Battle of Stalingrad away from the oil-rich Caucasus, which had been Hitler's original grand-strategic objective. The Royal Romanian Air Force was also involved in the Axis air operations at Stalingrad. Starting 23 October 1942, Romanian pilots flew a total of 4,000 sorties, during which they destroyed 61 Soviet aircraft. The Romanian Air Force lost 79 aircraft, most of them captured on the ground along with their airfields. After three months of slow advance, the Germans finally reached the river banks, capturing 90% of the ruined city and splitting the remaining Soviet forces into two narrow pockets. Ice floes on the Volga now prevented
Statue of The Republic Statue of The Republic The Statue of "The Republic" is a gilded bronze sculpture in Jackson Park, Chicago, Illinois. It is a smaller-scale replica constructed in 1918 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where the original statue was, and commemorates the Illinois statehood centennial. The statue was funded by the Benjamin Ferguson Fund, which commissioned Daniel Chester French, the sculptor of the original statue that stood on the grounds of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, to sculpt this replica. Edith Minturn Stokes served as French's model for the original statue. Henry Bacon, the