Hitler’s 6th Army became one of Nazi Germany’s most infamous formations on the Eastern Front. Under Walter von Reichenau, it supported mass murder, enforced starvation policies and assisted SS killing units in crimes against civilians and Jews in occupied Soviet territory.

In 1942, now commanded by Friedrich Paulus, the army advanced on Stalingrad. There, between 250,000 and 300,000 Axis soldiers were surrounded as food, ammunition and hope disappeared. The army that had helped wage Hitler’s war of destruction would ultimately face destruction itself at Stalingrad.