February 2, 1943 Battle of Stalingrad ends!
At four in the morning, General Strecker was informed that one of his own officers had gone to the Soviets to negotiate surrender terms. Seeing no point in continuing, he sent a radio message saying that his command had done its duty and fought to the last man. He then surrendered.
The northern pocket of the German 6th Army, trapped at Stalingrad, surrenders. In total, the Red Army has taken about 90,000 prisoners. Later, the Soviets announce that 147,000 Axis, and 47,000 Soviet corpses have been removed from Stalingrad.
Furthermore, an estimated 40,000 were evacuated during the air supply operations conducted by the Germans, during the siege. The Luftwaffe lost about 500 transports. Only 5000 Germans taken prisoner survive to return to Germany after the war; the last to return arrives in 1955. The Soviet success is generally attributed to General Chuikov's leadership and tactical innovation.
