Many people consider the Battle of Stalingrad the turning point of the war on the Eastern Front. However, some say that either the Battle of Kursk or even the Battle of Moscow was the turning point. There are good points to each. Of course, the Germans lost the 6th Army and a portion of the 4th Panzer Army at the Battle of Stalingrad. After the Battle of Kursk, the Germans lost the capability of launching large scale offensive operations. And the Battle of Moscow showed the Soviets that the Wehrmacht was not invincible and the Germans lost a lot of their offensive mobility.
My opinion is that the Battle of Moscow greatly reduced the chances (if the Germans ever had any) of victory, the Battle of Stalingrad eliminated any chance of victory and made a prolonged stalemate the best case scenario, and the Battle of Kursk virtually guaranteed Germany's defeat.
But, in my opinion the biggest turning point was the Battle of Kursk because Germany lost the capability of large scale offensive operations and any chance to stop the Soviets.
Does anyone else have an opinion on what the biggest turning point of the war on the Eastern Front was?
Turning Point on the Eastern Front
- Robert Rojas
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RE: Turning Point On The Eastern Front.
Greetings to both brother M. Sertz and the community as a whole. Well M.S., in reference to your introductory posting of Wednesday - March 16, 2005 - 2:24am, it is old Uncle Bob's contention that the quintessential turning point on the Eastern Front transpired on the evening of September 23, 1943 when the Red Army managed to ford the mighty Dnieper River near the town of Bukrin in the Ukraine. With the formation of this tenuous bridgehead, the Red Army nullified any chance for the Wehrmacht to stem Koba The Terrible's inexorable westward advance. With the subsequent loss of both the the Dnieper River and the West Dvina River defensive barriers (the so-called "EAST WALL"), any chance for Adolph Hitler's Regime to negotiate an armistice with the Soviet Union all but evaporated. With the Red Army firmly ensconced across the Dnieper River, it would no longer be a matter of IF, but just a matter of WHEN the all knowing Bohemian Corporal would ultimately have to face the music in his bunker beneath the Reich Chancellery in Berlin. Well, that's my two pfennigs or kopecks worth on the subject - for now anyway. In anycase, I would like to bid you a copacetic day over in the Gopher State.
Best Regards,
Uncle Bob 8)
Best Regards,
Uncle Bob 8)
- Christoph Awender
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