On July 17, 1942, at the turn of the Chir and Tsimla rivers, the forward detachments of the 62nd and 64th armies of the Stalingrad Front met with the vanguards of the 6th German Army. Interacting with the aviation of the 8th Air Army (Major General of Aviation T.T. Khryukin), they put up stubborn resistance to the enemy, who, in order to break their resistance, had to deploy 5 divisions out of 13 and spend 5 days fighting them. In the end, German troops drove the advance detachments from their positions and approached main page defense of the troops of the Stalingrad Front. Thus began the Battle of Stalingrad.
The resistance of the Soviet troops forced the Nazi command to strengthen the 6th Army. By July 22, it already had 18 divisions, numbering 250 thousand combat personnel, about 740 tanks, 7.5 thousand guns and mortars. The troops of the 6th Army supported up to 1,200 aircraft. As a result, the balance of forces increased even more in favor of the enemy. For example, in tanks he now had a twofold superiority. By July 22, the troops of the Stalingrad Front had 16 divisions (187 thousand people, 360 tanks, 7.9 thousand guns and mortars, about 340 aircraft).
At dawn on July 23, the enemy’s northern and, on July 25, southern strike groups went on the offensive. Using superiority in forces and air supremacy, the Germans broke through the defenses on the right flank of the 62nd Army and by the end of the day on July 24 reached the Don in the Golubinsky area. As a result, up to three Soviet divisions were surrounded. The enemy also managed to push back the troops of the right flank of the 64th Army. A critical situation developed for the troops of the Stalingrad Front. Both flanks of the 62nd Army were deeply engulfed by the enemy, and his exit to the Don created real threat the breakthrough of Nazi troops to Stalingrad.
By the end of July, the Germans pushed the Soviet troops behind the Don. The defense line stretched for hundreds of kilometers from north to south along the Don. To break through the defenses along the river, the Germans had to use, in addition to their 2nd Army, the armies of their Italian, Hungarian and Romanian allies. The 6th Army was only a few dozen kilometers from Stalingrad, and the 4th Panzer, located south of it, turned north to help take the city. To the south, Army Group South (A) continued to push further into the Caucasus, but its advance slowed. Army Group South A was too far to the south to provide support to Army Group South B in the north.
On July 28, 1942, People's Commissar of Defense J.V. Stalin addressed the Red Army with order No. 227, in which he demanded to strengthen resistance and stop the enemy's advance at all costs. The strictest measures were envisaged against those who showed cowardice and cowardice in battle. Practical measures were outlined to strengthen morale and discipline among the troops. “It’s time to end the retreat,” the order noted. - No step back!" This slogan embodied the essence of order No. 227. Commanders and political workers were given the task of bringing to the consciousness of every soldier the requirements of this order.
The stubborn resistance of the Soviet troops forced the Nazi command on July 31 to turn the 4th Tank Army (Colonel General G. Hoth) from the Caucasus direction to Stalingrad. On August 2, its advanced units approached Kotelnikovsky. In this regard, there was a direct threat of an enemy breakthrough to the city from the southwest. Fighting broke out on the southwestern approaches to it. To strengthen the defense of Stalingrad, by decision of the front commander, the 57th Army was deployed on the southern front of the outer defensive perimeter. The 51st Army was transferred to the Stalingrad Front (Major General T.K. Kolomiets, from October 7 - Major General N.I. Trufanov).
The situation in the 62nd Army zone was difficult. On August 7-9, the enemy pushed her troops beyond the Don River, and encircled four divisions west of Kalach. Soviet soldiers fought in encirclement until August 14, and then in small groups they began to fight their way out of encirclement. Three divisions of the 1st Guards Army (Major General K. S. Moskalenko, from September 28 - Major General I. M. Chistyakov) arrived from the Headquarters Reserve and launched a counterattack on the enemy troops and stopped their further advance.
Thus, the German plan - to break through to Stalingrad with a swift blow on the move - was thwarted by the stubborn resistance of Soviet troops in the large bend of the Don and their active defense on the southwestern approaches to the city. During the three weeks of the offensive, the enemy was able to advance only 60-80 km. Based on an assessment of the situation, the Nazi command made significant adjustments to its plan.
On August 19, Nazi troops resumed their offensive, striking general direction to Stalingrad. On August 22, the 6th German Army crossed the Don and captured a 45 km wide bridgehead on its eastern bank, in the Peskovatka area, on which six divisions were concentrated. On August 23, the enemy's 14th Tank Corps broke through to the Volga north of Stalingrad, in the area of the village of Rynok, and cut off the 62nd Army from the rest of the forces of the Stalingrad Front. The day before, enemy aircraft launched a massive air strike on Stalingrad, carrying out about 2 thousand sorties. As a result, the city suffered terrible destruction - entire neighborhoods were turned into ruins or simply wiped off the face of the earth.
On September 13, the enemy went on the offensive along the entire front, trying to capture Stalingrad by storm. Soviet troops failed to contain his powerful onslaught. They were forced to retreat to the city, where fierce fighting broke out on the streets.
At the end of August and September, Soviet troops carried out a series of counterattacks in the southwestern direction to cut off the formations of the enemy's 14th Tank Corps, which had broken through to the Volga. When launching counterattacks, Soviet troops had to close the German breakthrough in the Kotluban and Rossoshka station area and eliminate the so-called “land bridge”. At the cost of enormous losses, Soviet troops managed to advance only a few kilometers.
Soviet machine gunners during street fighting on the outskirts of Stalingrad.
Captured camels are used as draft power by the German army at Stalingrad.
Evacuation of nurseries and kindergartens from Stalingrad.
German dive bomber Junkers Ju-87 Stuka in the sky over Stalingrad.
Romanian prisoners of war captured near the village of Raspopinskaya near the city of Kalach.
Soldiers and commanders of the 298th Infantry Division near Stalingrad.
Women dig trenches in the area of the Don River.
The commander of the 6th Army, Wehrmacht Colonel General F. Paulus, with members of his staff during the battles near Stalingrad.
Oberefreiter of the 578th Wehrmacht Infantry Regiment Hans Eckle in a combat position in a trench between the Don and Volga.
The command staff of the 2nd company of the 178th rifle regiment of the NKVD troops of the USSR for the protection of especially important industrial enterprises on Mamayev Kurgan.
Armor-piercers G.S. Barennik and Ya.V. Sheptytsky with a PTRD-41 in a combat position in a trench during the battle for Stalingrad.
A German soldier writes a letter in the basement of a house in Stalingrad.
A militiaman from among the workers of the Stalingrad Red October plant, sniper Pyotr Alekseevich Goncharov (1903 - 1944), armed with a registered SVT-40 sniper rifle at a firing position near Stalingrad. In the battles for Stalingrad he destroyed about 50 enemy soldiers.
Armored boats of the Volga Flotilla fire at the positions of German troops in Stalingrad.
Wehrmacht armored personnel carriers in the steppe near Stalingrad.
A convoy of the 2nd Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht is crossing the bridge over the Don.
Wehrmacht infantry and StuG III self-propelled guns advance through a Soviet village shortly after crossing the Don.
Oberefreiter of the 578th Wehrmacht Infantry Regiment Hans Eckle at a combat position between the Don and Volga.
The driver performs work on the engine of a ZIS-5 car near Stalingrad.
German machine gunners change position north of Stalingrad.
German soldiers with an MG-34 machine gun and a 50-mm leGrW36 mortar in a position on the outskirts of Stalingrad.
A Soviet prisoner of war helps soldiers of the 369th Wehrmacht Regiment dismantle a wrecked car in Stalingrad.
Soviet soldiers in positions in the trenches near Stalingrad.
German self-propelled gun StuG III near the ruins of the Stalingrad Tractor Plant.
Former houses on the outskirts of the town of Serafimovich, destroyed by German troops.
Cinematographer Valentin Orlyankin films a panorama of Stalingrad from the boat.
Red Army soldiers, brought from the other side of the river, walk along the banks of the Volga in Stalingrad.
Soldiers of the 578th Wehrmacht Infantry Regiment at a halt during the attack on Stalingrad.
German officers confer at a crossroads during the attack on Stalingrad.
A German self-propelled gun StuG III with armored soldiers moves along Kurskaya Street in Stalingrad.
A Soviet pillbox on the territory occupied by German troops near Stalingrad.
View of the cemetery destroyed during the fighting in Stalingrad.
A resident of Stalingrad stokes the stove of a destroyed house in the occupied southern part of the city.
A resident of the occupied area of Stalingrad prepares food on the site of a destroyed house.
View from a German plane of the fires in the destroyed Stalingrad.
German tank Pz.Kpfw. III, knocked out at Stalingrad.
Soviet sappers are building a crossing across the Volga.
Red Army soldiers in battle on the railway near Stalingrad.
A German soldier walks past a damaged and burning Soviet T-60 tank during the attack on Stalingrad.
Red Army artillerymen at the F-22-USV gun on the street of Stalingrad.
A column of Red Army soldiers passes near the Central Department Store of Stalingrad.
Artillerymen of the Red Army Guards unit are crossing the Volga on A-3 landing boats.
Calculation of the German ZSU Sd.Kfz. 10/4 prepares to open fire at Stalingrad.
Sculptural composition and graves of German soldiers near the building of the 7th hospital in Stalingrad.
Soviet machine gunners of the Stalingrad Front near the river.
Soviet soldiers repulse the attacks of German troops rushing to Stalingrad.
Soviet mortar men change positions near Stalingrad.
Red Army soldiers run near barbed wire barriers during the fighting in Stalingrad.
Soviet infantry in battle on the outskirts of Stalingrad.
A group of Soviet military personnel in the steppe near Stalingrad.
The crew of the Soviet 45-mm anti-tank gun 53-K changes position during the battles on the outskirts of Stalingrad.
Soviet units after landing on the banks of the Volga near Stalingrad.
Soviet soldiers fire from the glass roof of one of the factory workshops in Stalingrad.
Soviet machine gunners in battle on the streets of Stalingrad.
Red Army soldiers in battle near a burning house in Stalingrad.
Destroyed Soviet installation salvo fire BM-8-24 on the chassis of the T-60 tank near Stalingrad.
Destroyed houses in the part of Stalingrad occupied by German troops.
Soviet soldiers move through the ruins of a destroyed building in Stalingrad.
A woman with a knot on the ashes in Stalingrad.
The crew of a Soviet 50-mm company mortar changes position in a workers' village near Stalingrad.
View from a Soviet hideout in Stalingrad.
A fallen Soviet soldier on the banks of the Volga near Stalingrad.
The day of February 2, 1943, when Soviet troops defeated the fascist invaders near the great Volga River, is a very memorable date. The Battle of Stalingrad is one of the turning points in World War II. Such as the Battle of Moscow or the Battle of Kursk. It gave a significant advantage to our army on its path to victory over the invaders.
Losses in the battle
According to official figures, the Battle of Stalingrad claimed the lives of two million people. According to unofficial estimates - about three. It was this battle that became the reason for mourning in Nazi Germany, declared by Adolf Hitler. And it was precisely this that, figuratively speaking, inflicted a mortal wound on the army of the Third Reich.
The Battle of Stalingrad lasted about two hundred days and turned the once thriving peaceful city into smoking ruins. Of the half a million civilian population listed before the start of hostilities, by the end of the battle only about ten thousand people remained. It cannot be said that the arrival of the Germans was a surprise to the city residents. The authorities hoped that the situation would be resolved and did not pay due attention to the evacuation. However, it was possible to remove most of the children before the aircraft razed the orphanages and schools to the ground.
The battle for Stalingrad began on July 17, and already on the first day of battle colossal losses were noted both among the fascist invaders and in the ranks of the valiant defenders of the city.
German intentions
As was typical for Hitler, his plan was to take the city as quickly as possible. Having learned nothing from previous battles, the German command was inspired by the victories won before coming to Russia. No more than two weeks were allotted for the capture of Stalingrad.
For this purpose the 6th Army of the Wehrmacht was assigned. In theory, it should have been enough to suppress the actions of Soviet defensive detachments, subjugate the civilian population and introduce their own regime in the city. This is how the battle for Stalingrad seemed to the Germans. The summary of Hitler's plan was to seize the industries in which the city was rich, as well as crossings on the Volga River, which gave him access to the Caspian Sea. And from there a direct path to the Caucasus was open for him. In other words, to rich oil deposits. If Hitler had succeeded in his plans, the results of the war could have been completely different.
Approaches to the city, or "Not a step back!"
The Barbarossa plan was a fiasco, and after the defeat near Moscow, Hitler was forced to reconsider all his ideas. Abandoning previous goals, the German command took a different path, deciding to seize the Caucasus oil field. Following the established route, the Germans take Donbass, Voronezh and Rostov. The final stage was Stalingrad.
General Paulus, commander of the 6th Army, led his forces to the city, but on the approaches his movement was blocked by the Stalingrad Front in the person of General Timoshenko and his 62nd Army. Thus began fierce fighting that lasted about two months. It was during this period of the battle that order No. 227 was issued, known in history as “Not a step back!” And this played a role. No matter how hard the Germans tried and threw in more and more forces to penetrate the city, they only moved 60 kilometers from their starting point.
The Battle of Stalingrad became more desperate as General Paulus's army increased in numbers. The tank component doubled, and aviation quadrupled. To contain such an onslaught from our side, the South-Eastern Front was formed, led by General Eremenko. In addition to the fact that the ranks of the fascists were significantly replenished, they resorted to roundabout maneuvers. Thus, the enemy movement was actively carried out from the Caucasian direction, but due to the actions of our army, it was of no significant use.
Civilians
According to Stalin's cunning order, only children were evacuated from the city. The rest fell under the order “Not a step back.” In addition to this, before last day The people remained confident that everything would work out. However, an order was given to dig trenches near his house. This was the beginning of unrest among civilians. People without permission (and it was given only to the families of officials and other prominent figures) began to leave the city.
Nevertheless, many of the male component volunteered for the front. The rest worked in factories. And it was very useful, since there was a catastrophic lack of ammunition even in repelling the enemy on the approaches to the city. The machines did not stop day and night. Civilians did not indulge themselves in rest either. They did not spare themselves - everything for the front, everything for Victory!
Paulus's breakthrough into the city
The average person remembers August 23, 1942 as unexpected. solar eclipse. It was still early before sunset, but the sun was suddenly covered with a black curtain. Numerous aircraft released black smoke in order to confuse the Soviet artillery. The roar of hundreds of engines tore the sky, and the waves emanating from it crushed the windows of buildings and threw civilians to the ground.
With the first bombing, the German squadron razed most of the city to the ground. People were forced to leave their homes and hide in the trenches they had dug earlier. It was either unsafe to be in the building or, due to the bombs that had hit it, it was simply impossible. So the battle for Stalingrad continued in the second stage. The photos that the German pilots managed to take show the whole picture of what was happening from the air.
Fight for every meter
Army Group B, completely strengthened by arriving reinforcements, launched a major offensive. Thus, cutting off the 62nd Army from the main front. So the battle for Stalingrad moved to urban areas. No matter how hard the Red Army soldiers tried to neutralize the corridor for the Germans, nothing worked.
The Russian stronghold had no equal in its strength. The Germans simultaneously admired the heroism of the Red Army and hated it. But they were even more afraid. Paulus himself did not hide his fear of Soviet soldiers in his notes. As he claimed, several battalions were sent into battle every day and almost no one returned back. And this is not an isolated case. This happened every day. The Russians fought desperately and died desperately.
87th Division of the Red Army
An example of the courage and perseverance of the Russian soldiers who knew the Battle of Stalingrad is the 87th Division. Remaining with 33 people, the fighters continued to hold their positions, fortifying themselves at the height of Malye Rossoshki.
To break them, the German command threw 70 tanks and an entire battalion at them. As a result, the Nazis left 150 fallen soldiers and 27 damaged vehicles on the battlefield. But the 87th Division is only a small part of the city’s defense.
The fight continues
By the beginning of the second period of the battle, Army Group B had about 80 divisions. On our side, reinforcements were made up of the 66th Army, which was later joined by the 24th.
The breakthrough into the city center was carried out by two groups of German soldiers under the cover of 350 tanks. This stage, which included the Battle of Stalingrad, was the most terrible. The soldiers of the Red Army fought for every inch of land. There were battles everywhere. The roar of tank shots was heard in every point of the city. Aviation did not stop its raids. The planes stood in the sky as if they were never leaving.
There was no district, not even a house, where the battle for Stalingrad did not take place. The map of military operations covered the entire city with neighboring villages and hamlets.
Pavlov's House
The fighting took place both with weapons and hand-to-hand. According to the recollections of surviving German soldiers, the Russians, wearing only tunics, ran into the attack, exposing the already exhausted enemy to horror.
The fighting took place both on the streets and in buildings. And it was even harder for the warriors. Every turn, every corner could hide the enemy. If the first floor was occupied by the Germans, then the Russians could gain a foothold on the second and third. While on the fourth the Germans were again based. Residential buildings could change hands several times. One of these houses holding the enemy was the Pavlovs' house. A group of scouts led by commander Pavlov entrenched themselves in a residential building and, having knocked out the enemy from all four floors, turned the house into an impregnable citadel.
Operation Ural
Most of the city was taken by the Germans. Only along its edges were the forces of the Red Army based, forming three fronts:
- Stalingradsky.
- Southwestern.
- Donskoy.
The total strength of all three fronts had a slight advantage over the Germans in technology and aviation. But this was not enough. And in order to defeat the Nazis, true military art was necessary. This is how Operation Ural was developed. An operation more successful than the Battle of Stalingrad had ever seen. Briefly, it consisted of all three fronts attacking the enemy, cutting him off from his main forces and encircling him. Which soon happened.
The Nazis took measures to free the army of General Paulus, who was encircled. But operations “Thunder” and “Thunderstorm” developed for this purpose did not bring any success.
Operation Ring
The final stage of the defeat of Nazi troops in the Battle of Stalingrad was Operation Ring. Its essence was to eliminate the encircled German troops. The latter were not going to give up. With about 350 thousand personnel (which was sharply reduced to 250 thousand), the Germans planned to hold out until reinforcements arrived. However, this was not allowed either by the rapidly attacking soldiers of the Red Army, smashing the enemy, or by the condition of the troops, which had significantly deteriorated during the time that the battle for Stalingrad lasted.
As a result of the final stage of Operation Ring, the Nazis were cut into two camps, which were soon forced to surrender due to the onslaught of the Russians. General Paulus himself was captured.
Consequences
The significance of the Battle of Stalingrad in the history of World War II is colossal. Having suffered such huge losses, the Nazis lost their advantage in the war. In addition, the success of the Red Army inspired the armies of other states fighting Hitler. As for the fascists themselves, to say that their fighting spirit has weakened is to say nothing.
Hitler himself emphasized the significance of the Battle of Stalingrad and the defeat of the German army in it. According to him, on February 1, 1943, the offensive in the East no longer made any sense.
Total > 1 million Human.
| The Great Patriotic War |
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| Invasion of the USSR Karelia Arctic Leningrad Rostov Moscow Sevastopol Barvenkovo-Lozovaya Kharkiv Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad Rzhev Stalingrad Caucasus Velikie Luki Ostrogozhsk-Rossosh Voronezh-Kastornoye Kursk Smolensk Donbass Dnieper Right Bank Ukraine Leningrad-Novgorod Crimea (1944) Belarus Lviv-Sandomir Iasi-Chisinau Eastern Carpathians Baltics Courland Romania Bulgaria Debrecen Belgrade Budapest Poland (1944) Western Carpathians East Prussia Lower Silesia Eastern Pomerania Upper Silesia Vein Berlin Prague |
Battle of Stalingrad- a battle between the troops of the USSR, on the one hand, and the troops of Nazi Germany, Romania, Italy and Hungary during the Great Patriotic War. The battle was one of the most important events of World War II. The battle included the Wehrmacht's attempt to capture the left bank of the Volga in the area of Stalingrad (modern Volgograd) and the city itself, a standoff in the city, and a Red Army counteroffensive (Operation Uranus), which brought the Wehrmacht's 6th Army and other German allied forces inside and around the city they were surrounded and partly destroyed, partly captured. According to rough estimates, the total losses of both sides in this battle exceed two million people. The Axis powers lost a large number of men and weapons and were subsequently unable to fully recover from the defeat. J.V. Stalin wrote:
For the Soviet Union, which also suffered heavy losses during the battle, the victory at Stalingrad marked the beginning of the liberation of the country and the victorious march across Europe that led to the final defeat of Nazi Germany in .
Previous Events
The capture of Stalingrad was very important to Hitler for several reasons. It was a major industrial city on the banks of the Volga (a vital transport route between the Caspian Sea and northern Russia). The capture of Stalingrad would provide security on the left flank of the German armies advancing into the Caucasus. Finally, the very fact that the city bore the name of Stalin, Hitler’s main enemy, made the capture of the city a winning ideological and propaganda move. Stalin may also have had ideological and propaganda interests in protecting the city that bore his name.
The summer offensive was codenamed "Fall Blau" (German). blue option). The XVII Army of the Wehrmacht and the 1st Panzer and 4th Panzer armies took part in it.
Operation Blau began with the offensive of Army Group South against the troops of the Bryansk Front to the north and the troops of the South-Western Front to the south of Voronezh. It is worth noting that despite a two-month break in active combat operations by the troops of the Bryansk Front, the result turned out to be no less catastrophic than for the troops of the South-Western Front, battered by the May battles. On the very first day of the operation, both Soviet fronts were broken through tens of kilometers and the Germans rushed to the Don. Soviet troops could only offer weak resistance to the Germans in the vast desert steppes, and then began to flock to the east in complete disorder. Attempts to re-form the defense also ended in complete failure when German units entered the Soviet defensive positions from the flank. Several divisions of the Red Army in mid-July fell into a cauldron in the south of the Voronezh region near the village of Millerovo
German offensive
The 6th Army's initial offensive was so successful that Hitler intervened again, ordering the 4th Panzer Army to join Army Group South (A). The result was a huge traffic jam when the 4th and 6th armies needed several roads in the area of operations. Both armies were stuck tightly, and the delay turned out to be quite long and slowed down the German advance by one week. With the advance slowing, Hitler changed his mind and reassigned the 4th Panzer Army's objective back to the Stalingrad direction.
In July, when German intentions became completely clear to the Soviet command, it developed plans for the defense of Stalingrad. Additional Soviet troops were deployed on the eastern bank of the Volga. The 62nd Army was created under the command of Vasily Chuikov, whose task was to defend Stalingrad at any cost.
Battle in the city
There is a version that Stalin did not give permission to evacuate the city residents. However, documentary evidence on this matter has not yet been found. In addition, the evacuation, although at a slow pace, still took place. By August 23, 1942, out of 400 thousand residents of Stalingrad, about 100 thousand were evacuated. On August 24, the Stalingrad City Defense Committee adopted a belated resolution on the evacuation of women, children and the wounded to the left bank of the Volga. All citizens, including women and children, worked to build trenches and other fortifications.
A massive German bombing campaign on August 23 destroyed the city, killing thousands of civilians and turning Stalingrad into a vast area of burning ruins. Eighty percent of housing in the city was destroyed.
The burden of the initial fight for the city fell on the 1077th Anti-Aircraft Regiment: a unit staffed primarily by young female volunteers with no experience in destroying ground targets. Despite this, and without adequate support available from other Soviet units, the anti-aircraft gunners remained in place and fired at the advancing enemy tanks of the 16th Panzer Division until all 37 air defense batteries were destroyed or captured. By the end of August, Army Group South (B) had finally reached the Volga north of Stalingrad. There was also another German offensive to the river south of the city.
On initial stage Soviet defense relied heavily on the "People's Militia of Workers", recruited from workers not involved in war production. Tanks continued to be built and were manned by volunteer crews consisting of factory workers, including women. The equipment was immediately sent from factory assembly lines to the front line, often without even painting and without sighting equipment installed.
Street fighting in Stalingrad.
The headquarters reviewed Eremenko's plan, but considered it impracticable (the depth of the operation was too great, etc.)
As a result, Stavka offered next option encirclement and defeat of German troops at Stalingrad. On October 7, a General Staff directive (No. 170644) was issued on conducting an offensive operation on two fronts to encircle the 6th Army. The Don Front was asked to deliver the main blow in the direction of Kotluban, break through the front and reach the Gumrak region. At the same time, the Stalingrad Front is launching an offensive from the Gornaya Polyana area to Elshanka, and after breaking through the front, units move to the Gumrak area, where they link up with DF units. In this operation, the front command was allowed to use fresh units. Don Front - 7th Infantry Division, Stalingrad Front - 7th Art. K., 4 Apt. K. The date of the operation was set for October 20.
Thus, it was planned to encircle and destroy only the German troops leading fighting directly in Stalingrad (14th Tank Corps, 51st and 4th Infantry Corps, about 12 divisions in total).
The command of the Don Front was dissatisfied with this directive. On October 9, Rokossovsky presented his plan for the offensive operation. He referred to the impossibility of breaking through the front in the Kotluban area. According to his calculations, 4 divisions were required for a breakthrough, 3 divisions to develop a breakthrough, and 3 more to provide cover from German attacks; thus, 7 fresh divisions were clearly not enough. Rokossovsky proposed delivering the main blow in the Kuzmichi area (height 139.7), that is, according to the same old scheme: encircle units of the 14th Tank Corps, connect with the 62nd Army and only after that move to Gumrak to link up with units of 64 th army. The Don Front headquarters planned 4 days for this: -October 24. The “Oryol ledge” of the Germans had been haunting Rokossovsky since August 23, so he decided to “play it safe” and first deal with this “corn,” and then complete the complete encirclement.
The Stavka did not accept Rokossovsky's proposal and recommended that he prepare the operation according to the Stavka plan; however, he was allowed to conduct private operations against the Oryol group of Germans on October 10, without attracting fresh forces.
In total, more than 2,500 officers and 24 generals of the 6th Army were captured during Operation Ring. In total, over 91 thousand Wehrmacht soldiers and officers were captured. According to the Don Front headquarters, the trophies of the Soviet troops from January 10 to February 2, 1943 were 5,762 guns, 1,312 mortars, 12,701 machine guns, 156,987 rifles, 10,722 machine guns, 744 aircraft, 1,666 tanks, 261 armored vehicles, 80,438 vehicles, 10 679 motorcycles, 240 tractors, 571 tractors, 3 armored trains and other military equipment.
Results of the battle
The victory of Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad is the largest military-political event during the Second World War. The Great Battle, which ended in the encirclement, defeat and capture of a selected enemy group, made a huge contribution to achieving a radical turning point during the Great Patriotic War and had a decisive influence on the further course of the entire Second World War.
In the Battle of Stalingrad, new features of military art emerged with all their might. Armed Forces THE USSR. Soviet operational art was enriched by the experience of encircling and destroying the enemy.
As a result of the battle, the Red Army firmly seized the strategic initiative and now dictated its will to the enemy.
The outcome of the Battle of Stalingrad caused confusion and confusion in the Axis countries. A crisis began in pro-fascist regimes in Italy, Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia. Germany's influence on its allies sharply weakened, and disagreements between them noticeably worsened.
Defectors and prisoners
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According to some other data, from 91 to 110 thousand German prisoners were captured at Stalingrad. Subsequently, our troops buried 140 thousand enemy soldiers and officers on the battlefield (not counting the tens of thousands of German troops who died in the “cauldron” within 73 days). According to the testimony of the German historian Rüdiger Overmans, almost 20 thousand “accomplices” captured in Stalingrad - former Soviet prisoners who served in auxiliary positions in the 6th Army - also died in captivity. They were shot or died in camps.
In the reference book "Second World War", published in Germany in 1995, indicates that 201,000 soldiers and officers were captured at Stalingrad, of whom only 6,000 returned to their homeland after the war. According to the calculations of the German historian Rüdiger Overmans, published in a special issue of the historical magazine Damalz dedicated to the Battle of Stalingrad, a total of about 250,000 people were encircled at Stalingrad. Approximately 25,000 of them were evacuated from the Stalingrad pocket and more than 100,000 Wehrmacht soldiers and officers died in January 1943 during the conclusion of the Soviet Operation Ring. 130,000 people were captured, including 110,000 Germans, and the rest were the so-called “volunteer assistants” of the Wehrmacht (“hivi” is an abbreviation for German word Hillwillge (Hiwi), literal translation; "voluntary assistant") Of these, about 5,000 survived and returned home to Germany. The 6th Army included about 52,000 "Khiwis", for which the headquarters of this army developed the main directions for training "voluntary assistants", in which the latter were considered as "reliable comrades-in-arms in the fight against Bolshevism." Among these “volunteer helpers” were Russian support personnel and an anti-aircraft artillery battalion staffed by Ukrainians. In addition, in the 6th Army ... there were approximately 1,000 people of the Todt organization, consisting mainly of Western European workers, Croatian and Romanian associations, numbering from 1,000 to 5,000 soldiers, as well as several Italians.
If we compare German and Russian data on the number of soldiers and officers captured in the Stalingrad area, the following picture appears. IN Russian sources excluded from the number of prisoners of war are all the so-called “voluntary assistants” of the Wehrmacht (more than 50,000 people), whom the Soviet competent authorities never classified as “prisoners of war”, but considered them as traitors to the Motherland, subject to trial under martial law. As for the mass death of prisoners of war from the “Stalingrad cauldron”, most of them died during the first year of their captivity due to exhaustion, the effects of cold and numerous diseases received while surrounded. Some data can be cited on this score: only in the period from February 3 to June 10, 1943, in the German prisoner of war camp in Beketovka (Stalingrad region), the consequences of the “Stalingrad cauldron” cost the lives of more than 27,000 people; and of the 1,800 captured officers housed in the former monastery in Yelabuga, by April 1943 only a quarter of the contingent remained alive
The Great Battle of Stalingrad took place from July 17, 1942 to February 2, 1943. It is divided into two periods: from July 17 to November 18, 1942 - the German offensive on Stalingrad and the fighting in the city. November 19, 1942 – February 2, 1943 counter-offensive of Soviet troops near Stalingrad, defeat, encirclement and surrender of the German group of troops led by Field Marshal Paulus. Briefly about the essence of the battle: The Battle of Stalingad was the beginning of a radical turning point during the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War.
Below is Short story, the course of the Battle of Stalingrad and material about the heroes and commanders of the great battle, memories of the participants. The hero city of Volgograd (Stalingrad) carefully preserves the memory of those tragic events. The city has many museums dedicated to the Great Patriotic War. One of them is the House of Sergeant Pavlov (House of Soldiers' Glory), which Soviet soldiers defended for 58 days. To list all heroes great battle Even a few articles are not enough. Even the Americans made a film about one of the heroes of Stalingrad - sniper from the Southern Urals Vasily Zaitsev.
The material can be used for events, conversations, cool hours, lectures, quizzes, quests for children and adults in the library or school, writing essays, reports, abstracts dedicated to December 3 - the Day of the Unknown Soldier or the Battle of Stalingrad itself. Published by November 19
Battle of Stalingrad: history, heroes, commanders
Theme for the evening (author – Alexey Gorokhov)
Count them aliveHow long ago
Was at the front for the first time
Suddenly Stalingrad was named.
Alexander Tvardovsky
On a summer morning in 1965, an elderly woman stepped off the ramp of a local airlines plane that landed near the village of Bokovskaya, in the Veshensky district of the Rostov region. She flew from afar, transferring from plane to plane in Mineralnye Vody and Rostov.
The woman's name was Bagzhan Zhaikenova. Accompanied by her grandchildren Auken and Aliya, she undertook a difficult journey for her advanced age from Karaganda to hitherto unknown lands to bow to the ashes of her twenty-year-old son Nurken Abdirov, an attack pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union, who found eternal rest on Don soil.
Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov heard about the guest from Kazakhstan and invited him to his place in Veshenskaya. The writer talked for a long time with old Bagzhan. At the end of the meeting, she asked to take a photo together. Sholokhov seated the guests on the steps of the porch, sat down himself, and a photojournalist from a local newspaper took several photographs. Grigory Yakimov, who flew on behalf of Karaganda regional organizations together with Bagzhan Zhaikenova, later included this photograph in his book “Pike into Immortality” (Alma-Ata: Kazakhstan, 1973).
In the pre-war years, Grigory Yakimov was the head of the Karaganda flying club. Nurken Abdirov studied here, who on December 19, 1942, near the village of Bokovskaya, sent his damaged attack aircraft, as stated in the nomination for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, “... into the thick of enemy tanks and died with his crew the death of a hero.” Yakimov collected everything connected with the name of Abdirov, found his fellow soldiers, picked up archival documents and, perhaps, was the first to talk in detail about the young Kazakh pilot who died at the height of the Battle of Stalingrad.
Here is another episode of that heroic time. On January 9, 1943, seven Il-2 attack aircraft under the command of Captain I. Bakhtin from the 622nd Attack Aviation Regiment attacked the Salsk airfield, one of the main supply bases for Nazi troops surrounded at Stalingrad.
The pilots approached the target six times under enemy anti-aircraft fire and destroyed 72 transport aircraft. They knew very well that the day before two attempts to break through to this airfield had failed... And this time there were losses; two of the seven pilots were not destined to return to the regiment.
It was this heroic page of the battle on the Volga that served as the basis for Heinrich Hoffmann’s first book, “The plane was shot down over the target” (M.: Voenizdat, 1959). The now famous Soviet writer, who recently celebrated his sixtieth birthday, during the war he himself flew attack aircraft, and in 1944 he became a Hero of the Soviet Union. WITH actors he was well acquainted with his documentary story, since he served with them in the same regiment.
... Of course, taken from the general description of the great event, namely, the defeat of the fascist troops at Stalingrad, the fortieth anniversary of which will soon be celebrated, belongs to this rank, the above facts may not seem so significant. Moreover, if we're talking about about the battle that brought a radical turning point in the course of the Great Patriotic War, about the battle in which millions of people were drawn on both sides.
And yet, it was precisely these “little things” that formed the mass heroism that allowed the Red Army not only to survive at the walls of Stalingrad, but also to break the back of the Nazis.
The future writer Ivan Paderin served in the legendary 62nd Army, which was literally pressed by the Germans to the steep right bank of the Volga. In his collection “11a in the Main Direction” (M.: Soviet Writer. 1978), Paderin, among other works, included the stories “Father’s Order” about army commander V.I. Chuikov and “In Stalingrad.”
In the latter, he wrote, in particular: “It is difficult to push a stone off a huge cliff, but when it flies, you won’t be able to collect even the fragments at the foot. Stalingrad is the highest point of the war from where we pushed the Nazis. Now they will not be able to hold out either on the Don, or on the Dniester, or on our borders, and Berlin will only have fragments left from Hitler’s army.”
By the way, I. Paderin owns the book “Volgograd,” published in the “Hero Cities” series. Pages of the heroic defense of the hero city 1942-1943" (M.: Politizdat, 1980).
THE ENEMY IS RUNNING TO THE VOLGA
Battle of Stalingrad - first period July - November 1942
The works of prominent Soviet military leaders, already mentioned in materials dedicated to the fortieth anniversary of the defeat of Nazi troops near Moscow, will help us clarify many of the circumstances of the summer-autumn battles of 1942 (Librarian, 1981, No. 12). I mean “The Work of a Whole Life” by A. M. Vasilevsky (M.: Politizdat, 1975), “Memories and Reflections” by G. K. Zhukov (M.: APN, 1969), “A Soldier’s Duty” by K. K. Rokossovsky (M.: Voenizdat, 1968).
To this list we will add the memoirs of the former commander of the Stalingrad and South-Eastern Fronts A.I. Eremenko “Stalingrad” (M.: Voenizdat, 1961), the memoirs of the commander of the 62nd Army V.I. Chuikov “The Beginning of the Path” (M.: Voenizdat , 1962), notes by S. A. Krasovsky, commander of the 17th Air Army, which operated as part of the Southwestern Front and in which attack pilot Nurken Abdirov fought. The book by S. A. Krasovsky is called “Life in Aviation” (M.: Voenizdat, 1968).
What were the plans of the German command for the summer of 1942? A. M. Vasilevsky writes:
“With the summer offensive, the Nazis expected to achieve not only turning-point military-strategic results, but also to paralyze the economy of the Soviet state. They believed that as a result of a decisive offensive in the Caucasian and Stalingrad directions, after seizing Caucasian oil, Donetsk industry, Stalingrad industry, with access to the Volga and after they managed to deprive us of contact with the outside world through Iran, they would achieve the necessary preconditions for defeat of the Soviet Union."
In Directive No. 41 of April 5, 1942, Hitler set the task of seizing the initiative lost as a result of the defeat near Moscow, “finally destroying manpower, still at the disposal of the Soviets, to deprive the Russians of as many military-economic centers as possible.”
In turn, the Soviet Supreme High Command planned several offensive operations for the summer of 1942, the main one of which was planned in the Kharkov direction. Moreover, the Supreme Command Headquarters counted on simultaneous attacks by the allied Anglo-American troops on Germany from the west. This, as we know, did not happen. The Soviet troops failed near Kharkov. A difficult situation has developed in Crimea. Offensive operations had to be abandoned and switched to defense along the entire Soviet-German front.
In June, the Nazis reached Voronezh, the upper reaches of the Don, and captured the Donbass. On July 9, the German command divided the southern group of its troops into army groups “A” and “B” and threw the latter into a breakthrough into the big bend of the Don. On July 12, the Supreme Command Headquarters formed the Stalingrad Front, which included the 8th Air Army of General T. T. Khryukin.
On July 14, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks declared martial law in the Stalingrad region. And on July 28, Order No. 227 of People’s Commissar of Defense I.V. Stalin was signed and immediately sent to the troops, “one of the most powerful documents of the war years,” as A.M. Vasilevsky assessed it, “in terms of the depth of patriotic content, the degree of emotional tension." The meaning of this order boiled down to the main thing: “... it’s time to end the retreat. No step back!"
On July 17, 1942, the defensive period of the Battle of Stalingrad began. On August 26, G.K. Zhukov was appointed Deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief. Three days later he was already in the Stalingrad area. Here's what he writes in his book:
“The Supreme High Command sent everything that was possible to the Stalingrad area, with the exception of newly formed strategic reserves intended for further struggle. Urgent measures were taken to increase the production of aircraft, tanks, weapons, ammunition and other materiel in order to timely introduce them into the defeat of the enemy group that had reached the Stalingrad area.”
Here are the numbers: from August 1 to August 20, 15 rifle divisions and three tank corps were sent to Stalingrad from the depths of the country. These measures were very significant, but far from sufficient to, as A. M. Vasilevsky writes, remove the threat hanging over the city. On August 19, the enemy launched another offensive, and on August 23, his troops broke through to the Volga north of Stalingrad. On the same day, the city was subjected to barbaric air bombardment.
The Headquarters entrusted to G.K. Zhukov the leadership of all the troops involved in the liquidation of the enemy who had broken through to the Volga and the restoration of the broken front of our defense... Here is a telegram addressed to him from the Supreme Command Headquarters on September 3:
“The situation with Stalingrad has worsened. The enemy is located three miles from Stalingrad. Stalingrad could be taken today or tomorrow if the northern group of troops does not provide immediate assistance. Demand that the commanders of the troops located north and north-west of Stalingrad immediately strike the enemy and come to the aid of the Stalingraders. No delay is acceptable. Delay is now tantamount to a crime. Send all aviation to the aid of Stalingrad. There is very little aviation left in Stalingrad itself.”
Colonel General of Aviation, twice Hero of the Soviet Union V.D. Lavrinenkov, who fought at Stalingrad as part of the 8th Air Army, notes in the book “Return to Heaven” (M.: Voenizdat, 1974):
“Stalingrad changed especially dramatically after the terrible raid of German bombers on August 23. Changed is not the right word. The city we knew simply no longer exists. In its place, only burnt boxes of buildings were visible and black smoke spread in thick clouds, covering everything in its path. My heart sank with pain when I saw this, flying out to escort the “silts”..."
A special group was formed in the same 8th Air Army. It included the 150th Bomber Regiment, headed by I. Polbin, and the 434th Fighter Regiment, Hero of the Soviet Union I. Kleshchev. Lieutenant General of Aviation, Hero of the Soviet Union A. V., Zholu Dev spoke about the combat work of the Polbintsy in his book “Steel Squadron” (M.: Voenizdat’ 1972). Here is an interesting piece of evidence from these memoirs:
“It was clear that the enemy was still strong, that we still did not have enough tanks and aircraft, that many units were understaffed. But even at such a tense moment, during the retreat of our troops, confidence grew that the war was approaching some as yet invisible brink, which would be followed by a sharp turn.”
Lieutenant General of Aviation, Hero of the Soviet Union A.F. Semenov, who fought in the 434th Fighter Regiment, reports the following data in his book “On Takeoff” (M.: Voenizdat, 1969). The regiment arrived at Stalingrad for the second time on July 13, 1942. From July 15 to August 3, the regiment's pilots carried out 827 combat missions, shot down 55 enemy aircraft, but also suffered significant losses. And the regiment was again put into reserve for replenishment. But already in mid-September this unit arrived at Stalingrad for the third (!) time.
From September 16 to 28, the regiment's pilots shot down seventy-four German aircraft, and themselves lost fifteen. Such was the intensity of the air battles.
“It was hot in the Stalingrad sky,” writes A. Semenov. “From morning to evening it trembled from the booming roar of aircraft engines, the clatter of cannon and machine-gun fire, and the dull explosions of anti-aircraft shells. Often it was traced by smoky torches: these were downed planes - German and ours. But a turning point was already approaching: a few more persistent efforts, and the onslaught of enemy aircraft would begin to subside...”
From morning until sunset - flights, flights, flights... The pilots knew that in a burning city among the ruins, infantrymen were dying to death. And they fought to the last. And although the 4th Luftwaffe Air Fleet, commanded by Colonel General von Richthofen, had a quantitative advantage in aircraft until our counteroffensive, the fascist pilots failed to become masters of the Stalingrad sky.
OPERATION URANUS
Battle of Stalingrad - second period November 19, 1942 - February 2, 1943
From July to November 1942, fascist German troops lost up to 700 thousand people, more than 1,000 tanks and about 1,400 aircraft in battles in the Don, Volga and Stalingrad areas.
Meanwhile, Soviet troops were completing preparations for a grandiose offensive operation, called “Uranus”. Its meaning boiled down to the encirclement and destruction of the enemy group drawn into the protracted battles for Stalingrad. The troops of the newly created South-Western Front were supposed to strike from the north, and Stalingrad from the south. The start of the offensive was scheduled for November 19.
Let us remember how the story “Days and Nights” by Konstantin Simonov, written in 1943-1944, ended:
“The two fronts on this winter night, like two hands converging on a map, moved, ever approaching each other, ready to close in the Don steppes west of Stalingrad. In this space they captured, in their cruel embrace, there were still German corps and divisions with headquarters, generals, discipline, guns, tanks, with landing sites and planes, there were hundreds of thousands of people who still seemed to rightly consider themselves a force and at the same time the time of being nothing more than tomorrow’s dead.”
On November 23, the encirclement closed.
The offensive was supported by pilots of the 8th, 16th and 17th Air Armies. “Dawn had barely broken,” recalled the former commander of the 17th S.A. Krasovsky in his book, “when small groups of our bombers, attack aircraft, and fighters rose from the airfields and headed for enemy positions.
Unfortunately, the weather was extremely unfavorable. Low gray clouds hung over the snow-covered fields, snow flakes were falling from above, visibility was very poor, and air raids did not have the desired effect. On the first day of the offensive, enemy aviation was almost inactive. The weather did not improve on the second day, but still the pilots, in small groups and alone, attacked the enemy... Most attention was paid to the largest enemy airfields..."
The weather nevertheless improved and air battles flared up with renewed vigor. And no wonder. After all, the enemy tried to organize supplies for the encircled army of Paulus via an air bridge. At a meeting at headquarters, Goering assured Hitler that the Luftwaffe would cope with this task.
The best squadrons of the German air force were sent to Stalingrad, including even Hitler’s communications detachment, and the fascist command sent one of its best fighter units, the Udet squadron, into the encirclement to cover the arriving transport aircraft.
Hitler ordered approximately 300 tons of fuel, food and ammunition to be delivered to the Stalingrad area every day. That's why main task Soviet pilots during the period of the air blockade became the decisive destruction of enemy transport aircraft. The air bridge to the encirclement zone was broken. Suffice it to say that during this time the Nazis lost more than a thousand aircraft, including about seven hundred transport ones. The implementation of the air blockade of Paulus's army is described in great detail in the military-historical essays “The 16th Air Army” (M.: Voenizdat, 1973) and “The 17th Air Army in the Battles from Stalingrad to Vienna” (M.: Voenizdat, 1977) .
The surrounded German troops fought desperately for every position. This persistence was fueled by hopes for a speedy rescue: after all, from the Kotelnikov area, the new German Army Group Don, under the command of Field Marshal Manstein, struck the outer front of the encirclement. Manstein's tanks broke through our defenses and were already forty kilometers from Stalingrad.
At this moment, the Soviet command brought into the battle the reinforced 2nd Guards Army, well equipped with tanks and artillery. The army was commanded by R. Ya. Malinovsky. The blow of the guards decided the fate of the battle in our favor.
It was this page of the Battle of Stalingrad that formed the basis of Yuri Bondarev’s novel “Hot Snow”. There are these lines in the novel:
“While in the highest German headquarters everything seemed to be predetermined, developed, approved, and Manstein’s tank divisions began fighting for a breakthrough from the Kotelnikov area to Stalingrad, tormented by a four-month battle, to the more than three hundred thousand-strong group of generals closed by our fronts in the snow and ruins. Colonel Paulus, tensely awaiting the outcome - at this time another of our newly formed army in the rear, by order of Headquarters, was thrown south through the boundless steppes to meet the army strike group “Goth”, which included 12 divisions.
The actions of both sides resembled scales, on which all possibilities were now placed in the current circumstances.”
Meanwhile, the troops of the Southwestern Front also launched a successful offensive. The fate of Paulus's encircled troops was sealed. On February 2, 1943, the enemy group was completely eliminated.
The Battle of Stalingrad is over.
...In the forty years that have passed since the Battle of the Volga, our libraries have been replenished with many works of various genres dedicated to those ancient events. Of course, there is no way to even list them. And yet I would like to highlight two more books from the general series. One of them is “Stalingrad: Lessons from History” (M.: Progress, 1980). The first part of the book contains chapters from the memoirs of Soviet military leaders G.K. Zhukov, A.M. Vasilevsky, K.K. Rokossovsky.
In the second, the reader will become acquainted with fragments of notes from former Nazi soldiers from the 6th Army defeated at Stalingrad.
I would also like to recommend the collection “The Stalingrad Epic” (M.: Nauka, 1968). Its authors are prominent Soviet military leaders, active participants in the Battle of Stalingrad.
With great reliability they talk about the events of 1942-1943, about the steadfastness and mass heroism of Soviet soldiers, their remarkable moral qualities, high offensive impulse...
On October 15, 1967, 25 years after the Battle of Stalingrad, a Grand opening monument-ensemble in honor of the heroic defenders of the Volga stronghold. Speaking at the celebration, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev said: “The victory at Stalingrad was not just a victory, it was a historical feat.
And the true measure of any feat can be fairly assessed only when we fully imagine - amid what difficulties, in what circumstances it was accomplished.”
The liberation of Stalingrad is a large-scale military operation by Soviet troops with the goal of liberating the city from a large strategic German group. It must be said that it is considered the largest land battle in the history of all mankind.
Causes of the Battle of Stalingrad
On April 20, 1942, the fierce battle for the capital, Moscow, ended. Initially, it seemed that the German troops were simply unstoppable and impossible to defeat. However, Soviet troops managed not only to defeat the enemy, but also to push him back 150-300 km from the capital of the Soviet Union. The enemy suffered considerable losses, but was still strong, but even this did not help him simultaneously advance on all sectors of the Soviet-German front.
It must be said that the Nazis developed the Blue Plan. Their goal was to conquer the oil fields of Grozny, as well as Baku, followed by an attack on Persia. It must be said that the Soviet command did not sit idly by. They were going to conduct an offensive in the zone of the Bryansk, Southwestern and Southern fronts. It is important that Soviet troops were the first to strike at the Germans and were able to push them back to Kharkov. However, the Germans managed to defeat the Red Army and reach the Don.
Mistake for Hitler in the Blue Plan
It is important that it was at this moment that Hitler did something irreparable for all of Germany. He decided to make changes to the Blue Option, according to which Army Group South was divided into 2 parts. He believed that the first group "A" should have continued the attack on the Caucasus, while the group "B" should have attacked and captured Stalingrad.
It was this city that was very important for Hitler, because Stalingrad was a large industrial center. However, there was another reason: the capture of Stalingrad was symbolic for him, because the city was named after the main enemy. The capture of Stalingrad would have been a huge achievement for Hitler.
The liberation of Stalingrad was a joyful event that has not been forgotten and will never be forgotten. The courage and bravery of the Red Army soldiers are worthy of respect, because they defended their native land and were never ready to give it into the hands of the enemy.
The superiority of the Nazis over the Red Army
It must be said that the number of German troops was many times greater than the number of Red Army soldiers. The Nazis numbered 270,000 soldiers, while the Soviet forces numbered only 160,000. guns and military equipment was also much smaller than the enemy's. With such an unequal number of soldiers and equipment, the Red Army was forced to defend Stalingrad. It is important that another problem was the steppe terrain, because enemy tanks could operate here at full strength.
Attack on Stalingrad. First stage
On July 17, 1942, the Nazis began their offensive against Stalingrad. By July 22, German troops managed to push the Red Army back almost 70 km. The German command expected to take the city with lightning speed, as a result of which it decided to create two strike groups that attacked from the south and north.
On July 23, the northern group struck and was able to break through the defense front of the Soviet troops. Already on July 26, the Nazis reached the Don. The command organized a counterattack.
On the territory of Kalach, the villages of Trekhostrovskaya and Kachalinskaya, fierce battles lasted until August 7-8. The Soviet troops only managed to unblock the Nazis, but there was no talk of their defeat. The level of preparation and errors in coordination of actions affected the course of military operations.
Offensive 30 August
The Soviet command ordered a strike against the German army in the area of the Nizhne-Chirskaya village no later than August 30. The combat capabilities of the Red Army suffered due to entering the battle on the move, but they still managed to push back the Nazis and even create a threat to their encirclement. But the German army still managed to help its group. They brought in fresh troops, after which the fighting at Stalingrad became even fiercer.
The liberation of Stalingrad is a battle that is rightfully considered the largest land battle. Over all this time, she has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives; many tears of mothers, daughters and wives have been shed because of her. Courage will forever remain in everyone's hearts.
Battles for Stalingrad in the city
Later, on September 5 and then on September 18, the Red Army soldiers were able to weaken the onslaught of German troops thanks to two major operations.
On September 13, fighting began in the city, which lasted until November 19. Then Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive.
The battle for the station was the most fierce, as on September 17 it changed hands several times.
Fierce fighting continued from September 27 to October 4. It was during this period that those battles that everyone knows about lasted. They cause a storm of emotions and worries even in a person with strong nerves. After such battles, the German troops began to “run out of steam.”
The operation to liberate Stalingrad will not leave a single person indifferent. and the courage of the Soviet troops makes us admire them.
Operation Uranus
On December 12, Operation Winter Storm began. After it, the Germans returned to their initial positions, their forces were exhausted, and the army suffered huge losses.
On January 10, 1943, Operation Ring began, which was the final one. German troops resisted to the last, and from January 17 to 22 they managed to stop the Red Army.
1943 - the year of the liberation of Stalingrad. On February 2, the battle near the city finally ended and the Germans were defeated.
The long-awaited release was a joyful event for everyone. The battle for Stalingrad was very fierce. Both Soviet and German troops suffered a huge number of losses. This battle will leave absolutely no one indifferent. The heroism and courage of the Red Army soldiers must be admired. Despite the fact that the German troops were superior in numbers and training, the soldiers of the Red Army still managed to repel all attacks and bravely stand in the battles for Stalingrad.
The liberation of Stalingrad was joyful, long-awaited and heroic. The photos of the battle are mesmerizing and convey all the emotions of the soldiers. Photographs in which Soviet troops rejoice in victory convey extraordinary energy. They cannot be compared with any work of art, because real human emotions conveyed in the photo will not leave absolutely anyone indifferent.
Medal for the liberation of Stalingrad
It is worth noting that the battle of Stalingrad was considered the largest and fiercest. All participants in the defense of the city received a medal for the liberation of Stalingrad. However, it is worth noting that it was awarded not only to military personnel of the Red Army, Navy and NKVD troops, but also to the civilian population who took part in the defense of the city and the fierce battles near Stalingrad.
This battle became a turning point in the course of hostilities, and it was after it that German troops lost the strategic initiative. The liberation of Stalingrad will remain in the memory for a long time, because such events, the number of human losses and grief are simply impossible to forget.
