Battle of Stalingrad: brief information about the course of the military operation. Battle of Stalingrad: defense of Stalingrad Year of the liberation of Stalingrad

Battle of Stalingrad
	Stalingrad, Stalingrad region, USSR
	Decisive victory for the USSR, destruction of the German 6th Army, failure of the Axis offensive on the Eastern Front
Opponents
	Germany
	Croatia
	Finnish volunteers
Commanders
A. M. Vasilevsky (Representative of Headquarters)	E. von Manstein (Army Group Don)
N. N. Voronov (coordinator)	M. Weichs (Army Group "B")
N. F. Vatutin (Southwestern Front)	F. Paulus (6th Army)
V. N. Gordov (Stalingrad Front)	G. Hoth (4th Panzer Army)
A. I. Eremenko (Stalingrad Front)	W. von Richthofen (4th Air Fleet)
S. K. Timoshenko (Stalingrad Front)	I. Gariboldi (Italian 8th Army)
K.K. Rokossovsky (Don Front)	G. Jani (Hungarian 2nd Army)
V. I. Chuikov (62nd Army)	P. Dumitrescu (Romanian 3rd Army)
M. S. Shumilov (64th Army)	C. Constantinescu (Romanian 4th Army)
R. Ya. Malinovsky (2nd Guards Army)	V. Pavicic (Croatian 369th Infantry Regiment)
Strengths of the parties
By the beginning of the operation, 386 thousand people, 2.2 thousand guns and mortars, 230 tanks, 454 aircraft (+200 self-propelled guns and 60 self-air defense)	At the beginning of the operation: 430 thousand people, 3 thousand guns and mortars, 250 tanks and assault guns, 1200 aircraft. As of November 19, 1942, there were more than 987,300 people in the ground forces (including):
Additionally, 11 army departments, 8 tank and mechanized corps, 56 divisions and 39 brigades were introduced from the Soviet side. On November 19, 1942: in the ground forces - 780 thousand people. Total 1.14 million people	400,000 soldiers and officers
	143,300 soldiers and officers
	220,000 soldiers and officers
	200,000 soldiers and officers
	20,000 soldiers and officers
	4,000 soldiers and officers, 10,250 machine guns, artillery pieces, and mortars, about 500 tanks, 732 aircraft (402 of them out of order)
1,129,619 people (irretrievable and sanitary losses), 524 thousand units. shooter weapons, 4341 tanks and self-propelled guns, 2777 aircraft, 15.7 thousand guns and mortars	1,500,000 (irretrievable and sanitary losses), approximately 91 thousand captured soldiers and officers 5,762 guns, 1,312 mortars, 12,701 machine guns, 156,987 rifles, 10,722 machine guns, 744 aircraft, 1,666 tanks, 261 armored vehicles, 80,438 motor vehicles, 10,679 motorcycles ov, 240 tractors, 571 tractors, 3 armored trains and other military equipment

Battle of Stalingrad- a battle between the troops of the USSR, on the one hand, and the troops of Nazi Germany, Romania, Italy, Hungary, on the other, during the Great Patriotic War. The battle was one of the most important events of the Second World War and, along with the Battle of Kursk, was a turning point in the course of military operations, after which German troops lost the strategic initiative. The battle included the Wehrmacht's attempt to capture the left bank of the Volga in the area of ​​Stalingrad (modern Volgograd) and the city itself, a standoff in the city, and a Red Army counteroffensive (Operation Uranus), which brought the Wehrmacht's 6th Army and other German allied forces inside and around the city they were surrounded and partly destroyed, partly captured. According to rough estimates, the total losses of both sides in this battle exceed two million people. The Axis powers lost large numbers of men and weapons and were subsequently unable to fully recover from the defeat.

For the Soviet Union, which also suffered heavy losses during the battle, the victory at Stalingrad marked the beginning of the liberation of the country, as well as the occupied territories of Europe, leading to the final defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.

Previous events

On June 22, 1941, Germany and its allies invaded the Soviet Union, quickly moving inland. Having suffered defeats during the battles in the summer and autumn of 1941, Soviet troops counterattacked during the Battle of Moscow in December 1941. Exhausted German troops, poorly equipped for winter combat and with their rear stretched, were stopped on the approaches to the capital and driven back.

In the winter of 1941-1942, the front eventually stabilized. Plans for a new attack on Moscow were rejected by Hitler, despite the fact that his generals insisted on this option - he believed that an attack on Moscow would be too predictable.

For all these reasons, the German command was considering plans for new offensives in the north and south. An offensive to the south of the USSR would ensure control over the oil fields of the Caucasus (regions of Grozny and Baku), as well as over the Volga River, the main transport artery connecting the European part of the country with Transcaucasia and Central Asia. A German victory in the south of the Soviet Union could have seriously damaged the Soviet military machine and economy.

The Soviet leadership, encouraged by the successes near Moscow, tried to seize the strategic initiative and in May 1942 launched large forces on the offensive near Kharkov. The offensive began from the Barvenkovsky salient south of Kharkov, which was formed as a result of the winter offensive of the Southwestern Front (a feature of this offensive was the use of a new Soviet mobile formation - a tank corps, which in terms of the number of tanks and artillery was approximately equal to the German tank division, but was significantly inferior to it in number motorized infantry). At this time, the Germans were simultaneously planning an operation to cut off the Barvenkovsky ledge.

The Red Army's offensive was so unexpected for the Wehrmacht that it almost ended in disaster for Army Group South. However, the Germans decided not to change plans and, thanks to the concentration of troops on the flanks of the ledge, broke through the defenses of the Soviet troops. Most of the Southwestern Front was surrounded. In the subsequent three-week battles, known as the “second battle of Kharkov,” the advancing units of the Red Army suffered a heavy defeat. According to German data alone, more than 200 thousand people were captured (according to Soviet archival data, the irretrievable losses of the Red Army amounted to 170,958 people), and a lot of heavy weapons were lost. After this, the front south of Voronezh was practically open (See map May - July 1942). The key to the Caucasus, the city of Rostov-on-Don, which was defended with such difficulty in November 1941, was lost.

After the Red Army's Kharkov disaster in May 1942, Hitler intervened in strategic planning by ordering Army Group South to split into two. Army Group A was to continue the offensive into the North Caucasus. Army Group B, including the 6th Army of Friedrich Paulus and the 4th Panzer Army of G. Hoth, was supposed to move east towards the Volga and Stalingrad.

The capture of Stalingrad was very important to Hitler for several reasons. It was the main industrial city on the banks of the Volga and a vital transport route between the Caspian Sea and northern Russia. The capture of Stalingrad would provide security on the left flank of the German armies advancing into the Caucasus. Finally, the very fact that the city bore the name of Stalin - Hitler's main enemy - made the capture of the city a winning ideological and propaganda move.

The summer offensive was codenamed "Fall Blau" (German). "blue option"). The 6th and 17th armies of the Wehrmacht, 1st and 4th tank armies took part in it.

Operation Blau began with the offensive of Army Group South against the troops of the Bryansk Front to the north and the troops of the Southwestern Front to the south of Voronezh. It is worth noting that, despite a two-month break in active hostilities, for the troops of the Bryansk Front the result was no less catastrophic than for the troops of the Southwestern Front, battered by the May battles. On the very first day of the operation, both Soviet fronts were broken through tens of kilometers deep and the Germans rushed to the Don. Soviet troops could only put up weak resistance in the vast desert steppes, and then began to flock to the east in complete disorder. Attempts to re-form the defense also ended in complete failure when German units entered the Soviet defensive positions from the flank. In mid-July, several divisions of the Red Army fell into a pocket in the south of the Voronezh region, near the village of Millerovo.

One of the important factors that thwarted the German plans was the failure of the offensive operation on Voronezh.

Having easily captured the right bank part of the city, the enemy was unable to build on the success and the front line aligned with the Voronezh River. The left bank remained with the Soviet troops and repeated attempts by the Germans to dislodge the Red Army from the left bank were unsuccessful. The German troops ran out of resources to continue offensive operations and the battles for Voronezh entered the positional phase. Due to the fact that the main forces of the German army were sent to Stalingrad, the offensive on Voronezh was stopped, the most combat-ready units from the front were removed and transferred to the 6th Army of Paulus. Subsequently, this factor played an important role in the defeat of German troops at Stalingrad (see Voronezh-Kastornensk operation).

After the capture of Rostov, Hitler transferred the 4th Panzer Army from Group A (advancing into the Caucasus) to Group B, aimed east towards the Volga and Stalingrad.

The 6th Army's initial offensive was so successful that Hitler intervened again, ordering the 4th Panzer Army to join Army Group South (A). As a result, a huge traffic jam developed when the 4th and 6th armies needed several roads in the area of ​​​​operation. Both armies were stuck tightly, and the delay turned out to be quite long and slowed down the German advance by one week. With the advance slowing, Hitler changed his mind and reassigned the 4th Panzer Army's objective back to the Stalingrad direction.

Balance of forces in the Stalingrad defensive operation

Germany

• Army Group B. The 6th Army (commander - F. Paulus) was allocated for the attack on Stalingrad. It included 13 divisions, which numbered about 270 thousand people, 3 thousand guns and mortars, and about 500 tanks.

The army was supported by the 4th Air Fleet, which had up to 1,200 aircraft (the fighter aircraft aimed at Stalingrad, in the initial stage of the battle for this city, consisted of about 120 Messerschmitt Bf.109F-4/G-2 fighter aircraft (various domestic sources give figures ranging from 100 to 150), plus about 40 obsolete Romanian Bf.109E-3).

USSR

• Stalingrad Front (commander - S.K. Timoshenko, from July 23 - V.N. Gordov). It included the 62nd, 63rd, 64th, 21st, 28th, 38th and 57th combined arms armies, the 8th Air Army (Soviet fighter aircraft at the beginning of the battle here numbered 230-240 fighters, mainly Yak-1) and the Volga military flotilla - 37 divisions, 3 tank corps, 22 brigades, which numbered 547 thousand people, 2200 guns and mortars, about 400 tanks, 454 aircraft, 150-200 long-range bombers and 60 air defense fighters.

Start of the battle

By the end of July, the Germans pushed the Soviet troops behind the Don. The defense line stretched for hundreds of kilometers from north to south along the Don. To organize defense along the river, the Germans had to use, in addition to their 2nd Army, the armies of their Italian, Hungarian and Romanian allies. The 6th Army was only a few dozen kilometers from Stalingrad, and the 4th Panzer, located south of it, turned north to help take the city. To the south, Army Group South (A) continued to push further into the Caucasus, but its advance slowed. Army Group South A was too far to the south to provide support to Army Group South B in the north.

In July, when German intentions became completely clear to the Soviet command, it developed plans for the defense of Stalingrad. Additional Soviet troops were deployed on the eastern bank of the Volga. The 62nd Army was created under the command of Vasily Chuikov, whose task was to defend Stalingrad at any cost.

Battle in the city

There is a version that Stalin did not give permission to evacuate the city residents. However, documentary evidence on this matter has not yet been found. In addition, the evacuation, although at a slow pace, still took place. By August 23, 1942, out of 400 thousand residents of Stalingrad, about 100 thousand were evacuated. On August 24, the Stalingrad City Defense Committee adopted a belated resolution on the evacuation of women, children and the wounded to the left bank of the Volga. All citizens, including women and children, worked to build trenches and other fortifications.

The massive German bombing on August 23 destroyed the city, killing more than 40 thousand people, destroying more than half of the housing stock of pre-war Stalingrad, thereby turning the city into a huge territory covered with burning ruins.

The burden of the initial fight for Stalingrad fell on the 1077th Anti-Aircraft Regiment, a unit staffed primarily by young female volunteers with no experience in destroying ground targets. Despite this, and without adequate support available from other Soviet units, the anti-aircraft gunners remained in place and fired at the advancing enemy tanks of the 16th Panzer Division until all 37 air defense batteries were destroyed or captured. By the end of August, Army Group South (B) reached the Volga north of the city, and then south of it.

At the initial stage, Soviet defense relied heavily on the “People's Militia of Workers,” recruited from workers not involved in military production. Tanks continued to be built and were manned by volunteer crews consisting of factory workers, including women. The equipment was immediately sent from factory assembly lines to the front line, often without even painting and without sighting equipment installed.

By September 1, 1942, the Soviet command could only provide its troops in Stalingrad with risky crossings across the Volga. In the midst of the ruins of the already destroyed city, the Soviet 62nd Army built defensive positions with firing points located in buildings and factories. The battle in the city was fierce and desperate. The Germans, moving deeper into Stalingrad, suffered heavy losses. Soviet reinforcements were transported across the Volga from the eastern bank under constant bombardment by German artillery and aircraft. The average life expectancy of a newly arrived Soviet private in the city sometimes fell below twenty-four hours. German military doctrine was based on the interaction of military branches in general and especially close interaction between infantry, sappers, artillery and dive bombers. To counter this, the Soviet command decided to take a simple step - to constantly keep the front lines as close to the enemy as physically possible (usually no more than 30 meters). Thus, the German infantry had to fight on their own, or risk being killed by their own artillery and horizontal bombers, with support only available from dive bombers. A painful struggle went on for every street, every factory, every house, basement or stairwell. The Germans, calling a new urban war (German. Rattenkrieg, Rat War), they joked bitterly that the kitchen had already been taken over, but they were still fighting for the bedroom.

The battle on Mamayev Kurgan, a blood-soaked height overlooking the city, was unusually merciless. The height changed hands several times. At the grain elevator, a huge grain processing complex, the fighting took place so closely that Soviet and German soldiers could feel each other's breath. The fighting at the grain elevator continued for weeks until the Soviet army gave up ground. In another part of the city, an apartment building, defended by the Soviet platoon in which Yakov Pavlov served, was turned into an impregnable fortress. Despite the fact that this building was subsequently defended by many other officers, its original name stuck to it. From this house, later called Pavlov's House, one could see the square in the city center. The soldiers surrounded the building with minefields and set up machine gun positions.

Seeing no end to this terrible struggle, the Germans began to bring heavy artillery to the city, including several giant 600-mm mortars. The Germans made no effort to transport troops across the Volga, allowing Soviet troops to erect a huge number of artillery batteries on the opposite bank. Soviet artillery on the eastern bank of the Volga continued to identify German positions and treat them with increased fire. The Soviet defenders used the emerging ruins as defensive positions. German tanks could not move among piles of cobblestones up to 8 meters high. Even if they were able to move forward, they came under heavy fire from Soviet anti-tank units located in the ruins of buildings.

Soviet snipers, using the ruins as cover, also inflicted heavy losses on the Germans. The most successful sniper (known only as "Zikan") - he had 224 people to his credit by November 20, 1942. Sniper Vasily Grigorievich Zaitsev during the battle destroyed 225 enemy soldiers and officers (including 11 snipers).

For both Stalin and Hitler, the Battle of Stalingrad became a matter of prestige in addition to strategic importance. The Soviet command moved Red Army reserves from Moscow to the Volga, and also transferred air forces from almost the entire country to the Stalingrad area. The tension of both military commanders was immeasurable: Paulus even developed an uncontrollable nervous eye tic.

In November, after three months of carnage and a slow, costly advance, the Germans finally reached the banks of the Volga, capturing 90% of the destroyed city and splitting the remaining Soviet troops in two, trapping them in two narrow pockets. In addition to all this, a crust of ice formed on the Volga, preventing the approach of boats and supply loads for the Soviet troops in a difficult situation. Despite everything, the struggle, especially on Mamayev Kurgan and in the factories in the northern part of the city, continued as furiously as before. The battles for the Red October plant, the tractor plant and the Barrikady artillery plant became known throughout the world. While Soviet soldiers continued to defend their positions by firing at the Germans, factory workers repaired damaged Soviet tanks and weapons in the immediate vicinity of the battlefield, and sometimes on the battlefield itself.

Preparing for a counteroffensive

The Don Front was formed on September 30, 1942. It included: 1st Guards, 21st, 24th, 63rd and 66th Armies, 4th Tank Army, 16th Air Army. Lieutenant General K.K. Rokossovsky, who took command, actively began to fulfill the “old dream” of the right flank of the Stalingrad Front - to encircle the German 14th Tank Corps and connect with units of the 62nd Army.

Having taken command, Rokossovsky found the newly formed front on the offensive - following the order of the Headquarters, on September 30 at 5:00, after artillery preparation, units of the 1st Guards, 24th and 65th armies went on the offensive. Heavy fighting raged for two days. But, as noted in the TsAMO document f 206, parts of the armies did not advance, and moreover, as a result of German counterattacks, several heights were abandoned. By October 2, the offensive had run out of steam.

But here, from the reserve of the Headquarters, the Don Front receives seven fully equipped rifle divisions (277, 62, 252, 212, 262, 331, 293 infantry divisions). The command of the Don Front decides to use fresh forces for a new offensive. On October 4, Rokossovsky ordered the development of a plan for an offensive operation, and on October 6 the plan was ready. The date of the operation was set for October 10. But by this time several events occur.

On October 5, 1942, Stalin, in a telephone conversation with A.I. Eremenko, sharply criticized the leadership of the Stalingrad Front and demanded that immediate measures be taken to stabilize the front and subsequently defeat the enemy. In response to this, on October 6, Eremenko made a report to Stalin about the situation and considerations for further actions of the front. The first part of this document is an excuse and blaming the Don Front (“they had high hopes for help from the north,” etc.). In the second part of the report, Eremenko proposes to conduct an operation to encircle and destroy German units near Stalingrad. There, for the first time, it is proposed to encircle the 6th Army with flank attacks on Romanian units, and after breaking through the fronts, unite in the Kalach-on-Don area.

Headquarters considered Eremenko’s plan, but then considered it impracticable (the depth of the operation was too great, etc.).

As a result, the Headquarters proposed the following option for encircling and defeating German troops at Stalingrad: the Don Front was asked to deliver the main blow in the direction of Kotluban, break through the front and reach the Gumrak region. At the same time, the Stalingrad Front is launching an offensive from the Gornaya Polyana area to Elshanka, and after breaking through the front, units move to the Gumrak area, where they join forces with units of the Don Front. In this operation, the front command was allowed to use fresh units (Don Front - 7th Infantry Division, Stalingrad Front - 7th Art. K., 4 Kv. K.). On October 7, General Staff Directive No. 170644 was issued on conducting an offensive operation on two fronts to encircle the 6th Army; the start of the operation was scheduled for October 20.

Thus, it was planned to encircle and destroy only the German troops fighting directly in Stalingrad (14th Tank Corps, 51st and 4th Infantry Corps, about 12 divisions in total).

The command of the Don Front was dissatisfied with this directive. On October 9, Rokossovsky presented his plan for the offensive operation. He referred to the impossibility of breaking through the front in the Kotluban area. According to his calculations, 4 divisions were required for a breakthrough, 3 divisions to develop a breakthrough, and 3 more to cover from enemy attacks; thus, seven fresh divisions were clearly not enough. Rokossovsky proposed delivering the main blow in the Kuzmichi area (height 139.7), that is, according to the same old scheme: encircle units of the 14th Tank Corps, connect with the 62nd Army and only after that move to Gumrak to link up with units of 64 th army. The Don Front headquarters planned 4 days for this: from October 20 to October 24. The “Oryol salient” of the Germans had haunted Rokossovsky since August 23, so he decided to first deal with this “callus” and then complete the complete encirclement of the enemy.

The Stavka did not accept Rokossovsky's proposal and recommended that he prepare the operation according to the Stavka plan; however, he was allowed to conduct a private operation against the Oryol group of Germans on October 10, without attracting fresh forces.

On October 9, units of the 1st Guards Army, as well as the 24th and 66th armies began an offensive in the direction of Orlovka. The advancing group was supported by 42 Il-2 attack aircraft, covered by 50 fighters of the 16th Air Army. The first day of the offensive ended in vain. The 1st Guards Army (298, 258, 207 Rifle Division) did not advance, but the 24th Army advanced 300 meters. The 299th Infantry Division (66th Army), advancing to height 127.7, having suffered heavy losses, made no progress. On October 10, the offensive attempts continued, but by the evening they finally weakened and stopped. The next “operation to eliminate the Oryol group” failed. As a result of this offensive, the 1st Guards Army was disbanded due to losses incurred. Having transferred the remaining units of the 24th Army, the command was transferred to the reserve of Headquarters.

Alignment of forces in Operation Uranus

USSR

• Southwestern Front (commander - N.F. Vatutin). It included the 21st, 5th Tank, 1st Guards, 17th and 2nd Air Armies
• Don Front (commander - K.K. Rokossovsky). It included the 65th, 24th, 66th armies, 16th air army
• Stalingrad Front (commander - A.I. Eremenko). It included the 62nd, 64th, 57th, 8th Air, 51st Armies

Axis powers

• Army Group B (commander - M. Weichs). It included the 6th Army - Commander General of Tank Forces Friedrich Paulus, 2nd Army - Commanding General of Infantry Hans von Salmuth, 4th Panzer Army - Commander Colonel General Hermann Hoth, 8th Italian Army - Commanding General of the Army Italo Gariboldi, 2nd Hungarian Army - Commander Colonel General Gustav Jani, 3rd Romanian Army - Commander Colonel General Petre Dumitrescu, 4th Romanian Army - Commander Colonel General Constantin Constantinescu
• Army Group "Don" (commander - E. Manstein). It included the 6th Army, the 3rd Romanian Army, the Hoth Army Group, and the Hollidt Task Force.
• Two Finnish volunteer units

Offensive phase of the battle (Operation Uranus)

Beginning of the Wehrmacht offensive and counter-operation

On November 19, 1942, the Red Army began its offensive as part of Operation Uranus. On November 23, in the Kalach area, an encirclement ring closed around the 6th Army of the Wehrmacht. It was not possible to completely implement the Uranus plan, since it was not possible to split the 6th Army into two parts from the very beginning (with the attack of the 24th Army between the Volga and Don rivers). Attempts to liquidate those surrounded on the move under these conditions also failed, despite a significant superiority in forces - the superior tactical training of the Germans was telling. However, the 6th Army was isolated and its fuel, ammunition and food supplies were progressively dwindling, despite attempts to supply it by air by the 4th Air Fleet under the command of Wolfram von Richthofen.

Operation Wintergewitter

The newly formed Wehrmacht Army Group Don, under the command of Field Marshal Manstein, attempted to break the blockade of the encircled troops (Operation Wintergewitter (German). Wintergewitter, Winter thunderstorm)). It was originally planned to begin on December 10, but the offensive actions of the Red Army on the outer front of the encirclement forced the start of the operation to be postponed to December 12. By this date, the Germans managed to present only one full-fledged tank formation - the 6th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht and (from infantry formations) the remnants of the defeated 4th Romanian Army. These units were subordinate to the control of the 4th Panzer Army under the command of G. Hoth. During the offensive, the group was reinforced by the very battered 11th and 17th tank divisions and three air field divisions.

By December 19, units of the 4th Tank Army, which had actually broken through the defensive formations of the Soviet troops, encountered the 2nd Guards Army, which had just been transferred from the Headquarters reserve, under the command of R. Ya. Malinovsky. The army consisted of two rifle and one mechanized corps. During the oncoming battles, by December 25, the Germans retreated to the positions they were in before the start of Operation Wintergewitter, losing almost all their equipment and more than 40 thousand people.

Operation Little Saturn

According to the plan of the Soviet command, after the defeat of the 6th Army, the forces involved in Operation Uranus turned west and advanced towards Rostov-on-Don as part of Operation Saturn. At the same time, the southern wing of the Voronezh Front attacked the 8th Italian Army north of Stalingrad and advanced directly west (towards the Donets) with an auxiliary attack to the southwest (towards Rostov-on-Don), covering the northern flank of the Southwestern front during a hypothetical offensive. However, due to the incomplete implementation of “Uranus”, “Saturn” was replaced by “Little Saturn”. A breakthrough to Rostov (due to the lack of seven armies pinned down by the 6th Army at Stalingrad) was no longer planned; the Voronezh Front, together with the Southwestern Front and part of the forces of the Stalingrad Front, had the goal of pushing the enemy 100-150 km to the west from the encircled 6th Army. 1st Army and defeat the 8th Italian Army (Voronezh Front). The offensive was planned to begin on December 10, but problems associated with the delivery of new units necessary for the operation (those available on the site were tied up at Stalingrad) led to the fact that A. M. Vasilevsky authorized (with the knowledge of I. V. Stalin) a postponement of the start of the operation to 16 December. On December 16-17, the German front on Chira and on the positions of the 8th Italian Army was broken through, and Soviet tank corps rushed into the operational depths. However, in the mid-20s of December, operational reserves (four well-equipped German tank divisions), initially intended to strike during Operation Wintergewitter, began to approach Army Group Don. By December 25, these reserves launched counterattacks, during which they cut off V. M. Badanov’s tank corps, which had just broken into the airfield in Tatsinskaya (86 German aircraft were destroyed at the airfields).

After this, the front line temporarily stabilized, since neither the Soviet nor the German troops had enough forces to break through the enemy’s tactical defense zone.

Combat during Operation Ring

On December 27, N.N. Voronov sent the first version of the “Ring” plan to the Supreme Command Headquarters. Headquarters, in Directive No. 170718 of December 28, 1942 (signed by Stalin and Zhukov), demanded changes to the plan so that it would provide for the dismemberment of the 6th Army into two parts before its destruction. Corresponding changes have been made to the plan. On January 10, the offensive of the Soviet troops began, the main blow was delivered in the zone of the 65th Army of General Batov. However, German resistance turned out to be so serious that the offensive had to be temporarily stopped. From January 17 to 22, the offensive was suspended for regrouping, new attacks on January 22-26 led to the dismemberment of the 6th Army into two groups (Soviet troops united in the Mamayev Kurgan area), by January 31 the southern group was eliminated (the command and headquarters of the 6th was captured 1st Army led by Paulus), by February 2 the northern group of those surrounded under the command of the commander of the 11th Army Corps, Colonel General Karl Strecker, capitulated. Shooting in the city continued until February 3 - the Hiwis resisted even after the German surrender on February 2, 1943, since they were not in danger of being captured. The liquidation of the 6th Army, according to the “Ring” plan, was supposed to be completed in a week, but in reality it lasted 23 days. (The 24th Army withdrew from the front on January 26 and was sent to the General Headquarters reserve).

In total, more than 2,500 officers and 24 generals of the 6th Army were captured during Operation Ring. In total, over 91 thousand Wehrmacht soldiers and officers were captured. According to the Don Front headquarters, the trophies of the Soviet troops from January 10 to February 2, 1943 were 5,762 guns, 1,312 mortars, 12,701 machine guns, 156,987 rifles, 10,722 machine guns, 744 aircraft, 1,666 tanks, 261 armored vehicles, 80,438 vehicles, 10 6 79 motorcycles , 240 tractors, 571 tractors, 3 armored trains and other military equipment.

Results of the battle

The victory of Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad is the largest military-political event during the Second World War. The Great Battle, which ended in the encirclement, defeat and capture of a selected enemy group, made a huge contribution to achieving a radical turning point during the Great Patriotic War and had a decisive influence on the further course of the entire Second World War.

In the Battle of Stalingrad, new features of the military art of the USSR Armed Forces manifested themselves with all their might. Soviet operational art was enriched by the experience of encircling and destroying the enemy.

The victory at Stalingrad had a decisive influence on the further course of the Second World War. As a result of the battle, the Red Army firmly seized the strategic initiative and now dictated its will to the enemy. This changed the nature of the actions of German troops in the Caucasus, in the areas of Rzhev and Demyansk. The attacks of the Soviet troops forced the Wehrmacht to give the order to prepare the Eastern Wall, which intended to stop the advance of the Soviet Army.

The outcome of the Battle of Stalingrad caused confusion and confusion in the Axis countries. A crisis began in the pro-fascist regimes in Italy, Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia. Germany's influence on its allies sharply weakened, and disagreements between them noticeably worsened. The desire to maintain neutrality has intensified in Turkish political circles. Elements of restraint and alienation began to prevail in the relations of neutral countries towards Germany.

As a result of the defeat, Germany faced the problem of restoring the losses incurred in equipment and people. The head of the economic department of the OKW, General G. Thomas, stated that the losses in equipment were equivalent to the amount of military equipment of 45 divisions from all branches of the military and were equal to the losses for the entire previous period of fighting on the Soviet-German front. Goebbels said at the end of January 1943 that “Germany will be able to withstand Russian attacks only if it manages to mobilize its last human reserves.” Losses in tanks and vehicles amounted to six months of the country's production, in artillery - three months, in small arms and mortars - two months.

Reaction in the world

Many statesmen and politicians highly praised the victory of the Soviet troops. In a message to J.V. Stalin (February 5, 1943), F. Roosevelt called the Battle of Stalingrad an epic struggle, the decisive result of which is celebrated by all Americans. On May 17, 1944, Roosevelt sent Stalingrad a letter:

British Prime Minister W. Churchill, in a message to J.V. Stalin on February 1, 1943, called the victory of the Soviet Army at Stalingrad amazing. The King of Great Britain sent Stalingrad a dedicatory sword, on the blade of which the inscription was engraved in Russian and English:

During the battle and especially after its end, the activity of public organizations in the USA, England, and Canada intensified, advocating more effective assistance to the Soviet Union. For example, members of trade unions in New York raised 250 thousand dollars to build a hospital in Stalingrad. The Chairman of the United Garment Workers Union said:

American astronaut Donald Slayton, a participant in World War II, recalled:

The victory at Stalingrad had a significant impact on the lives of the occupied peoples and instilled hope for liberation. A drawing appeared on the walls of many Warsaw houses - a heart pierced by a large dagger. On the heart is the inscription “Great Germany”, and on the blade is “Stalingrad”.

Speaking on February 9, 1943, the famous French anti-fascist writer Jean-Richard Bloch said:

The victory of the Soviet Army highly raised the political and military prestige of the Soviet Union. Former Nazi generals in their memoirs recognized the enormous military-political significance of this victory. G. Doerr wrote:

Defectors and prisoners

According to some reports, from 91 to 110 thousand German prisoners were captured at Stalingrad. Subsequently, our troops buried 140 thousand enemy soldiers and officers on the battlefield (not counting the tens of thousands of German troops who died in the “cauldron” within 73 days). According to the testimony of the German historian Rüdiger Overmans, almost 20 thousand “accomplices” captured in Stalingrad - former Soviet prisoners who served in auxiliary positions in the 6th Army - also died in captivity. They were shot or died in the camps.

The reference book “World War II,” published in Germany in 1995, indicates that 201 thousand soldiers and officers were captured at Stalingrad, of whom only 6 thousand returned to their homeland after the war. According to the calculations of the German historian Rüdiger Overmans, published in a special issue of the historical magazine “Damals” dedicated to the Battle of Stalingrad, a total of about 250 thousand people were encircled at Stalingrad. Approximately 25 thousand of them were evacuated from the Stalingrad cauldron and more than 100 thousand Wehrmacht soldiers and officers died in January 1943 during the completion of the Soviet Operation Ring. 130 thousand people were captured, including 110 thousand Germans, and the rest were the so-called “voluntary helpers” of the Wehrmacht (“hiwi” is an abbreviation for the German word Hilfswilliger (Hiwi), the literal translation of “voluntary helper”). Of these, about 5 thousand people survived and returned home to Germany. The 6th Army included about 52 thousand “Khivi”, for whom the headquarters of this army developed the main directions for training “voluntary assistants”, in which the latter were considered as “reliable comrades-in-arms in the fight against Bolshevism.”

In addition, in the 6th Army... there were approximately 1 thousand people of the Todt organization, consisting mainly of Western European workers, Croatian and Romanian associations, numbering from 1 thousand to 5 thousand soldiers, as well as several Italians.

If we compare German and Russian data on the number of soldiers and officers captured in the Stalingrad area, the following picture appears. Russian sources exclude from the number of prisoners of war all the so-called “voluntary assistants” of the Wehrmacht (more than 50 thousand people), whom the Soviet competent authorities never classified as “prisoners of war”, but considered them as traitors to the Motherland, subject to trial under martial law. As for the mass death of prisoners of war from the “Stalingrad cauldron”, most of them died during the first year of their captivity due to exhaustion, the effects of cold and numerous diseases received while surrounded. Some data can be cited on this score: only in the period from February 3 to June 10, 1943, in the German prisoner of war camp in Beketovka (Stalingrad region), the consequences of the “Stalingrad cauldron” cost the lives of more than 27 thousand people; and of the 1,800 captured officers housed in the former monastery in Yelabuga, by April 1943 only a quarter of the contingent remained alive.

Participants

• Zaitsev, Vasily Grigorievich - sniper of the 62nd Army of the Stalingrad Front, Hero of the Soviet Union.
• Pavlov, Yakov Fedotovich - commander of a group of fighters who defended the so-called in the summer of 1942. Pavlov's house in the center of Stalingrad, Hero of the Soviet Union.
• Ibarruri, Ruben Ruiz - commander of a machine gun company, lieutenant, Hero of the Soviet Union.
• Shumilov, Mikhail Stepanovich - commander of the 64th Army, Hero of the Soviet Union.

Memory

Awards

On the front side of the medal is a group of fighters with rifles at the ready. Above the group of fighters, on the right side of the medal, a banner flutters, and on the left side you can see the outlines of tanks and planes flying one after another. At the top of the medal, above the group of fighters, there is a five-pointed star and the inscription along the edge of the medal “FOR THE DEFENSE OF STALINGRAD.”

On the reverse side of the medal is the inscription “FOR OUR SOVIET MOTHERLAND.” Above the inscription are a hammer and sickle.

The medal “For the Defense of Stalingrad” was awarded to all participants in the defense of Stalingrad - military personnel of the Red Army, Navy and NKVD troops, as well as civilians who took a direct part in the defense. The period of defense of Stalingrad is considered to be July 12 - November 19, 1942.

As of January 1, 1995, the medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad" was awarded to approximately 759 561 Human.

• In Volgograd, on the headquarters building of military unit No. 22220, there was a huge wall panel depicting a medal.

Monuments to the Battle of Stalingrad

• Mamayev Kurgan is “the main height of Russia.” During the Battle of Stalingrad, some of the fiercest battles took place here. Today, a monument-ensemble “To the Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad” has been erected on Mamayev Kurgan. The central figure of the composition is the sculpture “The Motherland is Calling!” It is one of the seven wonders of Russia.
• The panorama “The Defeat of Nazi Troops at Stalingrad” is a picturesque canvas on the theme of the Battle of Stalingrad, located on the Central Embankment of the city. Opened in 1982.
• “Lyudnikov Island” is an area 700 meters along the Volga bank and 400 meters deep (from the river bank to the territory of the Barricades plant), the defense area of ​​the 138th Red Banner Rifle Division under the command of Colonel I. I. Lyudnikov.
• The destroyed mill is a building that has not been restored since the war, an exhibit of the Battle of Stalingrad Museum.
• “Rodimtsev’s Wall” is a quay wall that serves as shelter from massive German air raids for soldiers of Major General A. I. Rodimtsev’s rifle division.
• The "House of Soldier's Glory", also known as the "Pavlov's House", was a brick building that occupied a dominant position over the surrounding area.
• Alley of Heroes - a wide street connects the embankment to them. 62nd Army near the Volga River and the Square of Fallen Fighters.

• On September 8, 1985, a memorial monument dedicated to the Heroes of the Soviet Union and full holders of the Order of Glory, natives of the Volgograd region and heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad was unveiled here. The artistic works were carried out by the Volgograd branch of the RSFSR Art Fund under the direction of the main artist of the city, M. Ya. Pyshta. The team of authors included the chief architect of the project A. N. Klyuchishchev, architect A. S. Belousov, designer L. Podoprigora, artist E. V. Gerasimov. On the monument are the names (surnames and initials) of 127 Heroes of the Soviet Union, who received this title for heroism in the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942-1943, 192 Heroes of the Soviet Union - natives of the Volgograd region, of whom three are twice Heroes of the Soviet Union, and 28 holders of the Order of Glory of three degrees.
• Poplar on the Alley of Heroes is a historical and natural monument of Volgograd, located on the Alley of Heroes. The poplar survived the Battle of Stalingrad and has numerous evidence of military action on its trunk.

In the world

Named in honor of the Battle of Stalingrad:

• Stalingrad Square (Paris) is a square in Paris.
• Stalingrad Avenue (Brussels) - in Brussels.

In many countries, including France, Great Britain, Belgium, Italy and a number of other countries, streets, gardens, and squares were named after the battle. Only in Paris is the name “Stalingrad” given to a square, a boulevard and one of the metro stations. In Lyon there is the so-called “Stalingrad” bracant, where the third largest antique market in Europe is located.

Also, the central street of the city of Bologna (Italy) is named in honor of Stalingrad.

On July 17, 1942, the Battle of Stalingrad began - one of the main turning point battles of the Great Patriotic War.

200 days and nights of fierce fighting ended in a decisive victory for the Russian troops. After the defeat at Stalingrad, Hitler declared three days of mourning in the Third Reich. The word Stalingrad has become synonymous with the steadfastness of the Russian army and the courage of the Russian soldier.

Film 1st."Over the Abyss"
Film 2."Fracture."

For reference:

At the beginning of 1942, Hitler abandoned plans for a new offensive against Moscow and concentrated his attention on the southern direction. The key to Caucasian oil and transport communications between the European part of the USSR, Transcaucasia and Central Asia was Stalingrad - a large industrial center, an important source of supplies for the front and, moreover, a city bearing the name of the leader: its capture would also have propaganda significance.

The 6th Army was allocated for the attack on Stalingrad under the command of Field Marshal Friedrich von Paulus. It included 13 divisions (270 thousand people), 3,000 guns and mortars and about 500 tanks. The hastily created Stalingrad Front was inferior to it in terms of personnel by 1.7 times, in tanks and artillery - by 1.3, and in aviation - by more than 2 times. The offensive began in July 1942. Very quickly, the fighting moved from the approaches and outskirts to the streets and squares of the city. The massive German bombing on August 23 destroyed Stalingrad: more than 40 thousand people died, half of the buildings turned into burning ruins, and Soviet soldiers fought for each of them until their last breath (see on our website the film adaptation of the novel by Vasily Grossman - series "Life and Fate") . According to General Chuikov, the Nazi losses during the attempts to take the famous “Pavlov’s House” exceeded the losses during the capture of Paris.

On November 19, 1942, the Red Army began its offensive as part of Operation Uranus, and 4 days later, in the Kalach area, the encirclement ring around Paulus’s army closed. The Nazis desperately resisted. New attacks - already in January 43rd - led to the dismemberment of the 6th Army into two groups (Soviet troops united in the Mamayev Kurgan area), by the end of the month the southern one was destroyed, the command and headquarters led by Paulus were captured, and after The northern group capitulated for two days.

The total losses of both sides in the Battle of Stalingrad - the largest during the Second World War - exceed two million people. About 90 thousand soldiers, more than 2,500 officers and 24 generals were captured. The trophies of the Soviet troops were thousands of guns, mortars and machine guns, more than 700 aircraft, over one and a half thousand tanks and other military equipment - the same amount Germany had lost before on the entire Eastern Front.

The defeat of the Nazis in the Battle of Stalingrad - along with the successful defense of Moscow and the battle on the Kursk Bulge - was a key turning point of the Second World War as a whole: German troops then finally lost the strategic initiative, and confusion and confusion in the Axis countries led to a crisis in the pro-fascist regimes in Italy and Romania , Hungary and Slovakia.

Battle of Stalingrad - Cannes of the 20th century

There are events in Russian history that burn like gold on the tablets of its military glory. And one of them is (July 17, 1942–February 2, 1943), which became the Cannes of the 20th century.
The WWII battle, gigantic in scale, unfolded in the second half of 1942 on the banks of the Volga. At certain stages, more than 2 million people, about 30 thousand guns, more than 2 thousand aircraft and the same number of tanks took part in it on both sides.
During Battle of Stalingrad The Wehrmacht lost a quarter of its forces concentrated on the Eastern Front. Its losses in killed, missing and wounded amounted to about one and a half million soldiers and officers.

Battle of Stalingrad on the map

Stages of the Battle of Stalingrad, its prerequisites

By the nature of the fighting Battle of Stalingrad briefly It is customary to divide it into two periods. These are defensive operations (July 17 - November 18, 1942) and offensive operations (November 19, 1942 - February 2, 1943).
After the failure of Plan Barbarossa and the defeat near Moscow, the Nazis were preparing for a new offensive on the Eastern Front. On April 5, Hitler issued a directive outlining the goal of the 1942 summer campaign. This is the mastery of the oil-bearing regions of the Caucasus and access to the Volga in the Stalingrad region. On June 28, the Wehrmacht launched a decisive offensive, taking Donbass, Rostov, Voronezh...
Stalingrad was a major communications hub connecting the central regions of the country with the Caucasus and Central Asia. And the Volga is an important transport artery for the delivery of Caucasian oil. The capture of Stalingrad could have catastrophic consequences for the USSR. The 6th Army under the command of General F. Paulus was active in this direction.

Photo of the Battle of Stalingrad

Battle of Stalingrad - fighting on the outskirts

To protect the city, the Soviet command formed the Stalingrad Front, led by Marshal S.K. Timoshenko. began on July 17, when, in the bend of the Don, units of the 62nd Army entered into battle with the vanguard of the 6th Army of the Wehrmacht. Defensive battles on the approaches to Stalingrad lasted 57 days and nights. On July 28, People's Commissar of Defense J.V. Stalin issued order No. 227, better known as “Not a step back!”
By the start of the decisive offensive, the German command had noticeably strengthened Paulus's 6th Army. The superiority in tanks was twofold, in aircraft - almost fourfold. And at the end of July, the 4th Tank Army was transferred here from the Caucasian direction. And, nevertheless, the advance of the Nazis towards the Volga could not be called rapid. In a month, under the desperate blows of the Soviet troops, they managed to cover only 60 kilometers. To strengthen the southwestern approaches to Stalingrad, the South-Eastern Front was created under the command of General A. I. Eremenko. Meanwhile, the Nazis began active operations in the Caucasus direction. But thanks to the dedication of Soviet soldiers, the German advance deep into the Caucasus was stopped.

Photo: Battle of Stalingrad - battles for every piece of Russian land!

Battle of Stalingrad: every house is a fortress

August 19th became black date of the Battle of Stalingrad- the tank group of Paulus’s army broke through to the Volga. Moreover, cutting off the 62nd Army defending the city from the north from the main forces of the front. Attempts to destroy the 8-kilometer corridor formed by enemy troops were unsuccessful. Although Soviet soldiers showed examples of amazing heroism. 33 soldiers of the 87th Infantry Division, defending the heights in the Malye Rossoshki area, became an invincible stronghold on the path of superior enemy forces. During the day, they desperately repulsed the attacks of 70 tanks and a battalion of Nazis, leaving 150 killed soldiers and 27 damaged vehicles on the battlefield.
On August 23, Stalingrad was subjected to severe bombing by German aircraft. Several hundred planes attacked industrial and residential areas, turning them into ruins. And the German command continued to build up forces in the Stalingrad direction. By the end of September, Army Group B already had more than 80 divisions.
The 66th and 24th armies were sent from the reserve of the Supreme High Command to help Stalingrad. On September 13, two powerful groups, supported by 350 tanks, began the assault on the central part of the city. A struggle for the city, unprecedented in courage and intensity, began - the most terrible stage of the Battle of Stalingrad.
For every building, for every inch of land, the fighters fought to the death, staining them with blood. General Rodimtsev called the battle in the building the most difficult battle. After all, there are no familiar concepts of flanks or rear here; an enemy can lurk around every corner. The city was continuously shelled and bombed, the earth was burning, the Volga was burning. From oil tanks pierced by shells, oil rushed in fiery streams into dugouts and trenches. An example of the selfless valor of Soviet soldiers was the almost two-month defense of Pavlov’s house. Having knocked out the enemy from a four-story building on Penzenskaya Street, a group of scouts led by Sergeant Ya. F. Pavlov turned the house into an impregnable fortress.
The enemy sent another 200 thousand trained reinforcements, 90 artillery divisions, 40 sapper battalions to storm the city... Hitler hysterically demanded to take the Volga “citadel” at any cost.
The commander of the Paulus Army battalion, G. Weltz, subsequently wrote that he remembered this as a bad dream. “In the morning, five German battalions go on the attack and almost no one returns. The next morning everything happens again..."
The approaches to Stalingrad were indeed littered with the corpses of soldiers and the remains of burnt tanks. It’s not for nothing that the Germans called the road to the city “the road of death.”

Battle of Stalingrad. Photos of killed Germans (far right - killed by a Russian sniper)

Battle of Stalingrad – “Thunderstorm” and “Thunder” against “Uranus”

The Soviet command developed the Uranus plan for defeat of the Nazis at Stalingrad. It consisted of cutting off the enemy strike group from the main forces with powerful flank attacks and, encircling, destroying it. Army Group B, led by Field Marshal Bock, included 1011.5 thousand soldiers and officers, more than 10 thousand guns, 1200 aircraft, etc. The three Soviet fronts defending the city included 1,103 thousand personnel, 15,501 guns, and 1,350 aircraft. That is, the advantage of the Soviet side was insignificant. Therefore, a decisive victory could only be achieved through military art.
On November 19, units of the Southwestern and Don Fronts, and on November 20, the Stalingrad Front, brought down tons of fiery metal on Bok’s locations from both sides. After breaking through the enemy defenses, the troops began to develop an offensive in operational depth. The meeting of the Soviet fronts took place on the fifth day of the offensive, November 23, in the Kalach, Sovetsky area.
Unwilling to accept defeat Battle of Stalingrad, the Nazi command attempted to release the encircled army of Paulus. But the operations “Winter Thunderstorm” and “Thunderbolt”, initiated by them in mid-December, ended in failure. Now the conditions were created for the complete defeat of the encircled troops.
The operation to eliminate them received the code name “Ring”. Of the 330 thousand who were surrounded by the Nazis, no more than 250 thousand remained by January 1943. But the group was not going to capitulate. It was armed with more than 4,000 guns, 300 tanks, and 100 aircraft. Paulus later wrote in his memoirs: “On the one hand there were unconditional orders to hold on, promises of help, references to the general situation. On the other hand, there are internal humane motives - to stop the fight, caused by the disastrous state of the soldiers."
On January 10, 1943, Soviet troops began Operation Ring. has entered its final phase. Pressed against the Volga and cut into two parts, the enemy group was forced to surrender.

Battle of Stalingrad (column of German prisoners)

Battle of Stalingrad. Captured F. Paulus (he hoped that he would be exchanged, and only at the end of the war did he learn that they had offered to exchange him for Stalin’s son, Yakov Dzhugashvili). Stalin then said: “I am not changing a soldier for a field marshal!”

Battle of Stalingrad, photo of captured F. Paulus

Victory in Battle of Stalingrad had enormous international and military-political significance for the USSR. It marked a radical turning point during the Second World War. After Stalingrad, the period of expulsion of German occupiers from the territory of the USSR began. Having become a triumph of Soviet military art, strengthened the camp of the anti-Hitler coalition and caused discord in the countries of the fascist bloc.
Some Western historians, trying to belittle significance of the Battle of Stalingrad, put it on a par with the Battle of Tunisia (1943), El Alamein (1942), etc. But they were refuted by Hitler himself, who declared on February 1, 1943 at his headquarters: “The possibility of ending the war in the East through an offensive is no longer exists…"

Then, near Stalingrad, our fathers and grandfathers again “gave a light” Photo: captured Germans after the Battle of Stalingrad

The Battle of Stalingrad is the largest land battle in world history, fought between the forces of the USSR and Nazi Germany in the city of Stalingrad (USSR) and its environs during the Patriotic War. The bloody battle began on July 17, 1942 and lasted until February 2, 1943.

Causes and background of the Battle of Stalingrad

As everyone is well aware, the forces of Nazi Germany launched a massive offensive against the USSR on June 22, 1941, and their troops advanced rapidly, defeating units of the regular army of the Union one after another.
After the defeat in the attempt to capture Moscow, Adolf Hitler wanted to strike where the Soviet leadership did not expect, this target was the city of Stalingrad. This city was an important strategic point that opened the way to oil deposits, as well as the Volga River, the main water artery of the USSR. Hitler understood that the capture of Stalingrad would be a strong blow to industry for the Union.
After the defeat of the Red Army offensive near Kharkov in May 1942, the path to Stalingrad was completely open to the Germans. By capturing this city, Hitler hoped to undermine the morale of the Soviet army and, most importantly, to motivate his regular units, because the city bore the name of the leader of the Soviet Union.

Composition of forces

Before the Battle of Stalingrad itself, the Germans had 270 thousand soldiers, more than three thousand guns and almost a thousand tanks. The German army had air support in the form of 1,200 aircraft of the latest fighter models.
The number of soldiers of the Red Army before the start of the battle was almost 600 thousand soldiers, but a small amount of equipment, guns and aircraft. The number of aircraft was less than two, and the number of tanks was about a third less.

Progress of the Battle of Stalingrad

The Soviet leadership, realizing that the German army would strike Stalingrad, began preparations for the defense of the city. Most Union soldiers are new recruits who have never seen combat before. In addition, some units suffered from the absence or small quantity of weapons and ammunition.
The Battle of Stalingrad began on July 17, when the advanced units of the Red Army clashed with the German vanguard. The advanced detachments of Soviet soldiers held the defense tightly, and in order for the Germans to break their defenses, they needed to use 5 of 13 divisions in this sector. The Germans managed to defeat the forward detachments only after five days. The German army then advanced towards the main defensive lines of Stalingrad. Seeing that the Soviet army was desperately defending itself, Hitler reinforced the Sixth Army with even more tanks and aircraft.
On July 23 and 25, the forces of the northern and southern German groups launched a large-scale offensive. The Nazi army, thanks to technology and aviation, successfully pushed the direction and took positions in the Golubinsky area, reaching the Don River. As a result of a massive enemy attack, three divisions of the Red Army were surrounded, creating a catastrophic situation. A few days later, the Germans managed to push the Red Army back even further - now the Red Army’s defenses were located across the Don. Now the Germans needed to break through the defenses along the river.
More and more German forces gathered near Stalingrad, and at the end of July there were desperate battles for the outskirts of the city. At the same time, an order came from Stalin, which said that Soviet soldiers must stand to death and not give up a centimeter of land to the enemy without a fight, and anyone who refused to fight and ran was to be shot without delay in the same place.
Despite the onslaught of the Germans, the soldiers of the Red Army firmly held their positions and the Germans’ plan - a swift, massive strike to immediately break into the city - did not work out for them. In connection with such resistance, the German command slightly reworked the offensive plan and on August 19 the offensive began again and this time successfully. The Germans managed to cross the Don and gain a foothold on its right bank. On August 23, a powerful air strike was carried out on Stalingrad, the total number of German bombers flown was about 2 thousand, entire neighborhoods were severely destroyed or completely wiped off the face of the earth.
A massive attack on Stalingrad began on September 13 and as a result, the Germans managed to enter the city for the first time; Soviet soldiers did not expect such an onslaught and could not resist it; fierce battles ensued for every street and house in the city. In August-September, the Red Army made several attempts to organize a counterattack, but they were able to break through only a few kilometers and with very heavy losses.
Before the Germans managed to break into the city, they managed to evacuate only a quarter of the city’s total population (100 thousand out of 400 thousand). Many women and children remained on the right bank and were forced to help organize the defense of the city. On the day of August 23, the German bombing killed more than 90 thousand civilians, this is a terrible figure that was paid for by a mistake in evacuating the city. In the city, especially in the central regions, terrible fires raged, caused by incendiary shells.
A fierce battle was fought for the tractor factory, where tanks were now being built. Right during the battle, the defense and work of the plant did not stop, and the tanks released from the assembly line immediately went into battle. Often even these tanks had to go into battle without a crew (having only a driver) and without ammunition. And the Germans advanced deeper and deeper into the city, but suffered heavy losses from Soviet snipers in the assault groups.
Since September 13, the Germans have continued to advance mercilessly and by the end of the month they have completely pushed back the 62nd Army and captured the river, now it is completely within reach of the German troops, and the Soviet army has lost the ability to cross its forces without huge losses.
In the city, the Germans could not fully use their ability to interact with different types of troops, so the German infantry was on par with the Soviet ones and they had to fight for every room of a residential building without the cover of their powerful tanks, artillery and aircraft. In the fire of Stalingrad, sniper Vasily Zaitsev was born - one of the most successful snipers in history, with more than 225 soldiers and officers under his belt, 11 of them snipers.
While the fighting in the city continued, the Soviet command developed a plan for a counteroffensive, which was called “Uranus”. And when it was ready, the Red Army went on the offensive on November 19. As a result of this attack, the Soviet army managed to encircle the 6th Army of the Wehrmacht, which cut off its supply of supplies.
In December, the German army launched a new offensive, but was stopped on December 19 by fresh Soviet forces. Then the Red Army's offensive resumed with renewed vigor, and a few days later fresh tank troops were able to break through 200 km deep, and the German defense began to burst at the seams. By January 31, the Soviet army, during Operation Ring, managed to divide the 6th Army of the Wehrmacht and capture Paulus' units. It was soon defeated, and the rest of the 6th Army and about 90 thousand soldiers were taken prisoner.
After the surrender of Paulus, almost all parts of the Wehrmacht began to capitulate, and the Soviet army liberated the city and surrounding area inexorably, although some German units still firmly defended themselves.

Results of the battle

The Battle of Stalingrad went down in history as the bloodiest battle in the history of mankind. Also, this battle was decisive during the Great Patriotic War, as well as during the Second World War. After this victory, the Soviet army continued to advance inexorably along the entire front, and the Germans could not stop this advance and retreated to Germany.
The Red Army acquired the necessary experience of encircling enemy forces and their subsequent destruction, which was later very useful during the offensive.
It’s sad to talk about the victims of the Battle of Stalingrad - both the German and Soviet sides lost many of their best units, the amount of destroyed equipment was off the charts, but in addition, German aviation was also forever weakened, which later had a great impact on the attack of the Soviet army.
The world praised the victory of the Soviet army very highly. Also, for the first time during World War II, the German army suffered such a crushing defeat, but before it had won one victory after another. The world saw that the brilliant tactics of the Germans could crack. The leaders of many states (Churchill, Roosevelt) wrote to Stalin that this victory was simply brilliant.

For the German command, the capture of Stalingrad was of key importance. This city greatly interfered with the fascist troops - in addition to the fact that it housed many defense factories, it also blocked the route to the Caucasus, a source of oil and fuel.

Therefore, it was decided to capture Stalingrad - and in one swift blow, as the German command liked. Blitzkrieg tactics worked more than once at the beginning of the war - but not with Stalingrad.

July 17, 1942 two armies - the German 6th Army under the command of Paulus and the Stalingrad Front under the command of Timoshenko - met on the outskirts of the city. Fierce fighting began.

The Germans attacked Stalingrad with tank troops and air raids, and infantry battles raged day and night. Almost the entire population of the city went to the front, and the remaining residents, without sleeping a wink, produced ammunition and weapons.

The advantage was on the enemy's side, and in September the fighting moved to the streets of Stalingrad. These street battles went down in history - the Germans, accustomed to capturing cities and countries with swift attacks in a couple of weeks, were forced to brutally fight for every street, every house, every floor.

Only two months later the city was captured. Hitler had already announced the capture of Stalingrad - but it was somewhat premature.

Offensive.

For all their strength, the Germans had weak flanks. The Soviet command took advantage of this. Back in September, a group of troops began to be created, the purpose of which was to strike back.

And just a few days after the supposed “capture” of the city, this army went on the offensive. Generals Rokossovsky and Vatutin managed to encircle the German forces, inflicting significant damage on them - five divisions were captured, seven were completely destroyed. At the end of November, the Germans tried to break the blockade around them, but failed.

Destruction of Paulus's army.

The surrounded German troops, who found themselves without ammunition, food and even uniforms at the beginning of winter, were asked to surrender. Paulus understood the hopelessness of the situation and sent a request to Hitler, asking for permission to surrender - but received a categorical refusal and an order to stand “until the last bullet.”

After this, the forces of the Don Front almost completely destroyed the encircled German army. On February 2, 1943, the last resistance of the enemy was broken, and the remnants of the German forces - including Paulus himself and his officers - finally surrendered.

The meaning of the Battle of Stalingrad.

The Battle of Stalingrad was the turning point of the war. After it, the Russian troops stopped retreating and went on a decisive offensive. The battle also inspired the allies - in 1944 the long-awaited second front was opened, and the internal struggle against the Hitler regime intensified in European countries.

Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad.

• Pilot Mikhail Baranov
• Pilot Ivan Kobyletsky
• Pilot Pyotr Dymchenko
• Pilot Trofim Voytanik
• Pilot Alexander Popov
• Pilot Alexander Loginov
• Pilot Ivan Kochuev
• Pilot Arkady Ryabov
• Pilot Oleg Kilgovatov
• Pilot Mikhail Dmitriev
• Pilot Evgeny Zherdiy
• Sailor Mikhail Panikakha
• Sniper Vasily Zaitsev
• And etc.