The Cauldron Boils

At this point in the war, Hitler is badly in need of supplies, and realizes that the vast oil stores of the Caucasus Mountains would solve some of his fuel problems. He pushes a large faction of his exhausted troops toward this goal, while another heads to Stalingrad for another offensive. Meanwhile, Stalin has told his Red Army that anyone caught retreating will be executed. The use of suicidal Penal Battalions, formed in part from Russia's political prisoners, began, and by the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, over one million Russian soldiers had lost their lives.