Battle of Stalingrad ever set foot in the city itself, and were a turning point in the war. Beginning in late August, continuing in September and into October, the Soviets committed between two and four armies in hastily coordinated and poorly controlled attacks against the Germans' northern flank. The actions resulted in more than 200,000 Soviet Army casualties but did slow the German assault. On 23 August the 6th Army reached the outskirts of Stalingrad in pursuit of the 62nd and 64th Armies, which had fallen back into the city. Kleist later said after the war: The Soviets had enough warning of the
The Motherland Calls that made it possible to reduce its windage. In 2009, reports said the statue was leaning due to changes in groundwater level causing movement of the foundations. The statue is not fixed to its foundations and is held in place only by its weight. An anonymous official claimed that it had shifted 20 centimetres and was not expected to move much farther without collapsing. A program of monument restoration was developed in 2008–2009, and conservation and restoration work started in 2010. In spring 2017, a comprehensive restoration program of the monument lasting for a year and a half at a