Liberation of Stalingrad. Battle of Stalingrad: course of hostilities, heroes, meaning, map Map of Stalingrad before the war with streets

The Battle of Stalingrad is one of the most significant in the history of the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War. To this day, the battle at the walls of our city remains unrivaled in international and political significance. In 1942, the fate of the entire civilized world was decided at the walls of Stalingrad. The greatest battle in the history of wars unfolded between the Volga and Don rivers.

During the years of Soviet power, Stalingrad turned into one of the largest industrial centers in the country. On the eve of the war, there were over 445 thousand inhabitants and there were 126 industrial enterprises, including 29 enterprises of union and two republican significance.

The Stalingrad Tractor Plant, the firstborn of socialist industry, gave the country over 50% of the tractors then available in the USSR (300 thousand). The Red October plant annually produced 775.8 thousand tons of steel and 584.3 thousand tons of rolled products. Large enterprises were the Barrikady plant, the shipyard, and Stalgres. More than 325 thousand workers and employees worked in Stalingrad and the region. There were 125 schools, a number of higher educational institutions, theaters, an art gallery, sports facilities, etc.

Stalingrad was a major transport hub with highways to Central Asia and the Urals. Of particular importance was the communication line running here, connecting the central regions of the USSR with the Caucasus, through which Baku oil was transported.

During the war, Stalingrad acquired exceptionally great strategic importance. When in mid-July 1942 the advanced units of large enemy forces entered the big bend of the Don, the troops of the Southwestern Front, weakened in previous heavy battles, were not able to stop the further advance of the Nazis on their own. There was a real threat of an enemy breakthrough to the Stalingrad area.

On July 12, on the basis of the field administration and troops of the Southwestern Front, the Stalingrad Front was created, uniting the reserve 63rd, 62nd and 64th armies, as well as the 21st Army that had retreated beyond the Don and the 8th Air Army of the Southwestern Front. Marshal of the Soviet Union S.K. Timoshenko was appointed commander of the Stalingrad Front, N.S. Khrushchev was appointed a member of the Front's Military Council, and Lieutenant General P.I. Bodin was appointed chief of staff. On July 23, Lieutenant General V.N. Gordov took command of the front, and Major General D.N. Nikishev became the chief of staff of the front.

The newly created front was tasked with stopping the enemy and preventing him from reaching the Volga. Since the Nazis were already launching an offensive in the big bend of the Don, the troops of the Stalingrad Front had to firmly defend the line along the river. Don: from Pavlovsk to 8 Kletskaya and further south, from Kletskaya to Surovikino, Suvorovsky, Verkhne-Kurmoyarskaya.

The Battle of Stalingrad took place over a vast territory of 100 thousand sq. km; at certain stages, more than 2 people took part in it on both sides. people, more than 2 thousand tanks, 26 thousand guns, the number of aircraft exceeded 2 thousand units. On July 14, 1942, by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Stalingrad region was declared under a state of siege.

July 17, 1942 - the day the Stalingrad region began. The Kletsky, Surovinsky, Serafimovichsky, Chernyshkovsky districts of our region were the first to meet the enemy. The advanced units of the 6th Field Army of the Wehrmacht under the command of Lieutenant General F. Paulus reached the Chir River and entered into battle with units of the 62nd Army.

In the great bend of the Don, on the far approaches to Stalingrad, the great Battle of Stalingrad began. By the beginning of the battle, 14 fascist German divisions were advanced to the Stalingrad direction, which had 270 thousand soldiers and officers, 3 thousand guns, 500 tanks, 1200 aircraft.

The Soviet counteroffensive at Stalingrad lasted 75 days, from November 19, 1942 to February 2, 1943.

Research work, of a design-search type, is devoted to the study of the history and geography of the native land.

The relevance of our research is determined by the fact that the path to the cultural future goes through overcoming cultural unconsciousness. Monuments of culture and history of the country are part of the cultural heritage in the development of world civilization. Historical and cultural monuments contain unique information on the history of interaction between man and nature.

In the second chapter of the work “Monuments dedicated to the Battle of Stalingrad in the Volgograd Region” we analyzed the legislative acts of the Volgograd Region. And they found that on the territory of our region in various areas there are 559 monuments related to the Battle of Stalingrad.

The work presents a description of the monuments dedicated to the Battle of Stalingrad, indicating their location. We have also done work to collect information about specific people and the events to which they are dedicated.

Kostin Alexey Dmitrievich, Volgograd Technical College of Railway Transport, branch of the Rostov State Transport University, Volgograd region, Russia.

July 17 1942 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 has begun.

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 further reinforced by another tank division from the 4th Tank Army. Thus, the balance of forces in the Don bend changed even more in favor of the advancing German group, which already numbered about 250 thousand people, over 700 tanks, 7,500 guns and mortars, and they were supported from the air by up to 1,200 aircraft. While the Stalingrad Front had approximately 180 thousand personnel, 360 tanks, 7,900 guns and mortars, about 340 aircraft.

And yet the Red Army managed to slow down the pace of the enemy’s advance. 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 per 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 Soviet troops forced the Nazi command to turn from the Caucasus direction to Stalingrad 4th Tank Army under the leadership of Colonel General G.Gota.

Hitler's initial plan to capture the city by July 25 was thwarted; the Wehrmacht troops took a short break to gather even larger forces into the offensive zone.

The defense line stretched for 800 km. August 5 to facilitate the management of the decision of the Headquarters 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 was turning from a front-line city into a front-line city. Despite the continuous transfer of more and more forces to Stalingrad, parity was achieved only in human resources. The Germans had a more than twofold advantage in guns and aircraft, and a fourfold advantage in tanks.

On August 19, 1942, shock units of the 6th combined arms and 4th tank armies simultaneously resumed the offensive on 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 militia forces and NKVD detachments.

At the same time, our troops in some sectors of the front launched a counteroffensive, and the enemy was thrown back 5-10 km to the west. Another attempt by German troops to capture the city was repulsed by the heroically fighting Stalingraders.

On September 13, German troops resumed their assault on the city. Particularly fierce fighting took place in the area of ​​the station and Mamayev 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, some of the most fierce battles of the Great Patriotic War took place.

After 13 days of bloody street fighting, the Germans captured the city center. But the main task - to capture the banks of the Volga in the Stalingrad area - the German troops were unable to complete. The city continued to resist.

By the end of September, the Germans were already on the approaches to the Volga, where administrative buildings and a pier were located. Here stubborn battles were fought for every house. Many of the buildings received their names during the days of defense: “Zabolotny’s house”, “L-shaped house”, “milk house”, “Pavlov’s house” and others.

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 healthy hand. He refused the help of the orderlies and crawled to the first aid station himself. The surgeon removed more than two dozen shrapnel and bullets from his body. Voronov stoically endured the amputation of his leg and hand, losing the maximum amount of blood allowed for life.

He distinguished himself in the 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 crew. He boldly moved forward and ensured the advance of the units with machine gun fire. His crew with a machine gun was the first to burst into the house. An enemy mine disabled the entire crew and wounded Voronov himself. But the fearless warrior continued to shoot at the resistance of the counterattacking Nazis. Personally, using a machine gun, he defeated 3 attacks of the Nazis, destroying up to 3 dozen Nazis. After the machine gun was broken 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 teeth and throwing grenades with his healthy hand. Being seriously wounded, he refused the help of paramedics and crawled to the first aid station himself.
For the courage and bravery shown in battles with the German invaders, he is nominated for 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 “Lyudnikov Island”.

The Volga military flotilla under the command of Rear Admiral played a huge role in the defense of the city D.D. Rogacheva. Under continuous raids by enemy aircraft, the ships continued to ensure the passage of troops across the Volga, the delivery of ammunition, food and the evacuation of the wounded.

The fascist troops carried out a continuous offensive; the city was bombarded from the air, which very soon turned into ruins.

In September 1942, the fascist army was already in the Mamayev Kurgan area; it was for this height that 138 days of battle out of 200 during the entire Battle of Stalingrad were fought. The strategic height passed into enemy hands several times. Soviet troops stood in the direction of the Volga with the goal of under no circumstances allowing German soldiers to break through to the river.

Soviet troops, defending against German armies in the Stalingrad direction, thwarted the strategic plan of the fascist German command to capture the Caucasus with its powerful natural resources, large agricultural areas of the Don, Kuban, Lower Volga region, and capture the Volga as the main waterway of the Soviet Union.

The heroic everyday life of the fighters, soldiers and officers who defended Stalingrad are reflected in thousands of wartime documents. Each award sheet contains a description of the feat. The texts of the combat logs contain separate episodes about the courage and fearlessness of those who defended Stalingrad.

The writer, war correspondent for the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, “from the first days of the war, has been working fearlessly in the advanced units of the Red Army... Currently, he is the only writer who participates in the battles for Stalingrad and often travels to the city in battalions and companies, where he collects literary material…. Examples of heroism and courage shown by comrade. There are countless examples of Grossman.”

Khvastantsev Mikhail Polikarpovich
Hero of the Soviet Union
Killed
Place of burial: Volgograd region, Svetloyarsky district, village. D. Ravine

“Disregarding the danger, Sergeant KHVASTANTSEV raises people who, together with him, stand at the gun and open fire on the moving tanks. One heavy and one medium tank were knocked out by gunfire.

The tanks continued to move toward the battery; they were already separated by 100-150 meters. The shells have run out. There are wounded and dead comrades all around. KHVASTANTSEV decides to evacuate the wounded and cover their retreat. With a PTR rifle, he lay down in front of the guns and with five shots knocked out the tank in front, the rest, splitting into two groups, walked around the battery in a semi-circle. Several tanks, approaching the battery location, were met by HVASTANTSEVY, who rushed towards one of them and shouting “WILL NOT PASS, YOU GUY!” threw a grenade under the track. The tank, knocked out but not destroyed, continued to move towards the hero-artilleryman, firing. Comrade KHVASTANTSEV rushed into the nearest trench, through which an enemy tank immediately drove through. The second grenade thrown by KHASTANTSEVY from the trench after the tank rendered it motionless. An enemy bullet from an enemy tank hit a guardsman-artilleryman who died under the tank tracks...”

“In three days of fighting, the regiment had 483 people killed and wounded. On this day, the soldiers and commanders withstood a number of fierce attacks from the brutal enemy. The defenders of Stalingrad showed themselves to be worthy successors to the heroes of TSARITSYN. The enemy felt the force of the guards blow first hand...

The soldiers of the 114th Guards SP showed especially examples of courage and heroism on this day. Over the past day, the regiment destroyed more than 300 Nazis, knocked out 9 tanks, suppressed 6 firing points, 5 heavy machine guns, 8 bunkers.

Captain BABAK, who with a group of 15 soldiers knocked out 2 tanks and repelled 5 enemy attacks, particularly distinguished himself when repelling a tank attack by the enemy Guard. Red Army gunner PTR NECHAYEV, who, together with his number two, knocked out 1 armored vehicle and 1 enemy tank.”

“….The brave men - the group commander, Sergeant LISATU, fighters DOROSHCHUK and SHEVCHENKO crawled to the barn, from where the Nazis were firing, throwing grenades at them. The officer throwing grenades was killed by a machine-gun burst from junior lieutenant ZHELDAK. Clutching the ring, they rushed into hand-to-hand combat. This bold throw decided the outcome of the battle. The battle lasted 45 minutes. As a result of the battle, 40 Nazis were destroyed, 25 were wounded. Trophies were captured... our losses: 4 soldiers were killed, 2 partisans were killed, 7 people were wounded. , missing 1.”

“...The soldiers and commanders of the 114th Guards SP staunchly and selflessly defend every piece of their native land. Occupying OPs in houses, they allowed the enemy to come within close range and shot him at point-blank range.

Without moving the guards of the 114th Regiment a single step, the enemy lit houses with thermite fires from tanks, but even in the burning houses the soldiers fought fiercely, and only after the houses turned into a pile of ruins did the defenders of Stalingrad occupy new houses. In this battle, many soldiers and commanders died brave deaths..."

“The regiment’s personnel showed massive heroism, true heroes were born here - the battalion commander Captain NARYTNYAK, the battery commander Lieutenant MASALYZHIN, the armor-piercing soldiers of Lieutenant POYARKOV, where Comrade himself. POYARKOV showed examples of valor and heroism, knocking out 2 enemy tanks. At this time, both his legs were torn off, being in the heat of anger of Comrade. POYARKOV grabbed a nearby armor-piercing gun and knocked out 2 more enemy tanks.”

“... 33 soldiers of the 1379th rifle regiment showed an unprecedented feat - 70 enemy tanks and up to a German infantry regiment went against them. Having shown perseverance and courage in defending Stalingrad, 33 heroic Stalingraders, using anti-tank rifles, bottles of fuel and anti-tank grenades, destroyed 27 enemy tanks and over 150 Nazis - defended the heights - Russian land."

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.

The Battle of Stalingrad – the beginning of the end of the Third Reich

During the winter-spring campaign of 1942, an unfavorable situation for the Red Army developed on the Soviet-German front. A number of unsuccessful offensive operations were carried out, which in some cases had some local success, but overall ended in failure. Soviet troops failed to take full advantage of the winter offensive of 1941, 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 activated. The headquarters incorrectly determined the directions of the main attacks, assuming 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 given secondary importance. In the fall of 1941, orders were given for the construction of defensive lines on the Don, the North Caucasus and the Stalingrad direction, but they did not have time to complete their equipment by the summer of 1942.

The enemy, unlike our troops, had complete control of the strategic initiative. His main task for the summer - autumn of 1942 was to capture the main raw materials, industrial and agricultural regions of the Soviet Union. The leading role in this was given 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 rushing to the Volga. As the chronicle of events showed, the main battles would take place on the outskirts of Stalingrad, and subsequently in the city itself.

Progress of the battle

The Battle of Stalingrad of 1942-1943 will last 200 days and will become the largest and bloodiest battle not only of the Second World War, but also in the entire history of the 20th 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.

Plans of the parties for the start of the battle

By the spring of 1942, Army Group South was divided into two parts - "A" and "B". Army Group “A” was intended to attack the Caucasus, this was the main direction, Army Group “B” was intended to deliver a secondary blow to Stalingrad. The subsequent course of events will change the priority of these tasks.

By mid-July 1942, the enemy captured Donbass, pushed our troops back to Voronezh, captured Rostov and managed to cross the Don. The Nazis entered the operational space and created a real threat to the North Caucasus and Stalingrad.

Map of the "Battle of Stalingrad"

Initially, Army Group A, advancing into the Caucasus, was given an entire tank army and several formations from Army Group B to emphasize the importance of this direction.

Army Group B, after crossing the Don, was intended to equip defensive positions, simultaneously occupy the isthmus between the Volga and Don and, moving between the rivers, strike in the direction of Stalingrad. The city was ordered to occupy and then advance with mobile formations along the Volga to Astrakhan, finally disrupting transport links along the main river of the country.

The Soviet command decided, with the help of stubborn defense of four unfinished engineering lines - the so-called bypasses - to prevent the capture of the city and the Nazis’ access to the Volga. Due to untimely determination of the direction of the enemy's movement and miscalculations in planning military operations in the spring-summer campaign, the Headquarters was unable to concentrate the necessary forces in this sector. The newly created Stalingrad Front had 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 occurred in military command and control. The fronts began to report directly to Headquarters, and its representative was included in the command of each front. On the Stalingrad Front, this role was performed by Army General Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov.

Number of troops, ratio of forces and means at the beginning of the battle

The defensive stage of the Battle of Stalingrad started out difficult for the Red Army. The Wehrmacht had superiority over the Soviet troops:

• in personnel by 1.7 times;
• in tanks 1.3 times;
• in artillery 1.3 times;
• on airplanes more than 2 times.

Despite the fact that the Soviet command continuously increased the number of troops, gradually transferring formations and units from the depths of the country, the defense zone over 500 kilometers wide was not completely occupied by troops. The activity of enemy tank formations was very high. At the same time, air superiority was overwhelming. The German Air Force had complete air supremacy.

Battle of Stalingrad - fighting on the outskirts

On July 17, the forward detachments of our troops entered into battle with the enemy vanguard. This date marked the beginning of the battle. During the first six days, we managed to slow down the pace of the offensive, but it still remained very high. On July 23, the enemy attempted to encircle one of our armies with powerful attacks from the flanks. The command of the Soviet troops in a short time had to prepare two counterattacks, which were carried out from July 25 to 27. These attacks prevented encirclement. By July 30, the German command threw all its reserves into battle. The offensive potential of the Nazis was exhausted. The enemy switched to a forced defense, awaiting the arrival of reinforcements. Already on August 1, the tank army, transferred to 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 perimeter, and in some places, break through it. Due to active enemy actions, 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 - Stalingrad and the newly formed South-Eastern Front, which included the 62nd Army. Until the end of the battle, V.I. Chuikov was the commander of the 62nd Army.

Until August 22, fighting continued on the outer defensive perimeter. Stubborn defense was combined with offensive actions, but it was not possible to keep the enemy at this line. The enemy overcame the middle line almost immediately, and on August 23, fighting began on the internal defensive line. On the near approaches to the city, the Nazis were met by NKVD troops from 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 caused 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. There were more than 40 thousand dead and those who died from wounds - 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 methodically advanced towards the city.

The situation was very difficult. The enemy was in close proximity to the city. Under these conditions, Stalin decided to strike somewhat to the north to weaken the enemy’s onslaught. In addition, it took time to prepare the city defensive perimeter for combat operations.

By September 12, the front line came very close to Stalingrad and passed 10 kilometers from the city. It was urgently necessary to weaken the enemy's onslaught. Stalingrad was in a semi-ring, surrounded 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 contour. With the withdrawal of the main forces of our troops to the outskirts, the defensive period of the Battle of Stalingrad on the approaches to the city ended.

City defense

By mid-September, the enemy had practically doubled the number and armament of its troops. The group was increased by the transfer of units from the west and the Caucasus. A significant proportion of them were troops of Germany's satellites - Romania and Italy. Hitler, at a meeting at the Wehrmacht headquarters, which was located in Vinnitsa, demanded that the commander of Army Group B, General Weihe, and the commander of the 6th Army, General Paulus, capture Stalingrad as soon as possible.

The Soviet command also increased the grouping of its troops, moving reserves from the depths of the country and replenishing 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, then in artillery the Nazis outnumbered our troops by 1.3 times, in tanks by 1.6 times, and in airplanes by 2.6 times.

On September 13, the enemy launched an attack on 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 Mamayev Kurgan. The enemy's actions were actively supported by aviation. It should be noted that, having air supremacy, the German planes inflicted enormous damage on the city’s defenders. During the entire period of the Battle of Stalingrad, Nazi aviation carried out an unimaginable number of sorties, even by the standards of the Second World War, turning the city into ruins.

Trying to weaken the onslaught, the Soviet command planned a counterattack. To carry out this task, a rifle division was brought in from the General Headquarters reserve. On September 15 and 16, its soldiers managed to complete their main task - to prevent the enemy from reaching the Volga in the city center. Two battalions occupied Mamayev Kurgan, the dominant height. Another brigade from the Headquarters reserve was transferred there on the 17th.
Simultaneously with the fighting in the city north of Stalingrad, the offensive operations of our three armies continued with the task of pulling part of the enemy forces away from the city. Unfortunately, the advance was extremely slow, but forced the enemy to continuously tighten their defenses in this area. Thus, this offensive played a positive role.

On September 18, preparations were made, and on the 19th, two counterattacks were launched from the Mamayev Kurgan area. The attacks continued until September 20, but did not lead to a significant change in the situation.

On September 21, the Nazis with fresh forces resumed their breakthrough to the Volga in the center of the city, but all their attacks were repulsed. The fighting for these areas continued until September 26.

The first assault on the city by Nazi troops between September 13 and 26 brought them limited success. The enemy reached the Volga in the central areas of the city and on the left flank.
From September 27, the German command, without weakening the pressure 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 dominant heights on the western outskirts. From them the entire city was visible, as well as the bed of the Volga. Thus, crossing the river became even more complicated, and the maneuver of our troops was constrained. However, the offensive potential of the German armies was coming to an end. Regrouping and replenishment were needed.

At the end of the month, the situation required the Soviet command to reorganize the control system. The Stalingrad Front was renamed the Don Front, and the South-Eastern Front was renamed the Stalingrad Front. The 62nd Army, proven in battle in the most dangerous sectors, was included in the Don Front.

At the beginning of October, the Wehrmacht headquarters planned a general assault on the city, managing to concentrate large forces on almost all sectors of the front. On October 9, the attackers resumed attacks on the city. They managed to capture a number of Stalingrad factory villages 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. Gradually, enemy activity faded away. On November 11, the last assault attempt was made. After suffering losses, German troops switched to a forced defense on November 18. 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 phase of the battle

The main task of the defensive stage was completed - Soviet troops managed to defend the city, bled the enemy strike forces dry and prepared the conditions for the start of a 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 gave invaluable experience to commanders of all levels in command and control of troops. The methods and methods of conducting combat operations in urban conditions, tested in Stalingrad, subsequently turned out 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 skills for each and every soldier of the Red Army.

Soviet losses were also very high - about 640 thousand 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 forces of three fronts.

To make a decision on a counterattack, at least three conditions must be met. First, the enemy must be stopped. Secondly, it should not have strong nearby reserves. Thirdly, the availability of forces and means sufficient to carry out the operation. By mid-November, all these conditions were met.

Plans of the parties, balance of forces and means

From November 14, according to Hitler's directive, German troops switched to strategic defense. Offensive operations continued only in the Stalingrad direction, where the enemy stormed the city. The troops of Army Group B occupied the defense from Voronezh in the north to the Manych River in the south. The most combat-ready units were located at Stalingrad, and the flanks were defended by Romanian and Italian troops. The commander of the army group 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 forces from the Southwestern, Stalingrad and Don fronts. The following tasks were identified to them:

• The Southwestern Front - a strike group consisting of three armies - should go on the offensive in the direction of the city of Kalach, defeat the 3rd Romanian Army and join forces with the troops of the Stalingrad Front by the end of the third day of the operation.
• Stalingrad Front - a strike group consisting of three armies to go on the offensive in a northwestern direction, defeat the 6th Army Corps of the Romanian Army and link up with the troops of the Southwestern Front.
• Don Front - strikes of two armies in converging directions to encircle the enemy with subsequent destruction in the small bend of the Don.

The difficulty was that in order to carry out encirclement tasks it was necessary to use significant forces and means to create an internal front - to defeat German troops inside the ring, and an external one - to prevent the release of those encircled from the outside.

Planning for the Soviet counteroffensive began in mid-October, at the height of the fighting for Stalingrad. The front commanders, by order of Headquarters, managed to create the necessary superiority in personnel and equipment before the start of the offensive. On the Southwestern Front, Soviet troops outnumbered the Nazis in personnel by 1.1, in artillery by 1.4, and in tanks by 2.8. In the Don Front zone the ratio was as follows: in personnel 1.5 times, in artillery 2.4 times in favor of our troops, in tanks there was parity. The superiority of the Stalingrad Front was: 1.1 times in personnel, 1.2 times in artillery, 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 attacks. It was possible to achieve an unprecedented artillery density - in some areas it reached 117 units per kilometer of front.

Difficult tasks were also assigned to engineering units and units. There was a huge amount of work to be done to clear mines from areas, terrain and roads, and to establish crossings.

Progress of the offensive operation

The operation began as planned on November 19. The offensive was preceded by powerful artillery preparation.

In the first hours, the troops of the Southwestern Front penetrated the enemy defenses to a depth of 3 kilometers. Developing the offensive and introducing fresh forces into the battle, our strike groups advanced 30 kilometers by the end of the first day and thereby encircled the enemy from the flanks.

Things were more complicated at the Don Front. There, our troops faced stubborn resistance in conditions of extremely difficult terrain and the enemy’s defense was saturated with mine and explosive barriers. By the end of the first day, the depth of the wedge was 3-5 kilometers. Subsequently, the front troops were drawn into protracted battles and the enemy 4th Tank Army managed to avoid encirclement.

For the Nazi 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 move on to it. On November 18, in Stalingrad, Nazi troops were still advancing. The command of Army Group B mistakenly determined the direction of the main attacks of the Soviet troops. On the first day it was at a loss, only sending telegrams to the Wehrmacht headquarters stating the facts. The commander of Army Group B, General Weihe, ordered the commander of the 6th Army to stop the offensive in Stalingrad and 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 once again came as a complete surprise to the Wehrmacht leadership. The Nazis urgently needed to look for a way out of the current situation.

On the first day, the troops of the Stalingrad Front broke through the enemy’s defenses and advanced to a depth of 40 kilometers, and on the second day to another 15. By November 22, a distance of 80 kilometers remained between the troops of our two fronts.

Units of the Southwestern Front crossed the Don on the same day and captured the city of Kalach.
The Wehrmacht headquarters did not stop trying to find a way out of the difficult situation. Two tank armies were ordered to be transferred from the North Caucasus. Paulus was ordered not to leave Stalingrad. Hitler did not want to accept 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 all Nazi troops.

By November 22, the distance between the advanced units of the Stalingrad and Southwestern fronts was reduced to 12 kilometers. At 16.00 on November 23, the fronts joined forces. The encirclement of the enemy group was completed. There were 22 divisions and auxiliary units in the Stalingrad “cauldron”. On the same day, Romanian corps numbering almost 27 thousand people were captured.

However, a number of difficulties arose. The total length of 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 external front as far to the west as possible in the shortest possible time in order to isolate the encircled Paulus group 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 internal front had to begin destroying the enemy in the “cauldron” in a short time.

Until November 30, troops on three fronts tried to cut the surrounded 6th Army into pieces, while simultaneously compressing the ring. By this day, the area occupied by enemy troops had decreased by half.

It should be noted that the enemy stubbornly resisted, skillfully using reserves. In addition, his strength was assessed incorrectly. The General Staff assumed that there were approximately 90 thousand Nazis surrounded, while the real number exceeded 300 thousand.

Paulus turned to the Fuhrer with a request for independence in decision-making. Hitler deprived him of this right and ordered him to remain surrounded and wait for help.

The counteroffensive did not end with the group's encirclement; Soviet troops seized the initiative. The defeat of the enemy troops was soon to be completed.

Operation Saturn and Ring

The Wehrmacht headquarters and the command of Army Group B began the formation of Army Group Don in early December, designed to relieve 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 Tank Army that escaped encirclement. At the same time, the balance of forces in favor of the enemy was overwhelming. In the breakthrough area, he outnumbered the Soviet troops in men and artillery by 2 times, and in tanks by 6 times.

In December, Soviet troops had to begin solving several tasks at once:

• Developing the offensive, defeat the enemy in the Middle Don - to solve this, Operation Saturn was developed
• Prevent the breakthrough of Army Group Don to the 6th Army
• To eliminate the encircled enemy group - 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 24 hours. During the 7 days of the offensive operation, enemy forces approached the encircled group at a distance of 40 kilometers. The Soviet command urgently activated reserves.

Map of Operation Little Saturn

In the current situation, the Headquarters made adjustments to the plan for Operation Saturn. The troops of the South-Western and part of the forces of the Voronezh Front, instead of attacking Rostov, were ordered to move it to the south-east, take the enemy in pincers and go to the rear of the Don Army Group. The operation was called "Little Saturn". It began on December 16, and in the first three days they managed to break through the defenses and penetrate to a depth of 40 kilometers. Using our advantage in maneuverability, bypassing pockets of resistance, our troops rushed behind enemy lines. Within two weeks, they pinned down the actions of Army Group Don and forced the Nazis to go on the defensive, thereby depriving Paulus’s troops of their last hope.

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. Subsequently, the front troops were given the task of eliminating the Tormosinsk group, which they completed by December 31. From this date, regrouping began for the attack on Rostov.

As a result of successful operations in the Middle Don and in the Kotelnikovsky region, our troops managed to thwart the Wehrmacht’s plans to release the encircled group, defeat large formations and units of German, Italian and Romanian troops, and push the external front away from the Stalingrad “cauldron” by 200 kilometers.

Aviation, meanwhile, put the encircled group in a tight blockade, minimizing the attempts of the Wehrmacht headquarters to organize supplies for the 6th Army.

Operation Saturn

From January 10 to February 2, the command of the Soviet troops carried out an operation code-named “Ring” to eliminate the encircled 6th Army of the Nazis. Initially, it was assumed that the encirclement and destruction of the enemy group would take place in a shorter period of time, but the lack of forces on the fronts affected them, and they were unable to cut the enemy group into pieces right off the bat. The activity of German troops outside the cauldron delayed part of the forces, and the enemy himself inside the ring by that time had not weakened at all.

The operation was entrusted by the Headquarters 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 was given the task of attacking Rostov. The commander of the Don Front in the Battle of Stalingrad, General Rokossovsky, decided to dismember the enemy group and destroy it piece by piece with powerful cutting blows from west to east.
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 times and in aviation by 3 times. True, due to a lack of fuel, he could not fully use motorized and tank formations.

Operation Ring

On January 8, the Nazis received a message with a proposal to 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 type of accompanying fire at that time, called the “barrage of fire.”

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, the Nazis, under pressure from the Soviet army, began to randomly retreat to Stalingrad.

Surrender of Nazi troops

On January 17, the width of the encirclement was reduced by seventy kilometers. There was a repeated proposal to lay down the arms, which was also ignored. Until the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, calls for surrender from the Soviet command were received regularly.

On January 22, the offensive continued. Over four days, the depth of advance was another 15 kilometers. By January 25, the enemy was squeezed into a narrow area measuring 3.5 by 20 kilometers. The next day this strip was cut into two parts, northern and southern. On January 26, a historic meeting between two front armies took place in the Mamayev Kurgan area.

Until January 31, stubborn fighting continued. On this day, the southern group stopped resisting. The officers and generals of the 6th Army headquarters, led by Paulus, surrendered. The day before, 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 stopped 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 differ greatly from each other. It is generally accepted that the Soviet Union lost over 1.1 million people killed. On the part of the fascist German 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 losses of the satellites. Data on the number of prisoners also vary, but on average their number is close to 100 thousand people.

Equipment losses were also significant. The Wehrmacht was missing about 2,000 tanks and assault guns, 10,000 guns and mortars, 3,000 aircraft, and 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 mobilization hunger.

Significance of the Battle of Stalingrad

The victory in this battle served as a turning point in the entire Second World War. In figures and facts, the Battle of Stalingrad can be represented as follows. The Soviet army completely destroyed 32 divisions, 3 brigades, 16 divisions suffered a heavy defeat, and it took a long time to restore their combat capability. Our troops pushed the front line hundreds of kilometers away from the Volga and Don.
The major defeat shook the unity of the Reich's allies. The destruction of the Romanian and Italian armies forced the leadership of these countries to think about leaving the war. 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 Battle of Stalingrad and then the Battle of Kursk finally secured the strategic initiative for the USSR. The Great Patriotic War lasted another two years, but events no longer developed 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 the victory is for us. Throughout the battle, military leaders previously unknown to a wide circle of people underwent formation and gained combat experience. By the end of the battle on the Volga, these were already the commanders of the great Battle of Stalingrad. Every day, front commanders gained invaluable experience in managing large military formations and used new techniques and methods of using various types of troops.

Victory in the battle had enormous moral significance for the Soviet army. She managed to crush the strongest enemy, inflicting defeat on him, from which he was never able to recover. The exploits of the defenders of Stalingrad served as an example for all soldiers of the Red Army.

The course, results, maps, diagrams, facts, memories of participants in the Battle of Stalingrad are to this day the subject of study in academies and military schools.

In December 1942, the medal “For the Defense of Stalingrad” was established. Over 700 thousand people have been awarded 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 Rocket 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 has been awarded the title of Hero City.

Introduction

On April 20, 1942, the battle for Moscow ended. The German army, whose advance seemed unstoppable, was not only stopped, but also pushed back 150-300 kilometers from the capital of the USSR. The Nazis suffered heavy losses, and although the Wehrmacht was still very strong, Germany no longer had the opportunity to attack simultaneously on all sectors of the Soviet-German front.

While the spring thaw lasted, the Germans developed a plan for the summer offensive of 1942, codenamed Fall Blau - “Blue Option”. The initial target of the German attack was the oil fields of Grozny and Baku with the possibility of further development of the offensive against Persia. Before the deployment of 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, also intended 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 managed to push the German troops almost to Kharkov, the Germans managed to turn the situation in their favor and inflict a major defeat on the Soviet troops. On the sector of the Southern and Southwestern fronts, the defense was weakened to the limit, and on June 28, Hermann Hoth's 4th Panzer Army broke through between Kursk and Kharkov. The Germans reached the Don.

At this point, Hitler, by personal order, made a change to the Blue Option, which would later cost Nazi Germany dearly. He divided Army Group South into two parts. Army Group A was to continue the offensive into the Caucasus. Army Group B was to reach the Volga, cut off the strategic communications connecting 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. The capture of the city, which bore the name of the main enemy of the Third Reich, would be the greatest propaganda achievement of the German army.

Balance of forces and the first stage of the battle

Army Group B, advancing on Stalingrad, included the 6th Army of General Paulus. The army included 270 thousand soldiers and officers, about 2,200 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, Hermann Hoth's 4th Tank Army was transferred to Army Group B, which on July 1, 1942 included the 5th, 7th and 9th Army and the 46th Motorized housings. The latter included the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich.

The Southwestern Front, renamed Stalingrad on July 12, 1942, consisted of about 160 thousand personnel, 2,200 guns and mortars, and about 400 tanks. Of the 38 divisions that were part of the front, only 18 were fully equipped, while the others had from 300 to 4000 people. The 8th Air Army, operating along with the front, was also significantly inferior in numbers to 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, where enemy tanks could operate at full strength. Taking into account the low level of anti-tank weapons in front units and formations, 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 had pushed back Soviet troops 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 at the villages of Kletskaya and Suvorovskaya, seize the crossings across the Don and develop an attack on Stalingrad without stopping. For this purpose, two strike groups were created, attacking from the north and south. The northern group was formed from units of the 6th Army, the southern group from units of the 4th Tank Army.

The northern group, striking on July 23, broke through the defense front of the 62nd Army and surrounded its two rifle divisions and a tank brigade. By July 26, the advanced units of the Germans reached the Don. The command of the Stalingrad Front organized a counterattack, in which mobile formations of the front reserve took part, as well as the 1st and 4th tank armies that had not yet completed their formation. Tank armies were a new regular structure within the Red Army. It is unclear who exactly put forward the idea of ​​their formation, but in the documents, the head of the Main Armored Directorate, Ya. N. Fedorenko, was the first to voice this idea to Stalin. In the form in which tank armies were conceived, they did not last long, subsequently undergoing a major restructuring. But the fact that it was near Stalingrad that such a staff unit appeared is a fact. The 1st Tank Army attacked from the Kalach area on July 25, and the 4th from the villages of Trekhostrovskaya and Kachalinskaya on July 27.

Fierce fighting in this area lasted until August 7-8. It was possible to release the encircled units, but it was not possible to defeat the advancing Germans. The development of events was also negatively affected 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 unit commanders.

In the south, Soviet troops managed to stop the Germans at 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 High Command ordered, no later than the 30th, 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 as a result, by the indicated date the Red Army managed to push back the Germans and even create a threat of their encirclement. Unfortunately, the Nazis managed to bring fresh forces into the battle and provide assistance to the group. After this, the fighting flared up even hotter.

On July 28, 1942, another event occurred that cannot be left behind the scenes. 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 offending soldiers and commanders, and also introduced barrage detachments - special units that were engaged in detaining deserters and returning them to duty. This document, for all its harshness, was received quite positively by the troops and actually reduced the number of disciplinary violations in military units.

At the end of July, the 64th Army was nevertheless forced to retreat 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. 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 went on the offensive from the village of Tsymlyanskaya and by August 3 had significantly advanced, capturing the Remontnaya station, the station and the city of Kotelnikovo, and the village of Zhutovo. On these same days, the enemy’s 6th Romanian Corps reached the Don. In the zone of operation of the 62nd Army, the Germans went on the offensive on August 7 in the direction of Kalach. Soviet troops were forced to retreat 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 defense in half.

By August 16, the troops of the Stalingrad Front retreated beyond the Don and took up defense on the outer line of the city fortifications. On August 17, the Germans resumed their attack and by the 20th they managed to capture the crossings, as well as a bridgehead in the area of ​​​​the village of Vertyachiy. 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 units reached the Volga. On this day, German planes made about 2,000 sorties. Many blocks of the city were in ruins, oil storage facilities were on fire, and about 40 thousand civilians were killed. The enemy broke through to the line Rynok - Orlovka - Gumrak - Peschanka. The fight moved under the walls of Stalingrad.

Fighting 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 division against the 62nd Army. The number of tanks in this Nazi group was approximately 500. The enemy was supported from the air by at least 1000 aircraft. The threat of capturing the city became tangible. To eliminate it, the Supreme High Command Headquarters transferred two completed armies to the defenders (10 rifle divisions, 2 tank brigades), re-equipped the 1st Guards Army (6 rifle divisions, 2 guards rifle, 2 tank brigades), and also subordinated the 16th to the Stalingrad Front air army.

On September 5 and 18, the troops of the Stalingrad Front (it will be renamed Donskoy on September 30) carried out two major operations, thanks to which they managed to weaken the German pressure on the city, pulling about 8 infantry, two tank and two motorized divisions. It was again impossible to achieve the complete defeat of Hitler’s units. Fierce battles for the internal defensive line continued for a long time.

Urban fighting began on September 13, 1942 and continued until November 19, when the Red Army launched a counteroffensive as part of Operation Uranus. From September 12, the defense of Stalingrad was entrusted to the 62nd Army, which was placed 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 combat command, created a real hell for the enemy in the city.

On September 13, six infantry, three tank and two motorized German divisions were in the immediate vicinity of the city. Until September 18, there were fierce battles in the central and southern parts of the city. To the south of the railway station, the enemy onslaught was contained, but in the center the Germans drove out the Soviet troops all the way to the Krutoy ravine.

The battles for the station on September 17 were extremely fierce. During the day it changed hands four times. Here the Germans left 8 burned tanks and about a hundred dead. 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 failed, but a large enemy group was pinned down by the fighting, which made things easier for the units fighting in the center of Stalingrad. In general, the defense here was so strong that the enemy never managed to reach the Volga.

Realizing that they could not achieve success in the center of the city, the Germans concentrated troops further south to strike in the eastern direction, towards Mamayev Kurgan and the village of Krasny Oktyabr. On September 27, Soviet troops launched a pre-emptive attack, working in small infantry groups armed with light machine guns, petrol bombs and anti-tank rifles. Fierce fighting continued from September 27 to October 4. These were the same Stalingrad city battles, the stories about which chill the blood in the veins of even a person with strong nerves. Here the battles took place not for streets and blocks, sometimes not even for entire houses, but for individual floors and rooms. The guns fired directly at almost point-blank range, using incendiary mixtures and fire from short distances. Hand-to-hand combat has become commonplace, as in the Middle Ages, when edged weapons ruled the battlefield. During 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 gradually began to run out of steam. The same desperate and bloody battles raged near the Barrikady plant, near the village of Orlovka, on the outskirts of the Silikat plant.

At the beginning of October, the territories occupied by the Red Army in Stalingrad were so reduced that they were completely covered by machine gun and artillery fire. The fighting troops were supplied from the opposite bank of the Volga with the help of literally everything that could float: boats, steamships, boats. German aircraft continuously bombed the crossings, making this task even more difficult.

And while the soldiers of the 62nd Army pinned down and crushed enemy troops in battles, the High Command was already preparing plans for a large offensive operation aimed at destroying the Stalingrad group of Nazis.

"Uranus" and the surrender of Paulus

By the time the Soviet counteroffensive began near Stalingrad, in addition to Paulus’s 6th Army, there were also von Salmuth’s 2nd Army, Hoth’s 4th Panzer Army, the Italian, Romanian and Hungarian armies.

On November 19, the Red Army launched a large-scale offensive operation on three fronts, codenamed “Uranus”. It was opened by about three and a half thousand guns and mortars. The artillery barrage lasted about two hours. Subsequently, it was in memory of this artillery preparation that November 19 became the professional holiday of artillerymen.

On November 23, an encirclement ring closed around the 6th Army and the main forces of Hoth's 4th Panzer Army. On November 24, about 30 thousand Italians capitulated 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 from north to south. Further “densification” progressed slowly, as the Germans organized a dense defense and clung to literally every piece of land. Paulus insisted on a breakthrough, but Hitler categorically forbade it. He had not yet lost hope that he would be able to help those around him from the outside.

The rescue mission was entrusted to Erich von Manstein. Army Group Don, which he commanded, was supposed to release the besieged army of Paulus in December 1942 with a blow from Kotelnikovsky and Tormosin. On December 12, Operation Winter Storm began. Moreover, the Germans did not go on the offensive with full strength - in fact, by the time the offensive began, they were only able to field one Wehrmacht tank division and a 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 Rodion Malinovsky's 2nd Guards Army, and by December 25, the "Winter Storm" had died down in the snowy 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 this was Hitler. He was categorically against retreat when it was still possible, and did not want to hear about capitulation when the mousetrap was finally and irrevocably slammed shut. Even when the Soviet troops captured the last airfield from which Luftwaffe aircraft supplied the army (extremely weak and unstable), he continued to demand resistance from Paulus and his men.

On January 10, 1943, the final operation of the Red Army to eliminate the Stalingrad group of Nazis began. It was called "The Ring". On January 9, the day before it began, the Soviet command presented Friedrich Paulus with an ultimatum, demanding to surrender. On the same day, by chance, the commander of the 14th Panzer Corps, General Hube, arrived in the cauldron. He conveyed that Hitler demanded that resistance continue until a new attempt was made to break through the encirclement from the outside. Paulus carried out the order and rejected the ultimatum.

The Germans resisted as best they could. The Soviet offensive was even stopped from January 17 to 22. After regrouping, parts of the Red Army again went on the attack 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 group, 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 awarded Friedrich Paulus the rank of field marshal. According to the unwritten Prussian military tradition, field marshals never surrendered. So, on the part of the Fuhrer, this was a hint at how the commander of the encircled army should have ended his military career. However, Paulus decided that it was better not to understand some 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.