It was impossible to bomb Stalingrad into any worse of a state. Stalingrad had become a massive pile of rubble and it provided excellent cover for the ground troops. Rubble is much easier to defend than standing buildings.
The object of Moscow was to destroy the Soviet communication and rail centre, which has been mentioned. Capturing the city would have slowed all Red Army reserve movements to any of the other fronts. It would have affected all those actions to the west of Moscow, most importantly at the time being Leningrad. All reserves that moved to the front against the Wehrmacht went through Moscow. It was the rail center of the Soviet Union. It mattered little to the Wehrmacht if they could use it or not, they would have destroyed the Red Armies capability to move troops quickly.
The object of Leningrad was simply to destroy a garrison in it's rear area and link up with the forces of Finland. The siege of Leningrad occured because the Wehrmacht knew it was a pointless venture to waste troops on.
The object of Stalingrad was political when concerning the city itself. When concerning the whole operation, it was far from political. The original plan called for an advance of the 6th Armee and 4th Panzer Armee on the River Don. The 6th Armee would arrive just north of Stalingrad with the city on it's right flank. This would cut off the Caucasus, with Stalingrad included leaving a small avenue of escape through Stalingrad (although risky because of the Luftwaffe) and just south of the city.
4th Panzer Armee was to advance south into the Caucasus after capturing Rostov on Don (the north-western point of the net on the Caucasus). They would swoop in, destroy all Red Army forces in there and capture the oil fields. Stalingrad itself was never an objective.
The Red Army, however, melted away from the advancing Army Group South. Hitler took this as an all out rout of the Red Army and diverted forces from the 6th Armee to head south with the 4th Panzer Armee. This deprived the 6th of it's armour, but it still had to move on to it's objective which it did capture thus encircling the Caucasus. However, Hitler then ordered the 6th into Stalingrad ...and the rest is history.
During Operation Barbarossa, the only thing that halted the panzers were the weather and the mud baths the Russians called "roads". Hitler wanted his forces to press on faster but had to be told, repeatedly, that it wasn't possible. The one thing that stopped a full advance on Moscow was the diversion of panzers from the attack on Moscow to encircle the forces outside Kiev, which was the biggest encirclement in history.
The object of Moscow was to destroy the Soviet communication and rail centre, which has been mentioned. Capturing the city would have slowed all Red Army reserve movements to any of the other fronts. It would have affected all those actions to the west of Moscow, most importantly at the time being Leningrad. All reserves that moved to the front against the Wehrmacht went through Moscow. It was the rail center of the Soviet Union. It mattered little to the Wehrmacht if they could use it or not, they would have destroyed the Red Armies capability to move troops quickly.
The object of Leningrad was simply to destroy a garrison in it's rear area and link up with the forces of Finland. The siege of Leningrad occured because the Wehrmacht knew it was a pointless venture to waste troops on.
The object of Stalingrad was political when concerning the city itself. When concerning the whole operation, it was far from political. The original plan called for an advance of the 6th Armee and 4th Panzer Armee on the River Don. The 6th Armee would arrive just north of Stalingrad with the city on it's right flank. This would cut off the Caucasus, with Stalingrad included leaving a small avenue of escape through Stalingrad (although risky because of the Luftwaffe) and just south of the city.
4th Panzer Armee was to advance south into the Caucasus after capturing Rostov on Don (the north-western point of the net on the Caucasus). They would swoop in, destroy all Red Army forces in there and capture the oil fields. Stalingrad itself was never an objective.
The Red Army, however, melted away from the advancing Army Group South. Hitler took this as an all out rout of the Red Army and diverted forces from the 6th Armee to head south with the 4th Panzer Armee. This deprived the 6th of it's armour, but it still had to move on to it's objective which it did capture thus encircling the Caucasus. However, Hitler then ordered the 6th into Stalingrad ...and the rest is history.
During Operation Barbarossa, the only thing that halted the panzers were the weather and the mud baths the Russians called "roads". Hitler wanted his forces to press on faster but had to be told, repeatedly, that it wasn't possible. The one thing that stopped a full advance on Moscow was the diversion of panzers from the attack on Moscow to encircle the forces outside Kiev, which was the biggest encirclement in history.