Stalingrado

But as the sun began to bleed over the Volga, a pale and freezing disc, Nikolai stood up. He adjusted his helmet and checked his rifle. The "cauldron" was closing. The radio had hummed with news of the encirclement—the Sixth Army was trapped.

By late 1942, temperatures dropped so low that equipment failed and thousands of soldiers died of exposure. Stalingrado

A sudden, sharp crack echoed through the square. Sasha flinched as a bullet sparked off the stone an inch from his head. But as the sun began to bleed over

"Why?" Sasha asked, his voice trembling. "We need that to fight." a pale and freezing disc

The strategic encirclement of the German 6th Army by Soviet forces during Operation Uranus .