in the history of warfare (casualties estimates vary between 1,250,000 and 2,500,000).

The battle began on August 23, 1942, and on the same day, the city suffered heavy aerial bombardment that reduced most of it to rubble. Martial law had already been declared in the city on July 14. By September, the fighting reached the city center. It was of unprecedented intensity; the city's central railway station changed hands thirteen times, and the Mamayev Kurgan (one