nstoppable. Therefore, he failed to prepare them for the Russian winters due to the fact that he expected to have conquered Soviet Russia long before any snow actually fell. However, when rain fell making the roads to muddy for tanks to get across, the blitzkrieg was halted. This not only threw off Hitlers delicate time table which required Russia to be taken before winter, but it also gave Russians time to set up a defense to meet Hitlers Army.Before the Russian winter hit, the Germans pounded Stalingrad with artillery. Commanding the Russian defenders was a determined general named Vasily Chuikov. He knew tanks and blitzkrieg tactics would be useless on rubble strewn streets, so, Chuikov ordered his men to hide in the wrecked buildings, allow the Germans to approach, and then attack them with rifles and grenades. The Germans were unused to fighting without being able to run over the enemy with tanks and blitzkrieg tactics, but they slowly fought their way into Stalingrad. However, on November 19, Russians surrounded Stalingrad and trapped the German soldiers inside. Hitler was unused to defeat and saw his army as impregnable so he ordered his men to defend the city. About this time winter hit and the Germans, with no winter supplies, suffered huge casualties to frostbite. Finally, on January 31, 1943, the German army in Stalingrad was forced to surrender. Three hundred thousand German men were captured or killed. Hitler's confidence in his armys speed cost Germany greatly.Before, and during Germanys Blitzkrieg on Russia, which was stopped cold, or mainly by the cold, the Luftwaffe launched an air blitz on Britain. The object of the German attacks was to destroy the RAF so the German navy and army could invade British shores. However, since the German Fighters were slower and had a long ways to fly to get to Britain, their time in Britain airspace was limited due to the fuel costs just getting there, and the German plan...
