The Battle of Stalingrad was a large military engagement between the Russian and German forces on the Eastern Front taking place from August 23, 1942 - February 2, 1943. It is regarded as one of the largest and bloodiest battles in history. It's featured in the majority of World War II-era games: Call of Duty, Call of Duty: Finest Hour, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty: World at War, and Call of Duty: Classic.
Call of Duty and Call of Duty: Classic
The player plays as Pvt. Alexei Ivanovich Voronin of the 13th Guards Rifle Division. With his comrades, he crosses the Volga River by boat and arrives to a dock in Stalingrad. After getting ammo, he finds Sgt. Borodin and the two run up the hill covered by a German gun, using cars and other debris for cover. They run back to a deserted house and call in an airstrike to clear the area.
Sometime later, Voronin reaches Red Square with other soldiers and they clear through buildings surrounding the Square. He then takes out 4 German officers and reaches ruined buildings, a train station and another ruined building. He enters the sewers of Stalingrad and clears them out, eventually returning to the top and reaching Pavlov's House. Sgt. Yakov Pavlov meets with Voronin and has him help out in the defense of the house, which is successfully defended.
Call of Duty: Finest Hour
As Pvt. Aleksandr Sokolov, the player crosses the Volga River with other Red Army soldiers once again as a reference to the first Russian level in Call of Duty. He gets a Mosin-Nagant ammunition clip and meets up with Sgt. Oleg Puskov, and the two move up the hill to the refinery. After clearing the area, the two push forward to a building overlooking a German bunker. Puskov is taken out by a sniper, and Lt. Tanya Pavelovna snipes the sniper. She orders Sokolov to take the bunker, and decides to make him her spotter after his success.
Sometime later, the two reach a building overlooking a street. Pavelovna snipes German officers in the street, and a sapper destroys an incoming Panzer. Pvt. Mikael Kirelenko tells the two to assist at the tractor factory, where the Russian tank depot is. They move through the sewers, reach the tank factory and defend it from incoming German soldiers. After the assault ends, Pavelovna and Sokolov join Lt. Nikolai Badanov in their tank to escape from the tank depot.
On the way from the depot, the tank has engine troubles and they pull over to fix it. As Pavelovna and Sokolov cover the tank crew as they fix it, a Panzer destroys the building the two are in, which leaves Pavelovna critically wounded and unable to fight. Badanov's tank crew fixes the tank and they head out to the Russian headquarters to regroup. At headquarters, Badanov gets orders from Gen. Leonid Belov to get a replacement radio to artillery observers at the train station, and they find Sokolov and another soldier carrying a wounded Pavelovna. Badanov and his crew move out in the T-34 to the train station. Badanov gives the new radio to the observer, who calls in a strike and annihilates the German forces outside the station.
Call of Duty 2
The Battle of Stalingrad appears as the center of the level in the Russian Campaign Demolition, Repairing the Wire, The Pipeline, Downtown Assault, City Hall, and Comrade Sniper. The 13th Guards Rifle Division must blow up a Nazi Outpost, repair a communications wire, and capture and hold City Hall. Pvt. Vasili Ivanovich Koslov is the playable character in all these levels.
Call of Duty: World at War
The Battle of Stalingrad's final appearance is in the first level of the Russian Campaign Vendetta. In the level, Pvt. Dimitri Petrenko is tasked by Viktor Reznov with assassinating General Heinrich Amsel.
Petrenko and Reznov start off in a fountain, piled with dead bodies. They must sneak around trying not to be caught by the German guards. After they take out the guards and escape the fountain, Petrenko and Reznov must fight their way out of Red Square, help other Russian soldiers take a German command post, and snipe the Nazi General themselves. Once General Amsel is shot, tanks open up fire on our two main soldiers. Petrenko and Reznov jump out of the building and into the river.
After the level is completed and General Amsel is dead, the game moves forward three years to the fifth level, Their Land, Their Blood.
