“It is better to die standing than to live on your knees,” the slogan of Dolores Ibarurri, whose son died after being wounded in a Stalingrad meat grinder, most accurately describes the fighting spirit of Soviet soldiers before this fateful battle.
The Battle of Stalingrad showed the whole world the heroism and unparalleled courage of the Soviet people. And not only adults, but also children. It was the bloodiest battle of the Second World War, radically changing its course.
Vasily Zaitsev
The legendary sniper of the Great Patriotic War, Vasily Zaitsev, during the Battle of Stalingrad in a month and a half, destroyed more than two hundred German soldiers and officers, including 11 snipers.
From the very first meetings with the enemy, Zaitsev proved himself to be an outstanding shooter. Using a simple “three-ruler”, he skillfully killed an enemy soldier. During the war, his grandfather’s wise hunting advice was very useful to him. Later Vasily will say that one of the main qualities of a sniper is the ability to camouflage and be invisible. This quality is necessary for any good hunter.
Just a month later, for his demonstrated zeal in battle, Vasily Zaitsev received the medal “For Courage”, and in addition to it - a sniper rifle! By this time, the accurate hunter had already disabled 32 enemy soldiers.
Vasily, as if in a chess game, outplayed his opponents. For example, he made a realistic sniper doll, and he disguised himself nearby. As soon as the enemy revealed himself with a shot, Vasily began to patiently wait for his appearance from cover. And time didn't matter to him.
Zaitsev not only shot accurately himself, but also commanded a sniper group. He accumulated considerable didactic material, which later allowed him to write two textbooks for snipers. For the demonstrated military skill and valor, the commander of the sniper group was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, awarded the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal. After being wounded, when he almost lost his sight, Zaitsev returned to the front and met Victory with the rank of captain.
Maxim Passar
Maxim Passar, like Vasily Zaitsev, was a sniper. His surname, unusual for our ears, is translated from Nanai as “dead eye.”
Before the war he was a hunter. Immediately after the Nazi attack, Maxim volunteered to serve and studied at a sniper school. After graduation, he ended up in the 117th Infantry Regiment of the 23rd Infantry Division of the 21st Army, which on November 10, 1942 was renamed the 65th Army, 71st Guards Division.
The fame of the well-aimed Nanai, who had the rare ability to see in the dark as if it were day, immediately spread throughout the regiment, and later completely crossed the front line. By October 1942, “a keen eye.” was recognized as the best sniper of the Stalingrad Front, and he was also eighth in the list of the best snipers of the Red Army.
By the time of the death of Maxim Passar, he had 234 killed fascists. The Germans were afraid of the marksman Nanai, calling him “the devil from the devil’s nest.” , they even issued special leaflets intended for Passar personally with an offer to surrender.
Maxim Passar died on January 22, 1943, having managed to kill two snipers before his death. The sniper was twice awarded the Order of the Red Star, but he received his Hero posthumously, becoming a Hero of Russia in 2010.
Yakov Pavlov
Sergeant Yakov Pavlov became the only one who received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for defending the house.
On the evening of September 27, 1942, he received a combat mission from the company commander, Lieutenant Naumov, to reconnoiter the situation in a 4-story building in the city center, which had an important tactical position. This house went down in the history of the Battle of Stalingrad as “Pavlov’s House”.
With three fighters - Chernogolov, Glushchenko and Aleksandrov, Yakov managed to knock the Germans out of the building and capture it. Soon the group received reinforcements, ammunition and a telephone line. The Nazis continuously attacked the building, trying to smash it with artillery and aerial bombs. Skillfully maneuvering the forces of a small “garrison”, Pavlov avoided heavy losses and defended the house for 58 days and nights, not allowing the enemy to break through to the Volga.
For a long time it was believed that Pavlov’s house was defended by 24 heroes of nine nationalities. On the 25th, the Kalmyk Goryu Badmaevich Khokholov was “forgotten”; he was crossed off the list after the deportation of the Kalmyks. Only after the war and deportation did he receive his military awards. His name as one of the defenders of the House of Pavlov was restored only 62 years later.
Lyusya Radyno
In the Battle of Stalingrad, not only adults, but also children showed unparalleled courage. One of the heroines of Stalingrad was the 12-year-old girl Lyusya Radyno. She ended up in Stalingrad after the evacuation from Leningrad. One day, an officer came to the orphanage where the girl was and said that young intelligence officers were being recruited to obtain valuable information behind the front line. Lucy immediately volunteered to help.
On her first exit behind enemy lines, Lucy was detained by the Germans. She told them that she was going to the fields where she and other children were growing vegetables so as not to die of hunger. They believed her, but still sent her to the kitchen to peel potatoes. Lucy realized that she could find out the number of German soldiers simply by counting the number of peeled potatoes. As a result, Lucy obtained the information. In addition, she managed to escape.
Lucy went behind the front line seven times, never making a single mistake. The command awarded Lyusya the medals “For Courage” and “For the Defense of Stalingrad.”
After the war, the girl returned to Leningrad, graduated from college, started a family, worked at school for many years, and taught elementary school children at Grodno School No. 17. The students knew her as Lyudmila Vladimirovna Beschastnova.
Ruben Ibarruri
We all know the slogan « No pasaran! » , which translates as « they will not pass! » . It was declared on July 18, 1936 by the Spanish communist Dolores Ibarruri Gomez. She also owns the famous slogan « It's better to die standing than to live on your knees » . In 1939 she was forced to emigrate to the USSR. Her only son, Ruben, ended up in the USSR even earlier, in 1935, when Dolores was arrested, he was sheltered by the Lepeshinsky family.
From the first days of the war, Ruben joined the Red Army. For heroism shown in the battle for the bridge near the Berezina River near the city of Borisov, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
During the Battle of Stalingrad, in the summer of 1942, Lieutenant Ibarruri commanded a machine gun company. On August 23, Lieutenant Ibarruri’s company, together with a rifle battalion, had to hold back the advance of a German tank group at the Kotluban railway station.
After the death of the battalion commander, Ruben Ibarruri took command and raised the battalion in a counterattack, which turned out to be successful - the enemy was driven back. However, Lieutenant Ibarurri himself was wounded in this battle. He was sent to the left bank hospital in Leninsk, where the hero died on September 4, 1942. The hero was buried in Leninsk, but later he was reburied on the Alley of Heroes in the center of Volgograd.
He was awarded the title of Hero in 1956. Dolores Ibarruri came to her son’s grave in Volgograd more than once.
", "Black clouds over the city"), the page of the educational hour " " was devoted to the same event, during which they talked about unusual - shaggy, tailed and two-humped defenders of Stalingrad. We bring to your attention an excerpt from the scenario plan of the educational hour "In the world of animals ".
Did you know that in Volgograd we have an unusual monument that is dedicated not to people, but to the animal defenders of Stalingrad?
On May 28, 2011, on Chekist Square, the only monument in Russia to the demolition dogs that defended Stalingrad during the Great Patriotic War was unveiled.
The dog is wearing a bag with TNT and a fuse, as it was during the war. According to the authors of the composition, this is a collective image of a person’s devoted friend and a true fighter.
A faithful friend is depicted in life-size bronze. With the equipment with which these selfless fighters went into battle. And, unfortunately, they did not return. By sacrificing themselves, they saved others - hundreds, if not thousands of Red Army soldiers. This is a monument to man’s four-legged friends, soldiers who were never presented with orders and medals for their exploits, but who continue to carry out difficult service to this day.
In the first months of the Battle of Stalingrad alone, dogs destroyed over 20 German tanks. By the end of the battle on the Volga, this figure increased to 180 units.
But Stalingrad was not only defended by dogs. The horses on which the cavalry units rode into battle carried out their service. During the Battle of Stalingrad, the Cossacks (as all cavalrymen were called then) went into battle, covering our tank units, guarding them from the flanks and rear. In addition, a special camel company operated near Stalingrad! Camels were used as draft power - they transported artillery pieces and food. The camel Yashka, who reached from Stalingrad to Berlin, especially distinguished himself! Here's what they say about him:
During the hardest battles near Stalingrad, the 28th reserve army, equipped with cannons, was formed in Astrakhan. The command decided to use camels as draft force. Camels were famous for their endurance, so instead of three pairs of horses used to transport cannons, two pairs of camels were harnessed.
“...After the encirclement of the Nazis in Stalingrad, our reserve army received an order to move in the direction of Rostov. One can only wonder how they managed to travel so many kilometers through the muddy roads through the Salsk steppes. Our troops came across Manstein's tank group, which, after an unsuccessful attempt to break through the encirclement around Stalingrad, was retreating in the direction of Rostov. The 771st Artillery Regiment held defenses near the Manych River. The battle was short, but very bloody. 90 percent of the camel tractors were killed on the battlefield.” According to the recollections of front-line soldiers, the soldiers managed to hide in the trenches, and the massive animals became a living target for the Germans. The camels fell under the shots and screamed pitifully. The haystack where Astrakhan resident Ivan Korotkov hid his “Volodek” did not help either. This is what he affectionately called the camels he tamed. Afterwards, the Nazis wandered around the battlefield between the bodies of people and animals. The wounded animals and those lagging behind the regiment were shot - “Das ist russish tank.” The camel Yashka also took part in this battle. During this battle, the fighters saw him and his girlfriend Masha in an open area. The soldiers took them out of the danger zone and placed them in the basement. True, for this it was necessary to widen the entrance in height and almost forcefully drag them inside. Mishka and Masha survived.
In the spring of 1945, some of the artillerymen took part in the battles for Berlin, and the camel Yashka was with them. The animal was named after his place of birth - he entered the service from the Kalmyk village of Yashkul. He is one of the few who reached his cherished goal, and 350 animals were sent from Astrakhan. Yashka's chest was hung with orders of German generals. Soviet soldiers proudly said that this camel needed a real order for heroism, not fascist trinkets. And they placed a well-deserved poster with the inscription “Astrakhan-Berlin” on the animal’s back. According to the recollections of veterans, after the war, the camels that reached Berlin were transported to one of the Moscow zoos, where they lived out their last years.
In Astrakhan, a monument was erected to the camels Masha and Yashka.
But the most amazing story related to the defense of Stalingrad is not about horses, dogs and camels, but about an ordinary cat, Murka. Everyone knows that cats are almost impossible to train. Even the famous trainer Yuri Kuklachev does not train them, but uses existing habits. So, Murka became famous for faithfully serving as a signal operator.
Murka the cat, one of thousands of modest and unnoticed heroes of Stalingrad. During fierce street battles, being in the open was practically tantamount to suicide. The detachment sent to establish the location of German batteries was faced with the problem of how to deliver their reports to headquarters. And then M came to their aidlesson. This graceful stray cat quickly and carefully took the notes and returned back, allowing her human comrades not to risk their lives again.
Her contribution to the fight against the enemy was highly appreciated by the British newspaper The Times, which published this photograph: “She showed herself to be a worthy defender of Stalingrad, and one cannot help but give the highest praise to such deeds, be it a cat or a person!»
Zhirkin Anton
An essay about fellow countrymen, defenders of Stalingrad.
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Municipal educational institution "Secondary school" Brykovka, Dukhovnitsky district, Saratov region"
Regional competition of creative works
« Stalingrad forged victory near the Volga in fire and fires.”
About fellow countrymen,
defenders of Stalingrad.
I've done the work
Zhirkin Anton,
6th grade student
Municipal educational institution "Secondary school with. Brykovka
Dukhovnitsky district
Saratov region"
Head: teacher
Russian language Zhirkina N.A.
2013
Oh, how quickly death walked here.
Trying to push Stalingrad into the Volga.
Mound, mound!
No matter what trench is a grave,
Whatever the flower -
Buried soldier.
N. Blagov.
Stalingrad is a city on the Volga. The Battle of Stalingrad swept over the city like a terrible tornado, a battle that lasted 200 days and nights. Here our Motherland had to endure one of the most difficult tests in its history. On February 2, 1943, the heroic battle of Stalingrad ended victoriously with the complete defeat of large enemy forces. Many participants in the Battle of Stalingrad from the Dukhovnitsky region, my fellow countrymen, also made their military contribution to achieving the complete defeat of the Nazi troops on the Volga. My story will be about them.
In the village of Semenovka, Stalingrad (Volgograd) region, an obelisk looks up, on the marble slabs of which the names of the soldiers of the Soviet Army who fell for their Motherland during the Great Patriotic War are carved in gold letters. This mournful list also includes the name of my fellow countryman, a native of the village of Grigoryevka, Red Army soldier Pavel Spiridonovich Ushakov, who died in 1943 on the Stalingrad front. In my village of Brykovka, P.S. Ushakov’s daughter, Raisa Pavlovna Burmistrova, lives. She recalls:
“In his first letters from the front, dad reported that he was fighting in the Leningrad direction and asked how we were living without him. Dad tried to write letters from the front often. And, receiving each of his news, we re-read it several times. Then suddenly letters from my father began to arrive less and less often, and for a long time we did not receive them at all, thinking that some trouble had happened to him. And we calmed down only when the postman brought another letter from my father from the front to our house.
“The military unit where my military service takes place,” he wrote in that letter, “is being transferred to Stalingrad. “Together with my comrades I am going to defend my native Volga.” And soon we received the last letter from dad. He reported that upon arrival in Stalingrad, a group of soldiers from his unit, including him, were being trained to master anti-tank rifles in order to destroy German tanks.” Raisa Pavlovna shows the photo and continues the story: “In this photo, dad, mom, me, dad’s younger sister and his dear aunt. The photo was taken in March 1941, and three months later dad went to the front, he took the same photo with him, as if he felt that he would never see us again, would not return to his home.” An elderly woman finds it difficult to hold back her tears.
I read about the last battle of my fellow countryman in an article published in the regional newspaper Avangard. “In one of the battles, more than a dozen German tanks appeared in the battle area where Red Army soldier Pavel Ushakov was located. “You won’t get through, you bastards, while I’m here,” the fighter said, clenching his lips. Immediately jumping down, he instantly loaded an anti-tank rifle and took aim at the lead German tank. “Just so as not to miss,” thought the soldier. After waiting a few minutes, when the distance between him and the tank was significantly reduced, Pavel pulled the trigger. The shot turned out to be accurate. The smoking armored vehicle stopped dead in its tracks. But the other tanks continued to move, and there was no way to delay. Loading the gun again, Pavel began taking aim at the tanks approaching him, seeing how the second armored vehicle burst into flames after the shot. And suddenly Pavel noticed that the German tanks, having separated from each other, moved towards his trench. The incendiary cartridges have run out. Pavel pulled the grenade from his belt and squeezed it tightly in his hand. Then he carefully climbed out of the trench and crawled towards the tanks. As soon as one of them became within throwing range, the soldier rose to his full height and threw a grenade at the armored vehicle. There was an explosion. This was the last destroyed German tank of Pavel Ushakov. Pierced through with machine-gun fire, the fighter lay on his back, arms spread wide. By the evening after the battle, orderlies were picking up wounded and dead soldiers, among whom they found Red Army soldier Pavel Spiridonovich Ushakov, who died heroically in an unequal battle with German tanks.”
I learned about the military path of Nikolai Konstantinovich Polyakov, a fellow countryman from the working-class village of Dukhovnitskoye, from materials that are in the school museum. Nikolai Konstantinovich served in the 124th Red Banner Rifle Brigade, in the third rifle communications platoon. At the end of August 1942, part of them unloaded at a small stop near the city of Leninsk. An order was given: to march across the Akhtuba River and through the Hare Island, to go straight to the burning Stalingrad, to the left side of the Volga. Risking their lives, the soldiers completed this task. At night, during the crossing of the Volga, German planes dropped “lamps” (light bombs) over the river, from which it was visible as if it were day. Fascist pilots continuously bombed and machine-gunned the landing forces. Of course, there were some losses. This crossing was difficult. Having passed the burning city several kilometers north-west of the center, we took up defensive positions and soon received an order: to withdraw from fortified positions and go to the area of the tractor plant. In the evening, the commander of the Stalingrad Front, Colonel General A.I. Eremenko, visited the unit’s location. He wished the soldiers and commanders to fight heroically for every five Volga strongholds. Polyakov's unit went on the offensive on the morning of August 29, 1942, as a result of which the communications battalion advanced a kilometer. But then the Nazis showed such fierce resistance that it was necessary to go on the defensive, which had to be maintained for quite a long time. In the second half of October, the enemy, supported by tanks, artillery and aviation, tried with all his might to throw our soldiers into the Volga. Finding themselves surrounded on three sides by enemy troops, the soldiers fought off attack after attack. The area defended by them was called in official documents the “Northern Group of Forces of Colonel S.V. Gorokhov” (after the name of the brigade commander). The long-awaited hour of reckoning came on November 24, 1942, when in the morning the general offensive of our troops began to encircle the enemy’s Stalingrad group. The troops of the Don Front united with the troops of the Polyakov brigade, part of the 62nd Army under the command of Lieutenant General V.I. Chuikova. For military merits, Nikolai Konstantinovich was awarded the Order of the Red Star and the Order of the Patriotic War of the second degree, medals “For the Defense of Stalingrad”, “For Military Merit” and “For Victory over Germany”. He also has gratitude on behalf of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.
In the photo (from left to right): Andrei Aleksandrovich Barinov, was wounded during the breakthrough of the fascist defense; Nikolai Konstantinovich Polyakov and Hero of Socialist Labor Alexander Alekseevich Pavlov, participants in the Battle of Stalingrad.
Glory to you, defenders of Stalingrad, my dear fellow countrymen!
The boys went to the front
Hastily putting on his overcoat.
The soldiers did their duty,
They walked through the bullets through the trenches.
My dear guys!
You once died for us,
May we all live happily
And they forgot about the wars forever.
We sacredly promise you:
Let's remember the soldier's feat!
Photo: GLOBAL LOOK PRESS
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75 years ago, at the beginning of September 1942, the troops of Nazi Germany, after the barbaric bombing of a city of 400 thousand on the Volga, entered Stalingrad.
The bloodiest stage of the great battle began, which many years later is surrounded by legends. We discussed the main ones with writer and historian Alexei Isaev, author of the book “Myths and Truth about Stalingrad”
WHO INVENTED “URANUS”?
The authors of Operation Uranus are Marshals Vasilevsky and Zhukov. Proposals from Rokossovsky, commander of the Don Front, as well as proposals from the commander of the Stalingrad Front, Eremenko, were considered, but were not accepted as a starting point.
Marshal Timoshenko, who after the failure at Kharkov “marked his mark” at Stalingrad, is the evil genius of this battle?
Tymoshenko was removed from the front literally a week after the start of the Battle of Stalingrad. Including for heavy losses in the encirclement near Millerovo. This was his serious mistake. The losses were in open areas in the Don steppes, where there was no way to cling to anything. Moreover, he was an active man, more suitable for command of the front than Gordov, who replaced him. Timoshenko advocated the speedy evacuation of Stalingrad. There was no official ban on evacuation, but it started too late. Only 100 thousand out of 400 people managed to cross the Volga. Timoshenko became concerned about the fate of the Stalingrad residents in the first days of the battle for him, when the front was still far from the city - a month before the terrible bombing on August 23. But in Moscow they did not hear him.
WERE THE GENERALS HEROES?
Did Soviet historians and writers exaggerate the role in the victory of hero generals, many of whom later became marshals - Chuikov, Shumilov, Tolbukhin, Rodimtsev?
At Stalingrad, the star of the commander of the 64th Army, Shumilov, deservedly rose. He started the war in the Baltic states in June 1941. In Stalingrad he was rightly noticed, then he grew up and successfully commanded the 7th Guards Army.
With regard to the commander of the 62nd Chuikov, everything is more complicated. After the war, he advanced in service and became Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Ground Forces. His role in Soviet military historiography has been exaggerated. It is credited to him that, according to his instructions, they brought the front line closer to the Germans, due to this, they allegedly could not fire artillery and bomb, so as not to hit their own.
But the Germans had this tactic: they quickly withdrew their troops from the front line and allowed the front line to be bombed with the largest bombs.
Chuikov said that Rodimtsev’s famous division was under-armed. But she armed herself according to orders from the front. However, Chuikov constructed the phrase in such a way in his memoirs that it later made it possible, when filming the film “Enemy at the Gates,” to show that Soviet soldiers were going on the attack without weapons. But they did not throw unarmed people into battle on the right bank of the Volga. What is shown in the movie "Enemy at the Gates" is complete nonsense.
Chuikov supported the legend about the battle for every meter. Moreover, he himself managed to lose most of the Stalingrad Tractor Plant in a day. And while leading the units entrusted to him, in almost a day he lost a significant part of the territory of the Barrikady artillery plant. With the encirclement of the entire 308th division of Gurtiev.
He had conflicts with division commanders - Chuikov and Rodimtsev could not stand each other. Immediately after Stalingrad, Rodimtsev was transferred to another army and later did not intersect with Chuikov.
WHO KNEW ABOUT PAVLOV'S HOUSE?
- Was the German superiority in the sky or on the ground huge at the beginning?
There was a terrible problem - the superiority of the Germans in artillery. Ours were hit by 150-mm, 210-mm calibers, dive bombers dropping 500-kilogram bombs, and we had mortars, light small arms and magpie guns.
Our Trans-Volga artillery group reached a significant state only at the end of the struggle on the streets of Stalingrad. Before that, it was relatively weak - relative to what the Germans had. They destroyed our fortifications with a mass of heavy artillery. This led to our great losses.
- The defense of Pavlov's House is a legendary heroic episode. But what significance did it have?
If the soldiers of Rodimtsev’s division had been asked after Stalingrad about Pavlov’s House, the majority would have asked: WHAT IS THIS? The key points for which Rodimtsev’s soldiers fought were the station, the complex of NKVD buildings, the House of Railwaymen and the L-shaped house. These points are constantly included in operational documents. Pavlov’s house is far from them; it is an auxiliary point in the fight of the 12th Guards Division. Pavlov's house is an atypical situation for Stalingrad.
In Stalingrad it was regularly necessary to counterattack, often with heavy losses. The phrase on Mamayev Kurgan in Volgograd “The iron wind beat in their faces” is not an artistic image, it’s true. That was very scary.
- Detachments and the 10th NKVD division in Stalingrad - they were the ones who prevented our troops from retreating?
- The NKVD division was not a detachment. In fact, they were ordinary rifle units, they were weaker than an ordinary division, they had less artillery.
Detachment detachments were also formed from cadets of military schools from the North Caucasus, in particular from Ordzhonikidze. But their role was minuscule. Barrage detachments began to be created after July order No. 227 “Not a step back!” In September-October, this was all just unwinding. There were few of them and they were of no use on the city streets. Most often they acted as ordinary rifle units.
But the 10th Division of the NKVD of Sarajevo took part in the battles. It was its fighters who knocked the Germans off the bridgehead, which the 24th Panzer Division captured on the Tsarina River - within 24 hours, on September 16-17. On the other hand, on September 13-14, during the first assault on the city, the German breakthrough into the center occurred through the 269th regiment of the Sarajevo division.
WERE NOT EVERYONE AFRAID OF SPECIALISTS?
Our generals were more afraid of the special forces than the Germans, which is why on December 27, 1942, a member of the Military Council of the 2nd Guards Army (Commander Malinovsky), General Ivan Larin, shot himself?
In Larin’s suicide note there is nothing about decomposition or special officers. It says there that Rodion (Malinovsky - commander of the 2nd Guards Army) is a good person. Larin committed suicide at the moment when their army had already withstood Manstein's tank attack. The breakthrough was held back with difficulty. Larin was going through a crisis. It seemed that everything was bad, the army was plunging into chaos, everything was about to fall apart. But by December 25 the situation had stabilized. Larin had a negative experience when Malinovsky was punished for leaving Rostov - and he was demoted from front command to army command. But Malinovsky completely rehabilitated himself, and he was very worried about the death of Larin, his comrade from the first days of the war.
If they were afraid of special officers, it was only at the tactical level - and then not very trained people. It got to the point where they could report incorrect information.
For example, General Chuikov “whipped” people for reporting the wrong position of the troops. When they said that a line that was not occupied was occupied. He required commanders to draw and sign diagrams of the actual location of units.
What kind of fear of special forces can we talk about if people have seen where the troops are actually fighting?
- Hitler did not give the order for Paulus’s army to leave the cauldron - why?
The Germans did not imagine the scale of Operation Uranus. We thought that the attack on the flank would be at most tactical. But the scale of the offensive turned out to be much greater than the Germans expected and they were hit from the deserted Volga-Don steppes. Only the Romanians resisted, and they did not become a serious force capable of stopping the avalanche of our mechanized units.
As for the order to withdraw, the situation near Demyansk played a cruel joke on the Germans. In the winter of 1942, the 2nd Army Corps of the Wehrmacht was safely supplied by air, 100 thousand people. And when the 6th Army was surrounded, the Germans thought that the same thing would happen as with the 2nd Corps. Paulus was supplied by 2 large airfields Tatsinskaya and Morozovskaya, but this did not save him.
A fresh German division was on the way, which could have created a problem for Operation Uranus, but it did not have time. This is the personal merit of the representative of Headquarters Vasilevsky. Stalin told him: not to start an operation without aviation. And Vasilevsky took it and started without aviation in bad weather. We made it before the arrival of new German forces. And because of the fog and snow, our tank corps was able to stand in the ravine and refuel with bitter without any problems. Without the fog and blizzard, the hull would have been burned from the air. And so he reached and closed the ring.
WERE THE FASCISTS NOT STUFFED IN CAPTIVITY?
Of the 91 thousand Nazis who were captured by our army, only 5 thousand survived - they were not fed or treated?
German soldiers and officers were already captured in terrible condition. After hunger and long illnesses, when everyone had time to get lice. Paulus's army was surrounded for more than two months. People were exhausted and sick, and on the Soviet side no one expected such a massive influx of prisoners. The prisoner of war camps beyond the Volga coped with this with difficulty. It’s not like anyone was specifically trying to do anything with them. German prisoners stayed in transit camps longer than, for example, during our offensive in 1944. And the survival rate in the Trans-Volga camps was lower. There was no program for the “extermination of prisoners of the 6th Army” by Paulus.
DID YOU NOT SEEN THE Ogres IN THE CAULDRON?
They wrote that there was cannibalism among the German troops in January-February 1943 in Stalingrad - did they eat all the horses in November-December?
These are propaganda fabrications. The Germans were lucky. A Romanian cavalry division fell into the cauldron with them. Moreover, in the infantry divisions of Paulus’s army, the artillery was horse-drawn. Therefore, almost until the very end, there was enough food from horse meat in the surrounded group. The norm was 100 grams of bread and 200 grams of horse meat per day. Half are Romanian horses and half are artillery horse-drawn horses. In addition to ammunition, candies, spices, and condoms were also delivered by plane.
Moreover, our operation to counter the air bridge was very effective. There was a supply collapse - instead of the 600 tons that Paulus demanded daily, they brought him from 40 to 200 tons per knock. The lack of ammunition predetermined the tragic outcome for the Germans in January-February 1943.
And reports of cannibalism are not documented. And there are no prerequisites for this - they did not sit in the cauldron for so long.
Massive diseases of tularemia were recorded among the Wehrmacht troops in the summer and autumn of 1942. These are either rodent bites or aerosol spraying. Did they use bacteriological weapons at Stalingrad?
Documents show the mass attrition of soldiers from Paulus's army due to illness. This was many times greater than those who dropped out in terms of injuries. But there is no clarification for which diseases. The level of technology at that time did not allow the effective use of bacteriological weapons, even if they existed. The experiments of the Japanese in the 40s were quite helpless. Technology had developed to a sufficient level by the late 50s, early 60s. It was impossible to “package” viruses using the technologies of that time.
The reasons for the explosive spread of tularemia are crops that were not harvested due to fighting and a sharp increase in the number of rodents that carry the disease. And a sharp deterioration in medical care for the population in the occupied territories.
These are total losses - not only killed, but also wounded, frostbitten, who fell ill from July 1942 to February 1943. The second largest losses at Stalingrad from the Nazis were Romanians. Their 3rd and 4th armies were almost completely destroyed. There was even an order from Hitler to withdraw all allies from the front.
By the way, the Italians, who lost most of their 8th Army, performed better than the Romanians, for whom the T-34 rushing towards them was fear and horror, and the Italians had effective anti-tank guns, which they used against the T-34 since July 1942.
British historian Anthony Beevor in his book “Stalingrad” claims that during the Battle of the Volga more than 50 thousand Soviet citizens fought on the side of the German troops.
Such a number - 50 thousand - does not work anywhere among the Germans. In the documents of the 6th Army there are 20 thousand so-called volunteer assistants, Khivi. These are people who were captured and did dirty work in the German troops. They were unarmed, they were building, they were carrying heavy loads, but they did not attack their own people. And there were rear police units made up of Ukrainians. But these are tens, maximum hundreds of people.
There is a legend about a certain division “Stumpfeld”, which supposedly consisted of Russians. But this is nonsense - these were prefabricated units from the Germans stationed in the Chir area. They were recruited from rear units in Rostov and from other places. And with German commanders. She wasn't very effective. They held some points on the outer ring of the encirclement.
- Which myth about Stalingrad is the most striking?
The main myth is about the outstanding role of order No. 227 “Not a step back!” . He did not play the huge role attributed to him in the success of the Red Army in Stalingrad. The main role was played by the timely use of reserves, a competent plan for Operation Uranus and the steadfastness of our soldiers.
Vladimir Viktorovich Volk - expert of the Sulakshin Center
Today Russia celebrates the 73rd anniversary of the defeat of Nazi troops by Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad. In 1995, by the Federal Law of the Russian Federation, this date was included in the list of days of military glory of Russia. This day is considered the greatest victory for all the descendants of the victorious soldiers, for Germany the most crushing defeat, for the world - the turning point of the entire war. The 200 heroic days of the defense of Stalingrad went down in history as the bloodiest and cruelest.
When the plan to quickly capture Moscow failed, the German command developed tactics for new operations, including in the south of the USSR, which, if the outcome was favorable, would give the Germans control over the oil fields of the Caucasus, the agricultural regions of the Don and Kuban, as well as the main transport artery of Russia, the Volga River. In response to these actions, on July 12, 1942, the command of the Soviet army created the Stalingrad Front, which included 12 divisions with a total number of about 160 thousand people, 2,200 guns, 400 tanks and 450 aircraft, whose task was to stop the advance of the German army and prevent its exit to the Volga. By the beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad, German troops were 2 times superior to Soviet troops in aviation, and 1.3 times superior in tanks and artillery.
The Battle of Stalingrad lasted 200 days and nights. More than half of this time, 125 days - until November 18, 1942, the Red Army fought heavy defensive battles. As of July 20, 1942, 443,140 people were on payroll in Paulus's 6th Army, including 6,600 people in foreign formations (Croats, Slovaks, Hungarians), 40,000 in Luftwaffe units and 25,100 foreign and German civilian personnel. These data show that the number of 270 thousand people usually called in Russian literature for the 6th Army does not correspond to the available documentary data about Paulus’s army before the start of the Battle of Stalingrad.
The residents of Stalingrad found themselves in a terrible situation. Opinions about evacuation vary. As Elena Kasatova, a native resident of Volgograd, writes, there is a version that the evacuation was carried out, but at a low pace, and there are opinions that Stalin banned the evacuation. It is up to historians to get to the bottom of the truth. But the fact remains that by August 23, 1942, this terrible day for the residents of Stalingrad, most of the population was in the city. Despite the increasing frequency of air raids and the entry of fascist troops to the distant approaches to the city, residents believed that Stalingrad would not be surrendered and sought to provide all possible assistance to the front. Factories producing weapons and ammunition continued to operate in the city, and tens of thousands of Stalingrad residents built defensive lines on the approaches to the city. The city continued to live its usual life - kindergartens, schools, shops were open.
But everything collapsed just overnight. On August 23, the German air army launched its crushing bomb attack on the city. Hundreds of planes, making one approach after another, systematically destroyed residential areas. The history of wars has never known such a massive destructive attack. August 23 - on this day the childhood of thousands of Stalingrad children ended, in total more than 40 thousand citizens died. In one day, most of the city was destroyed, but continuous raids by German aircraft continued for a long time. Residents were forced to hide in basements, sewers, and bomb shelters.
Soon the destroyed streets of Stalingrad became a battlefield. The surrender of the city was then equated not only with a military, but also with an ideological defeat. In August 1942, an order was issued called “Not a Step Back”: retreat was equated with betrayal. The fight was for every street, every block, every building. Fierce fighting broke out, especially in the area of the station and for Mamayev Kurgan. The intensity of the fighting is evidenced by the fact that the station changed hands 13 times over the course of two days. There is a building in the city called Pavlov's House. Being almost surrounded, the soldiers under the command of Sergeant Pavlov defended this line for 58 days. To this day, the inscription on this building remains: “We will defend you, dear Stalingrad!” By the way, the defense of Pavlov’s house was held by representatives of 26 nationalities of the USSR!
The defenders of Stalingrad survived! Despite bombs, shells, bullets, fire, propaganda. Because they felt: there was no land for us beyond the Volga. Behind them and with them is a great country and a great people who lived through the suffering of Stalingrad. This is what Olga Berggolts wrote to the Stalingrad residents in the terrible days of November 1942:
We fell asleep thinking about you.
At dawn we turned on the loudspeaker,
to hear about your fate.
Our morning began with you.
In the worries of the day dozens of times in a row,
gritting my teeth, holding my breath,
we said:
- Take heart, Stalingrad! -
Your suffering went through our hearts.
Hot flowed through our blood
the flow of your unimaginable fires.
We so wanted to stand shoulder to shoulder
and take at least some of the blows!
No, not on the walls of buildings and factories,
damned enemy, you raise your hand:
you encroached on the love of the people,
you have taken aim at the stronghold of your dreams!
And the crowd of plowmen stood up,
they came here like warriors,
so that with the working class of Stalingrad
save the favorite of the working land.
On November 19, Operation Uranus began - the armies of the Don Front under the command of the Rokossov and Stalingrad Fronts under the command of Eremenko went on the offensive. On November 23 they met near Kalach. The encirclement ring closed around the German 6th Army. It was the Day of Wrath. Not only human, but God's first of all. There were 330,000 people in the cauldron. Of these, only 90,000 were awarded Soviet captivity. The remaining 240,000 Germans and their allies became victims of Soviet shells and bombs, hunger and cold, receiving worthy retribution for their atrocities: for the finished off Soviet wounded, for tortured prisoners, for children shot from German planes.
General Paulus and his subordinates still had a chance, albeit a small one, to escape from the cauldron. Hitler categorically prohibited withdrawal, even when Manstein's relief troops approached the city at a distance of 40 kilometers. Reichsmarshall Goering boastfully promised that his planes would provide those surrounded with everything they needed. In reality, Goering's promises turned out to be empty fanfare. Not even half of the transport aircraft reached the Stalingrad airfields, which became the prey of Soviet fighters and anti-aircraft guns.
On January 10th, Operation Ring began. Before it began, the Soviet command, out of a sense of humanism, offered the Germans surrender. Paulus, after consulting with Berlin, refused. The agony began. Just before the end, Hitler promoted Paulus to field marshal, thereby inviting him to commit suicide. Paulus turned out to be a lover of life and gave up. In total, more than 90,000 soldiers surrendered.
Traces of the Stalingrad agony were seen by the English correspondent Alexander Werth, who visited Stalingrad in February 1943. He outlined his impressions in the book “Russia in the War of 1941-1945”:
“We walked along the main street going south, between huge blocks of burnt houses, to the next square. In the middle of the pavement lay the corpse of a German. At the moment when the shell hit him, he must have been running. His legs seemed to still be running...
In another large square, some houses were destroyed, but two stood, squat and strong, although scorched inside - the House of the Red Army and the department store. After visiting the place where Paulus’s surrender took place and talking with Lieutenant Ilchenko, who captured the field marshal, we went out into the street again. There was a strange silence all around. At some distance, the corpse of a German with a severed leg still lay.
We crossed the square and entered the courtyard of the large House of the Red Army, burned out inside. Here I somehow especially clearly imagined what it was like for many Germans in these last days in Stalingrad. On the porch lay the skeleton of a horse with tiny scraps of meat still remaining on the ribs. From here we walked into the courtyard. Several more horse skeletons lay here, and a little to the right a colossal and terrible cesspool was visible, fortunately completely frozen. And suddenly at the far end of the yard I noticed a human figure. This man squatted over another cesspool. Seeing us, he began to hastily pull up his pants, and then slipped into the basement door. But while he was passing by, I managed to see the poor fellow’s face, on which suffering was mixed with an idiotic lack of understanding of what was happening.
At that moment I wished that all of Germany was here now and could admire this spectacle. This man was probably already at death's door. In the basement where he sneaked into, there were, besides him, 200 more Germans dying of hunger and frostbite. “We haven’t had time to deal with them yet,” said one Russian. “I think they will be removed tomorrow.” And at the far end of the yard, next to another cesspool, behind a low stone wall, the yellow corpses of skinny Germans - those who died in this basement - were stacked in piles - about a dozen wax dolls. This spectacle of dirt and suffering in the courtyard of the House of the Red Army was my last impression of Stalingrad.
I remembered the long, anxious days of the summer of 1942, and the nights of the London Blitz, and photographs of Hitler grinning on the steps of the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Paris, and the dreary days of 1938 and 1939, when Europe nervously caught Berlin radio broadcasts and listened to Hitler's cries, accompanied by cannibalistic roar of the German crowd. And I saw a sign of harsh but Divine justice in these frozen cesspools, in these gnawed horse skeletons and yellow corpses of Germans who died of starvation in the courtyard of the House of the Red Army in Stalingrad.”
We can say that the Battle of Stalingrad forged the Russian soldier of the Great Patriotic War. It was on Stalingrad soil that the turning point of the entire course of the Second World War took place. The price of victory was unusually high, and we, the heirs of the heroes who saved the Russian land from the fascist invaders, must know the history of this bloody and fateful battle. Stalingrad is a place where many found faith. They say that General Chuikov took an icon of the Virgin Mary with him everywhere. The hero of Stalingrad, Alexander Rodimtsev, was a believer. The future Archimandrite Alipy (Voronov) and Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov) found faith in the Battle of Stalingrad.
Many Russian journalists and bloggers today appeal to the heroism of the defenders of Stalingrad. When the Donbass events began, they began to call them “our Stalingrad,” since Donetsk was called Stalino at that time of war. Now, even on the official portal of the Moscow Regional Duma, in the section on collecting humanitarian aid, a catchy headline “Donbass is our Stalingrad” appeared.
But are our current rulers worthy of the glory of the heroes of past years, who turned the internal issue of Russian civilization into a subject of bargaining in the foreign policy arena? Moreover, bargaining with those who are pursuing a policy of resuscitating Nazism and fascism in Europe. The inhabitants of the unconquered territory themselves never cease to remind the Kremlin rulers that I.V. Stalin would not allow the enemy to calmly carry out rotations, having superior forces, to allow the newly minted last-born Nazis to shell Russian cities. If we take mid-August 2014 as a starting point, when Russian curators practically set about forcing neo-fascists to peace, then not even 200 Stalingrad days have passed, but as many as 535 days! And there are not 400 thousand brave guys with swastikas in Donbass, but several times less. But there is no peace.
Pavlov's house after the end of the Battle of Stalingrad
Destruction in Snezhny, DPR
Russian channels calmly report the news: “They fired so many times... They violated the ceasefire more than a thousand times.” What kind of ceasefire regime is this? This is war, gentlemen! And no cunning plans, multi-moves and Minsk conspiracies can defeat Nazism in the center of Europe. Our grandfathers, the defenders of Stalingrad, are looking from the other world, and we are ashamed of the current generation of rulers, of our army and all of Russia. Did our grandfathers give more than a million lives for this in the Battle of Stalingrad?
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