Today in history：February 2

英语自学网

　　February 2
        　　Soldiers in Stalingrad fought in temperatures as low as -30
        　　1943: Germans surrender at Stalingrad
        　　England have
        　　The Soviet Government has announced the final defeat of the German 6th Army
at the port of Stalingrad, in southern Russia.
        　　A statement late this evening said: "Our forces have now completed the
liquidation of the German Fascist troops encircled in the area of
Stalingrad.
        　　"The last centre of enemy resistance in the Stalingrad area has thus been
crushed."
        　　The declaration brings to an end five months of heavy fighting for the
city. The battle has been described as among the most terrible of the war so
far.
        　　Another 45,000 German soldiers have been taken prisoner in the last two
days, bringing the total in custody to over 90,000 officers and men.
        　　The prisoners are understood to be in an appalling condition after enduring
months of starvation in temperatures down to -30.
        　　They are the remains of the 330,000-strong German force sent to take
Stalingrad.
        　　The rest - about a quarter of a million men - have died, as many from
illness, starvation and frostbite than from the fighting itself.
        　　The 6th Army has been trapped inside the city, completely surrounded by the
Red Army, for almost three months during the harshest part of the Russian
winter.
        　　They have had to rely totally on air drops by the Luftwaffe for food.
        　　Atrocious weather conditions have reduced the amount getting through to
just 90 tonnes a day - less than a third of what they needed.
        　　The German commander of the 6th Army, Field-Marshal Friedrich Paulus, gave
himself up two days ago.
        　　He had been in a hopeless position since early December, when a last-ditch
rescue attempt was driven back by Soviet troops.
        　　He was given one earlier chance to surrender, on 8 January, by Soviet
Regional Commander, Marshal Rokossovsky.
        　　But Hitler repeated his order to the 6th Army that surrender would not be
contemplated, and two days later the final Soviet offensive began to flush the
Germans out of Stalingrad.
        　　Paulus lost his last German-controlled airfield ten days later, on 22
January, and with it the last hope of any more regular supplies.
        　　By 29 January the desperately weak 6th Army was split into two pockets of
men.
        　　The surrender of Field-Marshal Paulus brought the ordeal to an end for one
of the groups.
        　　The defeat of the second remnant today closes at last one of the most
horrific chapters of the war so far.
        　　Mr de Klerk has pledged to free Nelson Mandela
        　　1990: De Klerk dismantles apartheid in South Africa
        　　Artificially 1969:
        　　The The President of South Africa has lifted the 30-year ban on leading
anti-apartheid group the African National Congress.
        　　President F W De Klerk has announced restrictions will be lifted on 33
other anti-apartheid organisations, including the ANC, at the opening of
parliament in Cape Town.
        　　He also made his first public commitment to release jailed ANC leader
Nelson Mandela, but he did not specify a date.
        　　Many observers were surprised by the scope of the reforms - which included
a return to press freedom and suspension of the death penalty - signalling a
partial end to the 25-year-old state of emergency.
        　　Nobel Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu said: "He has taken my breath
away".
        　　Mr Mandela"s wife, Winnie, remained sceptical.
        　　She said: "We are not going to accept a bone without meat. The unbanning of
the ANC, the South African Communist Party and the Pan-African Congress in the
prevailing South African climate is simply a recipe for further problems."
        　　Other critics complained about the government"s failure to completely lift
the state of emergency, as the ban on TV and photographic coverage of unrest
continues.
        　　Mr De Klerk explained this was precautionary so that the authorities could
monitor the progress of the reforms.
        　　Speaking about the release of political prisoners, he said: "It does not
signify in the least the approval or condoning of crimes of terrorism or crimes
of violence committed under their banner."
        　　The Conservative opposition has demanded a referendum on the white reaction
to the new measures.
        　　Vocabulary:
        　　liquidation : the act of exterminating;the murder of a competitor(清算)