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
The Motherland Monument The Motherland Monument The Motherland Monument (, ) is a monumental statue in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. The sculpture is a part of the Museum of The History of Ukraine in World War II, Kiev. The stainless steel statue stands tall upon the museum main building with the overall structure measuring including its base and weighing 560 tons. The sword in the statue's right hand is long weighing 9 tons, with the left hand holding up a shield with the State Emblem of the Soviet Union. Initially the image of the statue was drawn by Vutchetich from Ukrainian painter