That was a claim made by General [Vasily Chuikov](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Chuikov) in "The Battle For Stalingrad." He even went so far as to postulate a German column heading for Alma-Ata (Kazakhstan), toward the Chinese border. That was also the message of [Stalin's Order 227, "Not One Step back."](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_No._227)

How much truth was there to such claims? My question arises from my sketchy knowledge of the geography and topography of Russia east of the Volga. Is it rugged, inhospitable territory that would have swallowed up any German army attempting to cross it? Is it more like the Ukraine where German armor could have roamed at will? Or is it an intermediate case (e.g. few obstacles, but also few supplies)?

There is another issue. I might be willing to accept Chuikov's claim if "Volga" meant the part of the river around say, Kazan, on roughly the same latitude as Sverdlovsk and Magnitogorsk, where the Soviet Union relocated a large part of its manufacturing capacity. But the context of Chuikov's remarks was "Stalingrad," which is well south of these places (as well as west). How would that fact affect the answer to the question?