Operation Barbarossa began on 22 June 1941, when Adolf Hitler’s Wehrmacht invaded the Soviet Union. The Red Army was overwhelmed. It lost millions of men as it was pushed back deep into Soviet territory. Just over a year after first crossing the border, German soldiers reached the Volga River, at a city with a location that made it strategic and a name that made it irresistible.

According to most estimates, in just the first week of German bombing Stalingrad lost 40,000 civilians, almost as many as Britain lost during the whole of the Blitz. The Soviet death toll continued to be horrific as its troops poured across the river to defend their shrinking footprint on the right bank, battling suicidally in what the Germans called Rattenkrieg, the war of the rats. After three grinding months, Soviet tanks counterattacked, smashing the flanks of Germany’s Sixth Army and trapping its soldiers in the city.

In February 1943, the 91,000 Axis troops still alive – including 22 generals – surrendered. Half a million Soviet soldiers had died to secure this defeat, but it turned the course of the Second World War, transforming the battle of Stalingrad into the most heroic chapter in the Russians’ “Great Victory”. Just two tiny pockets of the city’s riverbank never fell to the Germans and the site of Volgograd Arena is one of them. The stadium where England play their first match sits on perhaps the most sacred ground in all of Russia.

... 2018 and the FIFA WC is kicking off in Russia...Germany is going in confident again....shots will be fired  Orson Wells described sport as war minus the shooting but you can't rely on own goals here . 

According to some Germany could win the WC with the players they left at home such is their depth..

https://www.bundesliga.com/en/news/Bundesliga/how-germany-could-look-at-the-2018-world-cup-in-russia-447224.jsp

Ten reasons why Germany will win

https://www.bundesliga.com/en/news/Bundesliga/10-reasons-germany-are-football-s-greatest-force-werner-kimmich-454183.jsp?smartformat=true%26utm_source=smartformat%26utm_medium=products%26utm_term=english%26utm_content=article

...But who else aside from Germany could win the FIFA WC?

Brazil  France, or maybe Spain ,

 Belgium. England, Argentina, Portugal...less likely

Somethings to watchout for in 2018:

 Not the Italian or Netherlands teams - they missed qualification 

Group D the pool of death.. Iceland the thunderclappers, Argentina and Messi...Nigeria,  Croatia

 English football fans have been warned not to fly their flags by Russian ultras or risk getting bashed.

_And will the WC be starting with a bang ? ...Yes according to the Chechens..

 US backed Ukraine also tipped to launch a major offensive in Donbas during the WC -   drama for President Putin with plenty wanting to rain on his parade...

The Germans didn't realise that they had actually defeated Stalingrad, they assumed there was still a lot more to the resistance than there actually was. Had they just pushed forward and attacked they would have taken the city and probably defeated Russia. Instead they waited for the Winter to pass, and by the time that had happened the German army had been decimated by the cold weather they were not prepared for. At the same time, the Russian army had pulled off an almost miraculous rearmament campaign which saw them able to completely overpower the Germans when they eventually did attack. The decision to wait out that Winter is widely regarded as Hitler' s biggest tactical error, and that decision basically cost Germany the war.   

Well done Mexico...I love it when the over confident ( ie Germany) come down to earth...

On the other issue: Bluebok

Incidentally the Battle Of Stalingrad was never in any context won by the Nazi's...that's an absolute lie...total nonsense...20 years ago I had the priviledge of meeting a very old veteran who was one of the very few survivors alive at that time who was a great uncle of my wife...

Too many lies in the world...it sickens me...it happens everywhere in the media, past history books, and other propaganda weapons and it's getting worst.