Cities are also logistical hubs that enable efficient distribution of forces and supplies along the front line and facilitate advances.

They are also easier to turn into command hubs and fortified positions than random fields and forests, particularly cities that are as solidly built as Soviet cities, with factories, concrete and brick buildings, apartment blocks, basements, etc.

Stalingrad in particular was vital because holding it enabled control over traffic on the Volga river, which was essential to Soviet logistics.

If the Nazis had taken it, it could have provided them with a protected flank for the capture of the oil-rich Caucasus.