Even the stones were burning. The worst bombing of the Great Patriotic War

MOSCOW, August 23 – RIA Novosti, Andrey Kots. Exactly 75 years ago, on August 23, 1942, Stalingrad was subjected to the first massive aerial bombardment, which literally crushed it to the ground. The Luftwaffe's Fourth Air Fleet attacked the city with all its might and destroyed more than half of the housing stock in half a day. After heavy high-explosive bombs demolished the frames of houses to the ground, incendiary ammunition was used, causing numerous fires. A huge fire whirlwind devastated the central regions and spread to the outskirts. Stalingrad, which had flourished before the war, began to look like a plowed field with the skeletons of buildings and chimneys. More than 40 thousand people died... It seemed that the city, drowned in fire and smoke, could no longer resist. But the bombing of August 23 was only the beginning of the heroic defense of Stalingrad by Soviet troops, which lasted more than six months. Read about what preceded the air raid and why the city was not given to the Germans in the RIA Novosti article.

fiery hell

By the time the bombing began, about 100 thousand of the city’s 400 thousand residents had been evacuated. Most of the remaining adults and children were involved in fortification work - they erected barricades, dug trenches and anti-tank ditches, and camouflaged strategically important objects. Preparing Stalingrad for a long siege was in a hurry - the Wehrmacht was already close. At 16:00 on August 23, the strike force of the 6th German Army broke through to the Volga near the northern outskirts of Stalingrad, in the area of the villages of Latoshinka, Akatovka, and Rynok. The first attack from the armored vehicles of the 14th Tank Corps was taken by the Soviet anti-aircraft batteries of the 1077th regiment. A fierce battle ensued.

And a couple of hours later, the bass rumble of hundreds of bombers was heard over the city. Heinkels and Junkers with crosses on their wings marched towards Stalingrad wave after wave, 30-40 vehicles at a time. The first bombs hit the city around six o'clock in the evening. According to eyewitnesses, the earth literally shook. Powerful explosions were heard at intervals of 10-30 seconds, and the roar was such that nothing else could be heard behind it.

“What appeared before us on August 23 in Stalingrad struck us as a terrible nightmare,” Marshal of the Soviet Union Andrei Ivanovich Eremenko wrote in his memoirs after the war. “The fire-smoke plumes of bomb explosions were continuously rising here and there. Huge columns of flame rose up. to the sky in the area of oil storage facilities. Streams of burning oil and gasoline rushed to the Volga. The river was burning, steamships were burning on the Stalingrad roadstead. The asphalt of the streets and squares stank with stench. Telegraph poles flared up like matches. There was an unimaginable noise that strained the ears with its hellish music. The screeching of flying "The height of the bombs was mixed with the roar of explosions, the grinding and clanging of collapsing buildings, the crackle of a raging fire. The dying people were moaning, women and children were crying heartbrokenly and crying out for help."

The tram in the county town of Tsaritsyn (Stalingrad, now Volgograd) was the main public transport. During the Great Patriotic War, almost the entire network was destroyed, and the tram drivers had to become gunsmiths - during the 200 days of the Battle of Stalingrad they fired 200 thousand shells for the front.

In just one day, the enemy carried out up to two thousand sorties. About a thousand aircraft of various types took part in the attack. They bombed in a continuous carpet, without selecting individual targets. The Luftwaffe pilots had one task - to wipe the city off the face of the earth. I must say that they coped more than successfully. By the end of the day, the main part of Stalingrad lay in ruins. On August 23 alone, according to historians, from 40 to 90 thousand people died. About 50 thousand were injured. 309 city enterprises were destroyed. The factories "Red October", STZ, "Barricades" lost most of their workshops and equipment. Transport infrastructure and communications were destroyed. The situation in the city was aggravated by the fact that it was almost impossible to extinguish the raging fires - the water supply was damaged by bombs. It was impossible to pump water from the Volga either - spilled oil products were burning on its surface.

Terror strategy

Of course, Stalingrad resisted the air raid. Soviet aviation and anti-aircraft artillery destroyed from 90 to 120 German aircraft on August 23, 1942. However, soon after the bombing began, the city was covered with a continuous smoke screen - it was very difficult to aim from the ground in such conditions. The situation was complicated by the fact that the anti-aircraft gunners and anti-aircraft gunners of the 1077th regiment were prohibited from shooting at aircraft. The unit continued to hold back the advance of German tanks on the northern outskirts of the city; heavy anti-aircraft guns, in conditions of a shortage of anti-tank weapons, hit enemy armored vehicles with direct fire from their 37 guns.

There is a known case when two tanks and three tractors lined with armored steel came to their aid from a tractor factory, with the support of a battalion of workers with three lines. There were no other troops in Stalingrad: units and formations of the 62nd Army continued to hold back the enemy several tens of kilometers from the city on the left bank of the Don. A handful of defenders managed to hold back the enemy’s onslaught - the Germans were unable to break through the northern line of the city’s defense on August 23 and in the following days. The commander of the 14th Panzer Corps of the Wehrmacht, General von Wittersheim, was removed from command for the failure of the offensive.

Thus, the Germans failed to achieve the main goal of the bombing - suppressing the resistance of Soviet troops defending the city and the subsequent assault on Stalingrad by ground units - on August 23. According to a number of military historians, the Wehrmacht was unable to take advantage of the results of the Luftwaffe. As a result, the bombing did not appear to be a military operation, but rather an act of terrorism. The same can be said about how fiercely the Germans bombed transport carrying civilians being evacuated from the city.

“The crossing of people to the left bank of the Volga was carried out by ships of the Stalingrad River Fleet and the Volga Military Flotilla. On August 23-24, after all the piers were destroyed by air strikes, the Stalingrad rivermen organized the crossing by boats and longboats,” he wrote in his book “Stalingrad. There is no land beyond the Volga for us,” military historian Alexey Isaev. “This stage of evacuation took place under air strikes and even enemy artillery fire. The ambulance ship “Borodino” with 700 wounded was shot at by direct fire in the Market area and sank, only about 300 were saved. "The same fate befell the steamship Joseph Stalin with its evacuated residents. Of the 1,200 people on board, only about 150 people were saved by swimming."

Nevertheless, having withstood the first and most terrible air strike, the defenders of Stalingrad managed to prepare for defense. Reinforcements were able to break through to them, and militias and civilians turned the ruins of their houses into a network of fortresses and firing points. And when the Germans first burst into the city on September 14, 1942, they received a warm welcome. Heavily wounded Stalingrad took long and consistent revenge on its offenders until February 2, 1943, going down in history as a symbol of the heroic resistance of the Soviet people and a grave for almost a million German soldiers. A phrase written in the diary of one of them became known to the whole world: “We only need to go one more kilometer to the Volga, but we just can’t do it. We have been waging war for this kilometer longer than for the whole of France, but the Russians are standing, like blocks of stone..."

Fortress of Stalingrad. War among the ruinsSeventy-five years ago, on July 17, 1942, the Battle of Stalingrad began - the decisive battle of the entire Second World War. In the most difficult battles, Soviet troops managed to destroy large formations of the German army. The battle in the city on the Volga was the first step towards the great Victory.

fiery hell

Terror strategy

15:12 — REGNUM 75 years have passed since the tragic date of the barbaric bombing of Stalingrad, and the memory of those terrible days is still alive in the hearts of witnesses to these terrible events. Today, August 23, in Volgograd they paid tribute to the victims of the massive attack of Nazi aircraft on the city on the Volga.

Representatives of public organizations, the administration of the Volgograd region and the city of Volgograd, and citizens, many of whom had to experience the horror of those terrible days, laid flowers at the Eternal Flame on the Square of Fallen Fighters. Children of wartime Stalingrad shared their memories, calling on everyone for peace so that no one would ever have to experience the horror of war. Participants in the ceremony honored the memory of the victims with a minute of silence.

On the same day, the reburial ceremony of 1002 defenders of the Fatherland took place at the Rossoshinsky Military Memorial Cemetery.

During the search work, it was possible to establish the names of 30 fighters. Relatives of the Red Army soldier of the 35th Guards Rifle Division (8th Airborne Corps) Mikhail Makeev arrived in Rossoshki; corporal, squad commander of the 10th Infantry Division of the NKVD Nikolai Aristarkhov; Sergeant, wagon driver of the 258th Infantry Division Ilya Uryashev. Personal belongings of the defenders of Stalingrad found by search engines were handed over to their relatives.

Amid farewell salvos, the remains of soldiers and officers who died during the Great Patriotic War on the territory of Volgograd and the Gorodishchensky district of the Volgograd region were buried. In total, 19,387 soldiers have found eternal peace at the Rossoshinsky Military Memorial Cemetery of Soviet soldiers who died at Stalingrad since 1997, the names of 700 of them have been established. Previously, they were listed as missing, buried on the battlefield or in populated areas (including on Mamayev Kurgan) or were not listed at all in the Central Archives of the Russian Ministry of Defense.

August 23, 1942 became the most tragic day in the history of Stalingrad. On the morning of this day, the Germans, having broken through the defenses of the Soviet army, reached the Volga, finding themselves only three kilometers from the tractor plant.

At exactly 16:18, the whistling sounds of bombs falling from the sky rent the air. A massive bombardment of the city began. There were no air raid warnings for just two weeks. German bombers flew up to two thousand sorties every day. From August 28 to September 14, 50 thousand bombs weighing from 50 to 1000 kilograms were dropped on Stalingrad. For every square kilometer of Stalingrad land there were up to 5 thousand bombs and large-caliber fragments.

From the memoirs of former instrument operator Raisa Galchenko: “ On August 23, we heard the roar of engines from the direction of Gumrak. And soon they saw enemy planes. Just a few minutes later, bombs began to explode near us. We were choking in the soot, but the soldiers continued to shoot. No one went to cover... For us, days and nights merged into continuous noise. The streets around were burning. The groans of the wounded were heard...«

An entire city on the Volga was practically wiped off the face of the earth. There is not a single intact building left in the center. 309 city enterprises turned into a pile of stones. At the Red October plant, 170 thousand square meters of production space were disabled, transport and crane facilities, mechanical and electrical equipment were completely destroyed. From the summer of 1942 to the beginning of 1943, 8 thousand aerial bombs were dropped on the Stalingrad Tractor Plant. All that was left of it were ruins.

On August 19, Nazi troops resumed their offensive, striking in the general direction of Stalingrad. The enemy managed to cross the Don and by the end of August 23 reached the Volga north of Stalingrad.

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tragedy of the civilian population of Stalingrad."

Goals: to cultivate a sense of patriotism, pride for one’s country and compatriots; expand students’ understanding of the Battle of Stalingrad and the heroism of the Soviet people; cultivate respect for the older generation and war monuments.

Writing epigraphs for class on the board:

On the old, dear to us Earth

There is a lot of courage. It

Not in the comfort, freedom and warmth,

Not born in a cradle...

K. Simonov

There are no heroes from birth,

They are born in battles.

A. Tvardovsky

PROGRESS OF THE CLASS HOUR.

Org moment.

Goals

introduction

From birth I have not seen the earth

No siege, no such battle,

The earth shook

And the fields turned red,

Everything was burning over the Volga River.

In the heat, factories, houses, train stations,

Dust on the steep bank.

Don't hand over the city to the enemy.

Russian soldier faithful to the oath,

He defended Stalingrad.

The time will come - the smoke will clear,

The thunder of war will fall silent,

Taking off my hat when meeting him,

The people will say about him:

This is an iron Russian soldier,

He defended Stalingrad.

Chronology of events on August 23, 1942

Teacher:

August 23, 1942 is one of the most terrible and tragic dates of the Battle of Stalingrad.

Student 1: Many Stalingrad residents remember the warm morning of that Sunday. The day before, residents heard on the radio that fighting was taking place in the Don bend. Such messages have been transmitted for more than a month. We got used to them. To residents who did not know the combat situation on the Don, it seemed that the front had stopped. In the morning, the workers, as always, stood watch at the open-hearth furnaces, assembly lines, and machine tools. The doors of the shops opened. New movie posters have appeared.

Student 2: But the situation changed rapidly that day.
In the afternoon, the 14th German Tank Corps broke through our defenses and reached the Volga on the northern outskirts of Stalingrad. Mortal danger loomed over Stalingrad. In those days, our divisions were still tens of kilometers from the city, occupying lines along the entire bend of the Don. There was a threat of encirclement.

Student 3: In those hours, events took place that became the prologue to the great battle, when fighting would begin for every meter of Stalingrad land.
The German armada reached the Volga 3 kilometers from the tractor plant that produced the famous T-34 tanks. Now only tanks prepared for sending to the front and work detachments could delay the advance of the Germans along the streets of Stalingrad.

Student 4: In a short time, militia detachments were formed from among the workers of the tractor plant to defend Stalingrad. All tanks were brought to the battle line, tank crews were formed from workers, mostly women. Militia detachments left each workshop.

Student 5: Next to the militia, cadets of a military school, a regiment of the NKVD division, and a detachment of marines took up defensive positions. After the war, the report of General von Witersheim, which he sent to Commander Paulus, about the first battles on the Volga will be published:“The Red Army units are counterattacking, relying on the support of the population of Stalingrad, who are showing exceptional courage. The population has taken up arms; dead workers lie on the battlefield in their overalls, clutching a rifle or pistol. Dead men in work clothes froze in the turrets of broken tanks. We've never seen anything like this before."

Student 6: At the same time that German tanks reached the outskirts of Stalingrad, hundreds of German planes took off from the airfields. An entire city was sentenced to destruction.

This barbaric order was carried out by the powerful 4th Air Fleet of the Wehrmacht. In even rows, as if at a parade in the sky, German planes were approaching residential areas. An air raid warning was declared in Stalingrad, and there would be no all-clear. Since our troops were not yet stationed in the city, the air action was directed against the population. Explosions destroyed roofs and ceilings of houses and destroyed walls. People died under boulders, fell struck by shrapnel, and suffocated in littered earthen shelters. The carpet bombings used a system that could only have been born from the logic and imagination of the true killers. Descending over the streets, where there were many wooden houses, the pilots poured out incendiary bombs in sheaves. High-explosive bombs were thrown into the flaring fires. The explosions from them scattered burning fragments of logs and roofs, and the fire spread to neighboring streets. During low-level flight, the “blond beasts” of the Luftwaffe shot people running along them from machine guns.Marshal A.I. Eremenko subsequently wrote:“We had to go through a lot during the war, but what we saw on August 23, 1942 in Stalingrad struck us like a terrible nightmare. Explosions were constantly going up among the city buildings, and streams of burning oil were rushing from the oil storage area to the river. It seemed as if the Volga was burning.”

Student 7:

Here in the streets and squares

The battle rumbles;

Hot blood mixed

With Volga water;

Blackened in the smoke of fires

The city is young.

Never before has there been danger

Wasn't more formidable.

And decides the fate of the world

The battle of these days.

Discussion of the video “August 23, 1942”

Not since the beginning of World War II, with its many destructions, has the world seen such a disaster.On this day, enemy aircraft launched a massive attack on Stalingrad, carrying out about 2 thousand sorties. The city was turned into ruins, over 40 thousand civilians died. On August 25, 1942, by order of the Military Council of the front, Stalingrad was declared under a state of siege. To provide practical assistance to the fronts in the Stalingrad area, Headquarters sends General G.K. Zhukov, appointed on August 27 to the post of Deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

Memoirs of Stalingrad residents.

Student 8:

What’s his name, I forgot to ask him.

About ten or twelve years old. Bedovy,

Of those who are the leaders of children,

From those in the front-line towns

They greet us like dear guests.

The car is surrounded in parking lots,

Carrying water to them in buckets is not difficult,

Bring soap and towel to the tank

And unripe plums are shoved...

There was a battle going on outside. The enemy fire was terrible,

We made our way forward to the square.

And he nails - you can’t look out of the towers, -

And the devil will understand where he’s hitting from.

Here, guess which house is behind

He settled down - there were so many holes,

And suddenly a boy ran up to the car:

Comrade commander, comrade commander!

I know where their gun is. I scouted...

I crawled up, they were over there in the garden...

But where, where?.. - Let me go

On the tank with you. I'll give it straight away.

Well, no fight awaits. - Get in here, buddy! -

And so the four of us roll to the place.

The boy is standing - mines, bullets are whistling,

And only the shirt has a bubble.

We've arrived. - Here. - And from a turn

We go to the rear and give full throttle.

And this gun, along with the crew,

We sank into loose, greasy black soil.

I wiped off the sweat. Smothered by fumes and soot:

There was a big fire going from house to house.

And I remember I said: “Thank you, lad!” -

And he shook hands like a comrade...

It was a difficult fight. Everything now is as if from sleep,

And I just can’t forgive myself:

From thousands of faces I would recognize the boy,

But what’s his name, I forgot to ask him.

Student 9: According to the recollections of many “children of wartime Stalingrad,” Sunday, August 23, 1942, was warm and sunny. There was great activity in the city center - shops and markets were open, citizens were relaxing in the parks; Military and police officers worked on the central streets, preparing a place for the passage of military equipment... A few minutes after the chief of staff for the air defense of Stalingrad spoke about the expected massive raid of German aviation, a reconnaissance plane "Rama" appeared over the city center. He threw away a huge number of leaflets and turned back.

Student 10: At 16:18, according to eyewitnesses, an increasing rumble was heard. German planes flew in large groups in strict order.From the memoirs of Yu. Anikin (at that time a 13-year-old schoolboy): “Standing on the tram ring, I saw with my own eyes how fascist vultures brazenly flew along the city towards the factories, in groups, at intervals of several minutes. High-explosive and incendiary bombs (25 pieces each in self-expanding boxes), pieces of rails, empty iron barrels with holes rained down on the city, creating a terrifying screech, howl, and roar. Powerful explosions of heavy bombs constantly shook the earth and air.”

Student 11: Horror-stricken people, according to their stories, tried to hide in the first shelters they came across. They took refuge in hastily dug small dugouts, trenches, crevices, and basements. Everything around began to burn: houses, streets, the city. The oil refineries located on the shore were also burning, and because of the burning oil spills, it seemed that the Volga was also burning.

In the hope of salvation, people tried to get to the crossing across the Volga, but once there, many turned back, realizing that it was simply impossible to evacuate. A small section of the crossing was used by the military; the wounded and children were rarely transported. It was possible to get on the barge only after going through a hellish crush.

Student 12: “The crowd of people, crushing each other, began to climb onto the barge along the gangplank. And when the pier collapsed under us, I mechanically grabbed the trouser legs of the man in front of me, who was holding a small child in his arms, but he himself managed to hold on to the gangplank with one hand. Then somehow he contrived to take a penknife out of his pocket and cut out those parts of the trousers that I was holding on to. With these scraps in my hands, having lost consciousness from fear, I went to the bottom... I woke up on the shore among the same “drowned people” as me... having already climbed the steep bank, we heard the rumble of an airplane... And when we looked towards the Volga, the barge itself was burning with a bright flame, as were the people on it, floundering in a spilled oil puddle.”, - recalled Nina Prokofievna Mazurova.

Student 13: Some tried to cross on their own, but under constant shelling and bombing, almost everyone died. Thus, the main escape route was cut off. Children and adults returned back to the nightmare of August 23rd.

Student 14: From Memories Bylushkin Boris Aleksandrovich.

Bylushkin Alexander Vasilievich

I, Boris Aleksandrovich Bylushkin, was born in the city of Stalingrad on February 24, 1933.

From my memories...

Village of the Barrikada plant. In 1942, in the second half of August, there was the most brutal and massive bombing of the plant in the daytime, and the village from morning until evening. All night - shelling from artillery guns and mortars. At that time I was 9 years old, but I remember all the events of the war years very well. On August 24, 1942, the Barrikada plant was burning heavily; on that day, for the first time in a long time of separation, I saw my father (Alexander Vasilyevich Bylushkin, born 1902) near the house, he was with a group of workers. Before that, my father spent time at the factory, repairing tanks and small arms for them. His mother and two sisters died in the ruins of two-story houses in the village. On August 25-26, my father and a group of workers went to the city center to the railway station, and I stayed with the neighbors who survived, Uncle Grisha and Aunt Dusya Tregubov. They had two daughters - Zina and Valya, and I was the third. They didn't let me go. Near our houses there were 4 large cannons, from which the military fired all day long.

North-eastern outskirts of Stalingrad. It was interesting for us to watch and listen to everything happening around us. Once a day a car arrived - a lorry, into which we boys happily threw spent shell casings into the back. For this, the Red Army soldiers treated us to porridge and gave us a piece of bread. It turns out that we are also defenders of Stalingrad.

On August 26, Aunt Dusya and I went to the city center to meet my father and find out what we should do next? The city at that time was a real hell - continuous fires and smoke all around. We walked along the tram route past Mamayev Kurgan. We tried to get through as quickly as possible. It was unsafe to walk, since all sorts of objects flew to us in a straight line at a distance of 1 km and from Mamayev Kurgan. But everything worked out. In the green park we met Red Army soldiers who told us that there was such a group of workers, but it was yesterday, i.e. On August 25, 1942, she was sent to Mokraya Mechetka. Since then I have not seen my father again. We returned back and safely crossed this dangerous section past Mamayev Kurgan, which was crossed every day either by the Germans or by ours. It was a "meat grinder".

Student 15: There was a constant stream of planes overhead, hell all around: fires, soot, dust, the stench from burnt human bodies... The huge bonfire of the burning city was visible for tens of kilometers around.

Only after midnight the fascist air attacks stopped. On this day, more than 40 thousand civilians died (according to the calculations of the Soviet command), on this day the childhood of thousands of Stalingrad children ended...

Student 16:

Open to the steppe wind,

The houses are broken.

Sixty-two kilometers

Stalingrad stretches out in length.

It's like he's on the blue Volga

He turned around in a chain and took the fight,

He stood front across Russia -

And he covered it all with himself!

Results.

Guys, many years have passed since the Battle of Stalingrad, but we honor the memory of the fallen and bow to the living.

Let us bow to those great years,

To all our commanders and soldiers,

To all the country's marshals and privates,

Let us bow to both the dead and the living.

To all those whom we must not forget,

Let's bow, bow, friends.

The whole world, all the people, the whole earth

Let us bow down for that Great Battle.

This concludes our class hour.

Battle of Stalingrad. Chronicle, facts, people. Book 1 Zhilin Vitaly Alexandrovich

August 23, 1942

EXTRACT FROM OPERATIONAL REPORT No. 235

GENERAL STAFF OF THE RED ARMY

at 8.00 08/23/42

Cards: 500,000 and 100,000

The troops of the Western Front on the right wing partly resumed the offensive in the Rzhev direction on the morning of August 22, and on the left wing went on the offensive against the enemy group that had occupied the Panevo-Kolosovo-Smetsk-Goskovo-Ozerna-Peredel area.

During August 22, the troops of the left wing of the Kalinin Front continued to conduct offensive battles to clear the left bank of the river from the enemy. Volga in the Rzhev-Zubtsov section and captured several settlements.

On the Stalingrad Front, part of our troops continued to conduct offensive battles during August 22 to expand bridgeheads on the right bank of the river. Don, the other part of the forces fought stubborn battles with the enemy on the left bank of the river. Don in the lake areas Ilmen, Verkhne-Gnilovsky, Peskovatka.

On August 22, the troops of the South-Eastern Front continued to wage fierce defensive battles with enemy tank and motorized units that had broken through in the areas of Paris Commune, Kapkinskaya, Vys. 118.0 (18 km southwest of Krasnoarmeysk), Oak Ravine.

At the front of the Northern Group of Forces of the Transcaucasian Front, our units fought defensive battles with the enemy southwest of the Prokhladny settlement.

During August 22, the troops of the North Caucasus Front continued to conduct stubborn defensive battles with enemy tank and infantry units in the Chernigovsky, Belaya Glina, Goryachiy Klyuch, Moldavanskaya, and Kurchanskaya areas.

On other fronts, our troops, occupying their previous positions, fought local battles at a number of points.

9. Troops of the Voronezh Front, remaining in previously occupied positions, strengthened them and conducted reconnaissance.

60th Army occupied the same position.

40th Army strengthened its positions and carried out a partial regrouping of forces. Artillery fire scattered up to three companies of enemy infantry and destroyed: 1 tank, 2 enemy guns.

25 Tk concentrated in the new area.

6th Army occupied its previous positions, strengthening them, and with part of its forces repelled enemy attacks in Korotoyak. The position of the army units remained without significant changes.

10. Stalingrad Front.

63rd Army The left flank units continued to conduct offensive battles on the right bank of the river. Don.

1st Infantry Division captured height 184 with one regiment.

The 197th Rifle Division continued to develop the offensive and captured the village of Rubezhinsky, high. 208 and higher 204.

14th Guards SD captured the high line. 236 - Chebotarevsky.

203 one regiment reached the high area. 224, the rest of the forces crossed the river. Don.

21st Army, continuing the offensive, units of 304, 96 Infantry Division by 13.00 22.8 were fighting at the high line. 213 - north. env. np Izbushensky - Popov - north. env. Mr. Serafimovich - (claim) Belyavsky.

1st Guards army at 6.00 22.8 went on the offensive and fought stubborn battles along its entire front throughout the day.

41st Guards SD fought at the line Verkhovsky - Vys. 199.

38th Guards The SD fought at the line Polevoy Stan (12 km south of the Kremenskaya settlement) - high. 194, repelling an enemy counterattack with up to an infantry battalion with 15 tanks.

40 Guards sd. overcoming stubborn enemy resistance, she reached the line Shokhi - Khokhlachev - high. 180 - north env. np Sirotinskaya.

4th Guards SD defended its previous positions.

The position of the remaining army units is being clarified.

4th Tank Army part of the forces fought stubborn battles with the enemy on the left bank of the river. Don.

37th Guards The SD counterattack destroyed up to two enemy infantry battalions that had crossed to the left bank of the river. Don, and occupied the border of the lake. Ilmen - r. Panshinka.

214 Infantry Division and 193 Tank Brigade defended the line of the lake. Crooked - north env. np Verkhne-Gnilovsky.

39th Guards SD was concentrated in the Panshino area.

The 298th Infantry Division at 19.00 on August 22 set out from the Shishkin area to a new concentration area.

The position of the rest of the army remained unchanged.

62nd Army Part of the forces fought stubborn battles with the enemy on the left bank of the river. Don on the Verkhne-Gnilovsky - Peskovatka section.

The 98th Infantry Division and 40th Tank Brigade fought with the enemy in force up to a point in the northern area. n.p. Vertyachiy.

The 87th Infantry Regiment and the 137th Tank Brigade, under enemy pressure with a force of up to a point, with tanks, retreated to the line at elevation. 47.1 - elev. 67.9.

35th Guards SD at 11.00 22.8 reached the defense line Kotluban - B. Srednyaya.

The 87th Infantry Division (without the joint venture), the Ordzhonikidze Infantry School and the 48th Infantry Brigade organized the defense at the b. Kotluban - Mal. Rossoshka.

196th Infantry Division prepared defense at the line (claim) Mal. Rossoshka - Novoaleksandrovsky.

11. South-Eastern Front.

64th Army fought fierce defensive battles with enemy tank and motorized units.

Since the morning of August 22, the 157th Infantry Division fought defensive battles at the Paris Commune - Kapkinskaya line. The enemy, by force up to 14.00, captured the heights. 109.2 and higher 110.6 and advanced in a northeast direction.

The 38th Infantry Division with units of the Vinnitsa Infantry School fought heavy battles with enemy tanks and motorized infantry and retreated to a new line of defense north of the Tingut forestry.

There were no significant changes in the position of the remaining parts of the army.

57th Army During the day of August 22, it fought fierce defensive battles with enemy tanks and motorized infantry.

15th Guards SD waged fierce battles with enemy tanks at the turn of the southwest. outskirts of Dubovy Ravine - Golodnaya beam.

Units of the 76th UR fought with the enemy, up to a point strength with 20 tanks, who broke through the defenses in the MTF area (south-eastern Lake Sarpa).

The 133rd Tank Brigade and 20th IPTBR fought with enemy tanks in the area of height 118.0.

51st Army occupied their previous position.

14. According to the headquarters of the Red Army Air Force, Front Air Force during 22.8 they operated against enemy troops, airfields and crossings.

According to preliminary data, 2,466 sorties were carried out, of which: against enemy troops - 1,795, to cover friendly troops - 557, for reconnaissance - 102 and to carry out special missions - 12.

Destroyed and damaged: 25 tanks, 115 vehicles; 2 fuel warehouses and 1 ammunition warehouse were blown up; 2 crossings destroyed; the fire of 8 batteries of field and anti-aircraft artillery and 13 anti-aircraft machine gun points was suppressed; scattered and partially exterminated to a battalion of enemy infantry.

In air battles, 32 enemy aircraft were shot down and 2 were destroyed at the airfield.

Our losses: 18 aircraft; 7 aircraft did not return to their airfields.

According to additional data, Air Force of the Navy, North Caucasus And Transcaucasian fronts on 21.8 they carried out 732 sorties.

Destroyed and damaged: 15 tanks, 200 vehicles; the fire of 6 batteries of field and anti-aircraft artillery was suppressed; Up to 4 companies of enemy infantry were scattered and partially destroyed.

In air battles, 5 enemy aircraft were shot down and 1 was damaged.

Our losses: 6 aircraft (of which 3 were non-combat); 1 plane did not return to its airfield.

Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army

major general

IVANOV

Military Commissar of Opera. management

General Staff of the Red Army

brigade commissar

RYZHKOV

Head of the information department of the opera. management

General Staff of the Red Army

major general

PLATONOV

Central Asia Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, f. 16, op. 1072ss, no. 8, l. 232-241.

FROM INFORMATION REPORTS

Wehrmacht Main Command

On the Don Front, several attempts by the Bolsheviks to cross the Don were thwarted.

Information reports of the Wehrmacht High Command (January 1, 1942 - December 31, 1942). - Berlin, Viking Verlag, 1943.

STALINGRAD

VASILEVSKY, EREMENKO, MALENKOV

The enemy has broken through your front with small forces. You have enough strength to destroy the enemy who has broken through.

Gather aviation from both fronts and attack the enemy who has broken through. Mobilize armored trains and send them along the Stalingrad circular railway. Use smoke in abundance to confuse the enemy. Fight with the enemy who has broken through not only during the day, but also at night. Use your artillery and ER forces to the fullest.

Lopatin is letting down the Stalingrad Front for the second time with his ineptitude and lack of management.

Establish reliable control over it and organize a second echelon behind Lopatin’s army.

The most important thing is not to panic, not to be afraid of an impudent enemy and to remain confident in our success.

I. Stalin

23.8 Bokov

Central Asia Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, f. 132a, op. 2642, d. 32, l. 151. Original.

FROM THE SOVIET INFORMATION BUREAU

During the night of August 23, our troops fought with the enemy in areas southeast of Kletskaya, northeast of Kotelnikovo, as well as southeast of Pyatigorsk and south of Krasnodar.

There were no changes in other sectors of the front.

In the Kletskaya area there were active military operations. During these battles, the Germans lost up to 800 soldiers and officers, 14 tanks and many other weapons. Prisoners were captured. Southeast of Kletskaya, the enemy made a number of attempts to cross the Don and gain a foothold on the eastern bank of the river. Our units repulse the attacks of the Nazis and inflict heavy losses on them. A group of fighters under the command of political instructor Yegoshin made their way into the village where the Italian unit was located and suddenly struck the enemy. Over 200 killed Italians remained on the streets of this locality. Junior commanders Lysakov and Soldatenko knocked out 2 German tanks with an anti-tank rifle. Junior Lieutenant Ozerov with five machine gunners destroyed up to a platoon of Nazis.

Intense fighting continued in the area northeast of Kotelnikovo. At the unit site where the commander, Comrade. Smolyanov, the Germans threw significant forces of infantry and tanks on the offensive. Our soldiers repelled the attack of the Nazis and destroyed several hundred enemy soldiers. 8 German tanks were destroyed.

During August 23, our troops fought fierce battles in areas southeast of Kletskaya, northeast of Kotelnikovo, as well as southeast of Pyatigorsk and south of Krasnodar.

There were no significant changes in other sectors of the front.

In the Kletskaya area, our troops conducted active military operations and improved their positions. Guardsmen of the N-unit drove the Germans out of several settlements. 11 German tanks, 20 vehicles were destroyed, and 4 enemy aircraft were shot down by rifle and machine gun fire. Fierce battles for crossings to the Don continued in the area southeast of Kletskaya. In one area, the enemy managed to transport troops and tanks across the river. Our troops are fighting a fierce battle with this enemy group. In another sector, a fierce battle takes place with the Italian division "Celere". Our infantry and tanks inflicted heavy blows on Hitler's mercenaries and killed at least half of the personnel of this division.

In the area northeast of Kotelnikovo, the Nazis went on the offensive, concentrating significant forces in one area. During the day, our units knocked out and destroyed up to 60 German tanks. In one place the enemy managed to wedge itself into the location of Soviet troops. Our units are engaged in intense battles with the enemy. In another sector, two Romanian regiments attacked the location of our troops. The attack was repulsed with heavy losses for the enemy. At least a battalion of Romanian infantry was destroyed by machine-gun and mortar fire.

"Pravda", 08/24/1942

“DESTRUCTION OF ENEMY GROUPS CROSSING THE DON”

Fighting in the Kletskaya area and southeast of it continues mainly on the same lines. Our troops persistently repulse the Germans’ attempts to cross the Don, are waging a fierce struggle for a bridgehead on the western bank of the river, and are holding the recently captured lines above Kletskaya.

The enemy is intensifying the attack on the central section of the bend, trying to cross the Don under air cover. In one place, the Germans managed to transport detachments of machine gunners and a small number of infantry. But the Germans were unable to spread along the eastern bank. The German group, squeezed from the front and flanks, is destroyed by artillery fire and infantry fire.

The artillerymen and mortarmen of the N unit destroyed up to three companies of German infantry near the crossing and on the river, suppressed the battery and completely destroyed the crossing. The Germans are looking for new opportunities to send reinforcements. Now, more than ever, vigilant protection of the water line, resilience, and skillful organization of coastal defense are required. It is necessary to destroy every single infiltrated German and close access to crossings.

The N unit fought a major battle with the enemy. The battle was for heights. Our soldiers repulsed several enemy tank attacks, destroyed over a thousand German soldiers and officers, knocked out and burned 28 tanks. The Germans were not successful.

A unit of another unit held defenses in a populated area. The enemy attacked the positions of this unit several times, approaching the settlement from different directions. The soldiers steadfastly repulsed the attacks. By the end of the day, the enemy, having lost more than 100 people killed and wounded, retreated to their original positions.

Our reconnaissance units are active in a number of areas. Yesterday, a small group of scouts penetrated into the depths of the Germans, went to the rear of one enemy unit, destroyed 2 bunkers and 2 firing points there, killed 35 Nazis and captured a prisoner.

"Red Star", 08/23/1942

FROM LETTERS OF GERMAN SOLDIERS AND OFFICERS

We are having fierce battles. There were also several prisoners, these are very downtrodden and unfired warriors who must defend Stalingrad at all costs, but they will not succeed. I think that soon the last industrial city of Stalingrad will also fall.

(From a letter from Corporal Pannaah to his father)

Central Administration of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, f. 32, op. 11306, no. 194, l. 263.

From the book The Battle of Stalingrad. Chronicle, facts, people. Book 1 author Zhilin Vitaly Alexandrovich

On August 1, 1942, the extraction from the operational summary No. 213 General Headquarters of Krasnaya Armin 8.00 1.08.42 Carts: 500,000 and 100,000 Vo-Caucasus Front continued to conduct heavy defensive battles with tanks and motors of the enemy in the areas of Proletarskaya, on July 31,

From the author's book

August 2, 1942 EXTRACT FROM OPERATIONAL REPORT No. 214 OF THE GENERAL STAFF OF THE RED ARMY 8.00 08/2/42 Maps: 500,000 and 100,000 During August 1, the troops of the North Caucasus Front continued to conduct heavy defensive battles with enemy tanks and motorized units in the Proletarskaya,

From the author's book

August 3, 1942 EXTRACT FROM OPERATIONAL REPORT No. 215 OF THE GENERAL STAFF OF THE RED ARMY 8.00 August 3, 1942 Maps: 500,000 and 100,000 During August 2, the troops of the North Caucasus Front continued to conduct intense defensive battles with enemy tank and motorized units who were trying to

From the author's book

August 4, 1942 EXTRACT FROM OPERATIONAL REPORT No. 216 OF THE GENERAL STAFF OF THE RED ARMYin 8.00 08/04/42 Maps: 500,000 and 100,000 During August 3, the troops of the North Caucasus Front continued to conduct intense defensive battles with enemy tank and motorized units that were developing

From the author's book

August 5, 1942 EXTRACT FROM OPERATIONAL REPORT No. 217 OF THE GENERAL STAFF OF THE RED ARMY 8.00 5.08.42 Maps: 500,000 and 100,000 During August 4, the troops of the North Caucasus Front continued to conduct intense defensive battles with tank and motorized enemy units,

From the author's book

August 6, 1942 EXTRACT FROM OPERATIONAL REPORT No. 218 OF THE GENERAL STAFF OF THE RED ARMY 8.00 08/06/42 Maps: 500,000 and 100,000 During August 5, the troops of the North Caucasus Front continued to fight heavy defensive battles with tank and motorized enemy units, August 11, 1942 EXTRACT FROM OPERATIONAL REPORT No. 223 OF THE GENERAL STAFF OF THE RED ARMYin 8.00 08/11/42 Maps: 500,000 and 100,000 Troops of the North Caucasus Front during August 10 continued to conduct heavy defensive battles with enemy tank and motorized units in the areas From the author’s book

August 17, 1942 EXTRACT FROM OPERATIONAL REPORT No. 229 OF THE GENERAL STAFF OF THE RED ARMY 8.00 08/17/42 Maps: 500,000 and 100,000 The troops of the Western Front during August 16 on the right wing, overcoming stubborn enemy resistance, continued to conduct offensive battles on Rzhev com and

From the author's book

August 19, 1942 EXTRACT FROM OPERATIONAL REPORT No. 231 OF THE GENERAL STAFF OF THE RED ARMYin 8.00 08/19/42 Maps: 500,000 and 100,000 The troops of the Western Front during August 18, part of the forces fought offensive battles in the Vyazma direction and continued to fight stubbornly on the left wing fights with

From the author's book

August 20, 1942 EXTRACT FROM OPERATIONAL REPORT No. 232 OF THE GENERAL STAFF OF THE RED ARMY 8.00 08/20/42 Maps: 500,000 and 100,000 Troops of the Western Front during August 19, part of the forces conducted offensive battles in the Vyazma direction and launched counter-attacks on the left wing ry on infantry and