Germany could not hope to win the war on the ground. Since the Soviet Union was so huge, the government set up factories hundreds of miles away from the fighting in order to build aeroplanes, tanks, guns and other weapons for the Red Army. This meant that the Russians would eventually start to push the Germans back west, especially after they defeated the Germans in great battles near the city of Kursk and in the city of Stalingrad itself (Volgograd). The Germans also failed to conquer the city of Leningrad, which was also a key battle.