Battle of Stalingrad - battle of the Second World War, an important episode of the Great Patriotic War between the Red Army and the Wehrmacht with the allies. It took place on the territory of modern Voronezh, Rostov, Volgograd regions and the Republic of Kalmykia of the Russian Federation from July 17, 1942 to February 2, 1943. The German offensive lasted from July 17 to November 18, 1942, its goal was to capture the great bend of the Don, the Volgodonsk isthmus and Stalingrad ( modern Volgograd). The implementation of this plan would block transport links between the central regions of the USSR and the Caucasus, create a bridgehead for a further offensive in order to seize the Caucasian oil fields. In July-November, the Soviet army managed to force the Germans to get bogged down in defensive battles, in November-January to encircle the grouping of German troops as a result of Operation Uranus, repel the unblocking German attack by Wintergewitter and tighten the encirclement ring to the ruins of Stalingrad. The encircled surrendered on February 2, 1943, including 24 generals and Field Marshal Paulus.
This victory after a series of defeats in 1941-1942 became a turning point in the war. By the number of total irrecoverable losses (killed, died from wounds in hospitals, missing) of the fighting parties, the Battle of Stalingrad became one of the bloodiest in the history of mankind: Soviet soldiers - 478,741 (323,856 in the defensive phase of the battle and 154,885 in the offensive), German - about 300,000, German allies (Italians, Romanians, Hungarians, Croats) - about 200,000 people, the death toll of the townspeople cannot be estimated even approximately, but the account goes to no less than tens of thousands. The military significance of the victory was the removal of the threat of seizure by the Wehrmacht of the Lower Volga region and the Caucasus, especially oil from the Baku fields. Political significance was the sobering up of Germany's allies and their understanding of the fact that the war cannot be won. Turkey abandoned the invasion of the USSR in the spring of 1943, Japan did not start the planned Siberian campaign, Romania (Mihai I), Italy (Badoglio), Hungary (Kallai) began to look for opportunities to exit the war and conclude a separate peace with Great Britain and the United States.
Preceding events
On June 22, 1941, Germany and its allies invaded the territory of the Soviet Union, rapidly advancing inland. After being defeated during the fighting in the summer and autumn of 1941, Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive during the Battle of Moscow in December 1941. German troops, exhausted by the stubborn resistance of the defenders of Moscow, not ready for the winter campaign, having an extensive and not fully controlled rear, were stopped at the approaches to the city and were thrown back 150-300 km to the west during the counteroffensive of the Red Army.
In the winter of 1941-1942, the Soviet-German front stabilized. Plans for a new attack on Moscow were rejected by Adolf Hitler, despite the fact that the German generals insisted on this option. However, Hitler believed that an attack on Moscow would be too predictable. For these reasons, the German command was considering plans for new operations in the north and south. An offensive in the south of the USSR would ensure control over the oil fields of the Caucasus (the region of Grozny and Baku), as well as over the Volga River - the main artery connecting the European part of the country with the Caucasus and Central Asia... A German victory in the south of the Soviet Union could have seriously shaken Soviet industry.
The Soviet leadership, emboldened by the successes near Moscow, tried to seize the strategic initiative and in May 1942 sent large forces to the offensive in the Kharkov region. The offensive began from the Barvenkovo \u200b\u200bledge south of the city, which was formed as a result of the winter offensive of the Southwestern Front. A feature of this offensive was the use of a new Soviet mobile unit - a tank corps, which, in terms of the number of tanks and artillery, roughly corresponded to the German tank division, but was significantly inferior to it in the number of motorized infantry. The Axis forces, meanwhile, were planning an operation to encircle the Barvenkovo \u200b\u200bledge.
The offensive of the Red Army was so unexpected for the Wehrmacht that it almost ended in disaster for Army Group South. However, they decided not to change their plans and, thanks to the concentration of troops on the flanks of the ledge, broke through the enemy's defenses. Most of the Southwestern Front was surrounded. In the subsequent three-week battles, better known as the "second battle for Kharkov", the advancing units of the Red Army suffered a heavy defeat. According to German data, more than 240 thousand people were captured alone, according to Soviet archival data, the irrecoverable losses of the Red Army amounted to 170,958 people, and a large amount of heavy weapons was also lost during the operation. After the defeat at Kharkov, the front south of Voronezh was practically open. As a result, the path to Rostov-on-Don and the lands of the Caucasus was opened for German troops. The city itself was held in November 1941 by the Red Army with heavy losses, but now it was lost.
After the Kharkov disaster of the Red Army in May 1942, Hitler intervened in strategic planning, ordering Army Group South to split in two. Army Group A was to continue the offensive in the North Caucasus. Army Group B, including the 6th Army of Friedrich Paulus and the 4th Panzer Army of H. Goth, was to move east towards the Volga and Stalingrad.
The capture of Stalingrad was very important to Hitler for several reasons. One of the main ones was that Stalingrad was a large industrial city on the banks of the Volga, along which and along which strategically important routes ran, connecting the center of Russia with the southern regions of the USSR, including the Caucasus and Transcaucasia. Thus, the capture of Stalingrad would allow Germany to cut off the water and land communications vital for the USSR, reliably cover the left flank of the forces advancing in the Caucasus and create serious problems with the supply of the Red Army units opposing them. Finally, the very fact that the city bore the name of Stalin - Hitler's main enemy - made the capture of the city a victory in terms of ideology and the inspiration of the soldiers, as well as the population of the Reich.
All major Wehrmacht operations were usually color coded: Fall Rot (red) for the capture of France, Fall Gelb (yellow) for the capture of Belgium and the Netherlands, Fall Grün (green) for Czechoslovakia, etc. Summer Offensive the Wehrmacht in the USSR was codenamed "Fall Blau" - a blue version.
Operation Blue Variant began with an offensive by Army Group South on the troops of the Bryansk Front to the north and the troops of the Southwestern Front to the south of Voronezh. It was attended by the 6th and 17th armies of the Wehrmacht, as well as the 1st and 4th tank armies.
It is worth noting that despite a two-month break in active hostilities, for the troops of the Bryansk Front, the result was no less disastrous than for the troops of the South-West, battered by the May battles. On the very first day of the operation, both Soviet fronts were broken through tens of kilometers inland, and the enemy rushed to the Don. The Red Army in the vast desert steppes could oppose only small forces, and then a chaotic withdrawal of forces to the east began altogether. Attempts to re-form the defense ended in complete failure when German units entered the Soviet defensive positions from the flank. In mid-July, several divisions of the Red Army fell into a cauldron in the south of the Voronezh region, near the city of Millerovo in the north of the Rostov region.
One of the important factors that thwarted the plans of the Germans was the failure of the offensive operation on Voronezh. Having easily captured the right-bank part of the city, the Wehrmacht could not build on the success, and the front line leveled off along the Voronezh River. The left bank remained behind the Soviet troops, and repeated attempts by the Germans to drive the Red Army from the left bank were unsuccessful. The Axis troops ran out of resources to continue their offensive operations, and the battles for Voronezh entered the positional phase. Due to the fact that the main forces were sent to Stalingrad, the offensive on Voronezh was suspended, and the most combat-ready units from the front were removed and transferred to Paulus's 6th Army. Subsequently, this factor played an important role in the defeat of the German troops at Stalingrad.
After the capture of Rostov-on-Don, Hitler transferred the 4th Panzer Army from Group A (advancing in the Caucasus) to Group B, aimed east towards the Volga and Stalingrad. 6th Army's initial offensive was so successful that Hitler intervened again, ordering 4th Panzer Army to join Army Group South (A). As a result, a huge "traffic jam" was formed when the 4th and 6th armies needed several roads in the zone of operations. Both armies were stuck tightly, and the delay turned out to be quite long and slowed down the German advance by one week. With a slowed offensive, Hitler changed his mind and reassigned the target of the 4th Panzer Army back to the Caucasus.
The alignment of forces before the battle
Germany
Army Group B. The 6th Army (commander F. Paulus) was allocated for the offensive on Stalingrad. It consisted of 14 divisions, in which there were about 270 thousand people, 3 thousand guns and mortars, and about 700 tanks. Reconnaissance activities in the interests of the 6th Army were conducted by Abwehrgroup-104.
The army was supported by the 4th Air Fleet (commanded by Colonel General Wolfram von Richthofen), in which there were up to 1200 aircraft (fighter aircraft aimed at Stalingrad, at the initial stage of the battles for this city consisted of about 120 Messerschmitt Bf.109F- 4 / G-2 (Soviet and Russian sources give figures ranging from 100 to 150), plus about 40 outdated Romanian Bf.109E-3).
the USSR
Stalingrad Front (commander - S. K. Timoshenko, from July 23 - V. N. Gordov, from August 13 - Colonel General A. I. Eremenko). It included the garrison of Stalingrad (10th NKVD division), 62nd, 63rd, 64th, 21st, 28th, 38th and 57th combined arms armies, 8th Air Army (Soviet fighter aviation at the beginning of the battle here consisted of 230-240 fighters, mainly Yak-1) and the Volga military flotilla - 37 divisions, 3 tank corps, 22 brigades, in which there were 547 thousand people, 2200 guns and mortars, about 400 tanks, 454 aircraft, 150-200 long-range bombers and 60 air defense fighters.
On July 12, the Stalingrad Front was created, commander - Marshal Timoshenko, from July 23 - Lieutenant General Gordov. It consisted of the 62nd Army nominated from the reserve under the command of Major General Kolpakchi, the 63rd, 64th armies, also the 21st, 28th, 38th, 57th combined arms and 8th air armies of the former Southwestern Front, and with July 30 - 51st Army of the North Caucasian Front. The Stalingrad front received the task, defending itself in a strip 530 km wide (along the Don River from Babka 250 km north-west of the city of Serafimovich to Kletskaya and further along the line of Kletskaya, Surovikino, Suvorovsky, Verkhnekurmoyarskaya), to stop the enemy's further advance and prevent it from reaching the Volga ... The first stage of the defensive battle in the North Caucasus began on 25 July 1942 at the turn of the lower reaches of the Don in the strip from the village of Verkhne-Kurmoyarskaya to the mouth of the Don. The border of the junction - the junction of the Stalingrad and North Caucasian military fronts passed along the line Verkhne-Kurmanyarskaya - Gremyachaya station - Ketchenery, crossing the northern and eastern parts of the Kotelnikovsky district of the Volgograd region. By July 17, the Stalingrad Front had 12 divisions (a total of 160,000 men), 2,200 guns and mortars, about 400 tanks and over 450 aircraft. In addition, 150-200 long-range bombers and up to 60 fighters of the 102nd Air Defense Aviation Division (Colonel II Krasnoyurchenko) operated in its zone. Thus, by the beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad, the enemy had an advantage over the Soviet troops in tanks and artillery - by 1.3 times and in aircraft - by more than 2 times, and in people it was 2 times inferior.
The beginning of the battle
In July, when German intentions became completely clear to the Soviet command, it developed plans for the defense of Stalingrad. To create a new front of defense, the Soviet troops, after moving out of the depths, had to take positions on the move on the move, where there were no previously prepared defensive lines. Most of the formations of the Stalingrad Front were new formations that had not yet been properly put together and, as a rule, did not have combat experience. There was an acute shortage of fighter aircraft, anti-tank and anti-aircraft artillery. Many divisions lacked ammunition and vehicles.
The generally accepted date for the start of the battle is July 17th. However, Aleksey Isaev found data on the first two clashes that took place on July 16 in the combat log of the 62nd Army. The advance detachment of the 147th Rifle Division at 17:40 was fired on near the Morozov farm with enemy anti-tank guns and destroyed them with return fire. A more serious clash soon followed:
“At 20:00, four German tanks secretly approached the Zolotoy khutor and opened fire on the detachment. The first battle of the Battle of Stalingrad lasted 20-30 minutes. The tankers of the 645th Tank Battalion announced that 2 German tanks, 1 anti-tank gun and 1 more tank were destroyed. Apparently, the Germans did not expect to collide with two companies of tanks at once and sent only four vehicles forward. The losses of the detachment were one T-34 burned out and two T-34 damaged. The first battle of the bloody months-long battle was not marked by a draw's death - the human losses of two tank companies amounted to 11 wounded. Dragging two damaged tanks behind them, the detachment returned back. " - Isaev A.V. Stalingrad. There is no land for us beyond the Volga. - Moscow: Yauza, Eksmo, 2008 .-- 448 p. - ISBN 978-5-699-26236-6.
On July 17, at the turn of the Chir and Tsimla rivers, the advanced detachments of the 62nd and 64th armies of the Stalingrad Front met with the vanguards of the 6th german army... Cooperating with the aviation of the 8th Air Army (Major General of Aviation T. T. Khryukin), they stubbornly resisted the enemy, who, in order to break their resistance, had to deploy 5 out of 13 divisions and spend 5 days fighting them. In the end, German troops shot down the forward detachments from their positions and approached the main defense zone of the Stalingrad Front troops. The resistance of the Soviet troops forced the Nazi command to strengthen the 6th Army. By July 22, it had 18 divisions, numbering 250 thousand people. combat strength, about 740 tanks, 7.5 thousand guns and mortars. The troops of the 6th Army supported up to 1200 aircraft. As a result, the balance of forces increased even more in favor of the enemy. For example, in tanks, he now had a two-fold superiority. By July 22, the troops of the Stalingrad Front had 16 divisions (187,000 men, 360 tanks, 7,900 guns and mortars, about 340 aircraft).
At dawn on July 23, the enemy's northern strike grouping went over to the offensive, and the enemy's southern strike groupings on 25 July. Using superiority in forces and air superiority, the Germans broke through the defenses on the right flank of the 62nd Army and by the end of the day on July 24 reached the Don in the Golubinsky area. As a result, up to three Soviet divisions were surrounded. The enemy also managed to push the troops of the right flank of the 64th Army. A critical situation developed for the troops of the Stalingrad Front. Both flanks of the 62nd Army were deeply engulfed by the enemy, and his exit to the Don created a real threat of a breakthrough of the Nazi troops to Stalingrad.
By the end of July, the Germans pushed the Soviet troops back across the Don. The line of defense stretched for hundreds of kilometers from north to south along the Don. To break through the defenses along the river, the Germans had to use, in addition to their 2nd Army, the armies of their Italian, Hungarian and Romanian allies. 6th Army was only a few dozen kilometers from Stalingrad, and 4th Panzer, south of it, turned north to help take the city. To the south, Army Group South (A) continued to deepen further into the Caucasus, but its advance slowed down. Army Group South A was too far south to provide support for Army Group South B in the north.
On July 28, 1942, People's Commissar of Defense, JV Stalin, turned to the Red Army with order No. 227, in which he demanded to strengthen resistance and stop the enemy's offensive at all costs. The most severe measures were envisaged for those who would show cowardice and cowardice in battle. Practical measures were outlined to strengthen the morale and discipline of the troops. “It's time to end the retreat,” the order noted. - No step back!" This slogan embodied the essence of Order No. 227. Commanders and political workers were tasked with bringing the demands of this order to the consciousness of every soldier.
The stubborn resistance of the Soviet troops forced the Nazi command on July 31 to turn the 4th Panzer Army (Colonel-General G. Goth) from the Caucasian direction to Stalingrad. On August 2, its advanced units approached Kotelnikovsky. In this regard, a direct threat of an enemy breakthrough to the city from the southwest was created. Fighting unfolded on the southwestern approaches to it. To strengthen the defense of Stalingrad, by the decision of the front commander, the 57th Army was deployed on the southern face of the outer defensive circuit. The 51st Army was transferred to the Stalingrad Front (Major General T.K. Kolomiets, from October 7 - Major General N.I. Trufanov).
The situation in the zone of the 62nd Army was difficult. On August 7-9, the enemy pushed back its troops across the Don River, and surrounded four divisions west of Kalach. Soviet soldiers fought surrounded until August 14, and then in small groups began to break through from the encirclement. Three divisions of the 1st Guards Army (Major General K.S. Moskalenko, from September 28, Major General I.M. Chistyakov) that came up from the Headquarters Reserve, struck a counterattack on the enemy troops and stopped their further advance.
Thus, the plan of the Germans - to break through to Stalingrad with a swift blow on the move - was thwarted by the stubborn resistance of the Soviet troops in the great bend of the Don and their active defense on the southwestern approaches to the city. In three weeks of the offensive, the enemy was able to advance only 60-80 km. Based on the assessment of the situation, the Nazi command made significant adjustments to its plan.
On August 19, Nazi troops resumed their offensive, striking in the general direction of Stalingrad. On August 22, the 6th German army crossed the Don and captured on its eastern bank, in the Peskovatka area, a 45 km wide bridgehead, on which six divisions were concentrated. On August 23, the enemy's 14th Panzer Corps broke through to the Volga north of Stalingrad, near the village of Rynok, and cut off the 62nd Army from the rest of the forces of the Stalingrad Front. On the eve of the enemy aviation struck a massive blow at Stalingrad from the air, making about 2 thousand sorties. As a result, the city underwent terrible destruction - whole neighborhoods were turned into ruins or simply wiped off the face of the earth.
On September 13, the enemy launched an offensive along the entire front, trying to seize Stalingrad by storm. The Soviet troops failed to contain his powerful onslaught. They were forced to retreat to the city, in the streets of which fierce fighting ensued.
In late August and September, Soviet troops conducted a series of counterattacks in the southwestern direction to cut off the formations of the enemy's 14th Panzer Corps, which had broken through to the Volga. When inflicting counterattacks, Soviet troops had to close the breakthrough of the Germans in the section of the station Kotluban, Rossoshka and eliminate the so-called "land bridge". At the cost of enormous losses, the Soviet troops managed to advance only a few kilometers.
"In the tank formations of the 1st Guards Army, out of 340 tanks that were available by the beginning of the offensive on September 18, by September 20, only 183 serviceable tanks remained, taking into account the replenishment." - Zharkoy F.M.
Battle in the city
By August 23, 1942, out of 400 thousand inhabitants of Stalingrad, about 100 thousand were evacuated. On August 24, the Stalingrad City Defense Committee adopted a belated decision to evacuate women, children and the wounded to the left bank of the Volga. All citizens, including women and children, worked to build trenches and other fortifications.
On 23 August, the forces of the 4th Air Fleet carried out the longest and most devastating bombing of the city. German aircraft destroyed the city, killed more than 90 thousand people, destroyed more than half of the housing stock of pre-war Stalingrad, thereby turning the city into a huge territory covered with burning ruins. The situation was aggravated by the fact that after the high-explosive bombs, German bombers dropped incendiary bombs. A huge fiery whirlwind formed, which burned to ashes the central part of the city and all its inhabitants. The fire spread to the rest of Stalingrad, as most of the buildings in the city were built of wood or had wooden elements. The temperature in many parts of the city, especially in its center, reached 1000 C. This will then be repeated in Hamburg, Dresden and Tokyo.
At 16 o'clock on August 23, 1942, the shock group of the 6th German army broke through to the Volga near the northern outskirts of Stalingrad, in the area of \u200b\u200bthe villages of Latoshinka, Akatovka, Rynok.
In the northern part of the city, near the village of Gumrak, the German 14th Panzer Corps met resistance from the Soviet anti-aircraft batteries of the 1077th regiment of Lieutenant Colonel V.S.German, whose guns included girls. The battle continued until the evening of 23 August. By the evening of August 23, 1942, German tanks appeared in the area of \u200b\u200bthe tractor plant, 1-1.5 km from the factory workshops, and began shelling it. At this stage, the Soviet defense relied heavily on the 10th Rifle Division of the NKVD and civil uprisingrecruited from workers, firefighters, police officers. At the tractor plant, tanks continued to be built, which were manned by crews of plant workers and immediately sent off the assembly lines into battle. A.S. Chuyanov told the members of the film crew documentary "Pages of the Battle of Stalingrad" that when the enemy came to Mokra Mechetka before the organization of the Stalingrad defense line, he was frightened off by Soviet tanks, which drove out of the gate of the tractor plant, and only the drivers of this plant without ammunition and crew were sitting in them. The tank brigade named after the Stalingrad proletariat on August 23 moved to the defense line north of the tractor plant in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Sukhaya Mechetka river. For about a week, the militias actively participated in defensive battles in the north of Stalingrad. Then gradually they began to be replaced by cadre units.
By September 1, 1942, the Soviet command could only provide its troops in Stalingrad with risky crossings across the Volga. In the midst of the ruins of an already destroyed city, the Soviet 62nd Army erected defensive positions with firing points located in buildings and factories. Snipers and assault groups delayed the enemy as best they could. The Germans, moving deeper into Stalingrad, suffered heavy losses. Soviet reinforcements were ferried across the Volga from the eastern bank under constant bombardment and artillery fire.
From 13 to 26 September, units of the Wehrmacht pushed the troops of the 62nd Army and broke into the city center, and at the junction of the 62nd and 64th armies broke through to the Volga. The river was completely under fire by German troops. The hunt went on for every ship and even a boat. Despite this, during the battle for the city, over 82 thousand soldiers and officers, a large amount of military equipment, food and other military supplies were transported from the left bank to the right bank, and about 52 thousand wounded and civilians were evacuated to the left bank.
The struggle for bridgeheads near the Volga, especially on Mamayev Kurgan and at factories in the northern part of the city, lasted more than two months. The battles for the Krasny Oktyabr plant, the tractor plant and the Barrikady artillery plant became known all over the world. While Soviet soldiers continued to defend their positions, firing on the Germans, workers in factories and factories repaired damaged Soviet tanks and weapons in the immediate vicinity of the battlefield, and sometimes on the battlefield itself. The specificity of battles at enterprises was the limited use of firearms due to the danger of ricocheting: the battles were fought with the help of piercing, cutting and crushing objects, as well as hand-to-hand combat.
German military doctrine was based on the interaction of the branches of the armed forces in general and especially close interaction of infantry, sappers, artillery and dive bombers. In response, Soviet fighters tried to be located tens of meters from the enemy's positions, in which case the German artillery and aviation could not act without the risk of hitting their own. Opponents were often separated by a wall, floor, or staircase. In this case, the German infantry had to fight on equal terms with the Soviet one - with rifles, grenades, bayonets and knives. There was a struggle for every street, every factory, every house, basement or staircase. Even individual buildings got on the maps and were named: Pavlov's House, Mill, Department Store, Prison, Zabolotny's House, Dairy House, House of Specialists, L-shaped house and others. The Red Army constantly conducted counterattacks, trying to recapture previously lost positions. Several times passed from hand to hand Mamaev Kurgan, the railway station. The assault groups of both sides tried to use any passages to the enemy - sewers, cellars, underground tunnels.
Street fighting in Stalingrad.
On both sides, the fighters were supported by a large number of artillery batteries (Soviet large-caliber artillery operated from the eastern bank of the Volga), up to 600-mm mortars.
Soviet snipers, using the ruins as cover, also inflicted heavy damage on the Germans. Sniper Vasily Grigorievich Zaitsev killed 225 enemy soldiers and officers (including 11 snipers) during the battle.
For both Stalin and Hitler, the Battle of Stalingrad was a matter of prestige in addition to the strategic importance of the city. The Soviet command moved the reserves of the Red Army from Moscow to the Volga, and also transferred air forces from almost the entire country to the Stalingrad area.
On the morning of October 14, German 6th Army launched a decisive offensive against the Soviet bridgeheads near the Volga. It was supported by more than a thousand aircraft of the 4th Luftwaffe Air Fleet. The concentration of German troops was unprecedented - on the front, only about 4 km away, three infantry and two tank divisions attacked the tractor plant and the Barricades plant. Soviet units stubbornly defended themselves, supported by artillery fire from the eastern bank of the Volga and from the ships of the Volga military flotilla. However, the artillery on the left bank of the Volga began to experience a shortage of ammunition in connection with the preparation of the Soviet counteroffensive. On November 9, the cold began, the air temperature dropped to minus 18 degrees. Crossings across the Volga became extremely difficult due to ice floes floating on the river; the troops of the 62nd Army experienced an acute shortage of ammunition and food. By the end of the day on November 11, German troops managed to capture the southern part of the Barricades plant and break through to the Volga in a 500 m wide area, the 62nd Army now held three small bridgeheads isolated from each other (the smallest of which was Lyudnikov Island). The divisions of the 62nd Army after the incurred losses totaled only 500-700 people. But the German divisions also suffered huge losses, in many units more than 40% of the personnel were killed in battles.
Preparing Soviet troops for a counteroffensive
The Don Front was formed on September 30, 1942. It consisted of: 1st Guards, 21st, 24th, 63rd and 66th armies, 4th tank army, 16th Air Force. Lieutenant General K. K. Rokossovsky, who took command, actively began to fulfill the "old dream" of the right flank of the Stalingrad Front - to encircle the German 14th Panzer Corps and link up with units of the 62nd Army.
Having assumed command, Rokossovsky found the newly formed front on the offensive - following the order of the Headquarters, on September 30 at 5:00, after artillery preparation, units of the 1st Guards, 24th and 65th armies went on the offensive. Heavy fighting went on for two days. But, as noted in the TsAMO document, parts of the armies did not have any advances, and moreover, as a result of the Germans' counterattacks, several heights were left. By October 2, the offensive ran out of steam.
But here, from the Stavka reserve, the Don Front receives seven fully equipped rifle divisions (277, 62, 252, 212, 262, 331, 293 rifle divisions). The command of the Don Front decides to use fresh forces for a new offensive. On October 4, Rokossovsky instructed to develop a plan for an offensive operation, and on October 6, the plan was ready. The operation was scheduled for October 10th. But by this time, several things are happening.
On October 5, 1942, Stalin, in a telephone conversation with A.I. Eremenko, sharply criticizes the leadership of the Stalingrad front and demands that immediate measures be taken to stabilize the front and the subsequent defeat of the enemy. In response to this, on October 6, Eremenko made a report to Stalin on the situation and considerations on the further actions of the front. The first part of this document is to justify and blame the Don Front ("they pinned great hopes on help from the north," etc.). In the second part of the report, Eremenko proposes an operation to encircle and destroy German units at Stalingrad. There, for the first time, it is proposed to encircle the 6th Army by flanking attacks on Romanian units and, after breaking through the fronts, to unite in the Kalach-on-Don area.
The headquarters considered Eremenko's plan, but then considered it impracticable (too deep operation, etc.). In fact, the idea of \u200b\u200bstarting a counteroffensive was discussed back on September 12 by Stalin, Zhukov and Vasilevsky, and by September 13, preliminary outlines of a plan were prepared and presented to Stalin, in which the creation of the Don Front was supposed. And Zhukov's command of the 1st Guards, 24th and 66th armies was taken on August 27, simultaneously with the appointment of him as Deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief. The 1st Guards Army was at that time in the South-Western Front, and the 24th and 66th armies, specially for the operation entrusted to Zhukov to push the enemy away from the northern regions of Stalingrad, were withdrawn from the headquarters reserve. After the creation of the front, command was entrusted to Rokossovsky, and Zhukov was instructed to prepare the offensive of the Kalinin and Western fronts in order to tie up the German forces so that they could not transfer them in support of Army Group South.
As a result, the Stavka proposed the following option for encircling and routing German troops at Stalingrad: the Don Front was asked to deliver the main blow in the direction of Kotluban, break through the front and reach the Gumrak region. At the same time, the Stalingrad Front is advancing from the Gornaya Polyana area to Elshanka, and after the front breaks through, the units move to the Gumrak area, where they join up with the Don Front units. In this operation, the front command was allowed to use fresh units: the Don Front - 7 rifle divisions (277, 62, 252, 212, 262, 331, 293), the Stalingrad Front - the 7th rifle corps, 4th cavalry corps). On October 7, General Staff directive No. 170644 was issued on the conduct of an offensive operation by two fronts to encircle the 6th Army; the operation was scheduled to begin on October 20.
Thus, it was planned to surround and destroy only the German troops leading fighting directly in Stalingrad (14th Panzer Corps, 51st and 4th Infantry Corps, about 12 divisions in total).
The command of the Don Front was dissatisfied with this directive. On October 9, Rokossovsky presented his plan for an offensive operation. He referred to the impossibility of breaking through the front in the Kotluban area. According to his calculations, 4 divisions were required for a breakthrough, 3 divisions were required for the development of a breakthrough, and 3 more for cover from enemy attacks; thus, seven fresh divisions were clearly not enough. Rokossovsky proposed to inflict the main blow in the Kuzmichi area (height 139.7), that is, everything according to the same old scheme: to encircle parts of the 14th Panzer Corps, link up with the 62nd Army and only then move to Gumrak to join the 64 th army. The headquarters of the Don Front planned 4 days for this: from 20 to 24 October. The "Oryol ledge" of the Germans haunted Rokossovsky since August 23, so he decided to first deal with this "corn", and then complete the complete encirclement of the enemy.
The rate did not accept Rokossovsky's proposal and recommended that he prepare an operation according to the rate plan; however, he was allowed to carry out a private operation against the Oryol group of Germans on October 10, without attracting fresh forces.
On October 9, units of the 1st Guards Army, as well as the 24th and 66th armies, began an offensive in the direction of Orlovka. The attacking group was supported by 42 Il-2 attack aircraft, under the cover of 50 fighters of the 16th Air Army. The first day of the offensive ended in vain. The 1st Guards Army (298, 258, 207) had no advance, and the 24th Army advanced 300 meters. 299 RD (66th Army), advancing to a height of 127.7, having suffered heavy losses, had no progress. On October 10, the offensive attempts continued, but by the evening they finally weakened and stopped. Another "operation to eliminate the Oryol group" failed. As a result of this offensive, due to the losses suffered, the 1st Guards Army was disbanded. Having transferred the remaining units of the 24th Army, the command was transferred to the headquarters reserve.
Soviet offensive (Operation Uranus)
On November 19, 1942, the offensive of the Red Army began as part of Operation Uranus. On November 23, in the Kalach area, a circle of encirclement was closed around the 6th Army of the Wehrmacht. The plan "Uranus" was not fully implemented, since it was not possible to dismember the 6th army into two parts from the very beginning (by a strike of the 24th army between the Volga and Don rivers). Attempts to eliminate the encircled on the move under these conditions also failed, despite a significant superiority in forces - the superior tactical training of the Germans affected. However, the 6th Army was isolated and supplies of fuel, ammunition and food were progressively reduced, despite attempts to supply it by air made by the 4th Air Fleet under the command of Wolfram von Richthofen.
Operation Wintergewitter
Army Group Don, newly formed by the Wehrmacht, under the command of Field Marshal Manstein, attempted to break through the blockade of the encircled troops (Operation Wintergewitter (German: Wintergewitter). Initially it was planned to start on December 10, but the offensive actions of the Red Army on the external front of the encirclement forced to postpone the start operations on December 12. By this date, the Germans managed to present only one full-fledged tank formation - the 6th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht and (from the infantry formations) the remnants of the defeated 4th Romanian Army. These units were subordinate to the management of the 4th Panzer Army under the command of G. Gotha In the course of the offensive, the group was reinforced by the rather battered 11th and 17th Panzer Divisions and three airfield divisions.
By December 19, the units of the 4th Panzer Army, which actually broke through the defensive lines of the Soviet troops, faced the 2nd Guards Army, which had just been transferred from the headquarters reserve, under the command of R. Ya. Malinovsky, which included two rifle corps and one mechanized corps.
Operation Little Saturn
According to the plan of the Soviet command, after the defeat of the 6th Army, the forces involved in Operation Uranus turned to the west and advanced towards Rostov-on-Don as part of Operation Saturn. At the same time, the southern wing of the Voronezh Front struck at the 8th Italian Army north of Stalingrad and advanced directly to the west (towards the Donets) with an auxiliary blow to the southwest (towards Rostov-on-Don), covering the northern flank of the South-Western front during a hypothetical offensive. However, due to the incomplete implementation of "Uranus", "Saturn" was replaced by "Little Saturn".
The dash to Rostov-on-Don (due to the distraction of the bulk of the Red Army troops by Zhukov for the unsuccessful offensive operation "Mars" near Rzhev, and also due to the lack of seven armies, fettered by the 6th Army at Stalingrad) was no longer planned.
The Voronezh Front, together with the South-Western Front and part of the Stalingrad Front forces, had the goal of throwing the enemy 100-150 km west of the encircled 6th Army and defeating the 8th Italian Army (Voronezh Front). The offensive was planned to begin on December 10, however, the problems associated with the supply of new units necessary for the operation (available on the spot were tied at Stalingrad), led to the fact that A.M. Vasilevsky authorized (with the knowledge of I.V. Stalin) the postponement of the beginning operations on December 16. On December 16-17, the German front on the Chira and at the positions of the 8th Italian Army was broken through, the Soviet tank corps rushed into the operational depth. Manstein reports that of the Italian divisions, only one light and one or two infantry divisions put up any serious resistance, the headquarters of the 1st Romanian corps fled in panic from their command post. By the end of December 24, Soviet troops reached the Millerovo, Tatsinskaya, Morozovsk line. For eight days of fighting, the mobile forces of the front advanced 100-200 km. However, in the mid-20s of December, operational reserves (four German tank divisions, well-equipped), originally intended to strike during Operation Wintergewitter, began to approach Army Group Don, which later, according to Manstein himself, became the reason for it. failure.
By December 25, these reserves launched counterattacks, during which they cut off the 24th tank corps of V.M. Badanov, which had just burst into the airfield in Tatsinskaya (about 300 German aircraft were destroyed at the airfield and in echelons at the station). By December 30, the corps had escaped from the encirclement, refueling the tanks with a mixture of aviation gasoline and engine oil captured at the airfield. By the end of December, the advancing troops of the Southwestern Front had reached the Novaya Kalitva, Markovka, Millerovo, Chernyshevskaya line. As a result of the Middle Don operation, the main forces of the 8th Italian army were defeated (with the exception of the Alpine corps, which did not come under attack), the defeat of the 3rd Romanian army was completed, and heavy damage was inflicted on the Hollidt operational group. 17 divisions and three brigades of the fascist bloc were destroyed or suffered heavy losses. 60,000 enemy soldiers and officers were taken prisoner. The defeat of the Italian and Romanian troops created the preconditions for the Red Army's transition to the offensive in the Kotelnikovsky direction, where the troops of the 2nd Guards and 51st armies reached the Tormosin, Zhukovskaya, Kommisarovsky line by December 31, advancing 100-150 km, completed the rout 4- th Romanian army and threw back parts of the newly formed 4th Panzer Army 200 km from Stalingrad. After that, the front line temporarily stabilized, since neither Soviet nor German troops had enough strength to break through the enemy's tactical defense zone.
Combat during Operation Ring
The commander of the 62nd Army V.I. Chuikov presents the guards banner to the commander of the 39th Guards. SD S. S. Guryev. Stalingrad, plant "Red October", January 3, 1943
December 27 N.N. Voronov sent to VGK rate first version of the "Ring" plan. The headquarters in directive No. 170718 of December 28, 1942 (signed by Stalin and Zhukov) demanded changes to the plan so that it provided for the dismemberment of the 6th Army into two parts before its destruction. The corresponding changes were made to the plan. On January 10, the offensive of the Soviet troops began, the main blow was inflicted in the zone of the 65th army of General Batov. However, the German resistance turned out to be so serious that the offensive had to be temporarily stopped. From January 17 to 22, the offensive was suspended for regrouping, new strikes on January 22-26 led to the dismemberment of the 6th Army into two groups (Soviet troops united in the Mamayev Kurgan area), by January 31, the southern group was eliminated (the command and headquarters of 6 Army led by Paulus), by February 2, the northern grouping of the encircled under the command of the commander of the 11th Army Corps, Colonel General Karl Strecker surrendered. Shooting in the city continued until February 3 - the Khivi resisted even after the German surrender on February 2, 1943, since they were not threatened with captivity. The elimination of the 6th Army was supposed to be completed in a week, according to the "Ring" plan, but in reality it lasted 23 days. (The 24th Army on January 26 withdrew from the front and was sent to the headquarters reserve).
In total, during Operation Ring, more than 2,500 officers and 24 generals of the 6th Army were taken prisoner. In total, over 91 thousand Wehrmacht soldiers and officers were taken prisoner, of which no more than 20% returned to Germany at the end of the war - most died from exhaustion, dysentery and other diseases. The trophies of the Soviet troops from January 10 to February 2, 1943, according to the report of the headquarters of the Don Front, became 5762 guns, 1312 mortars, 12701 machine guns, 156 987 rifles, 10 722 assault rifles, 744 aircraft, 166 tanks, 261 armored vehicles, 80 438 cars, 10 679 motorcycles , 240 tractors, 571 tractors, 3 armored trains and other military equipment.
Surrendered a total of twenty german divisions: 14th, 16th and 24th tank, 3rd, 29th and 60th motorized infantry, 100th Jaeger, 44th, 71st, 76th, 79th, 94 1st, 113th, 295th, 297th, 305th, 371st, 376th, 384th, 389th Infantry Divisions. In addition, the Romanian 1st Cavalry and 20th Infantry Divisions surrendered. As part of the 100th Jaeger, the Croatian regiment surrendered. The 91st Air Defense Regiment, the 243rd and 245th separate battalions of assault guns, the 2nd and 51st regiments of rocket launchers also surrendered.
Air supply of the encircled group
Hitler, after consulting with the leadership of the Luftwaffe, decided to arrange the supply of the surrounded troops with air transport. A similar operation has already been carried out by German aviators supplying troops in the Demyansk boiler. To maintain an acceptable combat capability of the encircled units, daily deliveries of 700 tons of cargo were required. The Luftwaffe promised to provide daily supplies of 300 tons. The cargo was delivered to the airfields: Bolshaya Rossoshka, Basargino, Gumrak, Voroponovo and Nursery - the largest in the ring. The seriously wounded were taken out on the return flights. Under favorable circumstances, the Germans managed to make more than 100 flights per day to the surrounded troops. The main bases for supplying the blocked troops were Tatsinskaya, Morozovsk, Tormosin and Bogoyavlenskaya. But as the Soviet troops moved westward, the Germans had to move the supply bases further and further from Paulus's troops: to Zverevo, Shakhty, Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, Novocherkassk, Mechetinskaya and Salsk. At the last stage, the airfields in Artyomovsk, Gorlovka, Makeevka and Stalino were used.
Soviet troops actively fought air traffic. Both supply airfields and others located in the encircled territory were subjected to bombing and ground attacks. To combat enemy aircraft soviet aviation used patrolling, airfield watch and free hunting. At the beginning of December, the system of combating enemy air transport organized by the Soviet troops was based on division into zones of responsibility. The first zone included the territories from which the encircled group was supplied, units 17 and 8 of the VA operated here. The second zone was located around the troops of Paulus over the territory controlled by the Red Army. It created two belts of radio guidance stations, the zone itself was divided into 5 sectors, one fighter air division in each (102 IAD Air Defense and divisions of the 8th and 16th VA). The third zone, where the anti-aircraft artillery was located, also surrounded the blocked group. It was 15-30 km deep, and at the end of December there were 235 small and medium caliber guns and 241 anti-aircraft machine guns. The area occupied by the encircled grouping belonged to the fourth zone, where units of the 8th, 16th VA and the night regiment of the air defense division operated. To counteract night flights near Stalingrad, one of the first Soviet aircraft with an on-board radar was used, which was later put into mass production.
In connection with the increasing opposition of the Soviet Air Force, the Germans had to switch from flying during the day to flying in difficult meteorological conditions and at night, when there was a better chance of making the flight unnoticed. On January 10, 1943, the operation to destroy the encircled group began, as a result of which on January 14 the defenders left the main airfield Nursery, and on the 21st and the last airfield - Gumrak, after which the cargo was dropped by parachute. A landing site near the village of Stalingradsky operated for several more days, but it was accessible only to small planes; On the 26th, landing on it became impossible. During the period of air supply to the encircled troops, an average of 94 tons of cargo was delivered per day. On the most successful days, the value reached 150 tons of cargo. Hans Doerr estimates the losses of the Luftwaffe in this operation at 488 aircraft and 1,000 flight personnel and considers these to be the largest losses since the air operation against England.
Battle results
The victory of Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad is the largest a military-political event during the Second World War. The great battle, which ended with the encirclement, defeat and capture of a select enemy grouping, made a huge contribution to the achievement of a fundamental turning point in the course of the Great Patriotic War and had a serious impact on the further course of the entire Second World War.
In the Battle of Stalingrad, new features of military art were manifested with all their might Armed Forces THE USSR. Soviet operational art was enriched by the experience of encircling and destroying the enemy.
An important component of the success of the Red Army was the set of measures for the military-economic support of the troops.
The victory at Stalingrad had a decisive influence on the further course of the Second World War. As a result of the battle, the Red Army firmly seized the strategic initiative and was now dictating its will to the enemy. This changed the nature of the actions of the German troops in the Caucasus, in the regions of Rzhev and Demyansk. The blows of the Soviet troops forced the Wehrmacht to give the order to prepare the Eastern Wall, on which it was supposed to stop the advance of the Soviet Army.
During the Battle of Stalingrad, the 3rd and 4th Romanian armies (22 divisions), the 8th Italian army and the Italian Alpine corps (10 divisions), the 2nd Hungarian army (10 divisions), and the Croatian regiment were defeated. The 6th and 7th Romanian Army Corps, which were part of the 4th Panzer Army, which were not destroyed, were completely demoralized. As Manstein notes: “Dimitrescu was powerless to fight the demoralization of his troops alone. There was no choice but to take them off and send them to the rear, home. " In the future, Germany could not count on new draft contingents from Romania, Hungary, Slovakia. She had to use the remaining divisions of the allies only for rear service, fighting partisans and in some secondary sectors of the front.
In the Stalingrad cauldron were destroyed:
As part of the 6th German army: the headquarters of the 8th, 11th, 51st army and 14th tank corps; 44, 71, 76, 113, 295, 305, 376, 384, 389, 394 infantry divisions, 100th mountain infantry, 14, 16 and 24 tank, 3rd and 60th motorized, 1st Romanian cavalry, 9 1st Air Defense Division.
As part of the 4th Panzer Army, the headquarters of the 4th Army Corps; 297 and 371 infantry, 29 motorized, 1st and 20th Romanian infantry divisions. Most of the artillery of the RGK, divisions of the Todt organization, large forces of the engineering units of the RGK.
Also, the 48th Panzer Corps (first composition) - the 22nd Panzer, Romanian Panzer Divisions.
Outside the cauldron, 5 divisions of the 2nd Army and 24 Panzer Corps were defeated (lost 50-70% of the composition). The 57th Panzer Corps from Army Group A, the 48th Panzer Corps (second composition), and divisions of the Gollidt, Kempf and Fretter Pico groups suffered enormous losses. Several airfield divisions, a large number of separate units and formations were destroyed.
In March 1943, only 32 divisions remained in Army Group South on a sector 700 km from Rostov-on-Don to Kharkov, taking into account the received reinforcements.
As a result of actions to supply the troops surrounded at Stalingrad and several smaller boilers, German aviation was greatly weakened.
The outcome of the Battle of Stalingrad caused confusion and confusion in the Axis countries. The crisis of pro-fascist regimes began in Italy, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia. Germany's influence on its allies sharply weakened, and the differences between them sharply intensified. The desire to maintain neutrality has intensified in Turkish political circles. In the relations of neutral countries towards Germany, elements of restraint and alienation began to prevail.
As a result of the defeat, Germany faced the problem of restoring losses incurred in equipment and people. The head of the OKW economic department, General G. Thomas, stated that the losses in equipment are equal to the number of military equipment of 45 divisions from all branches of the army and are equal to losses for the entire previous period of battles on the Soviet-German front. Goebbels at the end of January 1943 declared "Germany will be able to withstand the attacks of the Russians only if she manages to mobilize her last manpower reserves." Losses in tanks and cars amounted to six months of production in the country, in artillery - three months, in rifle and mortars - two months.
In the Soviet Union, a medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad" was established; as of January 1, 1995, 759,561 people were awarded it. In Germany, after the defeat at Stalingrad, a three-day mourning period was declared.
German general Kurt von Tipelskirch in his book "History of the Second World War" assesses the defeat at Stalingrad as follows:
“The result of the offensive was amazing: one German and three allied armies were destroyed, three other German armies suffered heavy losses. At least fifty German and Allied divisions no longer existed. The remaining losses amounted to a total of twenty-five divisions. A large number of equipment was lost - tanks, self-propelled guns, light and heavy artillery and heavy infantry weapons. The losses in equipment were, of course, much greater than those of the enemy. Losses in personnel were to be considered very heavy, especially since the enemy, even if he suffered serious losses, nevertheless had much larger human reserves. Germany's prestige in the eyes of its allies was greatly shaken. Since the irreparable defeat was also inflicted in North Africa at the same time, the hope for a common victory was dashed. The morale of the Russians has risen high. "
Reaction in the world
Many statesmen and politicians praised the victory of the Soviet troops. In his message to JV Stalin (February 5, 1943), F. Roosevelt called the Battle of Stalingrad an epic struggle, the decisive result of which is celebrated by all Americans. On May 17, 1944, Roosevelt sent a letter to Stalingrad:
“On behalf of the people of the United States of America, I present this letter to the city of Stalingrad to celebrate our admiration for its valiant defenders, whose courage, fortitude and dedication during the siege from September 13, 1942 to January 31, 1943, will forever inspire the hearts of all free people. Their glorious victory stopped the wave of invasion and became a turning point in the war of the Allied nations against the forces of aggression. "
British Prime Minister W. Churchill, in his message to JV Stalin on February 1, 1943, called the victory of the Soviet Army at Stalingrad amazing. King George VI of Great Britain sent a gift sword to Stalingrad, on the blade of which the inscription is engraved in Russian and English:
"To the citizens of Stalingrad, strong as steel, from King George VI, as a sign of the deep admiration of the British people."
At a conference in Tehran, Churchill presented the Sword of Stalingrad to the Soviet delegation. An inscription was engraved on the blade: "Gift of King George VI to the staunch defenders of Stalingrad as a sign of respect from the British people." Handing over the gift, Churchill made a heartfelt speech. Stalin took the sword with both hands, raised it to his lips and kissed the scabbard. When the Soviet leader handed the relic to Marshal Voroshilov, the sword fell from its scabbard and fell to the floor with a crash. This unfortunate incident somewhat overshadowed the triumph of the moment.
During the battle, and especially after its end, the activity intensified public organizations USA, England, Canada, who spoke in favor of providing more effective assistance to the Soviet Union. For example, New York union members raised $ 250,000 to build a hospital in Stalingrad. The chairman of the united union of garment workers said:
“We are proud that the workers of New York will establish a connection with Stalingrad, which will live in history as a symbol of the immortal courage of a great people and whose defense was a turning point in the struggle of mankind against oppression ... Every Red Army soldier defending his Soviet land, killing a Nazi, most saves lives and American soldiers. We will remember this when calculating our debt to the Soviet ally. "
American astronaut Donald Slayton, a WWII veteran, recalled:
“When the Nazis surrendered, our jubilation knew no bounds. Everyone understood that this was a turn in the war, this was the beginning of the end of fascism. "
The victory at Stalingrad had a significant impact on the life of the occupied peoples, instilled hope for liberation. A drawing appeared on the walls of many Warsaw houses - a heart pierced by a large dagger. On the heart is the inscription "Great Germany", and on the blade - "Stalingrad".
Speaking on February 9, 1943, the famous French anti-fascist writer Jean-Richard Blok said:
“… Listen, Parisians! The first three divisions that invaded Paris in June 1940, the three divisions that defiled our capital at the invitation of the French General Denz, these three divisions - the hundredth, one hundred and thirteenth and two hundred and ninety-fifth - do not exist anymore! They were destroyed at Stalingrad: the Russians avenged Paris. The Russians are taking revenge for France! "
The victory of the Soviet Army raised the political and military prestige of the Soviet Union. Former Nazi generals in their memoirs recognized the enormous military and political significance of this victory. G. Doerr wrote:
“For Germany, the Battle of Stalingrad was the gravest defeat in its history, for Russia it was its greatest victory. At Poltava (1709) Russia achieved the right to be called a great European power, Stalingrad was the beginning of its transformation into one of the two greatest world powers. "
Prisoners
Soviet: The total number of captured Soviet soldiers for the period July 1942 - February 1943 is unknown, but due to the heavy retreat after the lost battles in the Don bend and on the Volgodonsk isthmus, there are no less than tens of thousands. The fate of these soldiers is different depending on whether they find themselves outside or inside the Stalingrad "cauldron." The prisoners who were inside the cauldron were kept in the camps "Rossoshki", "Pitomnik", Dulag-205. After the encirclement of the Wehrmacht, due to lack of food, from December 5, 1942, the prisoners were no longer fed and almost all of them died in three months from hunger and cold. During the liberation of the territory, the Soviet army managed to save only a few hundred people who were in a dying degree of exhaustion.
The Wehrmacht and the Allies: The total number of captured soldiers of the Wehrmacht and their allies for the period July 1942 - February 1943 is unknown, so the prisoners were taken by different fronts and passed according to different registration documents. The number of those captured at the final stage of the battle in the city of Stalingrad from January 10 to February 22, 1943 is precisely known - 91,545 people, of which about 2500 officers, 24 generals and Field Marshal Paulus. This figure includes the soldiers of European countries and workers' organizations of Todt who took part in the battle on the side of Germany. Citizens of the USSR who went into the service of the enemy and served the Wehrmacht as "hivi" are not included in this figure, since they were considered criminals. The number of captured "Khivi" out of 20,880 in the 6th Army on October 24, 1942 is unknown.
For the maintenance of prisoners, a camp number 108 was urgently created with a center in the Stalingrad workers' village of Beketovka. Almost all the prisoners were in an extremely emaciated state, they had been receiving rations on the verge of starvation for 3 months, since the November encirclement. Therefore, the mortality rate among them was extremely high - by June 1943, 27,078 of them had died, 35,099 were undergoing treatment in the Stalingrad camp hospitals, 28,098 people were sent to hospitals in other camps. Only about 20 thousand people for health reasons were able to work in construction, these people were divided into construction teams and distributed among the construction sites. After the peak of the first 3 months, mortality returned to normal, and during the period from July 10, 1943 to January 1, 1949, 1,777 people died. The prisoners worked on a regular working day and received a salary for their work (until 1949, 8,976,304 man-days were worked, a salary of 10,797,011 rubles was issued), for which they bought food and household essentials in the camp stores. The last prisoners of war were released to Germany in 1949, except for those who received criminal sentences for personally committed war crimes.
Memory
The Battle of Stalingrad as a turning point in World War II had a great impact on world history... In cinematography, literature, music, the Stalingrad theme is constantly being addressed, the word “Stalingrad” itself has acquired numerous meanings. In many cities of the world there are streets, avenues, squares associated with the memory of the battle. Stalingrad and Coventry became the first twin cities in 1943, giving rise to this international movement. One of the elements of the link of twin cities is the name of the streets with the name of the city, therefore, in the twin cities of Volgograd there are Stalingradskaya streets (some of them were renamed Volgogradskaya as part of de-Stalinization). The name associated with Stalingrad was given to: the Parisian metro station "Stalingrad", the asteroid "Stalingrad", the type of cruisers Stalingrad.
Most of the monuments of the Battle of Stalingrad are located in Volgograd, the most famous of which are part of the Battle of Stalingrad Museum-Reserve: “The Motherland Calls!” on the Mamayev Kurgan, panorama "The defeat of the Nazi troops at Stalingrad", Gerhardt's mill. In 1995, in the Gorodishchensky district of the Volgograd region, a soldier's cemetery "Rossoshki" was created, where there is a German section with a memorial sign and graves of German soldiers.
The Battle of Stalingrad left a significant number of documentary literary works. On the Soviet side, there are memoirs of the First Deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief Zhukov, the commander of the 62nd Army Chuikov, the head of the Stalingrad region Chuyanov, the commander of the 13GSD Rodimtsev. "Soldier's" memoirs are presented by Afanasyev, Pavlov, Nekrasov. Yuri Panchenko, a Stalingrad citizen who survived the battle as a teenager, wrote the book "163 days on the streets of Stalingrad." On the German side, the memoirs of the commanders are presented by the memoirs of the commander of the 6th army Paulus and the head of the personnel department of the 6th army Adam, the soldier's vision of the battle is presented by the books of the Wehrmacht fighters Edelbert Hall, Hans Doerr. After the war, historians from different countries published documentary literature on the study of the battle, among Russian writers the topic was studied by Aleksey Isaev, Alexander Samsonov, in foreign literature they often refer to the writer-historian Beevor.
Starting the war against the USSR, the German command planned to end the hostilities within one short campaign. However, during the winter battle of 1941-1942. the Wehrmacht was defeated and was forced to surrender part of the occupied territory. By the spring of 1942, in turn, the counteroffensive of the Red Army had stopped, and the headquarters of both sides began to develop plans for summer battles.
Plans and forces
In 1942, the situation at the front was no longer as favorable for the Wehrmacht as in the summer of 1941. The surprise factor was lost, and the general balance of forces changed in favor of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA). An offensive along the entire front to great depths, similar to the 1941 campaign. became impossible. The high command of the Wehrmacht was forced to limit the scope of operations: in the central sector of the front it was supposed to go on the defensive, in the north it was planned to attack bypassing Leningrad with limited forces. The main focus of future operations was the southern. On April 5, 1942, in Directive No. 41, Supreme Commander-in-Chief Adolf Hitler outlined the goals of the campaign: "To finally destroy the manpower still in the hands of the Soviets, to deprive the Russians of as many of the most important military-economic centers as possible." The immediate task of the main operation on the Eastern Front was determined by the withdrawal of German troops to the Caucasian ridge and the capture of a number of economically important areas - primarily the oil fields of Maikop and Grozny, the lower reaches of the Volga, Voronezh and Stalingrad. The offensive plan was codenamed "Blau" ("Blue").
The main role in the offensive was played by Army Group South. She suffered the least during the winter campaign. It was reinforced with reserves: fresh infantry and tank formations were transferred to the army group, part of formations from other sectors of the front, some motorized divisions were reinforced with tank battalions seized from Army Group Center. In addition, the divisions involved in Operation Blau were the first to receive modernized armored vehicles - medium tanks Pz. IV and StuG III self-propelled guns with enhanced armament, which made it possible to effectively fight against Soviet armored vehicles.
The Army Group had to operate on a very broad front, so contingents of Germany's allies were involved in the operation on an unprecedented scale. It was attended by the 3rd Romanian, 2nd Hungarian and 8th Italian armies. The allies allowed them to hold a long front line, but their relatively low combat capability had to be reckoned with: neither in terms of the level of training of soldiers and the competence of officers, nor in terms of the quality and quantity of weapons, the allied armies were on the same level either with the Wehrmacht or with the Red Army. For the convenience of controlling this mass of troops, already during the offensive, Army Group South was divided into Group A, advancing in the Caucasus, and Group B, advancing on Stalingrad. The main striking force of Army Group B was the 6th Field Army under the command of Friedrich Paulus and the 4th Panzer Army of Hermann Goth.
At the same time, the Red Army was planning defensive actions in the southwestern direction. However, the Southern, Southwestern, and Bryansk fronts in the direction of the Blau's first strike had mobile formations for counterattacks. The spring of 1942 was the time for the restoration of the tank forces of the Red Army, and before the 1942 campaign, tank and mechanized corps of the new wave were formed. They had fewer capabilities than the German tank and motorized divisions, had a small artillery fleet and weak motorized rifle units. However, these formations could already influence the operational situation and provide serious assistance to the rifle units.
Preparation of Stalingrad for defense began in October 1941, when the command of the North Caucasian Military District received an order from Headquarters to build defensive bypasses around Stalingrad - the lines of field fortifications. However, by the summer of 1942, they were never completed. Finally, the capabilities of the Red Army in the summer and autumn of 1942 were seriously affected by supply problems. The industry has not yet produced enough equipment and consumables to meet the needs of the army. Throughout 1942, the consumption of ammunition by the Red Army was significantly lower than that of the enemy. In practice, this meant that there were not enough shells to suppress the defense of the Wehrmacht with artillery strikes or to counteract it in counter-battery warfare.
Battle in the Don bend
On June 28, 1942, the main German summer offensive began. Initially, it developed successfully for the enemy. Soviet troops were driven back from their positions in the Donbass to the Don. At the same time, a wide gap appeared in the front of the Soviet troops to the west of Stalingrad. In order to close this gap, the Stalingrad Front was created on July 12 by a directive of the Headquarters. Mainly reserve armies were used to defend the city. Among them was the former 7th reserve, which after entering the active army received a new number - 62. It was she who was to defend Stalingrad directly in the future. In the meantime, the newly formed front moved to the defensive line to the west of the great Don bend.
The front initially had only small forces. The divisions already at the front had time to suffer heavy losses, and some of the reserve divisions were just moving to the designated lines. The front's mobile reserve was the 13th Panzer Corps, which was not yet equipped with equipment.
The main forces of the front moved from the depths, and did not have contact with the enemy. Therefore, one of the first tasks assigned by the Headquarters to the first commander of the Stalingrad Front, Marshal S.K. Tymoshenko, consisted in sending forward detachments to meet the enemy 30-80 km from the front line of the defense - for reconnaissance and, if possible, taking more advantageous lines. On July 17, the forward detachments first encountered the vanguards of the German troops. This day marked the beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad. The Stalingrad front collided with the troops of the 6th field and 4th tank armies of the Wehrmacht.
The battles with the front-line forward detachments lasted until July 22. It is interesting that Paulus and Goth were not yet aware of the presence of large forces of Soviet troops - they believed that only weak units were ahead. In fact, the Stalingrad Front numbered 386 thousand people, and was numerically slightly inferior to the advancing troops of the 6th Army (443 thousand people as of July 20). However, the front defended a wide zone, which allowed the enemy to concentrate superior forces in the breakthrough sector. On July 23, when the fighting for the main defense zone began, the 6th Army of the Wehrmacht quickly broke through the front of the Soviet 62nd Army, and a small "cauldron" was formed on its right flank. The attackers were able to reach the Don north of the city of Kalach. The threat of encirclement hung over the entire 62nd Army. However, unlike the encirclements of the autumn of 1941, the Stalingrad Front had a mobile reserve at its disposal. To break through the encirclement, the 13th Tank Corps of T.S. Tanaschishin, who managed to pave the way to freedom for the encircled detachment. Soon an even more powerful counterattack fell upon the flanks of the German wedge that had broken through to the Don. Two tank armies, the 1st and 4th, were thrown in to defeat the penetrated German units. However, each of them consisted of only two rifle divisions and one tank corps, capable of participating in a counterattack.
Unfortunately, the battles of 1942 were characterized by the advantage of the Wehrmacht at the tactical level. German soldiers and officers had, on average, the best level of training, including in technical terms. Therefore, counterstrikes delivered from two sides by tank armies in the last days of July crashed against the German defenses. The tanks advanced with very little support from infantry and artillery, and suffered unnecessarily heavy casualties. The effect of their actions was undoubtedly there: the forces of the 6th field army that entered the breakthrough could not build on the success and force the Don. However, the stability of the front line could be maintained only as long as the forces of the attackers were not exhausted. On August 6, the 1st Panzer Army, which had lost almost all its equipment, was disbanded. A day later, units of the Wehrmacht, with a blow in converging directions, surrounded the large forces of the 62nd Army west of the Don.
The surrounded troops by several separate detachments managed to escape from the ring, but the battle in the Don bend was lost. Although the fierce resistance of the Red Army is constantly emphasized in German documents, the Wehrmacht managed to defeat the opposing Soviet units and force the Don.
Struggle on the defensive lines of Stalingrad
At the moment when the battle was developing in the big bend of the Don, over the Stalingrad front hung new threat... It came from the southern flank, occupied by weak units. Initially, the 4th Panzer Army of Hermann Goth did not aim at Stalingrad, but stubborn resistance on the Don forced the Wehrmacht command to turn it from the Caucasian direction to the rear of the Stalingrad Front. The reserves of the front were already involved in the battle, so the tank army could rapidly lead an offensive to the rear of the defenders of Stalingrad. On July 28, the Stavka ordered the new commander of the Stalingrad Front A.I. Eremenko to take measures to protect the south-west of the outer defenses. However, this order was somewhat late. On August 2, Hoth's tanks reached the Kotelnikovsky district . Due to the domination of German aviation in the air, Soviet reserves were ground up on the approaches, and entered the battle already seriously shabby. On August 3, the Germans, easily breaking through the front, rushed to the northeast and deeply bypassed the positions of the defenders of Stalingrad. It was possible to stop them only in the Abganerovo region - geographically, it is already south, and not west of Stalingrad. Abganerovo was held for a long time thanks to the timely approach of reserves, including the 13th Panzer Corps. T.I. Tanaschishina became the "fire brigade" of the front: the tank crews for the second time liquidated the consequences of a severe failure.
While the battles were going south of Stalingrad, Paulus planned a new encirclement, already on the eastern bank of the Don. On August 21, on the northern flank, the 6th Army crossed the river and launched an offensive eastward to the Volga. The 62nd Army, already battered in the "cauldron", could not hold back the blow, and the vanguards of the Wehrmacht rushed to Stalingrad from the northwest. If the German plans were realized, Soviet troops were to be surrounded west of Stalingrad and perish in the flat steppe. So far, this plan has been carried out.
At this time, the evacuation of Stalingrad was under way. Before the war, this city with a population of over 400 thousand people was one of the most important industrial centers of the USSR. Now the Headquarters faced the question of evacuating people and industrial facilities. However, no more than 100 thousand Stalingraders were able to be transported across the Volga by the time the fighting began for the city. There was no talk of a ban on the export of people, but a huge number of goods and people waiting for the crossing had accumulated on the western bank - from refugees from other regions to food and equipment. The carrying capacity of the crossings did not allow to take out everyone, and the command believed that they still had time in reserve. Meanwhile, events developed rapidly. Already on 23 August, the first German tanks reached the northern outskirts. On the same day, Stalingrad was subjected to a devastating air strike.
On July 23, Hitler pointed out the need for the "early" destruction of Stalingrad. On August 23, the Fuhrer's order was carried out. The Luftwaffe struck in groups of 30-40 aircraft, in total they made more than two thousand sorties. A significant part of the city was made up of wooden buildings, they were quickly destroyed by fire. The water supply was destroyed, so the fire brigades could not fight the fire. In addition, oil storage facilities were set on fire as a result of the bombing. (On this day?) in Stalingrad, about 40 thousand people died, mainly civilians, and the city was almost completely destroyed.
As the Wehrmacht units reached the city with a quick dash, the defense of Stalingrad was disorganized. The German command considered it necessary to quickly connect the 6th Field Army, advancing from the northwest, and the 4th Panzer Army, from the south. Therefore, the main task of the Germans was to close the flanks of the two armies. However, the new environment did not take place. Tank brigades and corps of the front began counterattacks against the northern strike grouping. They did not stop the enemy, but allowed the main forces of the 62nd Army to be withdrawn to the city. The 64th Army defended itself further south. It was they who became the main participants in the ensuing battle of Stalingrad. By the time the 6th field and 4th tank armies of the Wehrmacht were joined, the main forces of the Red Army had already got out of the trap.
Defense of Stalingrad
On September 12, 1942, an important personnel reshuffle took place: General Vasily Chuikov led the 62nd Army. The army retreated into the city seriously shabby, but it still had more than 50 thousand people in its composition, and now it had to hold a bridgehead in front of the Volga on a narrow front. In addition, the German offensive was inevitably slowed down by the apparent complexities of street fighting.
However, the Wehrmacht was not at all going to get involved in two-month street battles. From Paulus's point of view, the task of taking Stalingrad was solved within ten days. From the standpoint of afterthought, the persistence of the Wehrmacht in destroying the 62nd Army seems difficult to explain. However, at that particular moment, Paulus and his headquarters believed that the city could be occupied in a reasonable time with moderate losses.
The first assault began almost immediately. During September 14-15, the Germans took the dominant height - Mamayev Kurgan, joined forces of their two armies and cut off the 62nd army from the 64th that was operating southward. However, in addition to the stubborn resistance of the city's garrison, two factors influenced the attackers. Firstly, reinforcements regularly came across the Volga. The course of the September assault was broken by the 13th Guards Division of Major General A.I. Rodimtseva, who managed to return part of the lost positions with counterattacks and stabilized the situation. On the other hand, Paulus did not have the opportunity to recklessly throw all his available forces to capture Stalingrad. The positions of the 6th Army north of the city were subjected to constant attacks by Soviet troops trying to pave a land corridor to their own. A series of offensive operations in the steppe northwest of Stalingrad resulted in heavy losses for the Red Army with minimal advance. The tactical training of the attacking troops turned out to be poor, and the superiority of the Germans in firepower made it possible to effectively thwart attacks. However, the pressure on the army of Paulus from the north did not allow him to focus on the main task.
In October, the left flank of the 6th Army, which was pulled far to the west, was covered by Romanian troops, which made it possible to use two additional divisions in a new assault on Stalingrad. This time, an industrial zone in the north of the city was attacked. As in the first assault, the Wehrmacht encountered reserves coming from other sectors of the front. The headquarters closely followed the situation in Stalingrad and transferred fresh units to the city in doses. The transportations were going on in an extremely difficult situation: the boats were attacked by Wehrmacht artillery and aviation. However, the Germans did not succeed in completely blocking the movement along the river.
The advancing German troops suffered high losses in the city and advanced very slowly. Extremely stubborn battles made Paulus' headquarters nervous: he began to make openly controversial decisions. The weakening of the positions beyond the Don and their transfer to the Romanian troops was the first risky step. The next is the use of tank divisions, the 14th and 24th, for street battles. Armored vehicles did not have a significant impact on the course of the battle in the city, and the divisions suffered heavy losses and got involved in an unpromising confrontation.
It should be noted that in October 1942 Hitler already considered the goals of the campaign as a whole achieved. The order of October 14 stated that "the summer and autumn campaigns of this year, with the exception of some still ongoing operations and planned offensive actions of a local nature, have been completed."
In reality, the German troops did not so much end the campaign as lost the initiative. In November, freezing began on the Volga, which greatly worsened the situation of the 62nd Army: due to the situation on the river, it was difficult to deliver reinforcements and ammunition to the city. The line of defense in many places narrowed to hundreds of meters. However, the stubborn defense in the city allowed the Headquarters to prepare a decisive counteroffensive of the Great Patriotic War.
To be continued...
Battle of Stalingrad (part 1 of 2): the beginning of the collapse of the Third Empire
The Battle of Stalingrad is the largest land battle in world history, which unfolded between the forces of the USSR and Nazi Germany in the city of Stalingrad (USSR) and its environs during the Patriotic War. The bloody battle began on July 17, 1942 and lasted until February 2, 1943.
The battle was one of the most important events of World War II and, along with the battle on Kursk Bulge was a turning point in the course of hostilities, after which German troops lost their strategic initiative.
For the Soviet Union, which suffered heavy losses during the battle, the victory at Stalingrad marked the beginning of the liberation of the country, as well as the occupied territories of Europe, leading to the final defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.
Centuries will pass, and the unfading glory of the valiant defenders of the Volga stronghold will forever live in the memory of the peoples of the world as the clearest example of courage and heroism unparalleled in military history.
The name "Stalingrad" is forever inscribed in the history of our Fatherland in golden letters.
“And the hour has struck. The first blow is struck
the villain backs away from Stalingrad.
And the world gasped, learning what loyalty means,
What does the rage of believing people mean ... "
O. Bergholz
This was an outstanding victory for the Soviet people. The soldiers of the Red Army have shown massive heroism, courage and high military skill. 127 people were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad" was awarded to over 760 thousand soldiers and home front workers. Orders and medals were received by 17,550 soldiers and 373 militias.
During the Battle of Stalingrad, 5 enemy armies were defeated, including 2 German, 2 Romanian and 1 Italian. The total losses of the Nazi troops killed, wounded and captured amounted to more than 1.5 million people, up to 3,500 tanks and assault guns, 12,000 guns and mortars, over 4,000 aircraft, 75,000 vehicles and a large number of other equipment.
The corpses of soldiers frozen into the steppe
The battle is one of the most important events of the Second World War and, along with the battle on the Kursk Bulge, became a turning point in the course of hostilities, after which the German troops finally lost their strategic initiative. The battle included an attempt by the Wehrmacht to seize the left bank of the Volga in the Stalingrad region (present-day Volgograd) and the city itself, a confrontation in the city, and a counteroffensive by the Red Army (Operation Uranus), as a result of which the 6th Army of the Wehrmacht and other forces of Germany's allies inside and near the city were surrounded and partly destroyed, and partly captured.
The losses of the Red Army in the Battle of Stalingrad amounted to over 1.1 million people, 4341 tanks, 2769 aircraft.
The color of the Hitlerite Wehrmacht found a grave near Stalingrad. The German army has never suffered such a catastrophe ...
Historians believe that the total area on which hostilities took place during the Battle of Stalingrad is one hundred thousand square kilometers.
Prerequisites for the Battle of Stalingrad
The following historical events preceded the Battle of Stalingrad. In December 1941, the Red Army defeated the Nazis near Moscow. Encouraged by the success, the leaders of the Soviet Union gave the order to launch a large-scale offensive near Kharkov. The offensive failed and the Soviet army was defeated. German troops then went to Stalingrad.
After the failure of the Barbarossa plan and the defeat near Moscow, the Nazis were preparing for a new offensive on the Eastern Front. On April 5, 1942, Hitler issued a directive that outlined the goal of the 1942 summer campaign, including the capture of Stalingrad.
The capture of Stalingrad was needed by the Hitlerite command for various reasons. Why was Stalingrad so important to Hitler? Historians point out several reasons why the Fuhrer wanted to seize Stalingrad at all costs and did not give the order to retreat even when the defeat was obvious.
First, the capture of the city, which bore the name of Stalin, the leader of the Soviet people, could break the morale of the opponents of Nazism, and not only in the Soviet Union, but throughout the world;
Secondly, the capture of Stalingrad could give the Nazis the opportunity to cut off all communications vital for Soviet citizens that connected the center of the country with its southern part, in particular, with the Caucasus with its oil fields;
There is a point of view according to which there was a secret agreement between Germany and Turkey on joining the ranks of the allies immediately after the passage for Soviet troops along the Volga was blocked.
Time frame of the battle: 07.17.42 - 02.02.43 years. Took part: from Germany - the reinforced 6th Army of Field Marshal Paulus and the Allied troops. From the side of the USSR - the Stalingrad Front, created on 12.07.42, under the command of first Marshal Timoshenko, from 23.07.42 - Lieutenant General Gordov, and from 09.08.42 - Colonel General Eremenko.
Battle periods:
defensive - from 17.07 to 18.11.42,
offensive - from 19.11.42 to 02.02.43.
In turn, the defensive stage is divided into battles on the long approaches to the city in the Don bend from 17.07 to 10.08.42, battles on the distant approaches between the Volga and Don rivers from 11.08 to 12.09.42, battles in the suburbs and the city itself from 13.09 to 18.11 .42 years.
To protect the city, the Soviet command formed the Stalingrad Front, headed by Marshal S.K. Tymoshenko. The Battle of Stalingrad began briefly on July 17, when units of the 62nd Army engaged the vanguard of the 6th Army of the Wehrmacht in the Don bend. Defensive battles on the outskirts of Stalingrad lasted 57 days and nights.
On July 28, the People's Commissar for Defense JV Stalin issued Order No. 227, better known as "Not a Step Back!"
Defensive stage
- July 17, 1942 - the first serious clash of our troops with enemy forces on the banks of the Don tributaries.
- 23 August - enemy tanks came close to the city. German aircraft began to regularly bomb Stalingrad
- September 13 - the storming of the city. The glory of the workers of Stalingrad factories and factories, who under fire repaired damaged equipment and weapons, thundered all over the world.
- October 14 - The Germans launched an offensive military operation off the banks of the Volga with the aim of capturing Soviet bridgeheads.
- November 19 - Our troops launched a counteroffensive according to the plan of Operation Uranus.
The entire second half of the summer of 1942 was a hot Battle of Stalingrad. Summary and the chronology of defense events indicate that our soldiers, with a shortage of weapons and a significant superiority in manpower on the part of the enemy, did the impossible. They not only defended Stalingrad, but also launched a counteroffensive in difficult conditions of exhaustion, lack of uniforms and the harsh Russian winter. .
Offensive and Victory
As part of Operation Uranus, Soviet soldiers managed to encircle the enemy. Until November 23, our soldiers strengthened the blockade around the Germans.
December 12, 1942 - The enemy made a desperate attempt to break out of the encirclement. However, the breakout attempt was unsuccessful. Soviet troops began to tighten the ring.
December 31 - Soviet soldiers advanced another 150 km. The front line stabilized at the Tormosin-Zhukovskaya-Komissarovsky line.
February 02, 1943 - the northern group of fascist troops was liquidated. Our soldiers, heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad, won. The enemy capitulated. Field Marshal Paulus, 24 generals, 2,500 officers and nearly 100,000 exhausted German soldiers were captured.
The Hitlerite government declared mourning in the country. For three days, the funeral ringing of church bells sounded over German cities and villages.
Then, near Stalingrad, our fathers and grandfathers again "gave a light".
Some Western historians try to belittle the significance of the Battle of Stalingrad, put it on a par with the Battle of Tunis (1943), at El Alamein (1942), etc. But they were denied by Hitler himself, who declared on February 1, 1943 at his headquarters:
"The possibility of ending the war in the East by offensive no longer exists ...".
Unknown facts about the Battle of Stalingrad
An entry from the "Stalingrad" diary of a German officer:
“None of us will return to Germany unless a miracle happens. Time has passed to the side of the Russians. "
The miracle didn't happen. For not only time has passed to the side of the Russians ...
1. Armageddon
In Stalingrad, both the Red Army and the Wehrmacht changed their methods of warfare. From the very beginning of the war, the Red Army used flexible defense tactics with rejects in critical situations. The Wehrmacht command, in turn, avoided large, bloody battles, preferring to bypass large fortified areas. In the Battle of Stalingrad, the German side forgets about its principles and embarks on a bloody wheelhouse. The beginning was laid on August 23, 1942, when German aviation carried out a massive bombing of the city. Killed 40.0 thousand people. This exceeds the official figures for the Allied air raid on Dresden in February 1945 (25.0 thousand casualties).
2. Get to the bottom of hell
Under the city itself was located large system underground communications. During the hostilities, the underground galleries were actively used by both Soviet troops and the Germans. And even local battles took place in the tunnels. Interestingly, from the beginning of their penetration into the city, German troops began to build a system of their own underground structures. Work continued almost until the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, and only at the end of January 1943, when the German command realized that the battle was lost, the underground galleries were blown up.
So it remained a mystery what the Germans built. One of the German soldiers later ironically wrote in his diary that he had the impression that the command wanted to get to hell and call on the demons for help.
3. Mars versus Uranus
A number of esotericists claim that a number of strategic decisions of the Soviet command in the Battle of Stalingrad were influenced by practicing astrologers. For example, the Soviet counteroffensive, Operation Uranus, began on November 19, 1942 at 7.30. At that moment, the so-called ascendant (the ecliptic point rising above the horizon) was located in the planet Mars (the Roman god of war), while the setting point of the ecliptic was the planet Uranus. According to astrologers, it was this planet that ruled the German army. Interestingly, in parallel, the Soviet command was developing another major offensive operation on the Southwestern Front - "Saturn". At the last moment, she was abandoned and carried out the operation "Little Saturn". Interestingly, in ancient mythology, it was Saturn (in Greek mythology Kronos) who castrated Uranus.
4. Alexander Nevsky against Bismarck
Military operations were accompanied by a large number of signs and signs. So, in the 51st Army, a detachment of machine gunners under the command of Senior Lieutenant Alexander Nevsky fought. The then propagandists of the Stalingrad Front launched a rumor that soviet officer is a direct descendant of the prince who defeated the Germans on Lake Peipsi. Alexander Nevsky was even nominated for the Order of the Red Banner.
And on the German side, Bismarck's great-grandson, who, as you know, warned "never to fight with Russia," took in the battle. A descendant of the German Chancellor, by the way, was captured.
5.Timer and tango
During the battle, the Soviet side applied revolutionary innovations to psychological pressure on the enemy. So, from the loudspeakers installed at the front line, favorite hits of German music were heard, which were interrupted by messages about the victories of the Red Army in the sectors of the Stalingrad front. But the most effective tool was the monotonous beat of the metronome, which was interrupted after 7 beats with a comment in German:
"Every 7 seconds one German soldier is killed at the front."
At the end of a series of 10 - 20 "timer reports", tango rushed from the loudspeakers.
6. Revival of Stalingrad
In early February, after the end of the battle, the question was raised in the Soviet government about the inexpediency of restoring the city, which would have cost more than building a new city. However, Stalin insisted on the restoration of Stalingrad in the literal sense of the word from the ashes. So, so many shells were dropped on Mamayev Kurgan that after the liberation for 2 years, no grass grew on it.
What is the assessment of this battle in the West?
What did the newspapers of the USA and Great Britain write in 1942-1943 about the Battle of Stalingrad?
“The Russians are fighting not only bravely, but also skillfully. Despite all the temporary setbacks, Russia will withstand and with the help of its allies will eventually expel from its land every last Nazis ”(FD Roosevelt, US President,“ Conversations by the Fireplace ”, September 7, 1942).
BORIS USIK,
director of the State Panorama Museum "Battle of Stalingrad"
The commanders of Stalingrad ... How much these words mean in the history of Russia and in the history of the world, and how little has been said about those who remained in the history and memory of people, and about those who disappeared into the eternity of nothingness. Glorified and treated kindly, awarded and exalted, repressed and executed, who were surrounded and managed to break through, cursed by their people and covered with the shame of neglect of the enemy, trampling their own and others' deaths with their death, they, pressed together with their comrades to the Volga, did that, which inscribed their names in golden letters in the history of mankind.
Who are they? Where did their regiments and divisions come from to the Volga bank?
Like all generals of the Land of Soviets, the generals of Stalingrad must be represented by three generations of military leaders. The first generation is the commanders of the great upheavals in our land - revolutions and civil wars, national and interstate conflicts.
They fought back in the First World War, had combat experience and, having passed the crucible of revolutions and Civil War, brought all the best they could to the young Red Army, until they realized that the Red Army would be an instrument of the policy of leaders and general secretaries, their experience, excellent training and the best knowledge of military professionals would be crossed out by the political distrust of the leaders.
Many of the best and best of many, because of the repression and political struggle in the early 30s of the XX century, did not live to see the Great Patriotic War. Their names will forever remain in the memory of the people, their exploits are recorded in old history textbooks, glorified in songs and names of city streets. Now it is impossible to predict how the course of the Second World War would have developed, especially its initial period, if MV Frunze and Ya. B. Gamarnik, VK Blucher and MN were in the ranks. Tukhachevsky, F.E. Dzerzhinsky and AI Egorov and many others, more and less famous and renowned. In the Battle of Stalingrad, their comrades and colleagues bore the heavy command burden with dignity.
The soldiers of the First World War are the generals of the Second World War. Many of them met their adversaries on the battlefields of the First World War. German non-commissioned officers also became generals and field marshals, although some remained corporal. It is because of them and by their will the generals and field marshals of the “Third Reich” came to the banks of the Volga, and while, at their will, they led numerous armies and divisions to make us slaves, and use the lands watered with the sweat and blood of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers at their own discretion, establishing an "iron" German order on them.
And here suddenly it is not quite so. The troops defending Stalingrad did not obey the already familiar German order from the First World Order. The troops of K. K. Rokossovsky and K. P. Trubnikov, R. Ya. Malinovsky and E. I. Vasilenko and many hundreds of other commanders who knew the gas attacks of the First World War and the famous breakthrough of Brusilov, the stereotyped German tactics and strategy and the unpreparedness of their allies, driven to Stalingrad from all over Europe, endure the hardships and hardships of a real war.
After the first battles on the western borders of the USSR, the German General Staff made a generalized conclusion: "The Russians have mastered the tactics of rearguard battles, and their divisions and armies do not succumb to encirclement ..." But no! The "Russians" did not master the tactics of rearguard battles, but "remembered" what the military academies and schools of tsarist Russia taught and "recalled" the experience of the First World War. For some reason, when they beat us, and they beat us very hard, we quickly "remember" what we were taught and know how to apply it.
Not everyone, however, had this experience. So, Marshal of the Soviet Union G.I.Kulik, who received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the Finnish campaign, when 45-mm mountain pack cannons, moved by horses and small sledges, made a worthy contribution to taking the defensive lines of the Mannerheim Line, was absolutely not ready to the conduct of modern warfare. After the failure with the breakthrough of Vlasov's 2nd Shock Army, where GI Kulik was a representative of the Headquarters, he was demoted to "Major General" by the Supreme Commander in person.
But these were the exceptions. Most of the commanders of the old, tsarist school were real military leaders and patriots of Russia. The failures of 1941 lie on the conscience of the country's political leadership, which, having imposed the theory of “offensive war,” “with little blood,” “on foreign territory," deprived the military leaders of the opportunity to use, for example, the same tactics of encircling tank and mechanized formations with pincers. German commanders have adopted. And the theory was developed by our military under the leadership of V.K. Triandafillov and M.N. Tukhachevsky, and the German generals studied in our schools and academies.
After the unsuccessful operation of Soviet troops near Kharkov in May 1942, the 15th Guards Rifle Division under the command of Vasilenko Yemelyan Ivanovich, a first-generation commander, a participant in the wars of the beginning of the century, withdrew from the encirclement, retaining fully its weapons. It is surprising that the title of the Guards Division was given on February 16, 1942, and on March 27, it was awarded the Order of the Red Banner "... for the displayed courage and high military skill." And that was when, as many people now write, including our historians, the entire Red Army was retreating.
But there were dozens of such divisions and corps. And the corps of K. K. Rokossovsky, the future commander of the Don Front, who completed the Battle of Stalingrad ?! The corps, which was in its early stages of formation, held on the western border offensive operation and held back the tank wedges of the German divisions for almost a month.
Then there was the battle for Moscow, where K. K. Rokossovsky, gathering retreating units with G. K. Zhukov, managed to stop four Wehrmacht armies, two tank and two field armies with a total of ninety divisions. Once GK Zhukov was a regiment commander in a cavalry division commanded by KK Rokossovsky. Then they were in the Battle of Stalingrad and won, won with their experience, their knowledge, won with their love for the Motherland, for the army, for their military leadership.
Such as them, after the repressions of the thirties, there were few, in percentage terms, top-level commanders were less than 20%, but, occupying key positions in the most difficult moments of battles, they raised the second and third generations of commanders, who then made up the bulk of the corps generals of the Red, and then the Soviet Army.
Young, devoted, but not having the experience that the generals of the first generation had, they quickly moved up the career ladder, received high military ranks and were doomed to military failure in the difficult year of 1941. History has brought to us the inability of these commanders to control troops in the most difficult situation of the initial period. And how could they manage when three or four months ago the same commander Western front DG Pavlov was the commander of a tank division, the commander of the Kiev special district - the commander of a rifle division that distinguished himself in the capture of the Mannerheim line in the Finnish campaign. The Air Force Commanders were yesterday's regiment and squadron commanders. The main aviation force in the Battle of Stalingrad is the 8th Air Force. Its commander Timofei Timofeyevich Khryukin was in 1938 a squadron commander in the Belarusian Military District with the rank of "senior lieutenant", in 1939 - commander of the Air Force of the 14th combined arms army, colonel, and in 1942 - commander of the 8th air army, general major.
The same was the fate of the commander of the 16th Air Army Rudenko Sergei Ignatievich, who in 1927 was registered at the Kachin Aviation School, and in 1934 already commanded the 31st mixed aviation division with the rank of colonel. A quick climb up the career ladder is permissible and harmless in peacetime, but during the war it turned into a great tragedy.
Hundreds of our planes burned, without taking off, at the border airfields, our pilots perished in the first sorties, and the loss of one to ten in 1941 was then restored by the incredible labor of the entire Soviet people only by the Battle of the Kursk Bulge, where our aviation had superiority in the air. The commander of the Southwestern Front during the days of the Battle of Stalingrad, Lieutenant General Nikolai Fedorovich Vatutin, can also be attributed to the second generation of the commanders of Stalingrad. In 1925 Nikolai Fyodorovich was the company commander, and in July 1942 he was the commander of the Voronezh Front. He was born with the talent of a commander and, skillfully relying on the experience and knowledge of the first generation generals, he managed to become on a par with them. In the generals' galaxy, N.F. Vatutin's star was one of the brightest. As well as Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky. They represented the military corps of the second generation, the generation that made up the bulk of the generals of the Great Patriotic War.
They were young, loved by the people and leaders, they quickly learned, they were in a hurry to live, they were in a hurry to decide without looking back ... And they died ... Dozens, hundreds during the war. They were raised by the time and experience of their senior comrades - the generals of the first generation. Their death is a great regret, because with them the fate of Russia in post-war period surely it would be different. The second generation of the commanders of Stalingrad decided and predetermined the outcome of the most important operations of the Great Patriotic War and the final phase of World War II. These generals also decided the fate of the armed forces, and not only their country, in the post-war period.
So, for example, the Chief of Staff of the 62nd Army NN Krylov will be the first to receive the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Strategic Missile Forces and, therefore, the highest military rank. Marshal of the Soviet Union V.I. Chuikov, commander of the 62nd Army in the Battle of Stalingrad, in the future - Commander-in-Chief Ground forces Soviet Union. And there were a significant number of such generals who fought at Stalingrad, who traveled all the way to Berlin, and even to the Pacific Ocean. Their combat experience, knowledge, faith in those with whom they went through the roads of war, served for the good of the Motherland for a long time, strengthening the Armed Forces, constantly improving their combat training and technical equipment.
Until about the end of the 60s, the Armed Forces of the USSR were an irresistible force thanks to the second generation commanders in the ranks. Infinitely honest and devoted to military duty, they continued to fight even after the Great Victory. They defended the structure of the Armed Forces, their support, training, the right to life of certain types of troops, types of weapons in front of the leaders and general secretaries. And very often, at least in comparison with the military losses, they died, if not physically, then morally and morally. The fate of G.K. Zhukov and N.G. Kuznetsov, K.K.Rokossovsky and T.T. Khryukin, as in a mirror image, repeated the fate of many generals pre-war years... Along with them is Marshal of the Soviet Union S.F.Akhromeev, who rose above death in the name of the honor of the commander.
The third generation of the generals of Stalingrad and the entire Great Patriotic War were nuggets with talent from God, whose names always appeared in the days of troubled times and military tragedies. The great people, inhabiting Eurasia for thousands of years, from their many nations and nationalities have always nominated worthy "regiments to lead", and the people's veche and the militia in different periods themselves chose who would lead them to battle. History has preserved in memory the names of many thousands of previously unknown military leaders who revealed their talent in the most difficult days of the war.
These include the commanders of the middle, and therefore the main in terms of severity and complexity of the performance of combat missions, link. The commanders of regiments, brigades, divisions in the Battle of Stalingrad were changed three times in general.
On the night of September 22-23, 1942, the 284th Infantry Division of Colonel N.F. Batyuk crossed two regiments to the right bank of the Volga. Nikolai Filippovich Batyuk was in the military rank of lieutenant colonel, 38 years old, in the past a worker. It was his division that turned the tide in the central part of Stalingrad, where by this time the 13th Guards and 95th rifle divisions lost up to 80% of the personnel in a week. But these are personnel divisions, and General A.I. Rodimtsev and Colonel V.A.Gorishny were experienced commanders and fought in Stalingrad at the peak of their military leadership, holding back five times superior enemy... In his memoirs, the commander of the Stalingrad Front, A. I. Eremenko, noted: “... These days, in fierce battles, the 13th Guards, 95th and 284th Rifle Divisions withstood the most fierce enemy onslaught and did not allow his exit to the Volga in the central part of the city, they also prevented him from taking possession of the Mamayev Kurgan. "
The need for middle and senior commanders was particularly evident by the summer of 1942. These are losses in border combat operations, when armies and divisions, advancing to areas of combat destination, fell into German "pincers", these are battles for Ukraine, Smolensk, Crimea and, of course, the battle for Moscow. Numerous courses for the training of officers, both at all military schools and independently, could not satisfy the needs of the front, and by the beginning of 1942 the need for middle-level commanders (battalion - regiment) reached 60% of the available positions in the army in the field, and in brigades and divisions - up to 30% of positions. And how could it be otherwise, when, in the days of the Battle of Stalingrad, the battalion commander was out of action in three weeks, the regiment in a month and a half, brigades and divisions in four months. Therefore, the losses of the third generation of commanders of the Great Patriotic War were the most numerous. In 200 days and nights of the Battle of Stalingrad, 1,027 battalion commanders, 207 regiment commanders, 96 brigade commanders, and 18 division commanders were killed. Those mid-level commanders who passed Stalingrad then commanded formations and were the main executive command staff of armies and fronts in subsequent operations of the Great Patriotic War and World War II.
If the reputation of the first generation commanders was sharply reduced in the eyes of the people due to the repressions of the 30s and failures in local conflicts, especially in the conflict with Finland in 1939-1940, the second generation commanders - due to the initial period of the war, then the third generation was so respected and authoritative, especially the commanders of the Battle of Stalingrad, that by 1952, among the Marshals of the Soviet Union and marshals of the combat arms, 50% were those who fought in the Battle of Stalingrad, among colonel-generals - 38%, lieutenant generals - 21%, general- majors - 18%. The experience gained by the generals in the most difficult and bloody battle of the 20th century gave them the right to be in the first rank of generals in world military history.
To assess the contribution of the commanders of the Battle of Stalingrad to the fate of our Fatherland both in war and peacetime, it is necessary to take into account the following facts: in the history of the Soviet Union, the highest military rank - Marshal of the Soviet Union - and equal to him - Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union - was awarded to 44 generals , including L.I.Brezhnev, and L.P. Beria. For the period from September 22, 1935, when the highest military rank "Marshal of the Soviet Union" was introduced, to April 28, 1990, when it was awarded to the last Marshal of the Soviet Union, Dmitry Timofeevich Yazov, it was awarded to 41 people and three - the title "Admiral Fleet of the Soviet Union ". A total of 44 military leaders wore the form of the highest recognition of their military leadership, military leadership talent. And 14 of them participated in the Battle of Stalingrad! If we add to them I. V. Stalin and D. F. Ustinov, who did everything possible and even more to win the Battle of Stalingrad, then 16 of the 44 Marshals of the Soviet Union raised their marshal's baton in the trenches of Stalingrad. Let's call these generals. They are military leaders of different generations, but they are united by two great words - "Stalingrad" and "Commander":
AKHROMEEV Sergey Fedorovich, platoon commander of the 197th Infantry Regiment of the 28th Army;
BIRYUZOV SERGEY SEMENOVICH, Chief of Staff of the 2nd Guards Army;
VASILEVSKY ALEXANDER MIKHAILOVICH, Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army; representative of the Supreme Command Headquarters;
GOLIKOV FILIP IVANOVICH, commander of the 1st Guards Army;
Eremenko ANDREY IVANOVICH,
ZHUKOV GEORGY KONSTANTINOVICH, Deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief;
KOSHEVO PETER KIRILLOVICH, commander of the 24th Guards Rifle Division;
KRYLOV NIKOLAY IVANOVICH, Chief of Staff of the 62nd Army;
MALINOVSKY RODION YAKOVLEVICH, commander of the 66th and 2nd Guards armies;
MOSKALENKO KIRILL SEMENOVICH,
Commander of the 1st Tank and 2nd Guards (1st Formation) Armies;
Rokosovsky Konstantin Konstantinovich, Commander of the Don Front;
TIMOSHENKO SEMEN KONSTANTINOVICH, Commander of the Stalingrad Front;
TOLBUKHIN FEDOR IVANOVICH, commander of the 57th Army;
CHUIKOV VASILY IVANOVICH, commander of the 62nd Army.
They will receive marshal titles after the Battle of Stalingrad, some already in peacetime, after the Victory, with the exception of S.K. Timoshenko, who received it on May 7, 1940. But both marshals and generals - all of them were great patriots of their homeland, commanders of the Great Army, in which all were the sons of their people. These are their regiments and divisions, corps and armies, retreating, breaking through and dying, took the lives of enemies, fighting for Brest and Kiev, Minsk and Smolensk, Stalingrad and Sevastopol. It was they who crushed the "invincible" armada of the tank and field armies of the "millennial" Reich. Their strategy turned out to be higher and their tactics were more cunning than those of the well-born Prussian field marshals and generals. It was their sergeants who were able to turn houses into impregnable fortresses, and the soldiers fought to death where no one would ever have survived.
Present and future generations of people living on this earth are indebted to them
The Battle of Stalingrad, which took place off the banks of the Volga, appears to be one of the most significant and also the largest battles in the history of mankind in the entire history of armed conflicts.
The turning point of the Great Patriotic War is associated with it, after which the decline of the Third Reich began.
Events and situation on the eve of the battle
After the German attack on the territory of the USSR on June 22, 1941, and subsequent border battles and battles (the battle for Moscow, etc.), by the winter of 1942, a certain parity came between the opponents and the sides stopped conducting major operations.
This was due to the fact that the German army could not advance, since its combat-ready units were exhausted in previous battles, and it was re-equipping with reserves, plus the Wehrmacht General Staff made adjustments to the original offensive plans (development of the Blau operation plan).
The Soviet army, in turn, was not yet capable of conducting any offensive (although there were such attempts - Kharkov, Vyazma, etc.) due to a lack of forces and weapons that were lost during the first months of the war, as well as under Moscow, where the Soviet army carried out a successful counteroffensive.
The alignment of forces
Before the start of the battle, the grouping of German troops of their allies (Italy, Hungary, Romania, etc.) consisted of (in all the lists listed below, the approximate number of military personnel and military equipment is indicated):
- 430,000 soldiers and officers;
- 3000 guns;
- 200 tanks and assault guns;
- 1250 aircraft.
In the course of the battle, more were introduced:
- 980,000 soldiers and officers;
- 10,500 guns;
- 730 aircraft;
- 500 tanks.
The Soviet Union at the beginning of July 1942 had:
- 386,000 soldiers and officers;
- 2,200 guns;
- 230 tanks, of which more than half are light;
- 200 aircraft;
- 60 air defense systems.
During the battle, reserves were introduced, which amounted to:
- 114,000 soldiers and officers;
- 12,500 guns and mortars;
- 600 aircraft;
- 500 tanks, 300 of them light.
Technics
According to various sources, about 2 million people, more than 26,000 guns and mortars, over 2,000 tanks and more than 2,000 aircraft participated in the battle from Germany and the USSR.
From the alignment of forces, it is clear that the German army and its allies had a quantitative advantage (with the exception of guns, mortars and manpower) in all types of weapons, especially in aircraft, as well as tanks, where a technical advantage was felt.
The German army was mainly armed with medium tanks PzKpfw III, PzKpfw IV, self-propelled guns Sturmhaubitze 42, Sturmgesch? Tz III, Marder III, as well as the Italian self-propelled guns "Samovente". Already during the battle, heavy Tiger tanks were introduced. From the very beginning of World War II, the Wehrmacht was armed with the Sd. Kfz.251 / 12 - "infantry thing".
The Soviet Union at that time was armed with light tanks T-26, T-60, as well as the American M-3 "Stuart" (the tank was supplied under Lend-Lease), medium tanks T-34 also began to enter service from beyond the Urals , while a large number of tanks of this type were destroyed or captured and later used by the Germans in the initial period of the war. Heavy tanks KV-1 were also used, but their production was limited. Self-propelled guns by the Soviet troops began to be used only in the spring of 1943 (SU-122), and the gun mounted on the Zis 30 tractor could hardly be called a full-fledged self-propelled gun, moreover, only about 100 of them were produced.
Of the auxiliary armored vehicles, it is worth noting the BA-64 armored car, which has been used by the Soviet army for reconnaissance purposes since the summer of 42.
The Battle of Stalingrad is divided by historians into two stages - defensive-type battles waged by Soviet troops and their offensive, followed by the encirclement and defeat of the Wehrmacht forces.
The beginning of the battle
The defensive battles began on July 17, 1942, when the divisions under the command of General Geitz clashed with the Soviet forces under the command of Kolpakchi and Gordov.
The German offensive developed along the banks of the Don, and by 23 August the vanguard of the 6th Army of General F. Paulus, crossing the Don waters, approached the suburbs of Stalingrad. During the battles, Soviet troops put up stubborn resistance and more than once stopped the German troops (the battle at the 74th kilometer junction, during which the 4th Panzer Army of General G. Goth, "rolling" on Stalingrad from the south, wanted to rush into the city on the move, but was stopped by the competent defense of the Soviet troops.
However, by the end of August, all land communications in the area of \u200b\u200bthe city were cut by German tanks. To protect the city, a people's militia was created, which, together with units of the 62nd Army of General V. Chuikov and the 64th Army of General M. Shumilov, from September 13, conducted constant street battles that broke out in the city.
Fights in the city
Having in front of the defending units a colossal advantage in armored vehicles and absolute in the air, the German troops could not use it, in view of the specifics of street battles and the skillful defense of Soviet soldiers.
During the battle for the city itself, each house or building turned into defensive fortresses and passed from hand to hand several times. For a month of bloody battles, German units were never able to capture the city completely.
On October 14, the German command launched another massive offensive, having previously exposed the city and its inhabitants to powerful artillery shelling and a massive air raid.
In the course of the unleashed battles, which lasted until November 14, German troops were able to push the defenders back to the Volga, taking the tractor plant (STZ) and the Barrikada plant, but they did not manage to finally "throw" the Red Army troops into the river. The soldiers of the 62nd and 64th armies, entrenched on the banks of the river, were supported by artillery and aviation from the opposite bank, this made it possible for the soldiers not only to defend themselves, but also to go into daring melee counterattacks.
Operation Uranus
The offensive part of the battle on the Volga began on November 19, when the troops of the Don and Southwestern fronts under the command of generals K. Rokosovsky and N. Vatutin from the north, and the troops of the Stalingrad front under the command of A. Eremenko from the south, counter-flanking attacks entered the city area Kalach-on-Don, while blocking the 6th Army of General F. Paulus in Stalingrad and its environs.
During the counter-offensive operation, codenamed "Uranus", the Soviet command planned to immediately surround and destroy the enemy forces located in the area of \u200b\u200bthe city, but this did not work, since, in turn, the Wehrmacht General Staff attempted to unblock the encircled group of Paulus.
Then a counterattack was planned and delivered (Operation Winter Thunderstorm on December 12-23), however, the offensive of the 4th Army of G. Hoth and units of Army Group Don, under the command of Manstein, was skillfully stopped by the troops of the Stalingrad Front, in particular the 51st Army of General Trufanov and 2nd Army of General Malinovsky.
Starting from January 10, 1943, the already mentioned 62nd and 21st armies (commander Chistyakov) with dissecting strikes began to move towards each other and on January 26 they met on the Mamayev Kurgan. The fighting in the city went on until February 2, when Paulus (at that time already a field marshal) ordered his troops to stop resistance, Paulus himself also surrendered.
Losses of the parties
Germany and its satellites lost:
- 1,100,000 people killed and wounded;
- 2000 tanks and self-propelled guns;
- 10,000 mortar guns;
- 3000 aircraft, including transport.
At the same time, about 100,000 soldiers and officers of the German army were taken prisoner, it is also worth emphasizing that it remained on the battlefields of Stalingrad and was later used by Soviet units:
- 5700 guns;
- 1,300 mortars;
- 1200 machine guns;
- 740 aircraft;
- 1,500 tanks;
- 80,000 vehicles, as well as other military equipment.
Afterword
The Great Stalingrad battle, if speaking in the language of technology, showed that the German military "flywheel" gave a second serious failure (the first was during the battle near Moscow in 1941), after which the German militarist machine began to constantly "junk" until its final "breakdown" in 1945 year. At the same time, during the battle near the banks of the Volga, the main and, perhaps, fatal problems of Germany, as a belligerent side, were outlined:
- limited human and raw material resources;
- war with several opponents at once (in addition to the war with the USSR, Germany fought in Africa and the North Atlantic with the United States and Great Britain).
The Soviet Union, in turn, finally "moved away" from the defeats inflicted on it during the operations of 41-42 years and took the role of the "punishing sword" in the course of the global world war between countries anti-Hitler coalition, where he was included in the Axis countries (Germany, Italy, Japan).
The victory of the Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad had a colossal propaganda and psychological role not only for the population of the USSR, but also for the whole world, since it was after this that the balance of power in the Second World War changed and the "victory pendulum" swung towards the Soviet Union and its allies, and the sun of the "Third Reich" began its planned decline.