The year started with the Stalingrad surrender in February, ending the Wehrmacht’s eastward expansion with the loss of 250,000 troops.
1943 proved to be a pivotal year for Germany. The year started with the Stalingrad surrender in February, ending the Wehrmacht’s eastward expansion with the loss of 250,000 troops. The Red Army drove the Germans west. Several months of fluctuating fighting ended with a 150-mile bulge into the Wehrmacht’s line based on Kursk. Because of Stalingrad, Hitler knew he needed a victory to regain the initiative from the Red Army. The Kursk salient provided that opportunity. The German dictator knew his Axis partners waited too, aware of their fate should the Soviet Union win the war.