On this day, August 23, 1942 the Germans began their assault on Stalingrad, now Volgograd.
They were confident and convinced they would take the city on the Volga in two weeks.
Early the following February the Germans surrendered.
Hitler proclaimed that after Stalingrad's capture, its male citizens were to be killed and all women and children were to be deported because its population was "thoroughly communistic" and "especially dangerous”.
Confidence is a double edged sword. Seventy nine years ago today the ancestors of Mercedes, Krupp, BASF, Bayer, German Rail et al placed their complete confidence in the then leadership of Germany.
It was a misplaced confidence.
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