ABSTRACT
Despite widespread acceptance in both the former Soviet Union and the West that the battle for Stalingrad constituted the turning point in the war on the Eastern Front (which it indeed did in the sense that it marked the furthest penetration eastwards of Axis forces), the Wehrmacht was far from beaten in early 1943. Whilst the loss of 6th Army and elements of 4th Panzer Army at Stalingrad was a major material and psychological blow to the Wehrmacht, Army Group A had withdrawn from the North Caucasus and escaped the threat of being cut off from the main German force.
