Defense of Stalingrad 62nd Army. Yaroslav Ognev
The Battle of Stalingrad surpassed all battles in world history at that time in terms of the duration and ferocity of the fighting, the number of people and military equipment involved.
At certain stages, over 2 million people, up to 2 thousand tanks, more than 2 thousand aircraft, and up to 26 thousand guns took part in it on both sides. The Nazi troops lost more than 800 thousand soldiers and officers killed, wounded, and captured, as well as a large amount of military equipment, weapons and equipment.
Defense of Stalingrad (now Volgograd)
In accordance with the plan for the summer offensive campaign of 1942, the German command, concentrating large forces in the southwestern direction, expected to defeat Soviet troops, enter the Great Bend of the Don, immediately capture Stalingrad and capture the Caucasus, and then resume the offensive in the Moscow direction.
For the attack on Stalingrad, the 6th Army was allocated from Army Group B (commander - Colonel General F. von Paulus). By July 17, it included 13 divisions, which included about 270 thousand people, 3 thousand guns and mortars and about 500 tanks. They were supported by aviation from the 4th Air Fleet - up to 1,200 combat aircraft.
The Headquarters of the Supreme High Command moved the 62nd, 63rd and 64th armies from its reserve to the Stalingrad direction. On July 12, on the basis of the field command of the troops of the Southwestern Front, the Stalingrad Front was created under the command of Marshal of the Soviet Union S.K. Timoshenko. On July 23, Lieutenant General V.N. Gordov was appointed commander of the front. The front also included the 21st, 28th, 38th, 57th combined arms and 8th air armies of the former Southwestern Front, and from July 30 - the 51st Army of the North Caucasus Front. At the same time, the 57th, as well as the 38th and 28th armies, on the basis of which the 1st and 4th tank armies were formed, were in reserve. The Volga military flotilla was subordinate to the front commander.
The newly created front began to carry out the task with only 12 divisions, in which there were 160 thousand soldiers and commanders, 2.2 thousand guns and mortars and about 400 tanks; the 8th Air Army had 454 aircraft.
In addition, 150-200 long-range bombers and 60 air defense fighters were involved. In the initial period of defensive operations near Stalingrad, the enemy outnumbered the Soviet troops in personnel by 1.7 times, in artillery and tanks by 1.3 times, and in the number of aircraft by more than 2 times.
On July 14, 1942, Stalingrad was declared under martial law. On the approaches to the city, four defensive contours were built: external, middle, internal and urban. The entire population, including children, was mobilized to build defensive structures. The factories of Stalingrad completely switched to the production of military products. Militia units and workers' self-defense units were created in factories and enterprises. Civilians, equipment of individual enterprises and material assets were evacuated to the left bank of the Volga.
Defensive battles began on the distant approaches to Stalingrad. The main efforts of the troops of the Stalingrad Front were concentrated in the large bend of the Don, where the 62nd and 64th armies occupied the defense in order to prevent the enemy from crossing the river and breaking through by the shortest route to Stalingrad. From July 17, the forward detachments of these armies fought defensive battles for 6 days at the turn of the Chir and Tsimla rivers. This allowed us to gain time to strengthen the defense on the main line. Despite the steadfastness, courage and tenacity shown by the troops, the armies of the Stalingrad Front were unable to defeat the invading enemy groups, and they had to retreat to the near approaches to the city.
On July 23-29, the 6th German Army attempted to encircle the flanks of the Soviet troops in the large bend of the Don, reach the Kalach area and break through to Stalingrad from the west. As a result of the stubborn defense of the 62nd and 64th armies and a counterattack by formations of the 1st and 4th tank armies, the enemy's plan was thwarted.
Defense of Stalingrad. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
On July 31, the German command turned the 4th Panzer Army Colonel General G. Goth from the Caucasian to the Stalingrad direction. On August 2, its advanced units reached Kotelnikovsky, creating the threat of a breakthrough to the city. Fighting began on the southwestern approaches to Stalingrad.
To facilitate the control of troops stretched over a 500 km zone, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command on August 7 formed a new one from several armies of the Stalingrad Front - the South-Eastern Front, the command of which was entrusted to Colonel General A. I. Eremenko. The main efforts of the Stalingrad Front were directed towards the fight against the 6th German Army, which was attacking Stalingrad from the west and north-west, and the South-Eastern Front - towards the defense of the south-western direction. On August 9-10, troops of the South-Eastern Front launched a counterattack on the 4th Tank Army and forced it to stop.
On August 21, the infantry of the German 6th Army crossed the Don and built bridges, after which the tank divisions moved to Stalingrad. At the same time, Hoth's tanks began attacking from the south and southwest. 23 August 4th Air Army von Richthofen subjected the city to a massive bombardment, dropping more than 1,000 tons of bombs on the city.
Tank formations of the 6th Army moved towards the city, meeting almost no resistance, but in the Gumrak area they had to overcome the positions of anti-aircraft gun crews that had been deployed to fight the tanks until the evening. Nevertheless, on August 23, the 14th Tank Corps of the 6th Army managed to break through to the Volga north of Stalingrad near the village of Latoshinka. The enemy wanted to immediately break into the city through its northern outskirts, but along with army units, militia units, Stalingrad police, the 10th division of the NKVD troops, sailors of the Volga military flotilla, and cadets of military schools stood up to defend the city.
The enemy's breakthrough to the Volga further complicated and worsened the position of the units defending the city. The Soviet command took measures to destroy the enemy group that had broken through to the Volga. Until September 10, the troops of the Stalingrad Front and the Headquarters reserves transferred to it launched continuous counterattacks from the north-west on the left flank of the 6th German Army. It was not possible to push the enemy back from the Volga, but the enemy offensive on the northwestern approaches to Stalingrad was suspended. The 62nd Army found itself cut off from the rest of the troops of the Stalingrad Front and was transferred to the South-Eastern Front.
From September 12, the defense of Stalingrad was entrusted to the 62nd Army, the command of which was taken by General V.I. Chuikov, and troops of the 64th Army General M.S. Shumilov. On the same day, German troops, after another bombing, began an attack on the city from all directions. In the north, the main target was Mamayev Kurgan, from the height of which the crossing of the Volga was clearly visible; in the center, German infantry was making its way to the railway station; in the south, Hoth’s tanks, with the support of infantry, were gradually moving towards the elevator.
On September 13, the Soviet command decided to transfer the 13th Guards Rifle Division to the city. Having crossed the Volga for two nights, the guards pushed back German troops from the area of the central crossing across the Volga and cleared many streets and neighborhoods of them. On September 16, troops of the 62nd Army, supported by aviation, stormed Mamaev Kurgan. Fierce battles for the southern and central parts of the city continued until the end of the month.
On September 21, at the front from Mamayev Kurgan to the Zatsaritsyn part of the city, the Germans launched a new offensive with five divisions. A day later, on September 22, the 62nd Army was cut into two parts: the Germans reached the central crossing north of the Tsaritsa River. From here they had the opportunity to view almost the entire rear of the army and conduct an offensive along the coast, cutting off Soviet units from the river.
By September 26, the Germans managed to come close to the Volga in almost all areas. Nevertheless, Soviet troops continued to hold a narrow strip of the coast, and in some places even individual buildings at some distance from the embankment. Many objects changed hands many times.
The fighting in the city became protracted. Paulus’s troops lacked the strength to finally throw the city’s defenders into the Volga, and the Soviet troops lacked the strength to drive the Germans out of their positions.
The fight was fought for each building, and sometimes for part of the building, floor or basement. Snipers were actively working. The use of aviation and artillery became almost impossible due to the proximity of enemy formations.
From September 27 to October 4, active hostilities were carried out on the northern outskirts for the villages of the Red October and Barricades factories, and from October 4 - for these factories themselves.
At the same time, the Germans launched an attack in the center on Mamayev Kurgan and on the extreme right flank of the 62nd Army in the Orlovka area. By the evening of September 27, Mamayev Kurgan fell. An extremely difficult situation developed in the area of the mouth of the Tsaritsa River, from where Soviet units, experiencing an acute shortage of ammunition and food and having lost control, began to cross to the left bank of the Volga. The 62nd Army responded with counterattacks from newly arriving reserves.
They were rapidly melting, however, the losses of the 6th Army were taking on catastrophic proportions.
It included almost all the armies of the Stalingrad Front, except the 62nd. The commander was appointed General K.K. Rokossovsky. From the South-Eastern Front, whose troops fought in the city and to the south, the Stalingrad Front was formed under the command of General A.I. Eremenko. Each front reported directly to Headquarters.
Commander of the Don Front Konstantin Rokossovsky and General Pavel Batov (right) in a trench near Stalingrad. Reproduction of a photograph. Photo: RIA Novosti
By the end of the first ten days of October, enemy attacks began to weaken, but in the middle of the month Paulus launched a new assault. On October 14, German troops, after powerful air and artillery preparation, went on the attack again.
Several divisions were advancing on an area of about 5 km. This enemy offensive, which lasted almost three weeks, led to the most fierce battle in the city.
On October 15, the Germans managed to capture the Stalingrad Tractor Plant and break through to the Volga, cutting the 62nd Army in half. After this, they began an offensive along the banks of the Volga to the south. On October 17, the 138th Division arrived in the army to support Chuikov’s weakened formations. Fresh forces repulsed enemy attacks, and from October 18, Paulus's ram began to noticeably lose its power.
To ease the situation of the 62nd Army, on October 19, troops of the Don Front went on the offensive from the area north of the city. The territorial success of the flank counterattacks was insignificant, but they delayed the regrouping undertaken by Paulus.
By the end of October, the offensive actions of the 6th Army had slowed down, although in the area between the Barrikady and Red October factories there was no more than 400 m to go to the Volga. Nevertheless, the tension of the fighting eased, and the Germans mostly consolidated the captured positions.
On November 11, the last attempt was made to capture the city. This time the offensive was carried out by five infantry and two tank divisions, reinforced by fresh sapper battalions. The Germans managed to capture another section of the coast 500-600 m long in the area of the Barricades plant, but this was the last success of the 6th Army.
In other areas, Chuikov’s troops held their positions.
The advance of German troops in the Stalingrad direction was finally stopped.
By the end of the defensive period of the Battle of Stalingrad, the 62nd Army held the area north of the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, the Barricades plant and the northeastern quarters of the city center. The 64th Army defended the approaches.
During the defensive battles for Stalingrad, the Wehrmacht, according to Soviet data, lost up to 700 thousand soldiers and officers killed and wounded, more than 1,000 tanks, over 2,000 guns and mortars, and more than 1,400 aircraft in July - November. The total losses of the Red Army in the Stalingrad defensive operation amounted to 643,842 people, 1,426 tanks, 12,137 guns and mortars, and 2,063 aircraft.
Soviet troops exhausted and bled the enemy group operating near Stalingrad, which created favorable conditions for launching a counteroffensive.
Stalingrad offensive operation
By the fall of 1942, the technical re-equipment of the Red Army was basically completed. At factories located deep in the rear and evacuated, mass production of new military equipment was established, which was not only not inferior, but often superior to the equipment and weapons of the Wehrmacht. During the past battles, Soviet troops gained combat experience. The moment came when it was necessary to wrest the initiative from the enemy and begin their mass expulsion from the borders of the Soviet Union.
With the participation of the military councils of the fronts at Headquarters, a plan for the Stalingrad offensive operation was developed.
Soviet troops had to launch a decisive counter-offensive on a front of 400 km, encircle and destroy the enemy strike force concentrated in the Stalingrad area. This task was entrusted to the troops of three fronts - Southwestern ( Commander General N.F. Vatutin), Donskoy ( Commander General K.K. Rokossovsky) and Stalingrad ( Commander General A. I. Eremenko).
The forces of the parties were approximately equal, although the Soviet troops already had a slight superiority over the enemy in tanks, artillery and aviation. In such conditions, for the successful completion of the operation, it was necessary to create a significant superiority in forces in the directions of the main attacks, which was achieved with great skill. Success was ensured primarily due to the fact that special attention was paid to operational camouflage. The troops moved to the given positions only at night, while the radio points of the units remained in the same places, continuing to work, so that the enemy would have the impression that the units remained in the same positions. All correspondence was prohibited, and orders were given only orally, and only to the immediate executors.
The Soviet command concentrated more than a million people on the main attack in a 60 km sector, supported by 900 T-34 tanks fresh from the production line. Such a concentration of military equipment at the front has never happened before.
One of the centers of battles in Stalingrad was the elevator. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
The German command did not show due attention to the position of its Army Group B, because... expected an offensive by Soviet troops against Army Group Center.
Commander of Group B, General Weichs did not agree with this opinion. He was concerned about the bridgehead prepared by the enemy on the right bank of the Don opposite his formations. At his urgent request, by the end of October, several newly formed Luftwaffe field units were transferred to the Don to strengthen the defensive positions of the Italian, Hungarian and Romanian formations.
Weichs' predictions were confirmed in early November when aerial photographs showed several new crossings in the area. Two days later, Hitler ordered the 6th Panzer and two infantry divisions to be transferred from the English Channel to Army Group B as reserve reinforcements for the 8th Italian and 3rd Romanian armies. It took about five weeks to prepare them and transport them to Russia. Hitler, however, did not expect any significant action from the enemy until early December, so, according to his calculations, reinforcements should have arrived on time.
By the second week of November, with the appearance of Soviet tank units on the bridgehead, Weichs no longer doubted that a major offensive was being prepared in the zone of the 3rd Romanian Army, which, possibly, would be directed against the German 4th Panzer Army. Since all his reserves were at Stalingrad, Weichs decided to form a new group within the 48th Panzer Corps, which he placed behind the Romanian 3rd Army. He also transferred the 3rd Romanian Armored Division to this corps and was going to transfer the 29th Motorized Division of the 4th Panzer Army to the same corps, but changed his mind because he expected an offensive also in the area where the Gotha formations were located. However, all the efforts made by Weichs turned out to be clearly insufficient, and the High Command was more interested in increasing the power of the 6th Army for the decisive battle for Stalingrad, rather than in strengthening the weak flanks of General Weichs' formations.
On November 19, at 8:50 a.m., after a powerful, almost one and a half hour artillery preparation, despite fog and heavy snowfall, the troops of the Southwestern and Don Fronts, located northwest of Stalingrad, went on the offensive. The 5th Tank, 1st Guards and 21st Armies acted against the 3rd Romanian Army.
The 5th Tank Army alone consisted of six rifle divisions, two tank corps, one cavalry corps and several artillery, aviation and anti-aircraft missile regiments. Due to the sharp deterioration of weather conditions, aviation was inactive.
It also turned out that during the artillery barrage, the enemy’s fire weapons were not completely suppressed, which is why the advance of the Soviet troops at some point slowed down. Having assessed the situation, the commander of the Southwestern Front, Lieutenant General N.F. Vatutin, decided to introduce tank corps into the battle, which made it possible to finally break into the Romanian defenses and develop the offensive.
On the Don Front, especially fierce battles took place in the offensive zone of the right-flank formations of the 65th Army. The first two lines of enemy trenches, running along the coastal hills, were captured on the move. However, the decisive battles took place over the third line, which ran along the chalk heights. They represented a powerful defense unit. The location of the heights made it possible to bombard all approaches to them with crossfire. All the hollows and steep slopes of the heights were mined and covered with wire fences, and the approaches to them were crossed by deep and winding ravines. The Soviet infantry that reached this line was forced to lie down under heavy fire from dismounted units of the Romanian cavalry division, reinforced by German units.
The enemy carried out fierce counterattacks, trying to push the attackers back to their original position. It was not possible to bypass the heights at that moment, and after a powerful artillery attack, the soldiers of the 304th Infantry Division launched an assault on enemy fortifications. Despite hurricane machine-gun and machine gun fire, by 16:00 the enemy's stubborn resistance was broken.
As a result of the first day of the offensive, the troops of the Southwestern Front achieved the greatest successes. They broke through the defenses in two areas: southwest of the city of Serafimovich and in the Kletskaya area. A gap up to 16 km wide opened in the enemy defenses.
On November 20, the Stalingrad Front went on the offensive south of Stalingrad. This came as a complete surprise to the Germans. The offensive of the Stalingrad Front also began in unfavorable weather conditions.
It was decided to begin artillery training in each army as soon as the necessary conditions for this were created. It was necessary to abandon its simultaneous implementation on a front-line scale, however, as well as aviation training. Due to limited visibility, it was necessary to fire at unobservable targets, with the exception of those guns that were deployed for direct fire. Despite this, the enemy's fire system was largely disrupted.
Soviet soldiers are fighting in the streets. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
After artillery preparation, which lasted 40-75 minutes, formations of the 51st and 57th armies went on the offensive.
Having broken through the defenses of the 4th Romanian Army and repelled numerous counterattacks, they began to develop their success in a western direction. By mid-day, conditions had been created for introducing army mobile groups into the breakthrough.
Rifle formations of the armies advanced after the mobile groups, consolidating the success achieved.
To close the gap, the command of the 4th Romanian Army had to bring its last reserve into the battle - two regiments of the 8th Cavalry Division. But even this could not save the situation. The front collapsed, and the remnants of the Romanian troops fled.
The messages received painted a bleak picture: the front was cut, the Romanians were fleeing the battlefield, and the counterattack of the 48th Tank Corps was thwarted.
The Red Army went on the offensive south of Stalingrad, and the 4th Romanian Army defending there was defeated.
The Luftwaffe command reported that due to bad weather, aviation could not support ground troops. On the operational maps, the prospect of encircling the 6th Army of the Wehrmacht clearly emerged. The red arrows of the attacks of the Soviet troops hung dangerously over its flanks and were about to close in between the Volga and Don rivers. During almost continuous meetings at Hitler's headquarters, there was a feverish search for a way out of the current situation. It was urgent to make a decision about the fate of the 6th Army. Hitler himself, as well as Keitel and Jodl, considered it necessary to hold positions in the Stalingrad area and limit ourselves only to a regrouping of forces. The OKH leadership and the command of Army Group B found the only way to avoid disaster was to withdraw the troops of the 6th Army beyond the Don. However, Hitler's position was categorical. As a result, it was decided to transfer two tank divisions from the North Caucasus to Stalingrad.
The Wehrmacht command still hoped to stop the advance of the Soviet troops with counterattacks from tank formations. The 6th Army received orders to remain in its original location. Hitler assured her command that he would not allow the army to be encircled, and if this did happen, he would take all measures to relieve the blockade.
While the German command was looking for ways to prevent the impending catastrophe, Soviet troops were building on the success they had achieved. During a daring night operation, a unit of the 26th Tank Corps managed to capture the only surviving crossing across the Don near the city of Kalach. The capture of this bridge was of enormous operational significance. The rapid overcoming of this major water barrier by Soviet troops ensured the successful completion of the operation to encircle enemy troops at Stalingrad.
By the end of November 22, the troops of the Stalingrad and Southwestern fronts were separated by only 20-25 km. On the evening of November 22, Stalin ordered the commander of the Stalingrad Front, Eremenko, to link up tomorrow with the advanced troops of the Southwestern Front, which had reached Kalach, and close the encirclement.
Anticipating such a development of events and in order to prevent the complete encirclement of the 6th Field Army, the German command urgently transferred the 14th Tank Corps to the area east of Kalach. Throughout the night of November 23 and the first half of the next day, units of the Soviet 4th Mechanized Corps held back the onslaught of enemy tank units rushing south and did not let them through.
The commander of the 6th Army already at 18:00 on November 22 radioed to the headquarters of Army Group B that the army was surrounded, the ammunition situation was critical, fuel reserves were running out, and there would only be enough food for 12 days. Since the Wehrmacht command on the Don did not have any forces that could relieve the encircled army, Paulus turned to Headquarters with a request for an independent breakthrough from the encirclement. However, his request remained unanswered.
Red Army soldier with a banner. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
Instead, he received orders to immediately head to the cauldron, where he would organize a perimeter defense and wait for outside help.
On November 23, troops from all three fronts continued their offensive. On this day the operation reached its culmination.
Two brigades of the 26th Tank Corps crossed the Don and launched an attack on Kalach in the morning. A stubborn battle ensued. The enemy resisted fiercely, realizing the importance of holding this city. Nevertheless, by 2 p.m. he was driven out of Kalach, where the main supply base for the entire Stalingrad group was located. All the numerous warehouses with fuel, ammunition, food and other military equipment located there were either destroyed by the Germans themselves or captured by Soviet troops.
At about 16:00 on November 23, the troops of the Southwestern and Stalingrad fronts met in the Sovetsky area, thus completing the encirclement of the enemy’s Stalingrad group. Despite the fact that instead of the planned two or three days, the operation took five days to complete, success was achieved.
A depressing atmosphere reigned at Hitler's headquarters after the news of the encirclement of the 6th Army arrived. Despite the obviously catastrophic situation of the 6th Army, Hitler did not even want to hear about the abandonment of Stalingrad, because... in this case, all the successes of the summer offensive in the south would have been nullified, and with them all hopes of conquering the Caucasus would have disappeared. In addition, it was believed that a battle with superior forces of Soviet troops in an open field, in harsh winter conditions, with limited means of transportation, fuel supplies and ammunition, had too little chance of a favorable outcome. Therefore, it is better to gain a foothold in your positions and strive to unblock the group. This point of view was supported by the Air Force Commander-in-Chief, Reichsmarschall G. Goering, who assured the Fuhrer that his aircraft would provide supplies to the encircled group by air. On the morning of November 24, the 6th Army was ordered to take up a perimeter defense and wait for a relief attack from the outside.
Violent passions also flared up at the headquarters of the 6th Army on November 23. The encirclement ring around the 6th Army had just closed, and a decision had to be made urgently. There was still no response to Paulus’s radiogram, in which he requested “freedom of action.” But Paulus did not dare to take responsibility for the breakthrough. By his order, corps commanders gathered for a meeting at army headquarters to develop a plan for further action.
Commander of the 51st Army Corps General W. Seydlitz-Kurzbach spoke in favor of an immediate breakthrough. He was supported by the commander of the 14th Tank Corps General G. Hube.
But the majority of corps commanders, led by the Chief of Army Staff General A. Schmidt spoke out against. Things got to the point that during the heated argument, the commander of the 8th Army Corps, who became enraged, General W. Geitz threatened to shoot Seydlitz himself if he insisted on disobeying the Fuhrer. In the end, everyone agreed that they should approach Hitler for permission to break through. At 23:45, such a radiogram was sent. The answer came the next morning. In it, the troops of the 6th Army, surrounded in Stalingrad, were called “troops of the Stalingrad fortress”, and a breakthrough was denied. Paulus again gathered the corps commanders and conveyed the Fuhrer's order to them.
Some of the generals tried to express their counterarguments, but the army commander rejected all objections.
An urgent transfer of troops from Stalingrad began to the western sector of the front. In a short time, the enemy managed to create a group of six divisions. To pin down his forces in Stalingrad itself, on November 23, the 62nd Army of General V.I. Chuikov went on the offensive. Its troops attacked the Germans at Mamayev Kurgan and in the area of the Red October plant, but met fierce resistance. The depth of their advance during the day did not exceed 100-200 m.
By November 24, the encirclement ring was thin, an attempt to break through it could bring success, it was only necessary to remove troops from the Volga Front. But Paulus was too cautious and indecisive a man, a general who was used to obeying and carefully weighing his actions. He obeyed the order. He subsequently admitted to his staff officers: “It is possible that the daredevil Reichenau after November 19, he would have made his way to the west with the 6th Army and then told Hitler: “Now you can judge me.” But, you know, unfortunately, I am not Reichenau.”
On November 27, the Fuhrer ordered Field Marshal von Manstein prepare a relief blockade for the 6th Field Army. Hitler relied on new heavy tanks, the Tigers, hoping that they would be able to break through the encirclement from the outside. Despite the fact that these vehicles had not yet been tested in combat and no one knew how they would behave in the Russian winter, he believed that even one Tiger battalion could radically change the situation at Stalingrad.
While Manstein was receiving reinforcements arriving from the Caucasus and preparing the operation, Soviet troops expanded the outer ring and strengthened it. When Hoth's tank group made a breakthrough on December 12, it was able to break through the positions of the Soviet troops, and its advanced units were separated from Paulus by less than 50 km. But Hitler forbade Friedrich Paulus to expose the Volga Front and, leaving Stalingrad, to fight his way towards Hoth’s “tigers,” which finally decided the fate of the 6th Army.
By January 1943, the enemy was driven back from the Stalingrad “cauldron” to 170-250 km. The death of the encircled troops became inevitable. Almost the entire territory they occupied was covered by Soviet artillery fire. Despite Goering’s promise, in practice, the average daily power of aviation in supplying the 6th Army could not exceed 100 tons instead of the required 500. In addition, the delivery of goods to the encircled groups in Stalingrad and other “cauldrons” caused huge losses in German aviation.
The ruins of the Barmaley fountain, which became one of the symbols of Stalingrad. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
On January 10, 1943, Colonel General Paulus, despite the hopeless situation of his army, refused to capitulate, trying to pin down the Soviet troops surrounding him as much as possible. On the same day, the Red Army began an operation to destroy the 6th Field Army of the Wehrmacht. In the last days of January, Soviet troops pushed the remnants of Paulus's army into a small area of the completely destroyed city and dismembered the Wehrmacht units continuing to defend. On January 24, 1943, General Paulus sent Hitler one of the last radiograms, in which he reported that the group was on the verge of destruction and proposed to evacuate valuable specialists. Hitler again forbade the remnants of the 6th Army to break through to his own and refused to remove anyone from the “cauldron” except the wounded.
On the night of January 31, the 38th Motorized Rifle Brigade and the 329th Engineer Battalion blocked the area of the department store where Paulus' headquarters was located. The last radiogram that the commander of the 6th Army received was an order to promote him to field marshal, which the headquarters regarded as an invitation to suicide. Early in the morning, two Soviet envoys made their way into the basement of a dilapidated building and gave the field marshal an ultimatum. In the afternoon, Paulus rose to the surface and went to the headquarters of the Don Front, where Rokossovsky was waiting for him with the text of surrender. However, despite the fact that the field marshal surrendered and signed the capitulation, in the northern part of Stalingrad the German garrison under the command of Colonel General Stecker refused to accept the terms of surrender and was destroyed by concentrated heavy artillery fire. At 16.00 on February 2, 1943, the terms of surrender of the 6th Wehrmacht Field Army came into force.
Hitler's government declared mourning in the country.
For three days the funeral ringing of church bells sounded over German cities and villages.
Since the Great Patriotic War, Soviet historical literature has stated that a 330,000-strong enemy group was surrounded in the Stalingrad area, although this figure is not confirmed by any documentary data.
The German side's point of view on this issue is ambiguous. However, with all the diversity of opinions, the figure most often cited is 250-280 thousand people. This value is consistent with the total number of evacuees (25 thousand people), captured (91 thousand people) and enemy soldiers killed and buried in the battle area (about 160 thousand). The vast majority of those who surrendered also died from hypothermia and typhus, and after almost 12 years in Soviet camps, only 6 thousand people returned to their homeland.
Kotelnikovsky operation Having completed the encirclement of a large group of German troops near Stalingrad, the troops of the 51st Army of the Stalingrad Front (commander - Colonel General A.I. Eremenko) in November 1942 came from the north to the approaches to the village of Kotelnikovsky, where they gained a foothold and went on the defensive.
The German command made every effort to break through a corridor to the 6th Army surrounded by Soviet troops. For this purpose, in early December in the area of the village. Kotelnikovsky, a strike force was created consisting of 13 divisions (including 3 tank and 1 motorized) and a number of reinforcement units under the command of Colonel General G. Goth - the army group "Goth". The group included a battalion of heavy Tiger tanks, which were first used on the southern sector of the Soviet-German front. In the direction of the main attack, which was delivered along the Kotelnikovsky-Stalingrad railway, the enemy managed to create a temporary advantage over the defending troops of the 51st Army in men and artillery by 2 times, and in the number of tanks by more than 6 times.
They broke through the defenses of the Soviet troops and on the second day reached the area of the village of Verkhnekumsky. In order to divert part of the forces of the shock group, on December 14, in the area of the village of Nizhnechirskaya, the 5th Shock Army of the Stalingrad Front went on the offensive. She broke through the German defenses and captured the village, but the position of the 51st Army remained difficult. The enemy continued the offensive, while the army and the front no longer had any reserves left. The Soviet Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, trying to prevent the enemy from breaking through and releasing the encircled German troops, allocated the 2nd Guards Army and the Mechanized Corps from its reserve to strengthen the Stalingrad Front, assigning them the task of defeating the enemy strike force.
On December 19, having suffered significant losses, Goth's group reached the Myshkova River. There were 35-40 km left to the encircled group, but Paulus’s troops were ordered to remain in their positions and not launch a counterattack, and Hoth was no longer able to advance further.
On December 24, having jointly created approximately double superiority over the enemy, the 2nd Guards and 51st armies, with the assistance of part of the forces of the 5th Shock Army, went on the offensive. The main blow against the Kotelnikov group was delivered by the 2nd Guards Army with fresh forces. The 51st Army attacked Kotelnikovsky from the east, while simultaneously enveloping the Gotha group from the south with tank and mechanized corps. On the first day of the offensive, troops of the 2nd Guards Army broke through the enemy's battle formations and captured crossings across the Myshkova River. Mobile formations were introduced into the breakthrough and began to rapidly advance towards Kotelnikovsky.
On December 27, the 7th Tank Corps approached Kotelnikovsky from the west, and the 6th Mechanized Corps bypassed Kotelnikovsky from the southeast. At the same time, the tank and mechanized corps of the 51st Army cut off the enemy group’s escape route to the southwest. Continuous attacks on the retreating enemy troops were carried out by aircraft of the 8th Air Army. On December 29, Kotelnikovsky was released and the threat of an enemy breakthrough was finally eliminated.
As a result of the Soviet counteroffensive, the enemy's attempt to relieve the 6th Army encircled at Stalingrad was thwarted, and German troops were thrown back 200-250 km from the outer front of the encirclement.
62nd ARMYformed on July 10, 1942 on the basis of the directive of the Supreme High Command Headquarters dated July 9, 1942 on the basis of the 7th Reserve Army with direct subordination to the Supreme High Command Headquarters. Initially it included the 33rd Guards, 147th, 181st, 184th, 192nd and 196th Rifle Divisions, 121st Tank Brigade, artillery and other units.
On July 12, 1942, the army was included in the newly created Stalingrad Front. At the beginning of the defensive battle on the approaches to Stalingrad, the forces of the advanced detachments of the army fought stubborn battles with the vanguards of the German 6th Army at the turn of the Chir River. From July 23, the main forces repelled fierce enemy attacks on the Kletskaya defensive line, north of Surovikino. Under the blows of numerically superior enemy forces, the army troops were forced to retreat to the left bank of the Don. By mid-August, they secured positions along the outer defensive waterway of Stalingrad - from Vertyachiy to Lyapichev and continued to fight stubborn battles.
After the enemy broke through the outer contour and his troops reached the Volga north of Stalingrad, the army on August 30 was transferred to the South-Eastern (from September 30 - Stalingrad Front of the 2nd formation) front.
By decision of the commander of the front troops, by August 31, the main forces of the army retreated to the middle, and on September 2 - to the internal defensive contour of Stalingrad and entrenched themselves on the line Rynok - Orlovka - Gumrak - Peschanka. From September 13, the army troops fought defensive battles for more than two months. By the end of the defensive operation (July 17 - November 18), they held the area north of the tractor plant, the Lower Village of the Barricades plant, individual workshops of the Red October plant and several blocks in the city center.
With the start of the Stalingrad strategic offensive operation (November 19, 1942 - February 2, 1943), the army continued to fight in Stalingrad, pinning down enemy forces. At the same time, its troops were preparing to go on the offensive.
On January 1, 1943, the army was transferred to the Don Front and, as part of it, participated in the operation to eliminate the group of German troops encircled near Stalingrad.
After the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, from February 6, she was part of a group of troops under the command of Lieutenant General K.P. Trubnikov (from February 27 - the Stalingrad Group of Forces), which was in the reserve of the Supreme High Command Headquarters.
In March - April, as part of the South-Western Front (from March 20), the army participated in the construction of a front defensive line on the left bank of the Oskol River.
On May 5, 1943, the army was transformed into the 8th Guards Army.
Army commanders: Major General Kolpakchi V. Ya. (July-August 1942); Lieutenant General Lopatin A.I. (August - September 1942); Major General N. I. Krylov (September 1942); Lieutenant General Chuikov V.I. (September 1942 - April 1943)
Members of the Army Military Council: divisional commissar, from December 1942 - Lieutenant General K. A. Gurov (July 1942 - February 1943); Colonel Lebedev V.M. (February - March 1943)
Chiefs of Army Staff: Major General Moskvin N.A. (July - August 1942); Colonel, from October 1942 - Major General I. A. Laskin (August - September 1942); Colonel Kamynin S.M. (September 1942); Major General N. I. Krylov (September 1942 - March 1943)
These days, the word - Stalingrad - has become, as it were, a greeting exchanged between honest people in all corners of the globe. And everyone who hates Hitler’s Germany and its barbarian hordes thinks admiringly of the valiant 62nd army defending the mighty city on the Volga with a military splendor unprecedented in the history of mankind.
The People's Commissariat of Defense went to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR with a petition to establish special medals to award all participants in the defense of the four hero cities. The petition, which mentions the armies defending Stalingrad, emphasizes the special role of the 62nd Army, which repelled the main German attacks on the city, its commander, Lieutenant General Chuikov, and his main assistants - Colonel Gorokhov, Major General Rodimtsev, Major General Guryev, Colonel Bolvinov, Colonel Gurtiev, Colonel Saraev, Colonel Skvortsov and others, as well as artillerymen and pilots.
At all times, glorified, selected units existed in the armies of all nations. The men-at-arms of Alexander the Great, the veterans of Turenne, the old grenadiers of Napoleon, the experienced soldiers of Wellington more than once decided the fate of the battle where other troops were powerless to achieve success. These proven warriors took to the battlefields in the aura of their sparkling glory, fully armed with many years of experience. The Red Army is young. Its regiments were tempered in the fire of the Patriotic War and, like steel that passed through the crucible of a discerning master, they turned into a formidable and noble sword of the people.
But the goal of our struggle against the enemy is so lofty, and the principles of the Bolshevik military organization are so viable, that every day of battle brings forward more and more new combat formations into the ranks of the Soviet first-class troops. In the young Red Army, the 62nd Army is one of the youngest in age and already the most distinguished in its military skill. Its actions in Stalingrad show the mighty strength of our reserve formations. With the firm hand of a brilliant sculptor, our fatherland is carving out the unshakable Soviet troops from the granite of the people's material. This is what it is!
It came to Stalingrad in those days when only a thin chain of our troops blocked the way forward for enemy divisions. The ability to maneuver at lightning speed was the first thing that the 62nd Army showed at that critical time. Only flexible maneuverability could save the situation then. And the army skillfully transferred its battalions and regiments along the front, and was not afraid to remove units from one area and send them to where they were most needed at that very moment. The army skillfully plugged the gaps into which the enemy’s force was ready to pour in, broke the enemy’s wedges, and forced him to rush feverishly in all directions in front of the city defense line that was just being created. The Germans, confident that they would take Stalingrad on the move, were forced to stop in front of dozens of deadly steel needles, with which the army’s battle formation bristled alternately and from different sides.
The Germans firmly believed that the city would soon fall. They were hypnotized by the power of their technique. From the experience of past wars, they knew that for a long time, since large armies with their powerful artillery learned to mechanically destroy strong fortifications, cities had lost the desire to put their strength on the line just to delay surrender for a while. But the general course of the Red Army’s battles with the Germans showed that Soviet cities play a huge role in our defense system, as nodes connecting the strategic fabric of the entire war. This happened with Stalingrad. First of all, thanks to the 62nd Army, the city became a true shield against the German advance, blocking their path to our Volga and Ural rear.
Having occupied the defensive lines, the 62nd Army did not retreat a single step from them. “Our army is not retreating back,” say its soldiers, who nicknamed their army commander “General Persistence.” How can we explain the fact that some streets were in the hands of the enemy? And in response to this question, the greatest courage of the soldiers of the 62nd Army is revealed, their contempt for death in the name of victory. A large building of the city. They withstood dozens of fierce German attacks. Who retreated? Nobody. Only some time later, one seriously wounded Red Army soldier crawled out of the building. The rest of the battalion's men laid down their heads, every last one, and only after that the Germans moved forward. The battalion did not retreat, it remained in place. The soldiers of the 62nd Army are not retreating!
Who now does not know about the unparalleled courage of four armor-piercing soldiers - Boloto, Aleinikov, Samoilov and Belikov! These are the defenders of Stalingrad, soldiers of the 62nd Army! Throughout our country and beyond its borders, the feat of 33 Soviet soldiers who repelled the fierce attack of 70 fascist armored vehicles is known. These are the defenders of Stalingrad, soldiers of the 62nd Army! What these heroes did is not an exception, but the law of behavior of army soldiers who decided to die, but not retreat, not surrender to the enemy a city where every stone is sacred to the Soviet people. Sniper Vasily Zaitsev, who killed 40 Nazis, while receiving a government award, said: “Please tell Comrade Stalin that for us, the soldiers and commanders of the 62nd Army, there is no land beyond the Volga. We ".
The army carried out a truly active defense. Not only did she not retreat and held her positions to the end. Reflecting the enemy's attacks, units of the 62nd Army attacked him themselves, made bold forays, took the initiative into their own hands and forced the enemy to defend. The 62nd army forever left in the history of military art not only examples of active defense, but also itself as a whole, as an extraordinary military organism that developed perfect, never before used forms of street fighting. She brought the protection of buildings, dilapidated walls, individual floors, rooms and even staircases to a high military level, using all types of technical means of combat. Going through the harsh school of military experience, the young army simultaneously created a university of urban warfare through its actions.
The military theorist of the past, Clausewitz, wrote: “If there had been such a country where populated areas were defended by their inhabitants and the surrounding peasants, then in this country the speed of the war would be so weakened, and the attacked people would put pressure on the scales with such a large part of all efforts , of which he is capable, that the talent and willpower of the enemy commander would be completely suppressed.” Yes, such a country exists! This is our Soviet Union. When the 62nd Army approached Stalingrad, the units of Colonels Saraev, Gorokhov and General Rodimtsev were completely joined by numerous detachments formed from volunteers - Stalingrad workers. Yesterday's mechanics, blacksmiths, and carpenters became stern warriors, first in bravery, courage and heroism. Having dissolved in the mass of fighters, they formed with them that noble metal alloy, which turned out to be able to withstand any test.
The commanders of the 62nd Army units are genuine Soviet military leaders who mastered the science of leading troops and skillfully led battles. Colonel Gorokhov's formation, almost completely surrounded on a piece of Volga land, skillfully repulsed the enemy's blows for a long time and paralyzed all his efforts to achieve the slightest success. Now, after a month and a half siege, the formation has gained strong cooperation with its neighbor and is already leading an offensive against the enemy. The military talents of generals Rodimtsev and Guryev, colonels Bolvinov, Gurtiev and Skvortsov also played a huge role in the successful defense of the city. The Soviet country now repeats their names with great gratitude.
The resilience of the 62nd Army, which amazed the whole world, enabled our command to gather forces, go on the offensive and inflict a heavy defeat on the Nazi hordes. The enemy is still holding out in Stalingrad, street battles are still raging, German machine gunners are still darting about among the destroyed houses, the clang of enemy tanks is still heard on the streets of Stalingrad, but the valiant 62nd Army is already clearing the Nazis from the Nazis one house after another, meter by meter.
The glory of the 62nd Army will survive centuries. Years will pass. The battlefields torn apart by shells will be overgrown with green grass, new bright buildings will rise in free Stalingrad, and the veteran warrior will proudly say:
Yes, I fought under the banner of the valiant sixty-second!
_______________________________
("The New York Times", USA)
* ("Red Star", USSR)
(The Times, UK)
("The New York Times", USA)
("The New York Times", USA)
("The New York Times", USA)
* ("Red Star", USSR)
* (Izvestia, USSR)
NORTHWEST OF STALINGRAD
**************************************** **************************************** *********************************
Churchill's radio speech
LONDON, November 30. (TASS). According to Reuters, in his radio speech on the evening of November 29, Churchill said:
… “The Italian people had no need to go to war. Nobody was going to attack him. We did everything we could to convince him to remain neutral. But Mussolini could not resist the temptation to stab defeated France and England, which he considered powerless, in the back. In vain I warned him. He didn't want to listen. The wise and perspicacious calls of the US President met with deaf ears and a stony heart. A hyena by nature, Mussolini violates all boundaries of decency, not to mention common sense. Today his empire has disappeared. Over 100 Italian generals and almost 300 thousand soldiers are in our hands as prisoners of war. Agony is engulfing the beautiful country of Italy.”…
The gigantic battle, which has already brought results of the utmost importance, is approaching its climax. It should be remembered that this is only part of the vast Russian front, stretching from the White to the Black Sea, and on this front the Russians attack at many points. Second Russian winter. 180 German divisions, many of which were reduced to brigade size as a result of losses and hardships, and an army of pathetic Italians, Romanians and Hungarians, torn from their homes by the fantasy of a maniac, retreating, staggering, under the fire and lead of the Soviet avenging armies, must prepare with weakened strength and increased fear for a new portion of what they had already received last year. They can take comfort in the knowledge that they are commanded and led not by the General Staff, but by Corporal Hitler himself."
MUSSOLINI REMOVES "UNRELIABLE ELEMENTS" FROM THE ITALIAN ARMY
LONDON, November 30. (TASS). The News Chronicle, citing reliable information received in London, reports that the Italian fascist authorities are removing “unreliable elements” from the Italian army. Recently, 570 handcuffed Italian soldiers were brought to the port town of Civita Vecchia, near Rome, under heavy police guard. They were brought to the city in the dead of night and immediately transferred to the transport ship Polluce. As they say, soldiers sentenced to 15-20 years in prison are sent to the small island of Asinara (off the northwestern coast of Sardinia). A special prison has been created there for soldiers accused of “subversive acts.” This prison is a real "house of death."
**************************************** **************************************** *********************************
NORTHWEST OF STALINGRAD. The soldiers of the unit commanded by Colonel Shekhtman occupy the village.
A photo of a special photocorr. TASS photo chronicles E. Evzerikhin
**************************************** **************************************** *********************************
STALINGRAD FRONT, November 30. (By telegraph from our correspondent). In the northern part of Stalingrad, the enemy, without showing much activity, fired machine guns and mortars. Our units in some areas advanced in small groups in order to improve their positions. In the area of the plant, one of our blocking detachments captured three dugouts, destroying up to 70 Nazis. A detachment operating in the neighborhood exterminated up to 100 fascist soldiers and officers.
Our artillery inflicts great damage on the enemy. Yesterday the artillerymen, firing mainly with direct fire, destroyed 3 enemy cannons, 9 machine guns and 2 vehicles, destroyed 11 bunkers and 15 dugouts, scattered and partially consumed up to three battalions of enemy infantry.
To the south of the city center, our troops, overcoming the stubborn resistance of the Germans, are in active combat. The enemy suffered great damage. In the area southwest of Stalingrad, our units continued to conduct offensive battles. The enemy offered stubborn resistance and launched frequent counterattacks with the participation of tanks. The Germans launched their most powerful counterattack in the area of one settlement. Here they threw up to a battalion of infantry and 30 tanks into battle. The counterattack was repulsed. The enemy lost up to 150 soldiers and officers killed and seven tanks, of which four were burned and three were destroyed.
Some time later, the Germans again repeated the counterattack in this area, but it was also unsuccessful. Having lost up to 200 soldiers and officers killed and four tanks, the Nazis retreated to their original position.
Along the railroad running southwest from the city, Soviet troops continued to pursue retreating enemy groups and fought with their rearguards. A number of settlements are occupied. In all other sectors, our troops consolidated on the achieved lines.
A daring raid on enemy positions
BRYANSK FRONT, November 30. (By telegraph). At dawn, a group of our machine gunners, consisting of eight people, under the command of Senior Sergeant Borisov, carefully approached the German wire fence. The commander inspected the passage made in advance and let us know that we could move on. The wire was left behind, there were German trenches nearby, and the soldiers soon began to advance at a crawl.
Here is the enemy dugout. A sleepy German came out from there. Senior Sergeant Borisov threw a grenade at him, killing the fascist on the spot. This was the signal for the attack. The machine gunners immediately rushed to the dugout and threw grenades at it.
There was a commotion in the enemy camp, and indiscriminate firing from machine guns and machine guns began. 12 Germans ran out from a nearby dugout. Our machine gunners met them with point-blank fire and grenades. On the left, along the line of communication, 15 fascists tried to get behind the group of daredevils. Red Army soldier Smorkalov promptly noticed the enemy's trick. He threw a grenade and killed four Nazis. Soon this group of Germans was scattered.
Having completed the task, the machine gunners, under the cover of machine-gun fire, retreated to their positions.
COMBAT ACTIONS OF EXCELLENT SHOOTERS
NORTHWEST FRONT, November 30. (By telegraph). On one of the sectors of the North-Western Front there are snipers and excellent marksmen every day. In the last four days alone they destroyed 373 fascists.
Every day, new groups of fighters go to the forefront to hunt down the enemy. Their well-aimed bullets lie in wait for the Germans at every turn. Having taken a comfortable position, Comrade. Vasiliev killed five fascists in one day, and destroyed the same number of comrade. Mitenkov. Soldiers Patrushenko and Kurochkin killed seven Germans each in two days.
**************************************** **************************************** *********************************
Field repair of tanks
VORONEZH FRONT, November 30. (By telegraph from our correspondent). The repair unit under the command of Major Augustov became widely known in active units. During the autumn battles, repairmen in the field quickly restored failed tanks. Under the leadership of Major Augustov and his technical assistant, Captain Lobachev, in three weeks, the soldiers carried out current and medium repairs of 150 tanks, returning them to service. Many of these vehicles took part in hot battles near Voronezh several times.
The department has a good repair of optical instruments. Junior military technician Tatarenko collects lenses from broken optical sights, cleans them and puts them to use. In one month, he assembled 23 optical sights. The repair of tank guns has been organized in the same way. Technician Lieutenant Sinitsyn and Brigadier Korotenko are restoring broken guns, changing barrels, and sorting out mechanisms.
Every month the unit repairs tank engines and vehicles beyond the plan. In a short period of time, it restored about 600 different combat and auxiliary vehicles.
**************************************** **************************************** *********************************
DISPLAY LENIN ROOM
ACTIVE ARMY, November 30. (By telegraph from our correspondent). For the upcoming seminar of army agitators, the House of the Red Army of the N formation, operating in the Voronezh region, equipped a demonstrative Lenin room. This room is a model for a battalion Lenin dugout.
On the walls hang boards with materials for Comrade Stalin’s report of November 6, 1942. There is a board for, there is also a map of the North African theater of military operations, newspaper clippings on the current moment, a shield with portraits of the heroes of our front. The walls are decorated with slogans and posters. There is also a world map and a map of the Soviet Union hanging.
On the tables are the latest editions of the Red Army Soldier's Library. On other tables there are chess, checkers, and dominoes.
The agitators who arrived from the units eagerly visited and inspected the Lenin demonstration room with interest.
**************************************** **************************************** *********************************
NORTHWEST OF STALINGRAD. Enemy military equipment destroyed by our troops.
A photo of a special photocorr. TASS photo chronicles E. Evzerikhin
**************************************** **************************************** *********************************
From the Soviet Information Bureau
In the northern part of the city of Stalingrad, large forces of enemy infantry attacked our positions. With a counterattack, Soviet soldiers threw the Nazis back to their original positions, destroying 450 enemy soldiers and officers. In the factory village, the N unit exterminated 200 Nazis and knocked out 2 German tanks.
North-west of Stalingrad, our troops, overcoming enemy resistance and repelling his counterattacks, continued to advance forward. In battles in one area yesterday, our units destroyed up to 1,500 enemy soldiers and officers. 66 guns, 2 serviceable aircraft, up to 200 vehicles with military cargo, 7 tanks, 6 tractors, 2 ammunition depots, 80 barrels of aviation gasoline and other trophies were captured. In another area, our fighters occupied a populated area after a fierce battle. On the approaches to the settlement and on its streets, 800 enemy corpses were counted. 11 German tanks were knocked out and captured.
Our pilots shot down 12 German fighters, 6 bombers and 46 transport aircraft in air battles and destroyed them at enemy airfields near Stalingrad. In total, 64 German aircraft were destroyed within 24 hours.
South-west of Stalingrad, our troops continued their offensive and occupied several settlements. The soldiers of one of our formations destroyed 700 Nazis and captured 8 guns, 35 machine guns, 19 mortars, an ammunition depot and 2 clothing warehouses. Soviet artillery advances along with the infantry and inflicts heavy losses on the enemy. In two days, the artillerymen of the N unit knocked out 22 German tanks, destroyed 14 guns, up to 40 vehicles, scattered and partially destroyed up to two enemy infantry battalions.
The Nazi scoundrels completely robbed the peasants of the village of Vystavka, Leningrad Region. They took the peasants' livestock, food and personal belongings. Hitler's executioners shot and hanged 17 villagers. Collective farmer Ignatius Savelyev, his wife and.
In the northern part of the city of Stalingrad, the enemy launched attacks in the area of a workers' village occupied by our troops. Our troops repelled the attacks of the Nazis and destroyed over 750 enemy soldiers and officers. 13 machine guns, 165 rifles, several mortars and anti-tank rifles were captured. On the southern outskirts of the city, our units advanced 300-400 meters. On the battlefield. Weapons and ammunition were seized.
North-west of Stalingrad, our troops continued to wage stubborn offensive battles. The enemy tried to delay the advance of Soviet units with counterattacks. All attacks of the Nazis were repulsed with heavy losses. During the day, 1,400 enemy soldiers and officers, 13 guns and 90 vehicles were destroyed. Many prisoners were taken. 19 guns, 47 machine guns and 2 ammunition depots were captured. Our fighters, overcoming enemy resistance, occupied several fortified settlements.
South-west of Stalingrad, our troops moved forward in part and occupied several settlements. In other areas, our units repelled fierce attacks by the Nazis. Enemy. According to incomplete data, over 1,000 enemy soldiers and officers, 15 tanks, 20 guns, 15 mortars, 48 machine guns were destroyed and 30 bunkers were destroyed. Trophies captured: 28 guns, 200 vehicles, 500,000 shells, over 2 million cartridges and various military equipment. N's cavalry unit successfully pursues the retreating Nazis.
Our pilots shot down 11 German transport aircraft.
In the factory part of the city of Stalingrad, our troops conducted fire combat and reconnaissance of the enemy’s defenses. Artillery and mortar fire destroyed up to a battalion of German infantry, 3 artillery batteries, 21 machine guns, and destroyed 38 bunkers and dugouts. On the southern outskirts of the city, fighters from the N-unit launched a night attack and cleared 12 bunkers and dugouts from the Nazis.
North-west of Stalingrad, our troops, having broken through a new line of enemy defense along the eastern bank of the Don, fought forward. During the night, up to 1,000 German soldiers and officers were destroyed. N-Rifle Unit, acting together with tankers under the command of Comrade. Granovsky and artillerymen under the command of Comrade. Glebova, occupied an important enemy fortified point and moved forward several kilometers.
South-west of Stalingrad, our troops continued their successful offensive. Soldiers of the N-unit, repelling an enemy counterattack, burned and knocked out 11 German tanks and destroyed over 200 German machine gunners. 3 enemy aircraft were shot down by anti-aircraft artillery fire. In another area, our units occupied a populated area and captured 50 wagons with ammunition, 3 wagons with medicine, an ammunition depot, a fuel depot, a food depot, 36 guns, 50 motorcycles, 100 bicycles and other military property.
On the Central sector of the front, our troops, overcoming resistance and repelling German counterattacks, moved forward and occupied several settlements. The soldiers of the N-unit in a stubborn battle destroyed 7 German tanks and 350 Nazis. In another sector, our units captured an enemy stronghold and captured 8 guns, 14 machine guns, 3 mortars, a radio station and an ammunition depot. Up to 600 enemy corpses remained on the battlefield.
Southeast of Nalchik, enemy infantry and tanks launched an attack. Artillerymen under the command of Comrade. Lyubimov was knocked out by 3 German tanks. The enemy infantry following the tanks was scattered by the fire of the machine gunners of the unit under the command of Comrade. Kravtsova. The enemy suffered heavy losses and retreated to their original positions.
A partisan detachment operating in the Baranovichi region derailed 3 railway trains with manpower and 5 trains with enemy military equipment. More than 300 German soldiers and officers were killed, 8 locomotives and 82 carriages were destroyed.
After the liberation of the village of Yagodny, Stalingrad region, from the German invaders, a group of soldiers and commanders of the Red Army drew up an act as follows: “Fascist German robbers ruined the collective farmers of the village and. Of the 144 houses and other buildings, 135 were destroyed and destroyed by the Nazis. German bandits slaughtered all the livestock and destroyed the orchards. The Nazis caused losses to the collective farm and collective farmers amounting to several million rubles.”
In the factory area of Stalingrad, our units fought a firefight with the enemy. On the southern outskirts of the city, our troops conducted active combat operations and cleared a number of bunkers and dugouts from the Nazis. In one sector, two battalions of German infantry with 30 tanks tried to counterattack our units. Having lost up to 200 soldiers and officers and 7 tanks in this battle, the enemy retreated to their original positions.
North-west of Stalingrad, our troops fought deep in the enemy’s defenses on the eastern bank of the Don. Several fortifications with an extensive system of communication passages, bunkers, anti-tank and anti-personnel obstacles are occupied. Over 800 German soldiers and officers, 12 tanks, 29 guns and 47 machine guns were destroyed. In the fortified point of Vertyachiy, occupied yesterday by our units, 17 German tanks, 5 guns, 110 vehicles, 17 motorcycles, 50 carts, an ammunition warehouse and a fodder warehouse were captured.
South-west of Stalingrad, our troops, overcoming stubborn enemy resistance and repelling his counterattacks, continued their successful offensive. During the day, up to 1,500 enemy soldiers and officers, 12 tanks, 15 guns, 14 mortars, 65 machine guns were destroyed in battles, 36 bunkers and dugouts were destroyed. The soldiers under the command of Comrade. Cherny knocked the Germans out of the settlement, which they had turned into a fortified defense center. Unable to withstand the combined attack of artillery, tanks and infantry, the enemy, abandoning weapons and military equipment, hastily retreated. More than 300 enemy corpses were counted on the streets of the village. 9 guns, 42 machine guns were destroyed, several warehouses with military equipment were captured. .
On the Central Front, our troops fought stubborn offensive battles and occupied a number of settlements. The enemy, relying on heavily fortified defense units, throws incoming reserves into counterattacks. Reflecting counterattacks and moving forward, Soviet units inflict heavy losses on the Germans. The soldiers of the N-unit in the settlement that had just been liberated from the Nazis counted 650 enemy corpses and 7 burnt tanks. 6 guns, 19 machine guns, an ammunition depot, a food depot and a lot of various military property were captured. In another sector, our troops inflicted a great defeat on units of one enemy division. Hundreds of dead Germans remained on the battlefield. Our soldiers captured 16 guns and 6 German tanks.
Our pilots in air battles and anti-aircraft artillery fire over the battlefield.
A group of Leningrad partisans derailed a German railway train. As a result of the crash, a locomotive and 25 carriages were destroyed. Train traffic on this section of the railway was stopped for two days.
South-east of Nalchik, Soviet units recently occupied an Ossetian village. They established that Hitler's bandits during the occupation. The Nazis went from house to house and took away food, clothing and all things of any value. Robbery and robbery were accompanied by abuse of old people and women. The bandits beat the collective farmers Kostueva and Kokoeva with ramrods. The seventy-year-old old man Saltanov died from beatings inflicted on him by the Nazis. Our soldiers are under the ruins of a collective farm stable. It was established that the Nazi scoundrels tortured the captured Red Army soldiers and then shot them.
German newspapers report arrests and executions of people “expressing dissatisfaction with the war and disbelief in Germany’s victory.” In Leipzig, the SS and police arrested 130 workers. In Dresden, a large group of fascist officials were fired and arrested “for indifference and passivity in the fight against disgruntled elements.” The Nazis intensified repression against foreign workers. At one military plant in Berlin, they arrested 80 Italians and Frenchmen who did not meet production standards. // .
________________________________________ ________
("The New York Times", USA)
("The New York Times", USA)
("The New York Times", USA)
("The New York Times", USA)
("The New York Times", USA)
("The New York Times", USA)
("Das Reich", Germany)
Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov - Soviet military leader, in 1955 he became Marshal of the Soviet Union, twice Hero of the Soviet Union (1944 and 1945). Born February 12, 1900, died March 18, 1982. During the Great Patriotic War, he commanded the 62nd Army, which particularly distinguished itself during the Battle of Stalingrad. On May 4, 1970, for the special merits that he showed during the days of the defense of the city and the defeat of the Nazi troops at Stalingrad, Chuikov was awarded the title “Honorary Citizen of the Hero City of Volgograd.” According to the will drawn up by the marshal, he was buried in Volgograd on the famous Mamayev Kurgan at the foot of the majestic Motherland monument.
The future Marshal of the Soviet Union was born in the small village of Serebryanye Prudy, located in the Venevsky district of the Tula Province, in the family of a hereditary peasant farmer Ivan Ionovich Chuikov. The Chuikov family was very large; Ivan Ionovich had 8 sons and 4 daughters. It was quite difficult to maintain such a crowd. Therefore, from childhood, Vasily learned about hard peasant labor and what working in the field is like from dawn to dusk. In order to help his family at the age of 12, Chuikov left his home and went to Petrograd to earn money. In the capital, he becomes an apprentice in a spur workshop. At that time, the tsarist army needed a lot of spurs. In the workshop, Vasily Chuikov learned to be a mechanic, and here he was caught by the First World War. Almost all the adult workers went to the front, and old people and children remained working at the workbenches.
In September 1917, the demand for spurs waned, the workshop for their production closed and Vasily Chuikov was left without a job. Having listened to the instructions of his older brothers, who were already serving in the navy, he volunteered to serve. In October 1917, he was enlisted as a cabin boy in a mine training detachment located in Kronstadt. This is how Vasily Chuikov ended up in military service, which turned out to be his calling and his life’s work.
In 1918, Vasily Chuikov became a cadet at the first Moscow military instruction courses of the Red Army; in July 1918, he took part in suppressing the rebellion of the left Socialist Revolutionaries in Moscow. Since 1919 he became a member of the RCP (b). During the Civil War, thanks to his capabilities and talent, he made an excellent career, starting as an assistant company commander, at the age of 19 he already commanded an entire rifle regiment, fought on the Southern, Eastern and Western fronts. For his participation in battles and his bravery, he was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner, as well as a gold and personalized gold watch.
The most important thing was that during the Civil War, Chuikov understood what it meant to command people in battle and what responsibility lay with the command staff for the accomplishment of assigned tasks and the lives of soldiers. During the Civil War, Chuikov was wounded 4 times. In 1922, Chuikov, leaving his regiment, was sent to study at the Military Academy. M.V. Frunze, which he successfully completed in 1925, returning to serve in his native division. A year later, Vasily Chuikov again continued to serve at the academy, this time at the oriental faculty. In 1927, he was sent to China as a military adviser.
In 1929-1932, Chuikov served as head of the headquarters department of the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army, commanded by V.K. Blucher. Since 1932, he was the head of advanced training courses for command personnel, and then the commander of a brigade, corps and group of troops, the 9th Army, with which he took part in the liberation of Western Belarus in 1939 and the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. Chuikov later recalled that the Soviet-Finnish war was the most terrible campaign in which he had the opportunity to take part. According to the marshal’s recollections, there was a stench around the infirmaries, which could be felt several kilometers away - there were so many gangrenous and frostbitten people there. According to Chuikov’s recollections, reinforcements arrived in the unit from the southern regions of Ukraine - they had not seen snow and did not know how to ski, and they had to fight against well-trained mobile ski units of the Finnish army in terrible frost.
From 1940 to 1942, V.I. Chuikov served as military attaché in China under the commander-in-chief of the Chinese army, Chiang Kai-shek. At this time, China was already waging a war against the Japanese aggressors, who were able to capture the central regions of the country, Manchuria and a number of Chinese cities. During this period, a number of operations were carried out against the Japanese army using both Kuomintang troops and troops of the Chinese Red Army. At the same time, Chuikov was faced with a very difficult task; it was necessary to maintain a united front in the country in the fight against the Japanese. And this is in conditions when, from the beginning of 1941, the troops of the Communist Party of China (Mao Zedong) and the troops of the Kuomintang (Chiang Kai-shek) fought among themselves. Thanks to his qualities as an intelligence officer, a military diplomat and his innate talent as a commander, Chuikov managed to turn the tide in the Celestial Empire in such a difficult military-political situation, where a powerful front began to be created that protected the Soviet Far Eastern borders from Japanese aggression.
In May 1942, Chuikov was recalled from China and appointed deputy commander of the reserve army located in the Tula region. At the beginning of July 1942, this army was renamed the 64th and transferred to the Stalingrad Front in the area of the Great Bend of the Don. Since the position of the army commander was still vacant, all issues regarding moving to the place and occupying the defense had to be resolved by Chuikov. Until the summer of 1942, the military leader had never faced such a strong enemy as the Wehrmacht. In order to better understand the enemy and the tactics of the Germans, he met with soldiers and commanders who had already been in battle.
Chuikov spent his first combat day on the Eastern Front on July 25, 1942, from then on these days went on without interruption and continued until the very end of the war. Already in the first days, Vasily Chuikov made a number of conclusions that were necessary to increase the stability of the defense of the troops. He noted the weaknesses of the German army. In particular, the German artillery raids are scattered and conducted mostly along the front edge, and not along the depth of the defense; during the battle there is no fire maneuver, there is no clear organization of the fire shaft. He also notes that German tanks do not attack without infantry and air support. Among the German infantry units, he noted the desire to suppress defenses with automatic weapons. He also noted the fact that the Germans had the most clearly organized work of military aviation.
The commander of the 62nd Army, Lieutenant General V.I. Chuikov (left) and member of the Military Council, General K.A. Gurov (center) examine the rifle of sniper Vasily Zaitsev.
However, at that time it was almost impossible to control troops in such a way as not to expose your weak points to the enemy. Since the mobility of the German and Soviet infantry divisions was simply incomparable. In addition, all units of the German army up to and including the infantry company, as well as batteries and tanks, were provided with radio communications. At the same time, Vasily Chuikov had to personally fly on a U-2 plane during the preparation of combat operations to check the position of the units. So, during the flight on July 23, 1942, Chuikov’s life almost ended prematurely. Near the village of Surovikino, the U-2 was attacked by a German plane. The U-2 did not have any weapons installed and the pilot had to use all his skill in order to evade enemy attacks. In the end, the maneuvers came to an end near the ground, where the U-2 simply collided with the ground and broke up. By luck, both the pilot and Chuikov escaped with only bruises, and the German pilot most likely decided that the job was done and flew away.
By September 12, 1942, the situation at the front of the 62nd and 64th Soviet armies had become critical. Retreating under the pressure of a superior enemy, the units retreated to lines of 2-10 km. from the outskirts of Stalingrad. At the same time, in the area of the village of Kuporosnoye, the Germans reached the Volga, cutting off units of the 62nd Army from the main forces of the front. The front commander assigned the units the task of defending the factory areas and the central part of Stalingrad. On the same day, Vasily Chuikov becomes commander of the 62nd Army, receiving the task of defending the city at any cost. When appointing him to this position, the front command noted such qualities of Lieutenant General V.I. Chuikov as firmness, courage, determination, a high sense of responsibility, operational outlook, etc.
During the most critical days of the Stalingrad epic, Chuikov’s troops were not only able to withstand continuous battles, but also took a fairly active part in the defeat of the encircled group of German troops at the final stage of the battle. For the defense of Stalingrad, Vasily Chuikov was nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but at the very last moment the presentation was changed, the general received the Order of Suvorov, 1st degree. For successful military operations to defeat the enemy in April 1943, the 62nd Army was renamed the 8th Guards Army.
From April 1943 to May 1945, Vasily Chuikov commanded the 8th Guards Army, which operated quite successfully in the Izyum-Barvenkovskaya and Donbass operations, as well as in the battle for the Dnieper, Bereznegovato-Snegirevskaya, Nikopol-Krivoy Rog, Odessa, Belorussian, Warsaw- Poznan operations and storming of Berlin. Front commander Malinovsky described Colonel-General Chuikov as follows in a description dated May 1944: “He leads the troops competently and skillfully. His operational-tactical training is good; Chuikov knows how to rally his subordinates around him and mobilize them to carry out assigned combat missions. A personally courageous, decisive, energetic and demanding general who can organize a modern breakthrough of the enemy's defenses and develop the breakthrough into operational success.
In March 1944, Vasily Chuikov was awarded the first title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The general received this award for the liberation of Ukraine. With the liquidation of the group of German troops in Crimea, the troops of the southern fronts were withdrawn to the reserve of the High Command headquarters, and the 8th Guards Army was transferred to the 1st Belorussian Front. During the Vistula-Oder operation, combat units of this army took part in breaking through the deeply layered defense of the Germans, liberated the Majdanek concentration camp near Lublin, liberated the cities of Poznan and Lodz, and captured a bridgehead on the western bank of the Oder.
The general received the second title of Hero of the Soviet Union in April 1945 for the successful assault and capture of Poznan. In the Berlin operation, troops of the 8th Guards Army operated in the main direction of the 1st Belorussian Front. Chuikov's guardsmen were able to break through the German defenses on the Seelow Heights and successfully fought in Berlin itself. The combat experience gained in Stalingrad in 1942 also helped them in this. During the Berlin offensive operation, Vasily Chuikov was called: “General Assault.”
After the end of the war, from 1945 Chuikov was deputy, from 1946 - first deputy, and from 1949 - Commander-in-Chief of the group of Soviet troops in Germany. In 1948 he was awarded the rank of army general. Since May 1953, he was commander of the troops of the Kyiv Special Military District. By a resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR dated March 11, 1955, Vasily Chuikov was awarded the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union. Since 1960, Chuikov became Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces - Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR. He was Deputy Minister of Defense until 1972, while also being the head of the Civil Defense of the USSR. Since 1972 - Inspector General of the Group of Inspectors General of the USSR Ministry of Defense. The position of inspector was his last military position.
In Moscow, in the house in which Chuikov once lived, a memorial plaque was installed; city streets are named after the marshal in Russia and other countries of the world. Monuments were erected to him, in particular in October 2010, a bust of him was erected in Zaporozhye.
Information sources:
-http://www.wwii-soldat.narod.ru/MARSHALS/ARTICLES/chuikov.htm
-http://www.otvoyna.ru/chuykov.htm
-http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=328
-http://ru.wikipedia.org
The 62nd Army was formed on July 10, 1942 on the basis of the former 7th Reserve Army. Soon it was included in the Stalingrad Front. Initially it was led by General Vladimir Kolpakchi, who participated with it in fierce battles beyond the Don, on the distant approaches to Stalingrad. But the exhausted, bloodless 62nd Army inevitably retreated to the Volga. At the beginning of September, the question of replenishing it with fresh forces, as well as the appointment of a new army commander, became acute.
Command post of the 62nd Army: chief of staff of the army Krylov, army commander Chuikov, member of the Military Council Gurov, commander of the 13th Guards. SD Rodimtsev. Stalingrad, December 1942.Vasily Chuikov was then deputy commander of the 64th Army, Major General Stepan Shumilov. A member of the Military Council of the Stalingrad Front, Nikita Khrushchev, recalled in his memoirs about his appointment to the post of commander of the 62nd Army:
“By this time I already had a very good impression of Chuikov. We called Stalin. He asked: “Who do you recommend to appoint to the 62nd Army, which will be directly in the city?” I say: “Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov. He showed himself very well as the commander of a detachment that he himself organized. I think that he will continue to be a good organizer and a good army commander.” Stalin replied: “Okay, appoint. Let's approve it."
On September 12, the 42nd General Chuikov was summoned to a meeting of the Military Council of the Stalingrad and South-Eastern Fronts, to Eremenko and Khrushchev. There Nikita Khrushchev read out the order of the Military Council to entrust the defense of Stalingrad to the 62nd Army from September 12 and to appoint Chuikov as its commander. Vasily Ivanovich replied: “I understand the task very well, it will be completed. I swear: either I will die in Stalingrad, or I will defend it!”
Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov
By this time, 43-year-old General Chuikov, a native of the peasants of the Tula province, had gone through a great school of life. At the age of 12, he already began working for hire.
Vasily Chuikov has been in the Red Army from the first days of its formation. In the 30s, Vasily Ivanovich (for some reason he was called that everywhere from his youth, although in general in the Red Army addressing by patronymic was not accepted) successfully graduated from the Military Academy named after. Frunze. Then he participated in the liberation campaign of the Red Army in Western Ukraine and Western Belarus.
During the Finnish winter campaign of 1939–1940. Chuikov was already commanding the army. From December 40 to April 42, Vasily Chuikov was in China as a military attaché under the commander-in-chief of that country’s army, Chiang Kai-shek. In those days, the Chinese army waged a war of liberation against Japanese aggression, which had captured Manchuria and a number of other regions of northeast China. Chuikov, thanks to his high qualities as an intelligence officer and military diplomat, was able to provide considerable advisory assistance to the Chinese troops, who repulsed the Japanese offensive on all fronts in 1941.
But General Chuikov, who was intently following the events unfolding on the Soviet-German front, was eager to return to his homeland to join the fight against the Nazi invasion. Thanks to numerous requests, in the spring of 19422 he was appointed to the post of commander of the 1st Reserve Army, stationed in the Tula and Ryazan region. And then, at the beginning of July 1942, Vasily Ivanovich was sent to the very thick of the war - near Stalingrad.
Either in the uniform of a simple soldier - in a padded jacket and earflaps, or in a general's uniform, dressed in an overcoat and hat, Chuikov, accompanied only by his adjutant, often appeared in the most dangerous sectors of the city's defense. He walked around trenches, dugouts, and firing points, thereby instilling confidence in the ranks of the city’s defenders.
Commander of the 62nd Army, Lieutenant General Vasily Chuikov, on the front line of defense, 1942
Contrary to outdated provisions, Chuikov, summarizing his experience of street fighting for Stalingrad, introduced new, previously unknown tactical methods of combat operations into the troops he led. For example, he came up with the idea of organizing small assault groups to conduct hand-to-hand combat on city streets and in buildings that played an important role in the defense of Stalingrad.
Monument to Vasily Chuikov on the street named after him in the hero city of Volgograd. Photo: volfoto.ru
Chuikov himself later recalled this, the most difficult and most striking segment of his combat biography: “If I had gone beyond the Volga, I would have been shot on the other bank. And they would have the right to do this, since there was no land for us beyond the Volga.”
But Chuikov, together with thousands of soldiers and officers, defended Stalingrad. Thus, Vasily Ivanovich justified his oath, given when he assumed the post of commander of the 62nd Army in September 1942. And it is no coincidence that his appearance is captured in the sculpture by Yevgeny Vuchetich “Stand to the Death!” on Mamayev Kurgan.
Volgograd. Memorial on Mamayev Kurgan. The sculptures “Fight to the Death” and “The Motherland Calls!” © Anton Agarkov / Strana.ru