I don't think the red one here is used properly.

[v0031]

In contrast to the great sweeping tank battles elsewhere on the Eastern Front, Stalingrad was protracted and bloody urban warfare fought from street to street, house to house, and room to room as the Red Army resisted German attempts to take the city. Russia's defenses were based on thousands of strongpoints, each manned by an infantry squad, in apartments, office buildings, and factories, all with strict orders forbidding retreat. German artillery and airpower virtually demolished the city but failed to dislodge the defenders. Eventually the German force was itself surrounded. The total number of casualties may have been as many as two million including civilians.

I don't think the red one here is used properly.

[This account no longer in use.]

It's used properly. The pronoun for a country (Germany) would be it, so "itself" would correspond to "it".

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Why not cut the word entirely?