The London Daily Newsletter Thursday 2 February

On 2 February 1943, the last German troops in the Soviet city of Stalingrad surrendered to the Red Army, ending one of the pivotal battles of World War II. In their attempt to take Stalingrad, the German Sixth Army faced a bitter Red Army under General Vasily Zhukov employing the ruined city to their advantage, transforming destroyed buildings and rubble into natural defensive fortifications. In a method of fighting the Germans began to call the Rattenkrieg, or “Rat’s War,” the opposing forces broke into squads eight or 10 strong and fought each other for every house and yard of territory. The battle saw rapid advances in street-fighting technology, such as a German machine gun that shot around corners and a light Russian plane that glided silently over German positions at night, dropping lethal bombs without warning. However, both sides lacked necessary food, water, or medical supplies, and tens of thousands perished every week. Starvation and the bitter Russian winter took many lives, and on 21 January 1943, the last of the airports held by the Germans fell to the Soviets, completely cutting the Germans off from supplies. On 31 January, Von Paulus surrendered German forces in the southern sector, and on 2 February the remaining German troops surrendered. Only 90,000 German soldiers were still alive, and of these only 5,000 troops would survive the Soviet prisoner-of-war camps and make it back to Germany.

Woodford Green
Woodford Green, historically part of Essex, it was absorbed into Greater London in 1965.

Part of the suburb of Woodford in northeast London, Woodford Green lies within the London Borough of Redbridge – though part of the western green (known as the Woodford Side) falls under the Borough of Waltham Forest. Woodford Green is surrounded by forests, lakes, country parks and open spaces. The A104 bisects Woodford Green, forming its high street.

TUM Book Club: Old Covent Garden
The magic of the old Covent Garden Market is evoked through Clive Boursnell’s photographs, taken over the course of numerous visits to Covent Garden in the 1960s and 1970s.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s Clive Boursnell, then a young photographer, shot thousands of photographs of the old Covent Garden, documenting the end of an era before the markets moved out of central London. Boursnell captured these last days of the market over a period of six years, from 1968 until the market’s closure, in a series of beautiful portraits of the feisty life of a city institution.

’The Thames at Westminster’ Colin Burns grew up in a Norfolk seaside town. From the age of seven, he began to paint landscapes and sunsets and, as a nine year old, started winning art prizes at school. At the age of sixteen he left school and qualified as an accountant, painting in his spare time

Colin W Burns (born 1944)

Video: Oyster
Getting around London with Oyster