In my humble opinion,the destruction of the VI Armee began with the diversion of the IV Panzer Armee south towards the Caucasus area,another was Der Fuhrer’s obsession with taking Stalingrad instead of bypassing it and seizing the east bank and cutting it off (as Paulus desired to do)which was in keeping with the successful tactical doctrine that the Wehrmacht has utilized since the beginning of “Barbarossa”all this precludes the logistical nightmare that would prove to be the one of greatest factors in the disaster….
Stalingrad didn't have to be fought. If the Germans would have went South of the city, they could have cut off river traffic on the Volga River. The Allies were shipping supplies up from the Persian Gulf, up into Russia. Blocking the Volga would have hurt this. Fighting in the city wasn't necessary. Going South of the city would also have protected the German flank down south in the Caucasus front. Stalingrad was a waste, for both sides. Some estimates go over one million casualties. Sad.
