In early October 1942 the German Sixth Army realized that it had one last chance to break through the Soviet lines and capture Stalingrad before exhaustion and the Russian winter set in. Stalingrad: The Vital 7 Days looks in detail at this desperate last-gasp attempt by the Germans to win the battle of Stalingrad in an all-out effort, and how the Red Army managed to cling on against the odds, marking the turning point of the war on the Eastern Front. Beginning with the background to the assault on Stalingrad, the book shows how initially the Germans made good progress against the city's defenders, but failed to break them. By 14 October 1942 the German Sixth Army was ready to make its third, final assault on the Soviet 62nd Army. On that day Hitler issued an order halting all other offensive operations on the Eastern Front -Stalingrad was to be the deciding battle that determined whether the Germans could maintain their position in the East. Victory would give Germany access to the resources of the Caucasus and the Ukraine, including oil, while defeat would demoralize the Wehrmacht before winter set in. With the aid of specially commissioned maps, Stalingrad: The Vital 7 Days gives a dramatic blow-by-blow account of the desperate struggle to control the left bank of, the Volga and the key strong points in the city: the tractor works and the Red October and Barrikady factories. With firsthand accounts from both sides, vivid photographs, and specially commissioned maps of the combat zones, Stalingrad: The Vital 7 Days is a comprehensive examination of the decisive failure of the German assault that ultimately decided the course of the war in the East.