The Battle of Stalingrad lasted from July 17, 1942 to February 2, 1943, and is considered the largest land battle in the history of mankind. This battle marked a turning point in the course, during this battle, the Soviet troops finally stopped the troops of Nazi Germany, and forced them to stop the offensive on Russian lands.

Historians believe that the total area on which hostilities unfolded during the Battle of Stalingrad is equal to one hundred thousand square kilometers. It was attended by two million people, also two thousand tanks, two thousand aircraft, twenty-six thousand guns. The Soviet troops eventually defeated the huge fascist army, which consisted of two German armies, two Romanian, and another Italian army.

Background of the Battle of Stalingrad

The Battle of Stalingrad was preceded by other historical events. In December 1941, the Red Army defeated the Nazis near Moscow. Encouraged by the success, the leaders of the Soviet Union gave the order to launch a large-scale offensive near Kharkov. The offensive failed, and the Soviet army was defeated. German troops then went to Stalingrad.

The capture of Stalingrad was needed by the Nazi command for various reasons:

• Firstly, the capture of the city, which bore the name of Stalin, the leader of the Soviet people, could break the morale of the opponents of fascism, and not only in the Soviet Union, but throughout the world;
• Secondly, the capture of Stalingrad could give the Nazis the opportunity to cut off all communications vital for Soviet citizens that connected the center of the country with its southern part, in particular, with the Caucasus.

The course of the Battle of Stalingrad

The Battle of Stalingrad began on July 17, 1942 near the Chir and Tsimla rivers. The 62nd and 64th Soviet armies met with the vanguard of the sixth German army. The stubbornness of the Soviet troops did not allow the German troops to break through to Stalingrad quickly. On July 28, 1942, an order was issued by I.V. Stalin, in which it was clearly said: "Not a step back!". This famous order was discussed many times later by historians, and there were different attitudes towards it, but it had a great impact on the masses.

The history of the Battle of Stalingrad was briefly largely determined by this order. According to this order, special penal companies and battalions were created, which included privates and officers of the Red Army, who were guilty of something before the Motherland. Since August 1942, the battle has been taking place in the city itself. On August 23, a German air raid takes the lives of forty thousand people in the city, and turns the central part of the city into burning ruins.

Then the German 6th Army begins to break into the city. She is opposed by Soviet snipers and assault groups. A desperate fight takes place for every street. In the second half of September, German troops push the 62nd Army and break through to the Volga. At the same time, the river is controlled by the Germans, and all Soviet ships and boats are fired upon.

The significance of the Battle of Stalingrad lies in the fact that the Soviet command managed to create a superiority of forces, and the Soviet people, with their heroism, were able to stop the powerful and technically well-equipped German army. On November 19, 1943, the counter-offensive of the Soviet troops began. The onslaught of the Soviet troops led to the fact that part of the German troops was encircled.

More than ninety thousand people were taken prisoner - soldiers and officers of the German army, of which no more than twenty percent returned to Germany. On January 24, the commander of the German troops, Friedrich Paulus, who was later promoted by Hitler to the rank of Field Marshal, asked the German command for permission to declare surrender. But he was categorically denied this. Nevertheless, on January 31, he was forced to announce the surrender of German troops.

Results of the Battle of Stalingrad

The defeat of the German troops caused the weakening of the fascist regimes in Hungary, Italy, Slovakia, and Romania. The result of the battle was that the Red Army stopped defending and began to advance, and the German troops were forced to leave to the west. The victory in this battle was in the hands of the political goals of the Soviet Union, and accelerated many other countries.

On July 17, 1942, the first, defensive stage of the battle for Stalingrad began - one of the largest and bloodiest combat operations of the Great Patriotic War.

Historians divide the Battle of Stalingrad into two stages - defensive, from July 17 to November 18, and offensive, from November 19, 1942 to February 2, 1943. In the summer of 1942, fascist German troops launched an offensive on the southern wing of the Soviet-German front with the aim of reaching the fertile regions of the Don, Kuban, Lower Volga and the oil-bearing regions of the Caucasus.

For the attack on Stalingrad, the 6th Army under the command of General F. Paulus was allocated from Army Group B. By July 17, it included 13 divisions. This is about 270,000 personnel, 3,000 guns and mortars, and 500 tanks. As an air support, Paulus was allocated the 4th Air Fleet with a total number of up to 1200 combat aircraft.

German riflemen in a trench near Stalingrad

This iron horde was opposed by the Stalingrad Front, which was created by decision of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command on July 12, 1942. It included the 62nd, 63rd, 64th, 21st, 28th, 38th, 57th Army and 8th Air Army of the former Southwestern Front. The front was commanded by Marshal of the Soviet Union S. K. Timoshenko, and from July 23 - Lieutenant General V. N. Gordov. The task was set before the front, defending in a strip 520 km wide, to stop the further advance of the enemy.

The front began fulfilling the assigned task with only 12 divisions, or 160,000 personnel, 2,000 guns and mortars, and about 400 tanks. The 8th Air Army had 454 aircraft, and even about 150 long-range bombers and 60 fighters of the 102nd Air Defense Air Division.

Thus, the enemy outnumbered the Soviet troops in men by 1.7 times, in artillery and tanks by 1.3 times, in aircraft by more than 2 times ...

Map of the defense of Stalingrad

From July 17, the forward detachments of the 62nd and 64th armies offered fierce resistance to the enemy at the turn of the Chir and Tsimla rivers for 6 days. The Germans were forced to deploy part of the main forces, and this allowed them to gain time to improve the defense on the main line. As a result of stubborn battles, the plans of the enemy to encircle the Soviet troops and break into the city were thwarted.

On August 23, 1942, the sixth army of Paulus approached the city from the north, and the fourth tank army of Goth from the south. Stalingrad was taken into a vice and cut off from land routes. To rule out the possibility of resistance from the defenders of the city, the German command decided to raise all aircraft into the air. During the day of August 23, a large settlement was reduced to ruins. A continuous flurry of bombs fell on him from the sky, with a total number of two thousand pieces.

Street fight in Stalingrad

Stalingrad was an important strategic point. After its capture, the Nazis could cut off the center from the Caucasus region, which could not be allowed. The 62nd and 64th armies stood on the defense of the city. The Nazis, in order to achieve their goal, created a group consisting of one hundred and twenty-seven thousand people. While the strength of the 62nd Army was only 50 people. Stalingrad was the only city to which the fascist troops reached in a timely manner according to the Barbarossa plan.

The chronology of the Battle of Stalingrad includes mostly street fights. The capture of the city began on September 13th. There were battles for every street, for every building. There were several main pockets of resistance in Stalingrad. The 64th Army was pushed back to the outskirts, so the main battles were fought by the 62nd Army of General Chuikov. Fierce battles were fought for the Central Station, which changed hands twelve times. These battles were fought until September 27th. Simultaneously with the battles for the station, there were fierce battles for individual houses, Mamayev Kurgan, the Barrikady, Krasny Oktyabr factories, and a tractor factory. The twenty-kilometer strip along the Volga turned into a flaming cauldron, in which battles were fought around the clock, without stopping for a minute.

Artillerymen in the battle for Stalingrad

In September 1942, to capture Stalingrad, the Germans created a 170,000-strong group, primarily from the forces of the 6th Army. On September 13, German troops reached the Volga in the area of ​​the Kuporosnaya gully; the next day, the enemy broke through to the city center, where battles began for the Stalingrad-I railway station. By decision of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, the 13th Guards Rifle Division under the command of Major General A. I. Rodimtsev was transferred from beyond the Volga. The crossing took place in difficult conditions under continuous enemy mortar and artillery fire. Having landed on the right bank, the division immediately entered the battle for the city center, the railway station, 9th January Square (now Lenin Square) and Mamaev Kurgan. Throughout September and early October, the battles systematically turned into hand-to-hand combat. Previously, the procession of the enemy on Soviet soil totaled kilometers. In Stalingrad, in two weeks of fighting, the Nazis advanced 500 meters. The fighting was especially fierce due to the close nature.

Machine gunners of the Red Army hold the defense in the building of the destroyed factory

In the process of defending Stalingrad in September 1942, a group of Soviet intelligence officers captured a four-story residential building in the very center of the city, partially damaged by artillery, but not yet destroyed. The fighters entrenched themselves there. The group was led by Sergeant Yakov Pavlov. As "Pavlov's House" and then this modest four-story building will go down in history.

The famous Pavlov's House

The upper floors of the house made it possible to monitor and keep under fire that part of the city that was occupied by the enemy, so the house itself played an important strategic role in the plans of the Soviet command. The building was adapted for all-round defense. Firing points were moved outside the building, and underground passages were made to communicate with them. The approaches to the house were mined with anti-personnel and anti-tank mines. It was thanks to the skillful organization of the defense that the warriors were able to repel the attacks of enemies for such a long period of time.

Volgograd journalist Yuri Beledin called this house the "House of Soldier's Glory". In his book "A Shard in the Heart", he wrote that the battalion commander A. Zhukov was responsible for capturing this house. It was on his orders that the company commander I. Naumov sent four soldiers, one of whom was Sergeant Pavlov, to organize an observation post in the surviving building. During the day, the fighters fought off the attacks of the Germans. Later, lieutenant I. Afanasiev was responsible for the defense of the house, who came there along with reinforcements in the form of a machine-gun platoon and a group of armor-piercers. The total composition of the garrison in the house consisted of 29 soldiers.

On the wall of the house there is an inscription that P. Demchenko, I. Voronov, A. Anikin and P. Dovzhenko fought heroically in this place. And below it was attributed that he defended the house of Y. Pavlov.

Inscriptions on the wall of Pavlov's House

Soviet soldiers held the line for 58 days. Why did official history remember only Sergeant Pavlov? According to the author of the book, there was a certain “political situation” that did not make it possible to change the established idea of ​​​​the defenders of this house. In addition, I. Afanasiev himself was a man of exceptional decency and modesty. He served in the army until 1951, when he was dismissed for health reasons - from wounds received during the war, he was almost completely blind. He was awarded several front-line awards, including the medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad". The former lieutenant did not deny his role in the Stalingrad events, but he never exaggerated it, claiming that he came with his fighters to the house already when the Germans were knocked out of it ...

Breaking through the defense of the house was the main task of the Germans at that time, because this house stood like a bone in the throat. German troops tried to break the defense with the help of mortar and artillery shelling, air bombardment, but the Nazis failed to break the defenders. These events went down in the history of the war as a symbol of the steadfastness and courage of the soldiers of the Soviet army.

The battle went on for every inch of land

October 14 is marked by the beginning of a general offensive by the fascist invaders. This day was the most intense for all time of resistance. Explosions and shots turned into one continuous rumble and flurry of fire. The Stalingrad Tractor Plant was taken, which was previously blown up by the retreating troops. The 62nd Army could not stand it and was forced to retreat to the river, but on a narrow strip of land the fighting did not stop for a minute.

The attempt at a general assault on Stalingrad lasted three weeks: the attackers managed to capture the Stalingrad Tractor Plant and reach the Volga in the northern sector of the defense of the 62nd Army. On November 14, the German command made a third attempt to capture the city: after a desperate struggle, the Germans took the southern part of the Barrikady plant and broke through in this area to the Volga. However, this was their last success...

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One of the largest battles of the Great Patriotic War was the Battle of Stalingrad. It lasted more than 200 days from July 17, 1942 to February 2, 1943. By the number of people and equipment involved on both sides, the world military history has not yet known examples of such battles. The total area of ​​the territory where intense fighting took place was more than 90 thousand square kilometers. The main outcome of the Battle of Stalingrad was the first crushing defeat of the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front.

Previous events

By the beginning of the second year of the war, the situation on the fronts had changed. The successful defense of the capital, the subsequent counterattack, made it possible to stop the rapid advance of the Wehrmacht. By April 20, 1942, the Germans were thrown back from Moscow by 150-300 km. For the first time they encountered organized defense on a large sector of the front and repulsed the counteroffensive of our army. At the same time, the Red Army made an unsuccessful attempt to change the course of the war. The attack on Kharkov turned out to be poorly planned and brought huge losses, destabilizing the situation. More than 300 thousand Russian soldiers died and were captured.

With the advent of spring, a calm came on the fronts. The spring thaw gave a respite to both armies, which the Germans took advantage of to develop a plan for a summer campaign. The Nazis needed oil like air. The oil fields of Baku and Grozny, the capture of the Caucasus, the subsequent offensive into Persia - these were plans of the German General Staff. The operation was called Fall Blau - "Blue Option".

At the last moment, the Fuhrer personally made adjustments to the summer campaign plan - he divided Army Group South in half, formulating individual tasks for each part:

The ratio of forces, periods

For the summer company, the 6th Army under the command of General Paulus was transferred to Army Group B. It was she who was given a key role in the offensive, on her shoulders lay the main goal - the capture of Stalingrad. To accomplish the task, the Nazis gathered a huge force. 270 thousand soldiers and officers, about two thousand guns and mortars, five hundred tanks were given under the command of the general. They provided cover with the forces of the 4th Air Fleet.

On August 23, the pilots of this formation practically wiped the city off the face of the earth. In the center of Stalingrad, after an air raid, a firestorm raged, tens of thousands of women, children, the elderly were killed, and ¾ of the buildings were destroyed. They turned a flourishing city into a desert covered with broken bricks.

By the end of July, Army Group B was supplemented by the 4th Panzer Army of Hermann Hoth, which included 4 army motorized corps, the SS Panzer Division Das Reich. These huge forces were directly subordinate to Paulus.

The Stalingrad Front of the Red Army, which was renamed the South-Western, had twice as many soldiers, inferior in quantity and quality to tanks and aircraft. The formations needed to effectively defend a section 500 km long. The main burden of the struggle for Stalingrad fell on the shoulders of the militias. Again, as in the battle for Moscow, workers, students, yesterday's schoolchildren, took up arms. The sky of the city was protected by the 1077th anti-aircraft regiment, 80% of which consisted of girls aged 18-19.

Military historians, analyzing the features of hostilities, conditionally divided the course of the Battle of Stalingrad into two periods:

• defensive, from July 17 to November 18, 1942;
• offensive, from November 19, 1942 to February 2, 1943.

The moment the next offensive of the Wehrmacht began was a surprise for the Soviet command. Although such a possibility was considered by the General Staff, the number of divisions transferred to the Stalingrad Front existed only on paper. In fact, their number ranged from 300 to 4 thousand people, although each should have more than 14 thousand soldiers and officers. There was nothing to repel tank attacks, since the 8th Air Fleet was not fully equipped, there were not enough trained, trained reserves.

Fights on the distant approaches

Briefly, the events of the Battle of Stalingrad, its initial period, look like this:

Behind the mean lines that are in any history textbook, thousands of lives of Soviet soldiers are hidden, forever remaining in the Stalingrad land, the bitterness of retreat.

The inhabitants of the city worked tirelessly at the factories, converted into military ones. The famous tractor factory repaired and assembled tanks, which from the shops, under their own power, went to the front line. People worked around the clock, staying overnight at the workplace, sleeping for 3-4 hours. All this under continuous bombing. They defended themselves with the whole world, but they clearly lacked strength.

When the advanced units of the Wehrmacht advanced 70 km, the Wehrmacht command decided to surround the Soviet units in the area of ​​​​the villages of Kletskaya and Suvorovskaya, take the crossings across the Don, and immediately take the city.

To this end, the attackers were divided into two groups:

1. Northern: from parts of the army of Paulus.
2. Southern: from units of the army of Goth.

As part of our army there was a restructuring. On July 26, repelling the advance of the Northern Group, the 1st and 4th Panzer Armies launched a counterattack for the first time. The staff list of the Red Army did not have such a combat unit until 1942. Encirclement was prevented, but on July 28 the Red Army left for the Don. The threat of catastrophe hung over the Stalingrad front.

Not one step back!

During this difficult time, the Order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR No. 227 of July 28, 1942, or better known as "Not a step back!", appeared. The full text can be read in the article dedicated to the Battle of Stalingrad Wikipedia. Now it is called almost cannibalistic, but at that moment the leaders of the Soviet Union had no time for moral torment. It was about the integrity of the country, the possibility of further existence. These are not just dry lines that prescribe or regulate. He was an emotional appeal call to defend the motherland to the last drop of blood. A historical document that conveys the spirit of the era, dictated by the course of the war, the situation on the fronts.

On the basis of this order, penal units for fighters and commanders appeared in the Red Army, barrage detachments from the fighters of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs received special powers. They had the right to use the highest measure of social protection against marauders, deserters, without waiting for a court verdict. In spite of apparent cruelty, the troops took the order well. First of all, he helped restore order, improve discipline in parts. Senior commanders now have full-fledged levers of influence on negligent subordinates. Anyone guilty of violating the Charter, disobeying orders could get into the penalty boxes: from an ordinary to a general.

Fighting in the city

In the chronology of the Battle of Stalingrad, this period is given from September 13 to November 19. When the Germans entered the city, its defenders fortified themselves on a narrow strip along the Volga, holding the crossing. With the forces of troops under the command of General Chuikov, the Nazi units ended up in Stalingrad, in real hell. There were barricades and fortifications on every street, every house became a hotbed of defense. To avoid constant German bombing, our command took a risky step: to narrow the clash zone to 30 meters. With such a distance between the opponents, the Luftwaffe risked bombing on its own.

One of the moments in the history of defense: during the battles on September 17, the Germans occupied the city station, then our troops drove them out of there. And so 4 times in one day. In total, the defenders of the station changed 17 times. Eastern part of the city, which The Germans were constantly attacking, defended from September 27 to October 4. Fights went on for every house, floor, room. Much later, the surviving Nazis will write memoirs in which they will call the city battles the “Rat War”, when a desperate battle is going on in the apartment in the kitchen, and the room has already been captured.

Artillery worked from both sides with direct fire, there were continuous hand-to-hand fights. Desperately resisted the defenders of the factories "Barricades", "Silicate", tractor. In a week, the German army advanced 400 meters. For comparison: at the beginning of the war, the Wehrmacht passed up to 180 km per day inland.

During the street fighting, the Nazis made 4 attempts to finally storm the city. With a frequency of once every two weeks, the Fuhrer demanded that Paulus put an end to the defenders of Stalingrad, who held a bridgehead 25 kilometers wide on the banks of the Volga. With incredible efforts, having spent a month, the Germans took the dominant height of the city - Mamaev Kurgan.

The defense of the mound went down in military history as an example of boundless courage, steadfastness of Russian soldiers. Now a memorial complex has been opened there, the world-famous sculpture “Motherland Calls” stands there, the defenders of the city and its inhabitants are buried in mass graves. And then it was a bloody mill, grinding battalion after battalion on both sides. The Nazis lost at this time 700 thousand people, the Red Army - 644 thousand soldiers.

On November 11, 1942, the army of Paulus went on the last, decisive assault on the city. The Germans did not reach the Volga 100 meters, when it became clear that their forces were running out. The offensive stopped, the enemy was forced to defend.

Operation Uranus

Back in September, the General Staff began developing a counteroffensive near Stalingrad. The operation, called "Uranus", began on November 19 with a massive artillery preparation. Many years later, this day became a professional holiday for artillerymen. For the first time in the history of the Second World War, artillery units were used in such a volume, with such a density of fire. By November 23, the encirclement around the army of Paulus and the tank army of Goth closed.

The Germans turned out locked in a rectangle 40 for 80 km. Paulus, who understood the danger of encirclement, insisted on a breakthrough, the withdrawal of troops from the ring. Hitler personally, in a categorical manner, ordered to fight on the defensive, promising all-round support. He did not give up hope to take Stalingrad.

Parts of Manstein were thrown to save the group, and Operation Winter Storm began. With incredible efforts, the Germans moved forward, when 25 km were left to the encircled units, they collided with the 2nd army of Malinovsky. On December 25, the Wehrmacht suffered a final defeat, rolled back to its original positions. The fate of Paulus's army was sealed. But this does not mean that our units went forward without meeting resistance. On the contrary, the Germans fought desperately.

On January 9, 1943, the Soviet command presented Paulus with an ultimatum demanding unconditional surrender. The Fuhrer's soldiers were given a chance to surrender, to stay alive. At the same time, Paulus received another personal order from Hitler, demanding to fight to the end. The general remained true to the oath, rejected the ultimatum, carried out the order.

On January 10, Operation Ring began to finally eliminate the encircled units. The battles were terrible, the German troops split into two parts, held firm, if such an expression is applicable to the enemy. On January 30, Paulus received the rank of field marshal from Hitler with a hint that Prussian field marshals did not surrender.

Everything has the ability to end, on the 31st at noon it ended stay of the Nazis in the boiler: the field marshal surrendered with the entire headquarters. It took another 2 days to finally clear the city of the Germans. The history of the Battle of Stalingrad ended.

The battle of Stalingrad and its historical significance

For the first time in world history there was a battle of such duration, in which huge forces were involved. The result of the defeat for the Wehrmacht was the capture of 90 thousand, the killing of 800 thousand soldiers. The victorious German army for the first time suffered a crushing defeat, which was discussed by the whole world. The Soviet Union, despite the seizure of part of the territory, remained an integral state. In the event of a defeat at Stalingrad, in addition to the occupied Ukraine, Belarus, Crimea, part of central Russia, the country was deprived of the Caucasus and Central Asia.

From a geopolitical point of view, the significance of the battle of Stalingrad briefly can be described as follows: the Soviet Union is able to fight with Germany, to defeat her. The Allies stepped up assistance, signed agreements with the USSR at the Tehran Conference in December 1943. Finally, the issue of opening a second front was resolved.

Many historians call the Battle of Stalingrad the turning point of the Great Patriotic War. This is true not so much , from a military point of view how much with the moral. For a year and a half, the Red Army retreated on all fronts, and for the first time it was possible not only to push the enemy back, as in the battle for Moscow, but to defeat it. Capture a field marshal, capture a large number of soldiers and equipment. People believed that victory would be ours!

Introduction

On April 20, 1942, the battle for Moscow ended. The German army, whose offensive seemed unstoppable, was not only stopped, but also thrown back from the capital of the USSR by 150-300 kilometers. The Nazis 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, code-named Fall Blau - "Blue Option". The initial goal of the German strike 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, was also going to conduct a summer offensive in the zone of the Bryansk, Southern and Southwestern fronts. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the Red Army was the first to strike and at first the German troops managed to push back almost to Kharkov, the Germans managed to turn the situation in their favor and inflict a major defeat on the Soviet troops. On the sector of the Southern and Southwestern fronts, the defense was weakened to the limit, and on June 28, the 4th Panzer Army of Hermann Goth broke through between Kursk and Kharkov. The Germans went to the Don.

At this point, Hitler, by personal order, made a change to the Blue Option, which later cost Nazi Germany dearly. He divided Army Group South into two parts. Army Group "A" was supposed to continue the offensive in the Caucasus. Army Group B was to reach the Volga, cut off the strategic communications that connected 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 major industrial center), but also purely for 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.

The alignment of forces and the first stage of the battle

Army Group B, advancing on Stalingrad, included the 6th Army of General Paulus. The army consisted of 270 thousand soldiers and officers, about 2200 guns and mortars, about 500 tanks. From the air, the 6th Army was supported by the 4th Air Fleet of General Wolfram von Richthofen, which numbered about 1200 aircraft. A little later, towards the end of July, the 4th Panzer Army of Herman Goth was transferred to Army Group B, which included on July 1, 1942 the 5th, 7th and 9th Army and the 46th Motorized corps. The latter included the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich.

The Southwestern Front, renamed Stalingrad on July 12, 1942, consisted of about 160,000 personnel, 2,200 guns and mortars, and about 400 tanks. Of the 38 divisions that were part of the front, only 18 were fully equipped, while the rest had from 300 to 4000 people. The 8th Air Army, which operated 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 a sector more than 500 kilometers wide. A separate problem for the Soviet troops was the flat steppe terrain, on which 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 offensive of the German troops began on July 17, 1942. On this day, the vanguards of the 6th Army of the Wehrmacht entered into battle with units of the 62nd Army on the Chir River and in the area of ​​​​the Pronin farm. By July 22, the Germans pushed the Soviet troops back almost 70 kilometers, to the main line of defense of Stalingrad. The German command, which expected to take the city on the move, decided to surround the Red Army units at the villages of Kletskaya and Suvorovskaya, seize crossings across the Don and develop the offensive against Stalingrad without stopping. For this purpose, two strike groups were created, advancing from the north and south. The northern group was formed from units of the 6th Army, the southern group from units of the 4th Panzer 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 the mobile formations of the front reserve, as well as the 1st and 4th tank armies, which had not yet completed the formation, took part. Tank armies were a new regular structure within the Red Army. It is not clear who exactly put forward the idea of ​​their formation, but in the documents this idea was first voiced to Stalin by the head of the Main Armored Directorate, Ya. N. Fedorenko. In the form in which the tank armies were conceived, they did not last long enough, subsequently undergoing a serious restructuring. But the fact that it was near Stalingrad that such a staff unit appeared is a fact. The 1st Panzer Army struck 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 unblock 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 near the settlements of Surovikino and Rychkovsky. Nevertheless, the Nazis were able to break through the front of the 64th Army. To eliminate this breakthrough, on July 28, the Headquarters of the Supreme 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 ​​\u200b\u200bthe village of Nizhne-Chirskaya.

Despite the fact that the new units entered the battle on the move and their combat capabilities suffered from this, by the indicated date the Red Army managed to push the Germans and even threaten their encirclement. Unfortunately, the Nazis managed to bring fresh forces into battle and help the group. After that, the fighting escalated 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 the penalties for unauthorized retreat from the battlefield, introduced penal units for the guilty fighters 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 rigidity, was adopted 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 withdraw beyond the Don. German troops captured a number of bridgeheads on the left bank of the river. In the area of ​​​​the village of Tsymlyanskaya, the Nazis concentrated very serious forces: two infantry, two motorized and one tank division. The headquarters ordered the Stalingrad Front to drive the Germans to the western (right) bank and restore the line of defense 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 made significant progress, capturing the Repair station, the station and the city of Kotelnikovo, the settlement of Zhutovo. On the same days, the 6th Romanian corps of the enemy came to the Don. In the zone of operations of the 62nd Army, the Germans went on the offensive on August 7 in the direction of Kalach. The Soviet troops were forced to retreat to the left bank of the Don. On August 15, the Soviet 4th 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 withdrew beyond the Don and took up defensive positions on the outer line of the city fortifications. On August 17, the Germans resumed the onslaught and by the 20th they managed to capture the crossings, as well as a bridgehead in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe 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 aircraft made about 2,000 sorties. Many quarters of the city were in ruins, oil storage facilities were on fire, about 40 thousand civilians died. The enemy broke through to the line Rynok - Orlovka - Gumrak - Peschanka. The struggle passed 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 grouping of the Nazis was approximately 500. From the air, the enemy was supported by at least 1000 aircraft. The threat of the capture of the city became tangible. To eliminate it, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command transferred to the defenders two completed armies (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 (September 30, it will be renamed Donskoy) carried out two major operations, thanks to which they managed to weaken the German onslaught on the city, pulling back about 8 infantry, two tank and two motorized divisions. Again, it was not possible to carry out the complete defeat of the Nazi units. Fierce battles for the internal defensive bypass went on for a long time.

Urban battles began on September 13, 1942 and continued until November 19, when the Red Army launched a counteroffensive as part of Operation Uranus. From September 12, the defense of Stalingrad was entrusted to the 62nd Army, which was transferred under the command of Lieutenant General V. I. Chuikov. This man, who before the start of the Battle of Stalingrad was considered insufficiently experienced for military command, set up a real hell for the enemy in the city.

September 13 in the immediate vicinity of the city were six infantry, three tank and two motorized divisions of the Germans. Until September 18, there were fierce battles in the central and southern parts of the city. South of the railway station, the onslaught of the enemy was held back, but in the center the Germans drove out the Soviet troops up to the Krutoy ravine.

The battles on September 17 for the station were extremely fierce. It changed hands four times during the day. Here the Germans left 8 burnt tanks and about a hundred killed. On September 19, the left wing of the Stalingrad Front tried to strike in the direction of the station with a further attack on Gumrak and Gorodishche. The advance was not carried out, however, a large enemy grouping was held down by battles, which facilitated the situation for the units fighting in the center of Stalingrad. In general, the defense here was so strong that the enemy did not manage to reach the Volga.

Realizing that success could not be achieved in the center of the city, the Germans concentrated troops to the south to attack in an easterly direction, to Mamaev Kurgan and the village of Red October. On September 27, Soviet troops launched a pre-emptive attack, operating in small infantry groups armed with light machine guns, Molotov cocktails, and anti-tank rifles. Fierce fighting continued from 27 September to 4 October. These were the same Stalingrad city battles, stories about which freeze the blood in the veins even of a person with strong nerves. There were battles not for streets and quarters, sometimes not even for entire houses, but for individual floors and rooms. The guns were fired with direct fire almost at point blank range, an incendiary mixture was used, fire from short distances. Hand-to-hand fights have become commonplace, as in the Middle Ages, when edged weapons ruled the battlefield. In a week of continuous fighting, the Germans advanced 400 meters. Even those who were not intended for this had to fight: builders, soldiers of pontoon units. The Nazis gradually began to run out of steam. The same desperate and bloody battles were in full swing at the Barrikady plant, near the village of Orlovka, on the outskirts of the Silicate plant.

In early October, the territories occupied by the Red Army in Stalingrad were so reduced that they were shot through with machine-gun and artillery fire. Support for the fighting troops was carried out from the opposite bank of the Volga with the help of literally everything that could float: boats, steamers, boats. German aircraft continuously bombed the crossings, making this task even more difficult.

And while the soldiers of the 62nd Army were shackling and grinding the enemy troops in battle, 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 counter-offensive began, in addition to the 6th Army of Paulus, there were also the 2nd Army of von Salmuth, the 4th Panzer Army of Gotha, the Italian, Romanian and Hungarian armies near Stalingrad.

On November 19, the Red Army, with the help of three fronts, launched a large-scale offensive operation, code-named "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 a professional holiday for artillerymen.

On November 23, the encirclement ring closed around the 6th Army and the main forces of the 4th Panzer Army of Goth. On November 24, about 30 thousand Italians capitulated near the village of Raspopinskaya. By November 24, the territory occupied by the encircled Nazi units covered about 40 kilometers from west to east, and about 80 from north to south. Further "compression" 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 still did not lose hope that he would be able to help the encircled from 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 able to put up only one Wehrmacht tank division and a Romanian infantry division. Subsequently, two more incomplete tank divisions and some infantry joined the offensive. On December 19, Manstein's troops clashed with the 2nd Guards Army of Rodion Malinovsky, and by December 25, the "Winter Thunderstorm" died out in the snowy Don steppes. The Germans retreated to their original positions, having suffered heavy losses.

Grouping Paulus was doomed. It seemed that the only person who refused to admit it was Hitler. He was categorically against retreat when it was still possible, and did not want to hear about capitulation when the mousetrap finally and irrevocably slammed shut. Even when the Soviet troops captured the last airfield from which the Luftwaffe aircraft supplied the army (extremely weak and unstable), he continued to demand resistance from Paulus and his people.

On January 10, 1943, the final operation of the Red Army began to eliminate the Stalingrad group of Nazis. It was called "The Ring". On January 9, the day before it began, the Soviet command issued an ultimatum to Friedrich Paulus, demanding to surrender. On the same day, by chance, the commander of the 14th tank corps, General Hube, arrived in the boiler. He conveyed that Hitler demanded that resistance be continued 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 offensive of the Soviet troops was even stopped from 17 to 22 January. After the regrouping of the Red Army, they again went on the attack and on January 26 the Nazi forces were split into two parts. The northern group was located in the area of ​​the Barrikady plant, and the southern group, in which Paulus himself was, was located in the city center. Paulus' 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 of how the commander of the encircled army should have ended his military career. However, Paulus decided that it is better not to understand some of the hints. On January 31, at noon, Paulus surrendered. It took two more days to liquidate the remnants of the Nazi 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.

The turning point in the course of the Second World War was the great summary of events is not able to convey the special spirit of solidarity and heroism of the Soviet soldiers who participated in the battle.

Why was Stalingrad so important to Hitler? Historians identify several reasons that the Fuhrer wanted to take Stalingrad at all costs and did not give the order to retreat even when the defeat was obvious.

A large industrial city on the banks of the longest river in Europe - the Volga. Transport junction of important river and land routes that united the center of the country with the southern regions. Hitler, having captured Stalingrad, would not only cut the important transport artery of the USSR and create serious difficulties in supplying the Red Army, but would also reliably cover the German army advancing in the Caucasus.

Many researchers believe that the presence of Stalin in the name of the city made its capture important for Hitler from an ideological and propaganda point of view.

There is a point of view according to which there was a secret agreement between Germany and Turkey on its entry into the ranks of the allies immediately after the passage for the Soviet troops along the Volga was blocked.

Stalingrad battle. Summary of events

• The time frame of the battle: 07/17/42 - 02/02/43.
• Participated: from Germany - the reinforced 6th Army of Field Marshal Paulus and the Allied troops. On the part of the USSR - the Stalingrad Front, created on 07/12/42, under the command of Marshal Timoshenko first, from 07/23/42 - Lieutenant General Gordov, and from 08/09/42 - Colonel General Eremenko.
• Battle periods: defensive - from 17.07 to 11.18.42, offensive - from 11.19.42 to 02.02.43.

In turn, the defensive stage is divided into battles on the distant approaches to the city in the bend of the Don from 17.07 to 10.08.42, battles on the distant approaches in the interfluve of the Volga and Don from 11.08 to 12.09.42, battles in the suburbs and the city itself from 13.09 to 18.11 .42 years.

Losses on both sides were colossal. The Red Army lost almost 1,130,000 soldiers, 12,000 guns, and 2,000 aircraft.

Germany and the Allied countries lost almost 1.5 million soldiers.

defensive stage

• July 17th- the first serious clash between our troops and enemy forces on the banks
• August 23- enemy tanks came close to the city. German aviation began to regularly bomb Stalingrad.
• September 13- assault on the city. The glory of the workers of Stalingrad factories and factories thundered all over the world, who repaired damaged equipment and weapons under fire.
• October 14- The Germans launched an offensive military operation off the banks of the Volga in order to capture the Soviet bridgeheads.
• November 19- our troops went on the counteroffensive according to the plan of operation "Uranus".

The entire second half of the summer of 1942 was hot. The summary and chronology of the events of the defense indicate that our soldiers, with a shortage of weapons and a significant superiority in manpower from the enemy, did the impossible. They not only defended Stalingrad, but also went on the counteroffensive in difficult conditions of exhaustion, lack of uniforms and the harsh Russian winter.

Offensive and victory

As part of Operation Uranus, Soviet soldiers managed to surround the enemy. Until November 23, our soldiers strengthened the blockade around the Germans.

• 12 December- the enemy made a desperate attempt to break out of the encirclement. However, the breakthrough attempt was unsuccessful. Soviet troops began to compress the ring.
• December 17- The Red Army recaptured the German positions on the Chir River (the right tributary of the Don).
• December 24- ours advanced 200 km into the operational depth.
• Dec. 31- Soviet soldiers advanced another 150 km. The front line stabilized at the turn of Tormosin-Zhukovskaya-Komissarovsky.
• January 10- our offensive in accordance with the plan "Ring".
• January 26- The 6th German Army was divided into 2 groups.
• January 31- destroyed the southern part of the former 6th German army.
• February 02- liquidated the northern group of fascist troops. Our soldiers, the heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad, won. The enemy capitulated. Field Marshal Paulus, 24 generals, 2500 officers and almost 100 thousand exhausted German soldiers were taken prisoner.

The Battle of Stalingrad brought great destruction. Photos of war correspondents captured the ruins of the city.

All the soldiers who took part in the significant battle proved to be courageous and brave sons of the Motherland.

Sniper Zaitsev Vasily, with aimed shots, destroyed 225 opponents.

Nikolai Panikakha - threw himself under an enemy tank with a bottle of combustible mixture. He sleeps forever on Mamayev Kurgan.

Nikolai Serdyukov - closed the embrasure of the enemy pillbox, silencing the firing point.

Matvey Putilov, Vasily Titaev - signalmen who established communication by clamping the ends of the wire with their teeth.

Gulya Koroleva - a nurse, carried dozens of seriously wounded soldiers from the battlefield near Stalingrad. Participated in the attack on the heights. The mortal wound did not stop the brave girl. She continued to shoot until the last minute of her life.

The names of many, many heroes - infantrymen, artillerymen, tankers and pilots - were given to the world by the Battle of Stalingrad. A brief summary of the course of hostilities is not able to perpetuate all the feats. Entire volumes of books have been written about these brave people who gave their lives for the freedom of future generations. Streets, schools, factories are named after them. The heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad must never be forgotten.

Significance of the Battle of Stalingrad

The battle was not only of grandiose proportions, but also of extremely significant political significance. The bloody war continued. The Battle of Stalingrad was its main turning point. It can be said without exaggeration that it was after the victory at Stalingrad that mankind gained hope for victory over fascism.