Every German soldier must be made to feel that he is living under the muzzle of a Russian gun. - Vasily Chuikov

The heavy casualties, the constant retreat, the shortage of food and munitions, the difficulty of receiving reinforcements... all this had a very bad effect on morale. Many longed to get across the Volga, to escape the hell of Stalingrad.

I would not have believed such an inferno could open up on earth. Men died but they did not retreat.

He ordered us to stand fast and save Stalingrad. So we knew then that it was 'do or die.' We could not retreat.