The USSR had time, resources (human and material) and the land buffer to keep fighting. The farther Germany pressed into the USSR, the more Germany's resources

The USSR had time, resources (human and material) and the land buffer to keep fighting. The farther Germany pressed into the USSR, the more Germany's resources and supply lines were stretched and the Soviets eventually realized that. Similar reasons cost Napoleon dearly ~130 years before. Also, Stalin's massive ego wouldn't allow a city named after himself to be taken by the Germans. That's the primary reason that particular city suffered the high casualties that it did. Stalin once told Churchill at the Tehran Conference that "when one man dies it is a tragedy, when thousands die it's statistics."[1] [1] http://books.google.com/books?id=8fp1A2s6aQwC&pg=PA510&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=8fp1A2s6aQwC&pg=PA510&dq#v=...