel; over the next four days there is comparitively little fighting as the Soviets prepare for the final push.
January 21/22, Thursday/Friday: Gumrak airfield falls.
January 23, Saturday: The last three flights fly out of Stalingrad Kessel from Stalingradski, the last serviceable airfield. The Soviets capture Stalingradski at dusk.
January 26, Tuesday: The Stalingrad Kessel is split in two parts – Nord- and Süd-Kessel.
January 28, Thursday: The Kessel is split into three parts – north, central and south.
January 30, Saturday: On the 10th anniversary of his coming to power, Hitler promotes Friedrich Paulus, commander of the Sixth Army, to the rank of Generalfeldmarschall. The Russians hold a peaceful air parade over the encirlced German army with several squadrons in bright weather. Not a shot, not a bomb falls. Göring gives Stalingrad funeral oration in the Berlin Reichsluftfahrtministerium (Ministry of Aviation).
January 31, Sunday: Conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler’s April 1, 1942, recording with the Berlin Philharmonic of the Adagio from Bruckner’s 7th Symphony plays before the offical radio broadcast of German defeat at Stalingrad. Paulus and the forces in the Süd-Kessel and central pocket surrender.
February 2, Tuesday: The encircled units of the 24th Panzer-Divsion fight to the end until the Nord-Kessel surrenders – the battle of Stalingrad ends after 5 months, 1 week, 3 days.

Stalingrad Campaign Casualties

Soviets recover 250,000 German and Romanian corpses in and around Stalingrad
Total Axis casualties (Germans, Romanians, Italians, and Hungarians and Hiwis [Hilfswillige]) are estimated to be more than 800,000 dead, wounded, missing, or captured.
Estimates of strength of Sixth Army in the Kessel on 19 November, 1942, vary between 250,000 (195,000 Germans, 50,000 Hiwis, 5,000 Rumanians) and 294,000 (232,000 Germans, 52,000 Hiwis, 10,000 Rumanians and Italians)
German Sixth Army losses in the Kessel between November 22, 1942, and January 7, 1943, are estimated at 52,000; German losses from November 22, 1942, to the surrender on February 2, 1943, are estimated at 60,000 – 100,000, including Hiwis.
Between 25,000 and 35,000 wounded and specialists are flown out of the Kessel
91,000 men surrender - between 5,000–6,000 return to their homelands; the rest die during death marches and in Soviet prison and labor camps. Circa. 1,500 soldiers of the 24th Panzer Division land in captivity – Bruno is not among them.
Soviet casualties are estimated at 1,100,000 Red Army dead, wounded, missing, or captured in the campaign to defend the city. Over 40,000 civilians die. At least 9,796 civilians survive the fighting in Stalingrad, including 994 children of which 9 are reunited with their parents.

Sources:

Antony Beevor, Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege: 1942-1943, Viking Press, Penguin Books, England, 1999.
Jason Mark, Death of the Leaping Horseman The 24th Panzer Division in Stalingrad, Leaping Horseman Books, Australia, 2003. Leaping Horseman Books, Australia, 2008.
Jason Mark, Angriff The German Attack on Stalingrad in Photos,
Jason Mark, Panzerkrieg, Leaping Horseman Books, Australia, 2017.
24. Panzerdivision – Lexikon der Wehrmacht.webarchive.
Angriff auf Stalingrad – Wikipedia.