178. A Soviet machine-gun crew changes firing position in a wrecked house in Stalingrad. 1942 g.
179. Soviet soldiers hold the defense in a destroyed house in Stalingrad. 1942 g.
180. German soldiers surrounded at Stalingrad.
181. An attack by Soviet soldiers on a destroyed house captured by German troops in Stalingrad. 1942 g.
182. The assault group of the 13th Guards Division is cleaning houses in Stalingrad, destroying enemy soldiers. 1942 g.
183. Mortar workers I.G. Goncharov and G.A. Gafatulin are firing at German positions in the Stalingrad area from a 120-mm mortar. 1942 g.
184. Soviet snipers enter a firing position in a destroyed house in Stalingrad. January 1943
185. Commander of the 62nd Army of the Stalingrad Front, Lieutenant General t Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov (with a stick) and a member of the military council of the Stalingrad Front, Lieutenant General t Kuzma Akimovich Gurov (after left hand Chuikov) in the Stalingrad area. 1943 g.
186. Captured Germans on the street of Stalingrad.
187. German prisoners walk past the frozen corpse of a German soldier. Stalingrad. 1943 g.
188. German self-propelled guns Marder III abandoned near Stalingrad. 1943 g.
189. Soviet signalmen are laying a telephone line in the Stalingrad area. 1943 g.
190. A Soviet officer inspects a German Pz.II Ausf. F, captured by Soviet troops on the Sukhanovsky farm. Don front. December 1942
191. Member of the Military Council N.S. Khrushchev examines a captured German tank Pz.Kpfw. IV in Stalingrad. 28.12.1942 g.
192. German gunners move the LeIG 18 gun during the battle in Stalingrad. September 1942
193. Railway platforms with Soviet aerial bombs found by the Germans in the courtyard of one of the destroyed factories in Stalingrad. November 1942
194. The corpse of a German soldier at the direction signs near Stalingrad. February 1943
195. Broken German fighter Messerschmitt Bf 109 near Stalingrad. 1943 g.
196. Captured German aircraft near Stalingrad and ... a samovar. 1943 g.
197. Romanian prisoners of war taken prisoner near the village of Raspopinskaya near the town of Kalach. On November 24, 1942, the troops of the Southwestern Front, defeating the Romanian troops surrounded there, took 30 thousand prisoners and captured a lot of equipment.
198. Soviet assault group before the attack in Stalingrad. 1942 g.
199. Soviet soldiers in battle in Stalingrad. Autumn 1942
200. A string of German prisoners of war at Stalingrad. February 1943
201. A German soldier cleans his carbine during a short break between battles in Stalingrad. Autumn 1942.
202. Soviet soldiers on the streets of Stalingrad, hiding under a tarpaulin. February 1943
203. Frosty bodies of two German soldiers in position in the Stalingrad region. 1942 g.
204. Soviet aircraft technicians remove machine guns from the German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter. Stalingrad. 1943 g.
205. German assault group on the ruins of the plant in Stalingrad. End of September - beginning of October 1942.
206. First Heroes Soviet Union in the 16th Air Army, awarded on 01/28/1943. From left to right: V.N. Makarov, I.P. Motorny and Z.V. Semenyuk. All of them served in the 512th Fighter Aviation Regiment.
207. Killed German soldiers in the Stalingrad area, winter 1942-1943.
208. Saninstr girl Uktor accompanies a wounded soldier in Stalingrad. 1942 g.
209. Soviet soldiers in battle among destroyed buildings in Stalingrad. 1942 g.
210. Soviet troops in battle at Stalingrad. January 1943
211. The killed soldiers of the 4th Romanian Army near Lake Barmatsak, Stalingrad region. 20.11.1942 g.
212. The command post of the 178th artillery regiment (45th rifle division) of Major Rostovtsev in the basement of the calibration shop of the Krasny Oktyabr plant. December 1942
213. A German tank Pz.Kpfw. IV. The territory of the Stalingrad Tractor Plant. 02/01/1943
214. The retreat of the German units of Army Group Don after an unsuccessful attempt to unblock Stalingrad. January 1943
215. Stalingrad after the end of the Battle of Stalingrad. The skeleton of the downed German He-111 bomber from the KG.55 "Greif" bomber group (griffin on the emblem). 1943 g.
216. Field-general Shal Friedrich Paulus (left), commander of the Wehrmacht's 6th Army encircled in Stalingrad, chief of staff Lieutenant General t Arthur Schmidt and his adjutant Wilhelm Adam after surrender. Stalingrad, Beketovka, the headquarters of the Soviet 64th Army. 01/31/1943
217. Fight in one of the shops of the plant "Red October". December 1942
218. Taking the oath at the banner by marching reinforcements in the 39th Guards Rifle Division on the banks of the Volga, behind the Krasny Oktyabr plant. On the left is the commander of the 62nd Army, Lieutenant General V.I. Chuikov (the 39th division was part of the 62nd army), the commander of the division, Major General S.S. Guryev. December 1942
219. Gun crew of sergeant A.G. Serov (45th Infantry Division) in one of the shops of the Krasny Oktyabr plant in Stalingrad. December 1942
220. Commander of the 65th Army of the Don Front, Lieutenant General P.I. Batov with officers in the Stalingrad area. Winter 1942/43.
221. Front road near the village of Gorodishche in the Stalingrad region, an abandoned armored car and a dead German soldier.
222. Evacuation of wounded Soviet soldiers. Plant "Barricades", Stalingrad. December 1942
223. Captured Germans from the 11th Infantry Corps of the Colonel General ka Karl Strecker, who surrendered on February 2, 1943. The area of the Stalingrad Tractor Plant. 02.02.1943 g.
224. German Ju-52 transport aircraft captured by Soviet troops at Stalingrad. November 1942
225. Warming up Ju-52 engines using a heat gun at the Nursery airfield (Stalingrad region). January 1943
226. The reconnaissance group of the 39th Guards Rifle Division leaves for a combat mission. Factory "Red October". Stalingrad. 1943 g.
227. The rally in the liberated Stalingrad. February 1943
228. Calculation of the Soviet 14.5-mm anti-tank rifle Degtyarev PTRD-41 in the Stalingrad area. 1943 g.
Taking into account the tasks to be solved, the peculiarities of the conduct of hostilities by the sides, the spatial and temporal scale, as well as the results, the Battle of Stalingrad includes two periods: defensive - from July 17 to November 18, 1942; offensive - from November 19, 1942 to February 2, 1943
The strategic defensive operation in the Stalingrad direction lasted 125 days and nights and included two stages. The first stage is the conduct of defensive combat operations by front forces on the distant approaches to Stalingrad (July 17 - September 12). The second stage is the conduct of defensive actions to hold Stalingrad (September 13 - November 18, 1942).
The German command inflicted the main blow with the forces of the 6th Army in the direction of Stalingrad along the shortest path through the great bend of the Don from the west and southwest, just in the defense zones of the 62nd (commander - major general, from August 3 - lieutenant general , from September 6 - major general, from September 10 - lieutenant general) and 64th (commander - lieutenant general V.I. Chuikov, from August 4 - lieutenant general) armies. The operational initiative was in the hands of the German command with an almost double superiority in manpower and equipment.
Defensive hostilities by front forces on the distant approaches to Stalingrad (July 17 - September 12)
The first stage of the operation began on July 17, 1942, in the great bend of the Don, with combat contact between units of the 62nd Army and the forward detachments of German troops. Fierce fighting ensued. The enemy had to deploy five out of fourteen divisions and spend six days to approach the main defense zone of the Stalingrad Front troops. However, under the onslaught of superior enemy forces, Soviet troops were forced to retreat to new, poorly equipped or even unequipped lines. But even under these conditions, they inflicted significant losses on the enemy.
By the end of July, the situation on the Stalingrad direction continued to remain very tense. German troops deeply embraced both flanks of the 62nd Army, reached the Don in the Nizhne-Chirskaya area, where the 64th Army held the defenses, and created a threat of a breakthrough to Stalingrad from the southwest.
Due to the increased width of the defense zone (about 700 km) by the decision of the Supreme Command Headquarters Stalingrad front commanded by the lieutenant general on 23 July, on 5 August it was divided into the Stalingrad and South-Eastern fronts. To achieve closer cooperation between the troops of both fronts, from August 9, the leadership of the defense of Stalingrad was united in the same hands, in connection with which the Stalingrad Front was subordinated to the commander of the troops of the South-Eastern Front, Colonel-General.
By mid-November, the advance of the German troops was halted along the entire front. The enemy was forced to finally go over to the defensive. This was the end of the strategic defensive operation of the Battle of Stalingrad. The troops of the Stalingrad, South-Eastern and Don fronts fulfilled their tasks, holding back a powerful enemy offensive in the Stalingrad direction, creating the preconditions for a counteroffensive.
During the defensive battles, the Wehrmacht suffered huge losses. In the struggle for Stalingrad, the enemy lost about 700,000 killed and wounded, over 2,000 guns and mortars, over 1,000 tanks and assault guns, and over 1,400 combat and transport aircraft. Instead of a non-stop advance towards the Volga, enemy troops were drawn into protracted, exhausting battles in the Stalingrad region. The plan of the German command for the summer of 1942 was thwarted. At the same time, the Soviet troops also suffered heavy losses in personnel - 644 thousand people, of which 324 thousand people are irrecoverable, 320 thousand sanitary people. Losses of weapons amounted to: about 1400 tanks, more than 12 thousand guns and mortars, and more than 2 thousand aircraft.
Soviet troops continued their offensive
July 17th 1942 year at the turn of the Chir River, the advanced units of the 62nd Army of the Stalingrad Front entered into battle with the vanguard of the 6th German Army.
The battle of Stalingrad began.
For two weeks, our armies managed to hold back the onslaught of superior enemy forces. By July 22, the 6th Army of the Wehrmacht was additionally reinforced with another tank division from the 4th Panzer Army. Thus, the balance of forces in the Don bend changed even more in favor of the advancing German grouping, which already numbered about 250 thousand people, over 700 tanks, 7,500 guns and mortars, up to 1,200 aircraft supported them from the air. While the Stalingrad front had about 180 thousand personnel, 360 tanks, 7,900 guns and mortars, about 340 aircraft.
And yet the Red Army managed to reduce the pace of the enemy's offensive. If in the period from July 12 to 17, 1942, the enemy advanced 30 km daily, then from July 18 to 22 - only 15 km a day. By the end of July, our armies began to withdraw troops to the left bank of the Don.
On July 31, 1942, the selfless resistance of the Soviet troops forced the Nazi command to turn from the Caucasian direction to Stalingrad 4th Panzer Army under the leadership of colonel general G. Gotha.
Hitler's original plan to capture the city by July 25 was thwarted, the Wehrmacht troops took a short pause to pull even larger forces into the offensive zone.
The defense zone stretched for 800 km. August 5 to facilitate the management of the stake decision the front was divided into Stalingrad and South-Eastern.
By mid-August, German troops managed to advance 60-70 km to Stalingrad, and in some areas only 20 km. The city from the frontline was turning into a frontline city. Despite the continuous transfer of more and more forces to Stalingrad, parity was achieved only in human resources. The Germans had more than two-fold superiority in guns and aviation, and four-fold in tanks.
On August 19, 1942, the shock units of the 6th combined arms and 4th tank armies simultaneously resumed their offensive against Stalingrad. On August 23, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, German tanks broke through to the Volga and reached the outskirts of the city.... On the same day, the enemy launched a massive air raid on Stalingrad. The breakthrough was stopped by the forces of the militia and the NKVD detachments.
At the same time, our troops in some sectors of the front launched a counteroffensive, and the enemy was driven back 5-10 km to the west. Another attempt by German troops to seize the city was repulsed by the heroically fighting Stalingraders.
On September 13, German troops resumed their assault on the city. Especially fierce battles took place in the area of the station and Mamaev Kurgan (height 102.0)... From its top it was possible to control not only the city, but also the crossings across the Volga. Here from September 1942 to January 1943 one of the fiercest battles of the Great Patriotic War unfolded.
After 13 days of bloody street fighting, the Germans captured the city center. But the main task - to seize the bank of the Volga in the Stalingrad region - the German troops could not fulfill. The city continued to resist.
By the end of September, the Germans were already on the outskirts of the Volga, where the administrative buildings and the pier were located. Here stubborn battles were fought for every house. Many of the buildings received their names during the days of the defense: "Zabolotny's house", "L-shaped house", "dairy house", "Pavlov's house" other.
Ilya Vasilievich Voronov, one of the defenders of "Pavlov's house", having received several wounds in the arm, leg and stomach, pulled out the safety pin with his teeth and threw grenades at the Germans with his good hand. He refused the help of orderlies and crawled to the medical aid station himself. The surgeon removed more than two dozen shrapnel and bullets from his body... Voronov stoically suffered amputation of his leg and hand, losing the maximum amount of blood that could be allowed for life.
Distinguished himself in battles for the city of Stalingrad from September 14, 1942.
In group battles in the city of Stalingrad, he destroyed up to 50 soldiers and officers. On November 25, 1942, he took part in the assault on the house with his own crew. He boldly moved forward and with machine gun fire ensured the advancement of the units. His crew with a machine gun broke into the house first. An enemy mine knocked out the entire crew and wounded Voronov himself. But the fearless warrior continued to shoot the focus of the counterattacking Nazis. Personally, from a machine gun, he defeated 3 attacks of the Nazis, while destroying up to 3 dozen Nazis. After the machine gun was destroyed and Voronov received two more wounds, he continued to fight. During the battle of the 4th counterattack of the Nazis, Voronov received another wound, but continued to fight, pulling out the safety pin with his healthy hand and throwing grenades with his teeth. Being seriously wounded, he refused the help of orderlies and crawled to the medical aid station himself.
For courage and courage shown in battles with the German invaders, he is presented with a government award with the Order of the Red Star.
No less serious battles were fought in other parts of the city defense - on Bald Mountain, in the "ravine of death", on the "Lyudnikov Island".
A huge role in the defense of the city was played by the Volga military flotilla under the command of the rear admiral D.D. Rogacheva... Under continuous enemy air raids, the ships continued to ensure the passage of troops across the Volga, the delivery of ammunition, food and the evacuation of the wounded.
Introduction
On April 20, 1942, the battle for Moscow ended. The German army, whose offensive seemed unstoppable, was not only stopped, but also thrown back from the capital of the USSR by 150-300 kilometers. The Nazis carried heavy losses, and, although the Wehrmacht was still very strong, Germany no longer had the ability to attack simultaneously in all sectors of the Soviet-German front.
While the spring thaw lasted, the Germans developed a plan for the 1942 summer offensive, codenamed Fall Blau - "Blue Option". The initial target of the German strike was the oil fields of Grozny and Baku with the possibility of further developing an offensive against Persia. Before deploying this offensive, the Germans were going to cut off the Barvenkovsky ledge - a large bridgehead captured by the Red Army on the western bank of the Seversky Donets River.
The Soviet command, in turn, was also going to conduct a summer offensive in the zone of the Bryansk, Southern and Southwestern fronts. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the Red Army was the first to strike and at first the German troops were able to push back almost to Kharkov, the Germans managed to turn the situation in their favor and inflict a major defeat on the Soviet troops. In the sector of the Southern and Southwestern Fronts, the defense was weakened to the limit, and on June 28 Herman Hoth's 4th Panzer Army broke through between Kursk and Kharkov. The Germans went to the Don.
At this point, Hitler, by personal order, made a change to the "Blue Option", which subsequently cost Nazi Germany dearly. He split Army Group South in two. Army Group "A" was supposed to continue the offensive in the Caucasus. Army Group B was to reach the Volga, cut off the strategic communications linking the European part of the USSR with the Caucasus and Central Asia, and capture Stalingrad. For Hitler, this city was important not only from a practical point of view (as a large industrial center), but also for purely ideological reasons. Taking the city, which bore the name of the main enemy of the Third Reich, would be the greatest propaganda achievement of the German army.
The alignment of forces and the first stage of the battle
Army Group B, advancing on Stalingrad, included the 6th Army of General Paulus. The army consisted of 270 thousand soldiers and officers, about 2200 guns and mortars, about 500 tanks. From the air, the 6th Army was supported by the 4th Air Fleet of General Wolfram von Richthofen, numbering about 1,200 aircraft. A little later, towards the end of July, the 4th Panzer Army of Hermann Goth was transferred to Army Group B, which included the 5th, 7th and 9th Army and the 46th Motorized Army on July 1, 1942. housing. The latter included the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich.
The Southwestern Front, renamed Stalingrad on July 12, 1942, consisted of about 160,000 personnel, 2,200 guns and mortars, and about 400 tanks. Of the 38 divisions that were part of the front, only 18 were fully completed, while the rest had from 300 to 4000 people. The 8th Air Army, which operated together with the front, was also significantly outnumbered by von Richthofen's fleet. With these forces, the Stalingrad Front was forced to defend an area more than 500 kilometers wide. A separate problem for the Soviet troops was the flat steppe terrain, in which enemy tanks could operate at full strength. Taking into account the low manning of units and formations of the front with anti-tank weapons, this made the tank threat critical.
The German offensive began on July 17, 1942. On this day, the vanguards of the 6th Army of the Wehrmacht entered into battle with units of the 62nd Army on the Chir River and in the area of the Pronin farm. By July 22, the Germans pushed the Soviet troops back almost 70 kilometers, to the main line of defense of Stalingrad. The German command, hoping to take the city on the move, decided to encircle the Red Army units near the villages of Kletskaya and Suvorovskaya, seize the crossings across the Don and develop an offensive against Stalingrad without stopping. For this purpose, two shock groups were created, advancing from the north and south. The northern group was formed from units of the 6th Army, the southern - from the units of the 4th Panzer Army.
The northern group, striking on 23 July, broke through the defense front of the 62nd Army and surrounded its two rifle divisions and a tank brigade. By July 26, the advance units of the Germans reached the Don. The command of the Stalingrad Front organized a counterattack, in which the mobile formations of the front's reserve, as well as the 1st and 4th tank armies, which had not yet completed their formation, took part. Tank armies were the new regular structure of the Red Army. It is not clear who exactly put forward the idea of their formation, but in the documents, the first to voice this idea to Stalin was the head of the Main Armored Directorate, Ya. N. Fedorenko. In the form in which the tank armies were conceived, they did not last long enough, subsequently undergoing a serious restructuring. But it is a fact that it was at Stalingrad that such a staff unit appeared. The 1st Panzer Army struck from the Kalach area on July 25, and the 4th - from the villages of Trykhostrovskaya and Kachalinskaya on July 27.
Fierce fighting in this area lasted until August 7-8. It was possible to unblock the encircled units, but it did not work to defeat the advancing Germans. Negative influence the development of events was influenced by the fact that the level of training of the personnel of the armies of the Stalingrad Front was low, and a number of errors in the coordination of actions made by the commanders of the subunits.
In the south, Soviet troops managed to stop the Germans near the settlements of Surovikino and Rychkovsky. Nevertheless, the Nazis were able to break through the front of the 64th Army. To eliminate this breakthrough, on July 28, the Headquarters of the Supreme Command ordered, no later than the 30th, by the forces of the 64th Army, as well as two infantry divisions and a tank corps, to strike and defeat the enemy in the area of the village of Nizhne-Chirskaya.
Despite the fact that the new units entered the battle on the move and their combat capabilities suffered from this, by the specified date the Red Army managed to press the Germans and even create a threat to their encirclement. Unfortunately, the Nazis managed to bring fresh forces into battle and provide assistance to the group. After that, the fighting flared up even hotter.
On July 28, 1942, another event occurred that cannot be left off-screen. On this day, the famous Order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR No. 227, also known as "Not a step back!", Was adopted. He significantly toughened penalties for unauthorized retreat from the battlefield, introduced penal units for guilty fighters and commanders, and also introduced barrage detachments - special units that were involved in the detention of deserters and their return to service. This document, for all its rigidity, was adopted by the troops quite positively and really reduced the number of disciplinary violations in military units.
At the end of July, the 64th Army was still forced to withdraw beyond the Don. German troops captured a number of bridgeheads on the left bank of the river. In the area of the village of Tsymlyanskaya, the Nazis concentrated very serious forces: two infantry, two motorized and one tank division. The headquarters ordered the Stalingrad front to drive the Germans to the western (right) bank and restore the defense line along the Don, but it was not possible to eliminate the breakthrough. On July 30, the Germans launched an offensive from the village of Tsymlyanskaya and by August 3, they had significantly advanced forward, capturing the Remontnaya station, the station and the city of Kotelnikovo, the village of Zhutovo. On the same days, the 6th Romanian corps of the enemy went to the Don. In the zone of operations of the 62nd Army, the Germans launched an offensive on August 7 in the direction of Kalach. Soviet troops were forced to withdraw to the left bank of the Don. On August 15, the 4th Soviet Tank Army had to do the same, because the Germans were able to break through its front in the center and split the defenses in half.
By August 16, the troops of the Stalingrad Front withdrew beyond the Don and took up defenses on the outer boundary of the city fortifications. On August 17, the Germans resumed the onslaught and by the 20th were able to capture the crossings, as well as the bridgehead in the area settlement Swirling. Attempts to discard or destroy them were unsuccessful. On August 23, the German group, with the support of aviation, broke through the defense front of the 62nd and 4th tank armies and advanced to the Volga in advance. On this day, German aircraft made about 2000 sorties. Many quarters of the city were in ruins, oil storage facilities were on fire, about 40 thousand civilians were killed. The enemy broke through to the Rynok - Orlovka - Gumrak - Peschanka line. The struggle went under the walls of Stalingrad.
Fights in the city
Having forced the Soviet troops to retreat almost to the outskirts of Stalingrad, the enemy threw six German and one Romanian infantry divisions, two tank divisions and one motorized one against the 62nd Army. The number of tanks in this grouping of the Nazis was approximately 500. At least 1000 aircraft supported the enemy from the air. The threat of taking over the city became tangible. To eliminate it, the Supreme Command gave the defenders two completed armies (10 rifle divisions, 2 tank brigades), re-staffed the 1st Guards Army (6 rifle divisions, 2 Guards rifle divisions, 2 tank brigades), and also subordinated the 16th air army.
On September 5 and 18, the troops of the Stalingrad Front (September 30 it will be renamed Donskoy) carried out two major operations, thanks to which they managed to weaken the German onslaught on the city, pulling back about 8 infantry, two tank and two motorized divisions. Again, it was not possible to carry out a complete defeat of the Nazi units. Fierce battles for the internal defensive line continued for a long time.
Urban battles began on September 13, 1942 and continued until November 19, when the Red Army launched a counteroffensive as part of Operation Uranus. On September 12, the defense of Stalingrad was entrusted to the 62nd Army, which was transferred under the command of Lieutenant General V.I. Chuikov. This man, who before the start of the Battle of Stalingrad was considered insufficiently experienced for the military command, set up a real hell for the enemy in the city.
On September 13, six German infantry, three tank and two motorized divisions were stationed in the immediate vicinity of the city. Until September 18, there were fierce battles in the central and southern parts of the city. South of the railway station, the enemy's onslaught was contained, but in the center the Germans drove out the Soviet troops up to the Krutoy ravine.
The battles for the station on 17 September were extremely fierce. During the day, he changed hands four times. Here the Germans left 8 burned tanks and about a hundred killed. On September 19, the left wing of the Stalingrad Front tried to strike in the direction of the station with a further attack on Gumrak and Gorodishche. The advance could not be carried out, however, a large enemy grouping was shackled by the battles, which facilitated the situation for the units fighting in the center of Stalingrad. In general, the defense here was so strong that the enemy did not manage to reach the Volga.
Realizing that it was not possible to achieve success in the center of the city, the Germans concentrated their troops to the south to strike in an eastern direction, towards Mamayev Kurgan and the village of Krasny Oktyabr. On September 27, Soviet troops launched a preemptive attack, operating in small infantry groups armed with light machine guns, gas bottles, and anti-tank rifles. Fierce fighting lasted from September 27 to October 4. These were the very Stalingrad city battles, from the stories about which the blood runs cold even in a person with strong nerves. Here battles were fought not for streets and neighborhoods, sometimes not even for entire houses, but for individual floors and rooms. The guns fired with direct fire almost at point-blank range, incendiary mixture and fire from short distances were used. Hand-to-hand fights have become commonplace, as in the Middle Ages, when cold weapons ruled on the battlefield. In a week of continuous fighting, the Germans advanced 400 meters. Even those who were not intended for this had to fight: builders, soldiers of pontoon units. The Nazis were gradually starting to fizzle out. The same desperate and bloody battles raged at the Barrikady plant, at the village of Orlovka, on the outskirts of the Silikat plant.
In early October, the territory occupied by the Red Army in Stalingrad was so reduced that they were shot through with machine-gun and artillery fire. Support for the fighting troops was carried out from the opposite bank of the Volga with the help of literally everything that could float: cutters, steamers, boats. German aircraft continuously bombed the crossings, making this task even more difficult.
And while the soldiers of the 62nd Army pinned down and ground the enemy troops in battle, the High Command was already preparing plans for a large offensive operation aimed at destroying the Stalingrad group of the Nazis.
"Uranus" and Paulus' surrender
By the time the Soviet counteroffensive began at Stalingrad, there were, in addition to Paulus's 6th Army, also von Salmuth's 2nd Army, Gotha's 4th Panzer Army, Italian, Romanian and Hungarian armies.
On November 19, the Red Army, with the forces of three fronts, launched a large-scale offensive operation, codenamed Uranus. It was opened by about three and a half thousand guns and mortars. The artillery barrage lasted for about two hours. Subsequently, it was in memory of this artillery preparation that the day of November 19 became professional holiday artillerymen.
On November 23, a circle of encirclement closed around the 6th Army and the main forces of the 4th Panzer Army of Hoth. On November 24, about 30 thousand Italians surrendered near the village of Raspopinskaya. By November 24, the territory occupied by the encircled Nazi units occupied about 40 kilometers from west to east, and about 80 kilometers from north to south. Further "compaction" advanced slowly, as the Germans organized a dense defense and literally clung to every piece of land. Paulus insisted on a breakthrough, but Hitler categorically forbade it. He still did not lose hope that he would be able to help the surrounding people from the outside.
The rescue mission was entrusted to Erich von Manstein. Army Group "Don", which he commanded, was to release the besieged army of Paulus in December 1942 with a blow from Kotelnikovsky and Tormosin. On December 12, Operation Winter Thunderstorm began. Moreover, the Germans did not go on the offensive with full strength - in fact, by the time the offensive began, they were able to deploy only one tank division of the Wehrmacht and the Romanian infantry division. Subsequently, two more incomplete tank divisions and a number of infantry joined the offensive. On December 19, Manstein's troops clashed with the 2nd Guards Army of Rodion Malinovsky, and by December 25 the "Winter Thunderstorm" had died out in the snow-covered Don steppes. The Germans rolled back to their original positions, suffering heavy losses.
Paulus's group was doomed. It seemed that the only person who refused to admit it was Hitler. He was categorically against retreat when it was still possible, and did not want to hear about surrender when the mousetrap finally and irrevocably slammed shut. Even when the Soviet troops captured the last airfield from which the Luftwaffe planes supplied the army (extremely weak and unstable), he continued to demand resistance from Paulus and his people.
On January 10, 1943, the final operation of the Red Army began to liquidate the Stalingrad group of the Nazis. It was called The Ring. On January 9, the day before it began, the Soviet command issued an ultimatum to Friedrich Paulus, demanding surrender. On the same day, by chance, the commander of the 14th Panzer Corps, General Hube, arrived in the cauldron. He conveyed that Hitler demands to continue resistance until a new attempt to break through the encirclement from the outside. Paulus complied with the order and rejected the ultimatum.
The Germans resisted as best they could. The Soviet offensive was even stopped from 17 to 22 January. After regrouping, units of the Red Army went on the attack again and on January 26, Hitler's forces were split into two parts. The northern group was located in the area of the Barricades plant, and the southern, which included Paulus himself, was located in the city center. Paulus's command post was located in the basement of the central department store.
On January 30, 1943, Hitler conferred the rank of Field Marshal on Friedrich Paulus. In unwritten Prussian military tradition field marshals never surrendered. So from the Fuhrer's side, it was a hint of how the commander of the surrounded army should have ended his military career. However, Paulus decided that it was better not to understand some of the hints. On January 31 at noon Paulus surrendered. It took two more days to eliminate the remnants of Hitler's troops in Stalingrad. On February 2, it was all over. The Battle of Stalingrad is over.
About 90 thousand German soldiers and officers were captured. The Germans lost about 800 thousand killed, 160 tanks and about 200 aircraft were captured.
How the victory of the Soviet Union in the Battle of Stalingrad affected the course of the war. What role did Stalingrad play in the plans of Nazi Germany and what were the consequences. The course of the Battle of Stalingrad, losses on both sides, its significance and historical results.
Battle of Stalingrad - the beginning of the end of the Third Reich
During the winter-spring campaign of 1942, the situation on the Soviet-German front was unfavorable for the Red Army. A number of unsuccessful offensive operations were carried out, which in individual cases had some small-town success, but generally ended in failure. Soviet troops were unable to take full advantage of the 1941 winter offensive, as a result of which they lost very advantageous bridgeheads and areas. In addition, a significant part of the strategic reserve, intended for large offensive operations, was involved. The headquarters incorrectly determined the directions of the main attacks, suggesting that the main events in the summer of 1942 would unfold in the north-west and center of Russia. The southern and southeastern directions were of secondary importance. In the fall of 1941, orders were given to set up defensive lines in the Don, North Caucasus and Stalingrad direction, but they did not have time to complete their equipment by the summer of 1942.
The enemy, unlike our troops, had full control of the strategic initiative. Its main task for the summer - autumn of 1942 was to seize the main raw material, industrial and agricultural regions of the Soviet Union. The leading role in this was assigned to Army Group South, which suffered the least losses since the beginning of the war against the USSR and had the greatest combat potential.
By the end of spring, it became clear that the enemy was striving for the Volga. As the chronicle of events has shown, the main battles will unfold on the outskirts of Stalingrad, and later in the city itself.
The course of the battle
The Battle of Stalingrad in 1942-1943 will last 200 days and will become the largest and bloodiest battle not only in World War II, but in the entire history of the twentieth century. The course of the Battle of Stalingrad itself is divided into two stages:
- defense on the approaches and in the city itself;
- strategic offensive operation of the Soviet troops.
The parties' plans for the beginning of the battle
By the spring of 1942, Army Group South was split into two, A and B. Army Group A was intended for an offensive in the Caucasus, this was the main direction, Army Group B - for a secondary attack on Stalingrad. The subsequent course of events will change the priority of these tasks.
By mid-July 1942, the enemy captured the Donbass, drove our troops back to Voronezh, captured Rostov and managed to force the Don. The Nazis entered the operational space and created a real threat to the North Caucasus and Stalingrad.
Battle of Stalingrad map
Initially, Army Group A, advancing in the Caucasus, was transferred to an entire tank army and several formations from Army Group B to emphasize the importance of this direction.
After crossing the Don, Army Group B was intended to equip defensive positions, simultaneously occupy the isthmus between the Volga and the Don and, moving in the interfluve, strike in the direction of Stalingrad. The city was instructed to occupy and then advance with mobile formations along the Volga to Astrakhan, finally disrupting transport links along main river country.
The Soviet command made a decision with the help of a stubborn defense of four engineering-unfinished lines - the so-called contours - to prohibit the capture of the city and the exit of the Nazis to the Volga. Due to the untimely determination of the direction of movement of the enemy and miscalculations in the planning of military operations in the spring-summer campaign, the Stavka was unable to concentrate the necessary forces in this sector. The newly created Stalingrad Front consisted of only 3 armies from the deep reserve and 2 air armies. Later, it included several more formations, units and formations of the Southern Front, which suffered significant losses in the Caucasian direction. By this time, serious changes had taken place in the command and control of the troops. The fronts became directly subordinate to the Headquarters, and its representative was included in the command of each front. On the Stalingrad front, this role was played by General of the Army Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov.
The number of troops, the ratio of forces and means at the beginning of the battle
The defensive stage of the Battle of Stalingrad began difficult for the Red Army. The Wehrmacht had superiority over the Soviet troops:
- in personnel by 1.7 times;
- in tanks by 1.3 times;
- in artillery by 1.3 times;
- in planes more than 2 times.
Despite the fact that the Soviet command was continuously increasing the number of troops, gradually transferring formations and units from the depths of the country, the troops did not succeed in completely occupying the defense zone with a width of more than 500 kilometers. The activity of enemy tank formations was very high. At the same time, the aviation superiority was overwhelming. The German Air Force enjoyed complete air supremacy.
Battle of Stalingrad - battles on the outskirts
On July 17, the advance detachments of our troops engaged the enemy vanguard. This date marked the beginning of the battle. In the first six days, they managed to slow down the pace of the offensive, but still it remained very high. On 23 July, the enemy attempted to encircle one of our armies with powerful flanking attacks. The command of the Soviet troops in a short time had to prepare two counterattacks, which were carried out from 25 to 27 July. These attacks prevented the encirclement. By July 30, the German command had thrown all reserves into battle. The offensive potential of the Nazis was exhausted. The enemy went over to a forced defense, awaiting the arrival of reinforcements. Already on August 1, the tank army, transferred to the army group "A", was returned back to the Stalingrad direction.
During the first 10 days of August, the enemy was able to reach the outer defensive circuit, and in some places and break through it. Due to the active actions of the enemy, the defense zone of our troops increased from 500 to 800 kilometers, which forced our command to divide the Stalingrad front into two independent ones - the Stalingrad and the newly formed South-Eastern, which included the 62nd Army. Until the end of the battle, V.I. Chuikov was the commander of the 62nd Army.
Until August 22, hostilities continued on the outer defensive contour. Stubborn defense was combined with offensive actions, but it was not possible to keep the enemy on this line. The enemy overcame the middle contour almost on the move, and from August 23, battles began on the internal defensive line. On the near approaches to the city, the Nazis were met by the troops of the NKVD of the Stalingrad garrison. On the same day, the enemy broke through to the Volga north of the city, cutting off our combined arms army from the main forces of the Stalingrad Front. German aviation inflicted enormous damage that day with a massive raid on the city. The central regions were destroyed, our troops suffered serious losses, including an increase in the number of deaths among the population. The number of deaths and deaths from wounds was more than 40 thousand - old people, women, children.
On the southern approaches, the situation was no less tense: the enemy broke through the outer and middle defensive lines. Our army launched counterattacks, trying to restore the situation, but the Wehrmacht troops were methodically advancing towards the city.
The situation was very difficult. The enemy was in the immediate vicinity of the city. Under these conditions, Stalin decided to strike a little further north to weaken the enemy's onslaught. In addition, it took time to prepare the city defensive bypass for the conduct of hostilities.
By September 12, the front line came close to Stalingrad and passed 10 kilometers from the city. It was urgently necessary to weaken the onslaught of the enemy. Stalingrad was in a semi-circle, covered from the northeast and southwest by two tank armies. By this time, the main forces of the Stalingrad and South-Eastern fronts occupied the city defensive circuit. With the withdrawal of the main forces of our troops to the outskirts, the defensive period of the Battle of Stalingrad on the outskirts of the city ended.
City defense
By mid-September, the enemy had practically doubled the number and armament of its troops. The grouping was increased due to the transfer of formations from the west and the Caucasian direction. A significant proportion of them were the troops of the satellites of Germany - Romania and Italy. At a meeting at the headquarters of the Wehrmacht, which was located in Vinnitsa, Hitler demanded that the commander of Army Group B, General Weiche, and the commander of the 6th Army, General Paulus, seize Stalingrad as soon as possible.
The Soviet command also increased the grouping of its troops, pushing reserves from the depths of the country and replenishing the existing units with personnel and weapons. By the beginning of the struggle for the city itself, the balance of forces was still on the side of the enemy. If there was parity in personnel, the Nazis outnumbered our troops in artillery by 1.3 times, in tanks by 1.6 times, in aircraft by 2.6 times.
On September 13, the enemy launched an offensive against the central part of the city with two powerful blows. These two groups included up to 350 tanks. The enemy managed to advance to the factory areas and come close to the Mamayev Kurgan. The enemy's actions were actively supported by aviation. It should be noted that possessing air supremacy, the aircraft of the Germans inflicted enormous damage on the defenders of the city. During the entire period of the Battle of Stalingrad, the aviation of the Nazis made an unthinkable number, even by the standards of World War II, sorties, turning the city into ruins.
Trying to weaken the onslaught, the Soviet command planned a counterattack. To accomplish this task, a rifle division was brought in from the headquarters reserve. On September 15 and 16, its soldiers managed to complete the main task - to prevent the enemy from reaching the Volga in the center of the city. Two battalions occupied the Mamayev Kurgan - the dominant height. Another brigade from the Headquarters reserve was transferred there on the 17th.
Simultaneously with the battles in the city north of Stalingrad, the offensive operations of our three armies continued with the task of pulling off part of the enemy forces from the city. Unfortunately, the advance was extremely slow, but it forced the enemy to continuously tighten up the defenses in this sector. Thus, this offensive played its positive role.
On September 18, two counterattacks from the Mamayev Kurgan area were prepared, and on the 19th. The strikes continued until September 20, but did not lead to a significant change in the situation.
On September 21, the Nazis renewed their breakthrough to the Volga in the center of the city with fresh forces, but all their attacks were repulsed. Fighting for these areas continued until September 26.
The first assault on the city by fascist German forces from 13 to 26 September brought them limited successes. The enemy reached the Volga in the central regions of the city and on the left flank.
From September 27, the German command, without weakening the onslaught in the center, concentrated on the outskirts of the city and factory areas. As a result, by October 8, the enemy managed to capture all the commanding heights on the western outskirts. From them one could see the city completely, as well as the riverbed of the Volga. Thus, the crossing of the river became even more complicated, the maneuver of our troops was constrained. However, the offensive potential of the German armies was coming to an end, and a regrouping and reinforcement was needed.
At the end of the month, the situation demanded that the Soviet command reorganize the control system. The Stalingrad Front was renamed the Donskoy Front, and the South-Eastern Front the Stalingrad Front. The Don Front included the 62nd Army, tested in the battle in the most dangerous sectors.
In early October, the headquarters of the Wehrmacht planned a general assault on the city, managing to concentrate large forces in almost all sectors of the front. On October 9, the attackers resumed their attacks on the city. They managed to seize a number of Stalingrad factory settlements and part of the Tractor Plant, cut one of our armies into several parts and reach the Volga in a narrow area of 2.5 kilometers. The enemy's activity gradually faded. On November 11, the last assault attempt was made. After the losses incurred, the German troops on November 18 went over to a forced defense. On this day, the defensive stage of the battle ended, but the Battle of Stalingrad itself was only approaching its climax.
Results of the defensive stage of the battle
The main task of the defensive stage was accomplished - the Soviet troops were able to defend the city, bleed the enemy strike forces and prepared the conditions for the start of the counteroffensive. The enemy suffered unprecedented losses. According to various estimates, they amounted to about 700 thousand killed, up to 1000 tanks, about 1400 guns and mortars, 1400 aircraft.
The defense of Stalingrad provided invaluable experience for commanders of all levels in command and control of troops. The methods and methods of warfare in the city, tested in Stalingrad, subsequently proved to be in demand more than once. The defensive operation contributed to the development of Soviet military art, revealed the leadership qualities of many military leaders, and became a school of combat skill for every soldier of the Red Army without exception.
Soviet losses were also very high - about 640,000 personnel, 1,400 tanks, 2,000 aircraft, and 12,000 guns and mortars.
Offensive stage of the Battle of Stalingrad
The strategic offensive operation began on November 19, 1942 and ended on February 2, 1943. It was carried out by the forces of three fronts.
To make a decision on a counteroffensive, at least three conditions must be met. First, the enemy must be stopped. Secondly, it should not have strong immediate reserves. Thirdly, the presence of forces and means sufficient for the operation. By mid-November, all these conditions were met.
The plans of the parties, the balance of forces and means
On November 14, according to Hitler's directive, German troops went over to strategic defense. Offensive operations continued only in the Stalingrad direction, where the enemy stormed the city. The troops of Army Group B took up defenses from Voronezh in the north to the Manych River in the south. The most efficient units were at Stalingrad, and the flanks were defended by Romanian and Italian troops. The army group commander had 8 divisions in reserve, due to the activity of Soviet troops along the entire length of the front, he was limited in the depth of their use.
The Soviet command planned to carry out the operation with the forces of the Southwestern, Stalingrad and Don fronts. The tasks were determined by him as follows:
- To the Southwestern Front - with a shock group of three armies, go on the offensive in the direction of the city of Kalach, defeat the 3rd Romanian Army and join the forces of the Stalingrad Front by the end of the third day of the operation.
- To the Stalingrad Front - with a shock group of three armies, go on the offensive in the northwestern direction, defeat the 6th Army Corps of the Romanian Army and link up with the troops of the Southwestern Front.
- Don Front - to encircle the enemy with strikes of two armies in converging directions, followed by destruction in a small bend of the Don.
The difficulty lay in the fact that in order to carry out the tasks of the encirclement, it was necessary to use significant forces and means to create an internal front - to defeat the German troops inside the ring, and an external - to prevent the release of the encircled from the outside.
Planning for the Soviet counter-offensive operation began in mid-October, at the height of the battles for Stalingrad. The front commanders, by order of the Stavka, before the start of the offensive, managed to create the necessary superiority in personnel and equipment. On the Southwestern Front, Soviet troops outnumbered the Nazis in personnel by 1.1 times, in artillery by 1.4 times and in tanks by 2.8 times. In the zone of the Don Front, the ratio was as follows - in personnel by 1.5 times, in artillery by 2.4 times in favor of our troops, parity in tanks. The superiority of the Stalingrad Front was: 1.1 times in personnel, 1.2 times in artillery, and 3.2 times in tanks.
It is noteworthy that the concentration of strike groups took place secretly, only at night and in bad weather conditions.
A characteristic feature of the developed operation was the principle of massing aviation and artillery in the directions of the main strikes. It was possible to achieve an unprecedented density of artillery - in some areas it reached 117 units per kilometer of the front.
Complicated tasks were assigned to engineering units and subdivisions. It was necessary to carry out a huge amount of work on the demining of areas, terrain and roads, and the establishment of crossings.
The course of the offensive operation
The operation began as planned on November 19. The offensive was preceded by a powerful artillery preparation.
In the first hours, the troops of the Southwestern Front wedged into the enemy defenses to a depth of 3 kilometers. Developing the offensive and introducing fresh forces into battle, our strike groups by the end of the first day advanced 30 kilometers and thereby enveloped the enemy from the flanks.
The situation at the Don Front was more complicated. There, our troops encountered stubborn resistance in the conditions of extremely difficult terrain and the saturation of the enemy's defense with mine-explosive obstacles. By the end of the first day, the penetration depth was 3-5 kilometers. In the future, the troops of the front were drawn into protracted battles and the 4th tank enemy army managed to avoid encirclement.
For the Hitlerite command, the counteroffensive came as a surprise. Hitler's directive on the transition to strategic defensive actions was dated November 14, but they did not have time to pass to it. On November 18, in Stalingrad, the fascist German troops were still on the offensive. The command of Army Group B erroneously determined the direction of the main blows of the Soviet troops. On the first day, it was at a loss, only sending telegrams to the headquarters of the Wehrmacht with a statement of the facts. The commander of Army Group B, General Weiche, ordered the commander of the 6th Army to stop the offensive in Stalingrad and to allocate the necessary number of formations in order to stop the Russian pressure and cover the flanks. As a result of the measures taken, resistance in the offensive zone of the Southwestern Front increased.
On November 20, the offensive of the Stalingrad Front began, which in again was a complete surprise for the leadership of the Wehrmacht. The Nazis urgently needed to find a way out of the current situation.
The troops of the Stalingrad Front on the first day broke through the enemy's defenses and advanced to a depth of 40 kilometers, and on the second by another 15. By November 22, a distance of 80 kilometers remained between the troops of our two fronts.
Parts of the Southwestern Front on the same day crossed the Don and captured the city of Kalach.
The headquarters of the Wehrmacht did not stop trying to find a way out of a difficult situation. WITH North Caucasus two tank armies were ordered to move, Paulus was ordered not to withdraw from Stalingrad. Hitler did not want to put up with the fact that he would have to retreat from the Volga. The consequences of this decision will be fatal both for Paulus's army and for everyone. Nazi troops.
By November 22, the distance between the forward units of the Stalingrad and Southwestern Fronts was reduced to 12 kilometers. At 16.00 on November 23, the fronts united. The encirclement of the enemy grouping was completed. In the Stalingrad "cauldron" were 22 divisions and auxiliary units. On the same day, the Romanian corps numbering almost 27 thousand people were taken prisoner.
However, a number of difficulties arose. Total length the outer front was very large, almost 450 kilometers, and the distance between the inner and outer front was insufficient. The task was to move the outer front as far as possible to the west as soon as possible in order to isolate the encircled group of Paulus and prevent its release from the outside. At the same time, it was necessary to create powerful reserves for stability. At the same time, the formations on the home front had to start destroying the enemy in the "cauldron" in a short time.
Until November 30, the troops of the three fronts tried to cut the encircled 6th Army into pieces, at the same time squeezing the ring. By this day, the area occupied by the enemy troops had halved.
It should be noted that the enemy stubbornly resisted, skillfully using reserves. In addition, his powers were assessed incorrectly. The General Staff assumed that about 90 thousand Nazis were surrounded, while the actual number exceeded 300 thousand.
Paulus turned to the Fuhrer with a request for independence in decision-making. Hitler deprived him of this right, ordered him to remain surrounded and wait for help.
The counteroffensive did not end with the encirclement of the group, the Soviet troops seized the initiative. Soon it was necessary to complete the defeat of the enemy troops.
Operation Saturn and the Ring
The headquarters of the Wehrmacht and the command of Army Group "B" began to form in early December Army Group "Don", designed to unblock the group that was encircled at Stalingrad. This group included formations transferred from Voronezh, Orel, the North Caucasus, from France, as well as parts of the 4th Panzer Army, which escaped encirclement. At the same time, the balance of forces in favor of the enemy was overwhelming. In the breakthrough sector, he outnumbered the Soviet troops in men and artillery by 2 times, and in tanks by 6 times.
In December, the Soviet troops had to start solving several tasks at once:
- Developing the offensive, defeat the enemy in the Middle Don - to solve it, Operation Saturn was developed
- Prevent Army Group Don from breaking through to 6th Army
- Eliminate the encircled enemy grouping - for this they developed Operation Ring.
On December 12, the enemy launched an offensive. At first, using their great superiority in tanks, the Germans broke through the defenses and advanced 25 kilometers in the first day. For 7 days of the offensive operation, the enemy forces approached the encircled grouping at a distance of 40 kilometers. The Soviet command urgently used reserves.
Operation Saturn Minor Map
In the current situation, the Headquarters made adjustments to the plan for Operation Saturn. The troops of the Southwestern and part of the forces of the Voronezh Front, instead of striking at Rostov, were ordered to move it to the southeast, take the enemy in ticks and go into the rear of Army Group Don. The operation was named Little Saturn. It began on December 16, and in the first three days it was possible to break through the defenses and drive a wedge to a depth of 40 kilometers. Using the advantage in maneuverability, bypassing the centers of resistance, our troops rushed to the rear of the enemy. Within two weeks, they fettered the actions of Army Group Don and forced the Nazis to go on the defensive, thereby depriving last hope troops of Paulus.
On December 24, after a short artillery preparation, the Stalingrad Front launched an offensive, delivering the main blow in the direction of Kotelnikovsky. On December 26, the city was liberated. In the future, the front troops were given the task of eliminating the Tormosin grouping, which they coped with by December 31. From this date, a regrouping began for an offensive on Rostov.
As a result of successful operations in the Middle Don and in the Kotelnikovsky area, our troops managed to thwart the Wehrmacht's plans to unblock the encircled grouping, defeat large formations and units of German, Italian and Romanian troops, and move the outer front 200 kilometers away from the Stalingrad "cauldron".
Aviation, meanwhile, took the encircled grouping into a tight blockade, minimizing the attempts of the Wehrmacht headquarters to establish supplies for the 6th Army.
Operation "Saturn"
From January 10 to February 2, the command of the Soviet troops carried out an operation codenamed "Ring" to eliminate the encircled 6th Army of the Nazis. Initially, it was assumed that the encirclement and destruction of the enemy grouping would take place in a shorter time, but the lack of forces of the fronts affected, which on the move could not cut the enemy grouping into parts. The activity of the German troops outside the cauldron pulled off part of the forces, and the enemy himself inside the ring by that time was by no means weakened.
The Stavka assigned the operation to the Don Front. In addition, part of the forces was allocated by the Stalingrad Front, which by that time had been renamed the Southern Front and received the task of advancing on Rostov. The commander of the Don Front in the Battle of Stalingrad, General Rokossovsky, decided to dismember the enemy grouping with powerful dissecting strikes from west to east and destroy it in parts.
The balance of forces and means did not give confidence in the success of the operation. The enemy outnumbered the troops of the Don Front in personnel and tanks by 1.2 times and was inferior in artillery by 1.7 and aviation by 3 times. True, due to lack of fuel, he could not make full use of motorized and tank formations.
Operation "Ring"
On January 8, a message was brought to the Nazis with a proposal for surrender, which they rejected.
On January 10, under the cover of artillery preparation, the offensive of the Don Front began. During the first day, the attackers managed to advance to a depth of 8 kilometers. Artillery units and formations supported the troops with a new accompanying type of fire at that time, which was called the "barrage".
The enemy fought on the same defensive lines on which the Battle of Stalingrad began for our troops. By the end of the second day, under the onslaught of the Soviet army, the Nazis began to randomly retreat to Stalingrad.
The surrender of the fascist German troops
On January 17, the width of the encirclement was reduced by seventy kilometers. A repeated offer to lay down arms followed, which was also ignored. Until the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, calls for surrender from the Soviet command came regularly.
On January 22, the offensive continued. For four days, the depth of the advance was another 15 kilometers. By January 25, the enemy was trapped in a narrow patch measuring 3.5 by 20 kilometers. The next day, this strip was cut into two parts, north and south. On January 26, in the area of Mamayev Kurgan, a historic meeting of two armies of the front took place.
Stubborn battles continued until January 31st. On this day, the southern group ceased resistance. The officers and generals of the staff of the 6th Army, led by Paulus, surrendered. On the eve of Hitler awarded him the rank of field marshal. The northern group continued to resist. Only on February 1, after a powerful artillery fire raid, the enemy began to surrender. On February 2, the fighting ceased completely. A report was sent to Headquarters about the end of the Battle of Stalingrad.
On February 3, the troops of the Don Front began regrouping for further actions in the direction of Kursk.
Losses in the Battle of Stalingrad
All stages of the Battle of Stalingrad were very bloody. The losses on both sides were colossal. Until now, data from different sources are very different from each other. It is believed that the Soviet Union lost more than 1.1 million people killed. On the part of the German fascist troops, the total losses are estimated at 1.5 million people, of which the Germans account for about 900 thousand people, the rest are the loss of satellites. Data on the number of prisoners also vary, but on average, their number is close to 100 thousand people.
The losses of equipment were also significant. The Wehrmacht missed about 2,000 tanks and assault guns, 10,000 guns and mortars, 3,000 aircraft, 70,000 vehicles.
The consequences of the Battle of Stalingrad were fatal for the Reich. It was from this moment that Germany began to experience a mobilization hunger.
The significance of the Battle of Stalingrad
The victory in this battle was a turning point in the course of the entire Second World War. In numbers and facts, the Battle of Stalingrad can be represented as follows. The Soviet army completely defeated 32 divisions, 3 brigades, 16 divisions inflicted a heavy defeat, to restore the combat effectiveness of which it took long time... Our troops pushed the front line hundreds of kilometers away from the Volga and Don.
A major defeat shook the unity of the Reich's allies. The destruction of the Romanian and Italian armies forced the leaders of these countries to think about withdrawing from the war. The victory in the Battle of Stalingrad, and then successful offensive operations in the Caucasus, convinced Turkey not to join the war against the Soviet Union.
The Stalingrad and then Kursk battles finally consolidated the strategic initiative for the USSR. Great Patriotic War lasted two more years, but events did not develop according to the plans of the fascist leadership
The beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad in July 1942 was unsuccessful for the Soviet Union, the reasons for this are known. The more valuable and significant is the victory in it for us. Throughout the battle, formerly unknown to a wide circle of people, the military leaders went through the formation, gaining combat experience. By the end of the battle on the Volga, these were already the commanders of the great Battle of Stalingrad. Every day the front commanders were gaining invaluable experience in commanding large military formations, using new techniques and methods of employing various types of troops.
The victory in the battle was of great moral importance for the Soviet army. She managed to crush the strongest opponent, inflict a defeat on him, after which he could not recover. The exploits of the defenders of Stalingrad served as an example for all the soldiers of the Red Army.
The course, results, maps, diagrams, facts, memories of the participants in the Battle of Stalingrad are still the subject of study in academies and military schools.
In December 1942, the medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad" was instituted. More than 700 thousand people have been awarded with it. 112 people became heroes of the Soviet Union in the Battle of Stalingrad.
The dates November 19 and February 2 became memorable. For the special merits of artillery units and formations, the day of the start of the counteroffensive became a holiday - the Day of Missile Forces and Artillery. The day of the end of the Battle of Stalingrad is marked as the Day of Military Glory. Since May 1, 1945, Stalingrad bears the title of a Hero City.
