Mass grave of Russian soldiers, Stalingrad front, Russia, January 1943. Fought between August 1942 and February 1943, the Battle of Stalingrad was one of the bloodiest in history, 750,000 Russian soldiers were killed, wounded or captured and more than 40,000 civilians died. On the Axis side, 740,000 were killed or wounded and 110,000 taken prisoner. The defeat at Stalingrad was a reverse from which Nazi Germany was ultimately unable to recover. The photographer is unknown.