A German assault team advancing in the factory district of Stalingrad, early November 1942.
These men seem to have been resting in the slight draw on the left. They are now getting up to move forward. To my eye, they look like they are in an area where they can expect enemy fire, but haven't got any yet. Its usually easy to tell staged pictures from real pictures by the men themselves. These guys aren't posing. They are paying attention to what they are doing rather than the photographer and are spaced out for fighting, not bunched for a photo.
At full size you can see these men are dirty and tired. The Sixth Army had been fighting in Stalingrad for 2 1/2 months and were hopeful that one final push against the factory district would do the job. It didn't. Things were bad at this point, but they were about to become far worse. Few if any in this picture would see Germany again.
Note the man running on the right is holding an MG 36. The two on the left are carrying the tripod and ammo. The guy in the center is carrying a Mauser 98. In the background you can see more Mausers and no automatic weapons are evident.
