The battle of Stalingrad became turning point in the Great Patriotic War and throughout the Second World War. The battle is divided into two periods: the first, defensive, which lasted from July 17 to November 18, 1942; the second, offensive, from November 19, 1942 to February 2, 1943.
Defensive period of the Battle of Stalingrad
After the defeat near Moscow, Hitler and his command decided that during the new summer campaign of 1942 it was necessary to strike not along the entire length of the Soviet-German front, but only on the southern flank. The Germans did not have enough strength for more. It was important for Hitler to seize Soviet oil, the fields of Maykop, Baku, get the bread of Stavropol and Kuban, take Stalingrad, which divided the USSR into central and southern parts. Then it would be possible to cut the main lines of communications that supplied our troops, and to obtain the necessary resources to wage an arbitrarily long war. Already on April 5, 1942, Hitler's fundamental directive No. 41 was issued - the order to conduct Operation Blau. The German group was to advance in the direction of the Don, Volga and Caucasus. After capturing the main strongholds, the German Army Group South was to be divided into Army Group A (advancing on the Caucasus) and Army Group B (advancing on Stalingrad), the main force of which was the 6th Army of General Paulus.
Already before the start of the main attack in the south of the USSR, the Germans were able to achieve serious success. Our spring offensive operations near Kerch and Kharkov ended in major setbacks. Their failure and the heavy losses of the units of the Red Army, which were surrounded, helped the Germans to achieve quick success his general offensive. Wehrmacht formations began to move forward when our units were demoralized and began to withdraw in eastern Ukraine. True, now, taught by bitter experience, the Soviet troops tried to avoid encirclement. Even when they were behind enemy lines, they infiltrated German positions before the enemy front became dense.
Soon heavy fighting began on the outskirts of Voronezh and in the bend of the Don. The command of the Red Army tried to strengthen the front, to bring up new reserves from the depths, to give the troops large quantity tanks and planes. But in oncoming battles, as a rule, these reserves were quickly exhausted, and the retreat continued. Meanwhile, Paulus' army was moving forward. Its southern flank was to be covered by the 4th Panzer Army under the command of Hoth. The Germans attacked Voronezh - they broke into the city, but they could not completely capture it. They managed to be detained on the banks of the Don, where the front remained until January 1942.
Meanwhile, the elite 6th German Army, which numbered more than 200 thousand people, was inexorably advancing in the bend of the Don towards Stalingrad. On August 23, the Germans carried out a fierce air raid on the city, which involved hundreds of aircraft. And although more than 20 vehicles were shot down by Soviet anti-aircraft gunners and air defense aircraft, the city center, the railway station and the most important enterprises were actually destroyed. It was not possible to evacuate civilians from Stalingrad in time. The evacuation was spontaneous: primarily industrial equipment, agricultural implements, and cattle were transported across the Volga. And only after August 23, the civilian population rushed east across the river. Of the almost half a million population of the city, after the fighting, only 32 thousand people remained on the spot. Moreover, to the 500,000 pre-war population, it is necessary to add tens of thousands more refugees from Ukraine, from the Rostov region, and even from besieged Leningrad, who, by the will of fate, found themselves in Stalingrad.
Simultaneously with the fierce bombing on August 23, 1942, the German 14th Panzer Corps managed to make a many-kilometer march and break through to the banks of the Volga north of Stalingrad. Fighting unfolded at the Stalingrad Tractor Plant. From the south, German columns of the 4th Panzer Army, transferred from the Caucasus, were advancing towards the city. In addition, Hitler sent an Italian and two Romanian armies to this direction. Two Hungarian armies occupied positions near Voronezh, covering the attack in the main direction. Stalingrad from a secondary goal of the campaign in the summer of 1942 became the main task for the German army.
A. Jodl, chief of staff of the operational leadership of the Wehrmacht, noted that the fate of the Caucasus is now being decided near Stalingrad. It seemed to Paulus that it was necessary to throw one more additional regiment or battalion into the gap and he would decide the outcome of the battle in favor of the German army. But the battalions and regiments went into battle one after another and did not return. The Stalingrad meat grinder was grinding the human resources of Germany. Our losses were also very heavy - the Moloch of War was ruthless.
In September, protracted battles began in the quarters (or rather, in the ruins) of Stalingrad. The city could fall at any moment. The Germans had already reached the Volga in several places within the city limits. From the Soviet front, in fact, only small islands of resistance remained. From the front line to the river bank was often no more than 150-200 meters. But the Soviet soldiers held on. For several weeks the Germans stormed individual buildings in Stalingrad. For 58 days they resisted enemy fire and the soldiers under the command of Sergeant Pavlov did not give up their positions. The L-shaped house, which they defended to the last, was called "Pavlov's House".
An active sniper war began in Stalingrad. To win it, the Germans brought from Germany not just aces in their field, but even leaders of sniper schools. But even in the Red Army, remarkable cadres of well-aimed shooters grew up. Every day they gain experience. On the Soviet side, the fighter Vasily Zaitsev distinguished himself, who is now known to the whole world from the Hollywood film Enemy at the Gates. He killed over 200 German soldiers and officers in the ruins of Stalingrad.
Nevertheless, in the fall of 1942, the position of the defenders of Stalingrad remained critical. The Germans would certainly have been able to completely take the city if not for our reserves. More and more units of the Red Army were thrown across the Volga to the west. One day, the 13th Guards Rifle Division of General A.I. Rodimtsev was also transferred. Despite the losses suffered, she immediately entered the battle and recaptured Mamaev Kurgan from the enemy. This height dominated the entire city. The Germans also sought to seize it at all costs. The fighting for Mamaev Kurgan continued until January 1943.
In the most difficult battles of September - early November 1942, the soldiers of the 62nd Army of General Chuikov and the 64th Army of General Shumilov managed to defend the ruins remaining behind them, withstand countless attacks and tie up the German troops. Paulus carried out the last assault on Stalingrad on November 11, 1942, but it also ended in failure.
The commander of the 6th German Army was in a gloomy mood. Meanwhile, our command more and more often began to think about how to radically turn the tide of the battle for Stalingrad. We needed a new, original solution that would affect the entire course of the campaign. .
The offensive period of the Battle of Stalingrad lasted from November 19, 1942 to February 2, 1943.
Back in mid-September, when the Germans sought to destroy the Soviet troops in Stalingrad as soon as possible, G.K. Zhukov, who became the first deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief, instructed some senior officials in the General Staff of the Red Army to develop a plan for an offensive operation. Returning from the front, he, together with the Chief of the General Staff A.M. Vasilevsky, reported to I. Stalin about the plan of the operation, which was supposed to tip the scales of a grandiose confrontation in favor of the Soviet troops. Soon the first calculations were made. G. K. Zhukov and A. M. Vasilevsky proposed bilateral coverage of the Stalingrad grouping of the enemy and its subsequent destruction. After listening carefully to them, I. Stalin noted that it was necessary first of all to keep the city itself. In addition, such an operation requires the involvement of additional powerful reserves, which will play a decisive role in the battle.
Reserves from the Urals, the Far East and Siberia arrived in increasing numbers. They were not introduced immediately into battle, but accumulated until the time "H". During this period, a lot of work was carried out at the headquarters of the Soviet fronts. The newly formed Southwestern Front of N.F. Vatutin, the Don Front of K.K. Rokossovsky, and the Stalingrad Front of A.I. Eremenko were preparing for the offensive.
And now the moment has come for the decisive throw.
November 19, 1942, despite the fog, thousands of guns of the Soviet fronts opened fire on the enemy. Operation Uranus has begun. Rifle and tank units went on the attack. Aviation was waiting for more favorable weather, but as soon as the fog cleared, it took an active part in the offensive.
The German group was still very strong. The Soviet command believed that in the Stalingrad area they were opposed by about 200 thousand people. In fact, there were over 300,000 of them. In addition, on the flanks, where the main blows of the Soviet troops were carried out, were Romanian and Italian formations. Already by November 21, 1942, the success of the Soviet offensive was indicated, which exceeded all expectations. Moscow radio reported on the advance of the Red Army for more than 70 km and the capture of 15,000 enemy soldiers. This was the first time such a major breakthrough had been announced since the Battle of Moscow. But these were only the first successes.
November 23, our troops took Kotelnikovo. The cauldron behind the enemy troops slammed shut. Its internal and external fronts were created. More than 20 divisions were surrounded. At the same time, our troops continued to develop the offensive in the direction of Rostov-on-Don. At the beginning of January 1943, the forces of our Transcaucasian Front also began to move. The Germans, unable to withstand the onslaught and fearing to find themselves in a new giant cauldron, began to hastily retreat from the foothills of the Caucasus. They finally abandoned the idea of taking possession of the Grozny and Baku oil.
In the meantime, the idea of a whole cascade of powerful operations that were supposed to crush the entire German defense on the Soviet-German front was actively developed at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. In addition to Operation Uranus (encircling the Germans near Stalingrad), Operation Saturn was planned - the encirclement of the German armies in the North Caucasus. On the central direction Operation Mars was being prepared - the destruction of the 9th German Army, and then Operation Jupiter - the encirclement of the entire Army Group Center. Unfortunately, only Operation Uranus was successful. The fact is that Hitler, having learned about the encirclement of his troops near Stalingrad, ordered Paulus to hold on at all costs, and ordered Manstein to prepare a deblocking strike.
In mid-December 1942, the Germans made a desperate attempt to rescue Paulus's army from encirclement. According to Hitler's plan, Paulus was never to leave Stalingrad. He was forbidden to strike towards Manstein. The Fuhrer believed that since the Germans had entered the banks of the Volga, they should not leave from there. The Soviet command now had two options at its disposal: either continue the attempt to cover the entire German grouping in the North Caucasus with huge pincers (Operation Saturn), or transfer part of the forces against Manstein and eliminate the threat of a German breakthrough (Operation Little Saturn). We must pay tribute to the Soviet Headquarters - it quite soberly assessed the situation and its capabilities. It was decided to be content with a titmouse in the hands, and not look for a crane in the sky. A devastating blow to the advancing units of Manstein was dealt just in time. At this time, the army of Paulus and the Manstein grouping were separated by only a few tens of kilometers. But the Germans were driven back, and it was time to liquidate the boiler.
On January 8, 1943, the Soviet command offered Paulus an ultimatum, which was rejected. And two days later, Operation Ring began. The efforts made by the armies of the Don Front of K.K. Rokossovsky led to the fact that the encirclement began to shrink rapidly. Historians today express the opinion that then not everything was done perfectly: it was necessary to advance from the north and from the south in order to first cut the ring in these directions. But the main blow came from west to east, and we had to overcome the long-term fortifications of the German defense, which relied, among other things, on positions built by the Soviet troops on the eve of the Battle of Stalingrad. The fighting was fierce and lasted for several weeks. Air bridge to the surrounded failed. Hundreds of German planes were shot down. The diet of the German military fell to a meager mark. All the horses were eaten. There have been cases of cannibalism. Soon the Germans also lost their last airfields.
Paulus at that time was in the basement of the city's main department store and, despite requests to Hitler for surrender, never received such permission. Moreover, on the eve of the complete collapse, Hitler awarded Paulus the rank of field marshal. It was a clear hint: not a single German field marshal had yet surrendered. But on January 31, Paulus chose to surrender and save his life. On February 2, the last northern German grouping in Stalingrad also stopped resistance.
91 thousand soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht were captured. In the city blocks of Stalingrad themselves, 140 thousand corpses of German soldiers were subsequently buried. On our side, the losses were also great - 150 thousand people. But the entire southern flank of the German troops was now exposed. The Nazis began to hastily leave the territory of the North Caucasus, Stavropol, Kuban. Only a new counter strike by Manstein in the Belgorod region stopped the advance of our units. At the same time, the so-called Kursk ledge was formed, the events on which would take place already in the summer of 1943.
US President Roosevelt called the Battle of Stalingrad an epic victory. And King George VI of Great Britain ordered to forge a special sword for the inhabitants of Stalingrad with an engraving: "To the citizens of Stalingrad, strong as steel." Stalingrad became the password for Victory. It was truly the turning point of the war. The Germans were shocked, and three days of mourning were declared in Germany. The victory at Stalingrad was also a signal to the countries - allies of Germany, such as Hungary, Romania, Finland, that it is necessary to look for the fastest ways out of the war.
After this battle, the defeat of Germany was only a matter of time.
M. Yu. Myagkov, Dr. i. n.,
Scientific Director of the Russian Military Historical Society
The significance of the Battle of Stalingrad in history is very great. Just after its completion The Red Army launched a full-scale offensive, which led to the complete expulsion of the enemy from the territory of the USSR, and the allies of the Wehrmacht abandoned their plans ( Turkey and Japan in 1943 planned a full-scale invasion into the territory of the USSR) and realized that it was almost impossible to win the war.
In contact with
The battle of Stalingrad can be briefly described if we consider the most important:
- history of events;
- a general picture of the balance of forces of opponents;
- the course of the defensive operation;
- the course of the offensive operation;
- results.
Brief background
German troops invaded the territory of the USSR and moving fast winter 1941 ended up near Moscow. However, it was during this period of time that the troops of the Red Army launched a counteroffensive.
In early 1942, Hitler's headquarters began to develop plans for the second wave of the offensive. The generals suggested continue the attack on Moscow, but the Fuhrer rejected this plan and proposed an alternative - an attack on Stalingrad (modern Volgograd). The advance to the south had its reasons. In case of luck:
- control over the oil fields of the Caucasus passed into the hands of the Germans;
- Hitler would have gained access to the Volga(which would cut off the European part of the USSR from the Central Asian regions and Transcaucasia).
If the Germans captured Stalingrad, Soviet industry would have suffered serious damage from which it would hardly have recovered.
The plan to capture Stalingrad became even more realistic after the so-called Kharkov catastrophe (the complete encirclement of the Southwestern Front, the loss of Kharkov and Rostov-on-Don, the complete “opening” of the front south of Voronezh).
The offensive began with the defeat of the Bryansk Front and from the positional stop of the German forces on the Voronezh River. At the same time, Hitler could not decide on the 4th Panzer Army.
The transfer of tanks from the Caucasian direction to the Volga and back delayed the start of the Battle of Stalingrad for a whole week, which gave the opportunity for Soviet troops to better prepare for the defense of the city.
balance of power
Before the start of the offensive on Stalingrad, the balance of forces of the opponents looked as follows *:
*calculations taking into account all nearby enemy forces.
Beginning of the battle
The first clash between the troops of the Stalingrad Front and the 6th Army of Paulus took place July 17, 1942.
Attention! Russian historian A. Isaev found evidence in military journals that the first clash occurred a day earlier - on July 16th. One way or another, the beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad is the middle of the summer of 1942.
Already to July 22–25 German troops, having broken through the defenses of the Soviet forces, reached the Don, which created a real threat to Stalingrad. By the end of July, the Germans successfully crossed the Don. Further progress was very difficult. Paulus was forced to resort to the help of the allies (Italians, Hungarians, Romanians), who helped to surround the city.
It was at this very difficult time for the southern front that I. Stalin published order number 227, the essence of which was displayed in one brief slogan: “ Not one step back! He urged the soldiers to increase resistance and prevent the enemy from getting closer to the city.
In August Soviet troops saved three divisions of the 1st Guards Army from complete disaster who entered the battle. They launched a counterattack in a timely manner and slow down the advance of the enemy, thereby frustrating the Fuhrer's plan to rush to Stalingrad.
In September, after certain tactical adjustments, German troops went on the offensive trying to take the city by storm. The Red Army could not resist this onslaught. and was forced to retreat to the city.
Street fighting
August 23, 1942 Luftwaffe forces undertook a powerful pre-assault bombardment of the city. As a result of a massive attack, ¼ of the city's population was destroyed, its center was completely destroyed, and strong fires began. On the same day, shock the grouping of the 6th army reached the northern outskirts of the city. At this moment, the defense of the city was carried out by the militia and the forces of the Stalingrad air defense, despite this, the Germans advanced into the city very slowly and suffered heavy losses.
On September 1, the command of the 62nd army made a decision to force the Volga and entrance to the city. The forcing took place under constant air and artillery shelling. The Soviet command managed to transport 82 thousand soldiers to the city, who in mid-September offered stubborn resistance to the enemy in the city center, a fierce struggle to maintain bridgeheads near the Volga unfolded on Mamaev Kurgan.
Fighting in Stalingrad entered the world military history how one of the most brutal. They fought literally for every street and for every house.
The city practically did not use firearms and artillery weapons (because of the fear of ricochet), only piercing and cutting, often went hand to hand.
The liberation of Stalingrad was accompanied by a real sniper war (the most famous sniper is V. Zaitsev; he won 11 sniper duels; the story of his exploits still inspires many).
By mid-October, the situation became extremely difficult, as the Germans launched an offensive against the Volga bridgehead. On November 11, Paulus' soldiers managed to reach the Volga. and force the 62nd army to take up a tough defense.
Attention! Most of the civilian population of the city did not have time to evacuate (100 thousand out of 400). As a result, women and children were taken out under shelling across the Volga, but many remained in the city and died (calculations of civilian casualties are still considered inaccurate).
counteroffensive
Such a goal as the liberation of Stalingrad became not only strategic, but also ideological. Neither Stalin nor Hitler wanted to retreat and could not afford defeat. The Soviet command, realizing the complexity of the situation, began to prepare a counteroffensive back in September.
Marshal Eremenko's plan
September 30, 1942 was the Don Front was formed under the command of K.K. Rokossovsky.
He attempted a counter-offensive, which by the beginning of October had completely failed.
At this time, A.I. Eremenko proposes to the Headquarters a plan to encircle the 6th Army. The plan was fully approved, received the code name "Uranus".
In the event of its 100% implementation, all enemy forces concentrated in the Stalingrad area would be surrounded.
Attention! A strategic mistake during the implementation of this plan at the initial stage was made by K.K. Rokossovsky, who tried to take the Orlovsky salient with the forces of the 1st Guards Army (which he saw as a threat to a future offensive operation). The operation ended in failure. 1st Guards Army was completely disbanded.
Chronology of operations (stages)
Hitler ordered the command of the Luftwaffe to carry out the transfer of goods to the Stalingrad ring in order to prevent the defeat of the German troops. The Germans coped with this task, but the fierce opposition of the Soviet air armies, which launched the “free hunting” regime, led to the fact that the German air traffic with blockaded troops was interrupted on January 10, just before the start of Operation Koltso, which ended the defeat of the German troops at Stalingrad.
Results
In the battle, the following main stages can be distinguished:
- strategic defensive operation (defense of Stalingrad) - from 17.06 to 18.11.1942;
- strategic offensive operation (liberation of Stalingrad) - from 11/19/42 to 02/02/43.
The Battle of Stalingrad lasted a total of 201 days. It is impossible to say exactly how long the further operation to clean up the city from the Khiva and scattered enemy groups took.
The victory in the battle was reflected both in the state of the fronts and in the geopolitical alignment of forces in the world. The liberation of the city was of great importance. Brief summary Battle of Stalingrad:
- Soviet troops gained invaluable experience in encircling and destroying the enemy;
- have been established new schemes of military-economic supply of troops;
- Soviet troops actively impeded the advance of German groups in the Caucasus;
- the German command was forced to abandon additional forces for the implementation of the Vostochny Val project;
- Germany's influence on the allies was greatly weakened, neutral countries began to take the position of not accepting the actions of the Germans;
- The Luftwaffe was severely weakened after attempts to supply the 6th Army;
- Germany suffered significant (partly irreparable) losses.
Losses
Losses were significant for both Germany and the USSR.
The situation with prisoners
At the time of the end of Operation Kotel, 91.5 thousand people were in Soviet captivity, including:
- ordinary soldiers (including Europeans from among the German allies);
- officers (2.5 thousand);
- generals (24).
The German Field Marshal Paulus was also captured.
All prisoners were sent to a specially created camp number 108 near Stalingrad. For 6 years (until 1949) surviving prisoners worked on the construction sites of the city.
Attention! The captured Germans were treated quite humanely. After the first three months, when the death rate among the prisoners reached peak levels, they were all placed in camps near Stalingrad (part of the hospitals). The able-bodied worked a regular working day and received for work wages, which could be spent on food and household items. In 1949, all surviving prisoners, except for war criminals and traitors
The Battle of Stalingrad is one of biggest battles World War II and the Great Patriotic War, which marked the beginning of a radical change in the course of the war. The battle was the first large-scale defeat of the Wehrmacht, accompanied by the surrender of a large military group.
After the counter-offensive of the Soviet troops near Moscow in the winter of 1941/42. front has stabilized. When developing a plan for a new campaign, A. Hitler decided to abandon a new offensive near Moscow, which the General Staff insisted on, and concentrate his main efforts on southbound. The Wehrmacht was tasked with defeating the Soviet troops in the Donbass and on the Don, breaking through North Caucasus and seize the oil fields of the North Caucasus and Azerbaijan. Hitler insisted that, having lost a source of oil, the Red Army would not be able to conduct an active struggle due to lack of fuel, and for its part, the Wehrmacht needed additional fuel for a successful offensive in the center, which Hitler expected to receive from the Caucasus.
However, after an unsuccessful offensive for the Red Army near Kharkov and, as a result, an improvement in the strategic situation for the Wehrmacht, Hitler in July 1942 ordered the Army Group South to be divided into two parts, putting each of them independent task. Army Group A of Field Marshal Wilhelm List (1st Panzer, 11th and 17th Armies) continued to develop the offensive in the North Caucasus, and Army Group B of Colonel General Baron Maximilian von Weichs (2nd, The 6th Army, later the 4th Panzer Army, as well as the 2nd Hungarian and 8th Italian armies) received an order to break through to the Volga, take Stalingrad and cut the lines of communication between the southern flank of the Soviet front and the center, thereby isolating it from the main grouping (if successful, Army Group "B" was supposed to strike along the Volga to Astrakhan). As a result, from that moment on, Army Groups "A" and "B" advanced in divergent directions, and the gap between them constantly increased.
The task of directly capturing Stalingrad was entrusted to the 6th Army, which was considered the best in the Wehrmacht (commander - Lieutenant General F. Paulus), whose actions were supported from the air by the 4th air fleet. Initially, she was opposed by the troops of the 62nd (commanders: Major General V.Ya. Kolpakchi, from August 3 - Lieutenant General A.I. Lopatin, from September 9 - Lieutenant General V.I. Chuikov) and 64th ( commanders: Lieutenant General V.I. Chuikov, since July 23 - Major General M.S. Shumilov) armies, which, together with the 63rd, 21st, 28th, 38th, 57th and 8th On July 12, 1942, the th air armies formed a new Stalingrad Front (commander: Marshal of the Soviet Union S.K. Timoshenko, from July 23 - Lieutenant General V.N. Gordov, from August 10 - Colonel General A.I. Eremenko ).
July 17 is considered the first day of the Battle of Stalingrad, when those advanced to the line of the river. Chir, the forward detachments of the Soviet troops came into contact with the German units, which, however, did not show much activity, since these days the preparations for the offensive were just being completed. (The first combat contact took place on July 16 - at the positions of the 147th Infantry Division of the 62nd Army.) On July 18-19, units of the 62nd and 64th armies entered the front lines. Fighting went on for five days. local importance, in which the German troops went directly to the main line of defense of the Stalingrad Front.
At the same time, the Soviet command used the lull at the front to speed up the preparation of Stalingrad for defense: it was mobilized local population, sent to the construction of field fortifications (four defensive lines were equipped), the formation of militia detachments was deployed.
On July 23, the German offensive began: parts of the northern flank attacked first, two days later the southern flank joined them. The defense of the 62nd Army was broken through, several divisions were surrounded, the army and the entire Stalingrad Front found themselves in an extremely difficult situation. Under these conditions, on July 28, the order of the People's Commissar of Defense No. 227 was issued - "Not a step back!", Forbidding the withdrawal of troops without an order. In accordance with this order, the formation of penal companies and battalions, as well as barrage detachments, began at the front. At the same time, the Soviet command strengthened the Stalingrad grouping by all possible means: in a week of fighting, 11 rifle divisions, 4 tank corps, 8 separate tank brigades were sent here, and on July 31, the 51st Army, Major General T.K. Kolomiets. On the same day, the German command also strengthened its grouping by deploying the 4th Panzer Army of Colonel General G. Goth, which was advancing to the south, on Stalingrad. From that moment on, the German command declared the task of capturing Stalingrad a priority and decisive for the success of the entire offensive on the southern sector of the Soviet-German front.
Although success was generally on the side of the Wehrmacht and the Soviet troops, suffering heavy losses, were forced to retreat, nevertheless, thanks to the resistance, the plan to break through to the city on the move through Kalach-on-Don was thwarted, as well as the plan to encircle the Soviet group in the bend Don. The pace of the offensive - by August 10, the Germans advanced only 60-80 km - did not suit Hitler, who on August 17 stopped the offensive, ordering to begin preparations for new operation. The most combat-ready German units, primarily tank and motorized formations, were concentrated on the main strike directions, the flanks were weakened by the transfer of their allied troops.
On August 19, the German troops again went on the offensive, they resumed the offensive. On the 22nd, they crossed the Don, gaining a foothold on the 45-km bridgehead. For the next XIV Panzer Corps, Gen. G. von Wittersheim to the Volga at the Latoshinka-Rynok section, being only 3 km from the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, and cut off parts of the 62nd Army from the main ones of the Red Army. At the same time, at 16:18, a massive air strike was launched on the city itself, the bombing continued on August 24, 25, 26. The city was almost completely destroyed.
The German attempts to take the city from the north on the following days were stopped due to the stubborn resistance of the Soviet troops, who, despite the superiority of the enemy in manpower and equipment, managed to launch a number of counterattacks and on August 28 stop the offensive. After that, the next day the German command attacked the city from the southwest. Here the offensive developed successfully: the German troops broke through the defensive line and began to enter the rear of the Soviet grouping. To avoid the inevitable encirclement, on September 2, Eremenko withdrew troops to the internal line of defense. On September 12, the defense of Stalingrad was officially entrusted to the 62nd (operating in the northern and central parts of the city) and 64th (in the southern part of Stalingrad) armies. Now the battles were already directly behind Stalingrad.
On September 13, the German 6th Army struck again - now the troops were tasked with breaking through to the central part of the city. By the evening of the 14th, the Germans captured the ruins of the railway station and, at the junction of the 62nd and 64th armies in the Kuporosny area, fell through to the Volga. By September 26, German troops entrenched in the occupied bridgeheads completely shot through the Volga, which remained the only way to deliver reinforcements and ammunition to the defending units of the 62nd and 64th armies in the city.
The fighting in the city entered a protracted phase. A fierce struggle went on for Mamaev Kurgan, the Krasny Oktyabr plant, the tractor plant, the Barrikady artillery plant, individual houses and buildings. The ruins changed hands several times, in such conditions the use of small arms was limited, and soldiers often engaged in hand-to-hand combat. The advance of the German troops, who had to overcome the heroic resistance of the Soviet soldiers, developed extremely slowly: from September 27 to October 8, despite all the efforts of the German shock group, they managed to advance only 400-600 m. In order to turn the tide, Gen. Paulus pulled additional forces to this sector, bringing the number of his troops in the main direction to 90 thousand people, whose actions were supported by up to 2.3 thousand guns and mortars, about 300 tanks and about a thousand aircraft. The Germans outnumbered the troops of the 62nd Army in personnel and artillery 1:1.65, in tanks - 1:3.75, and aviation - 1:5.2.
German troops launched a decisive offensive on the morning of October 14. The German 6th Army launched a decisive offensive against the Soviet bridgeheads near the Volga. On October 15, the Germans captured the tractor factory and broke through to the Volga, cutting off the grouping of the 62nd Army, which was fighting north of the factory. However, the Soviet fighters did not lay down their arms, but continued to resist, creating another hotbed of fighting. The position of the defenders of the city was complicated by the lack of food and ammunition: with the onset of cold weather, transportation across the Volga under constant enemy fire became even more complicated
The last decisive attempt to take control of the right-bank part of Stalingrad was made by Paulus on 11 November. The Germans managed to capture the southern part of the Barrikady plant and take a 500-meter section of the Volga coast. After that, the German troops finally ran out of steam and the battles moved into the positional stage. By this time, Chuikov's 62nd Army held three bridgeheads: in the area of the village of Rynok; the eastern part of the Krasny Oktyabr plant (700 by 400 m), which was held by the 138th Infantry Division of Colonel I.I. Lyudnikova; 8 km along the Volga bank from the Krasny Oktyabr plant to the 9th of January Square, incl. northern and eastern slopes of Mamaev Kurgan. (The southern part of the city continued to be controlled by units of the 64th Army.)
Stalingrad strategic offensive operation (November 19, 1942 - February 2, 1943)
The encirclement plan for the Stalingrad enemy grouping - Operation Uranus - was approved by I.V. Stalin on November 13, 1942. It provided for strikes from bridgeheads north (on the Don) and south (Sarpinsky Lakes region) of Stalingrad, where Germany's allies made up a significant part of the defending forces, to break through the defenses and envelop the enemy in converging directions on Kalach-on-Don - Soviet. The 2nd stage of the operation provided for the sequential compression of the ring and the destruction of the encircled group. The operation was to be carried out by the forces of three fronts: Southwestern (General N.F. Vatutin), Don (General K.K. Rokossovsky) and Stalingrad (General A.I. Eremenko) - 9 field, 1 tank and 4 air armies. Fresh reinforcements were poured into the front units, as well as divisions transferred from the reserve Supreme High Command, large stocks of weapons and ammunition were created (even to the detriment of supplying the group defending in Stalingrad), regrouping and the formation of strike groups in the directions of the main attack was carried out secretly from the enemy.
On November 19, as was envisaged by the plan, after a powerful artillery preparation, the troops of the Southwestern and Don Fronts went on the offensive, on November 20 - the troops of the Stalingrad Front. The battle developed rapidly: the Romanian troops, who occupied the areas that turned out to be in the direction of the main attacks, could not stand it and fled. The Soviet command, having introduced pre-prepared mobile groups into the gap, developed the offensive. On the morning of November 23, the troops of the Stalingrad Front took Kalach-on-Don, on the same day, units of the 4th Tank Corps of the South-Western Front and the 4th Mechanized Corps of the Stalingrad Front met in the Soviet farm area. The encirclement was closed. Then, the inner front of the encirclement was formed from the rifle units, and the tank and motorized rifle units began to push the few German units on the flanks, forming the outer front. The German group turned out to be surrounded - parts of the 6th and 4th tank armies - under the command of General F. Paulus: 7 corps, 22 divisions, 284 thousand people.
On November 24, the Soviet Headquarters ordered the Southwestern, Don and Stalingrad fronts to destroy the Stalingrad group of Germans. On the same day, Paulus turned to Hitler with a proposal to start a breakthrough from Stalingrad in a southeasterly direction. However, Hitler categorically forbade the breakthrough, saying that fighting in the encirclement, the 6th Army pulls large enemy forces onto itself, and ordered the defense to continue, waiting for the encircled group to be released. Then all German troops in the area (both inside and outside the ring) were combined into new group armies "Don", headed by Field Marshal E. von Manstein.
The attempt of the Soviet troops to quickly eliminate the encircled grouping, squeezing it from all sides, failed, in connection with which hostilities were suspended and the General Staff began the systematic development of a new operation, code-named "Ring".
For its part, the German command forced the conduct of Operation Winter Thunder (Wintergewitter) to deblockade the 6th Army. To do this, Manstein formed a strong group under the command of General G. Goth in the area of the village of Kotelnikovsky, the main strike force which was the LVII Panzer Corps of General tank troops F. Kirchner. The breakthrough must be carried out in the sector occupied by the 51st Army, whose troops were exhausted by battles and had a large shortage. Going on the offensive on December 12, the Gotha grouping failed the Soviet defense and on the 13th crossed the river. Aksai, however, then got stuck in battles near the village of Verkhne-Kumsky. Only on December 19, the Germans, having brought up reinforcements, managed to push the Soviet troops back to the river. Myshkov. In connection with the emerging threatening situation, the Soviet command transferred part of the forces from the reserve, weakening other sectors of the front, and was forced to revise the plans for Operation Saturn from the side of their limitation. However, by this time the Gotha group, which had lost more than half of its armored vehicles, had run out of steam. Hitler refused to give the order for a counter breakthrough of the Stalingrad grouping, which was 35-40 km away, continuing to demand that Stalingrad be held to the last soldier.
On December 16, Soviet troops launched Operation Little Saturn with the forces of the Southwestern and Voronezh fronts. The enemy defense was broken through and mobile units were introduced into the breakthrough. Manstein was forced to urgently begin the transfer of troops to the Middle Don, weakening incl. and the G. Goth group, which was finally stopped on December 22. Following this, the troops of the Southwestern Front expanded the breakthrough zone and pushed the enemy back 150-200 km and reached the Novaya Kalitva - Millerovo - Morozovsk line. As a result of the operation, the danger of deblockade of the encircled Stalingrad grouping of the enemy was completely eliminated.
The implementation of the plan of operation "Ring" was entrusted to the troops of the Don Front. On January 8, 1943, the commander of the 6th Army, General Paulus, was presented with an ultimatum: if the German troops did not lay down their arms by 10 o'clock on January 9, then all those surrounded would be destroyed. Paulus ignored the ultimatum. On January 10, after a powerful artillery preparation of the Don Front, he went on the offensive, the main blow was delivered by the 65th Army of Lieutenant General P.I. Batov. However, the Soviet command underestimated the possibility of resistance of the encircled group: the Germans, relying on defense in depth, put up desperate resistance. Due to new circumstances, on January 17, the Soviet offensive was suspended and a regrouping of troops and preparations for a new strike began, which followed on January 22. On this day, the last last airfield was taken, through which the 6th Army communicated with outside world. After that, the situation with the supply of the Stalingrad group, which, on the orders of Hitler, was carried out by air by the forces of the Luftwaffe, became even more complicated: if earlier it was also completely insufficient, now the situation has become critical. On January 26, in the area of Mamaev Kurgan, the troops of the 62nd and 65th armies advancing towards each other united. The Stalingrad group of Germans was divided into two parts, which, in accordance with the plan of the operation, were to be destroyed in parts. On January 31, the southern group capitulated, along with which Paulus, who was promoted to field marshal on January 30, surrendered. On February 2, the northern group, commanded by General K. Strecker, laid down its arms. This ended the Battle of Stalingrad. 24 generals, 2500 officers, more than 91 thousand soldiers were taken prisoner, more than 7 thousand guns and mortars, 744 aircraft, 166 tanks, 261 armored vehicles, more than 80 thousand cars, etc. were captured.
Results
As a result of the victory of the Red Army in the Battle of Stalingrad, it managed to seize the strategic initiative from the enemy, which created the prerequisites for preparing a new large-scale offensive and, in the long term, the complete defeat of the aggressor. The battle became the beginning of a radical turning point in the war, and also contributed to the strengthening of the international prestige of the USSR. In addition, such a serious defeat undermined the authority of Germany and its armed forces and contributed to increased resistance from the enslaved peoples of Europe.
Dates: 17.07.1942 - 2.02.1943
Place: USSR, Stalingrad region
Results: USSR victory
Enemies: USSR, Germany and its allies
Commanders: A.M. Vasilevsky, N.F. Vatutin, A.I. Eremenko, K.K. Rokossovsky, V.I. Chuikov, E. von Manstein, M. von Weichs, F. Paulus, G. Goth.
Red Army: 187 thousand people, 2.2 thousand guns and mortars, 230 tanks, 454 aircraft
Germany and allies: 270 thousand people, approx. 3,000 guns and mortars, 250 tanks and self-propelled guns, 1,200 aircraft
Side forces(to the beginning of the counteroffensive):
Red Army: 1,103,000 men, 15,501 guns and mortars, 1,463 tanks, 1,350 aircraft
Germany and her allies: c. 1,012,000 people (including approx. 400 thousand Germans, 143 thousand Romanians, 220 Italians, 200 Hungarians, 52 thousand Khivs), 10,290 guns and mortars, 675 tanks, 1216 aircraft
Losses:
USSR: 1,129,619 people (including 478,741 irrevocable people, 650,878 - sanitary)), 15,728 guns and mortars, 4,341 tanks and self-propelled guns, 2,769 aircraft
Germany and its allies: 1,078,775 (including 841 thousand people - irrevocable and sanitary, 237,775 people - prisoners)
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 90,000 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 took unsuccessful attempt 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 lay on her shoulders the main objective- 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:
- Northern: from parts of the army of Paulus.
- 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 before last drop blood. historical document, conveying 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 capital punishment social protection in relation to marauders, deserters, without waiting for the verdict of the court. 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 General base began developing a counteroffensive near Stalingrad. The operation, called "Uranus", began on November 19 with a massive artillery preparation. Many years later, this day has become professional holiday 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, 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 the field marshal, capture a large number of soldiers and equipment. People believed that victory would be ours!
Total > 1 million human.
| The Great Patriotic War |
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Battle of Stalingrad- a battle between the troops of the USSR, on the one hand, and the troops of Nazi Germany, Romania, Italy and Hungary during the Great Patriotic War. The battle was one of major events Second World War . The battle included an attempt by the Wehrmacht to capture the left bank of the Volga near Stalingrad (modern Volgograd) and the city itself, a confrontation in the city, and a counteroffensive by the Red Army (Operation Uranus), which resulted in the 6th Army of the Wehrmacht and other German allied forces inside and around the city 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 subsequently failed to fully recover from the defeat. I. V. Stalin wrote:
For the Soviet Union, which also suffered heavy losses during the battle, the victory in Stalingrad marked the beginning of the liberation of the country and the victorious march through Europe, which led to the final defeat of Nazi Germany in.
Previous events
The capture of Stalingrad was very important to Hitler for several reasons. It was the main industrial city on the banks of the Volga (a vital transportation 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. Stalin may also have had ideological and propaganda interests in defending the city that bore his name.
The summer offensive was codenamed Fall Blau. variant blue). It was attended by the XVII armies of the Wehrmacht and the 1st tank with the 4th tank armies.
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 South-West to the south of Voronezh. It is worth noting that despite the two-month break in the active hostilities of the troops of the Bryansk Front, the result was no less disastrous than for the troops battered by the May battles. Southwestern Front. On the very first day of the operation, both Soviet fronts were broken through for tens of kilometers and the Germans rushed to the Don. Soviet troops could oppose the German only weak resistance in the vast desert steppes, and then they began to flock to the east in complete disorder. Ended in complete failure and attempts to re-form the defense, when the German units entered the Soviet defensive positions from the flank. Several divisions of the Red Army in mid-July fell into a cauldron in the south of the Voronezh region near the village of Millerovo
The offensive of the German troops
Sixth Army's initial offensive was so successful that Hitler intervened again, ordering Fourth Panzer Army to join Army Group South (A). As a result, a huge "traffic jam" was formed, when the 4th and 6th armies needed several roads in the zone of operations. Both armies were firmly stuck, and the delay turned out to be quite long and slowed down the German advance by one week. With the slow advance, Hitler changed his mind and reassigned the target of the 4th Panzer Army back to the Stalingrad direction.
In July, when the German intentions became quite clear to the Soviet command, they 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 for the evacuation of the inhabitants of the city. However, no documentary evidence of this has yet been found. In addition, the evacuation, albeit at a slow pace, but still took place. By August 23, 1942, out of 400 thousand inhabitants of Stalingrad, about 100 thousand were evacuated. On August 24, the Stalingrad City Defense Committee adopted a belated decision to evacuate women, children and the wounded to the left bank of the Volga. All citizens, including women and children, worked on the construction of trenches and other fortifications.
A massive German bombardment on August 23 destroyed the city, killing thousands of civilians and turning Stalingrad into a vast area covered in burning ruins. Eighty percent of the housing in the city was destroyed.
The burden of the initial struggle for the city fell on the 1077th Anti-Aircraft Regiment: a unit staffed mainly by young female volunteers with no experience in destroying ground targets. Despite this, and without the proper support available from other Soviet units, the anti-aircraft gunners remained in place and fired on 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) had finally reached the Volga north of Stalingrad. Another German advance towards the river south of the city also followed.
At the initial stage, the Soviet defense relied to a large extent on the "People's Militia of Workers", recruited from workers who were not involved in military production. Tanks continued to be built and manned by voluntary crews, consisting of factory workers, including women. The equipment was immediately sent from the conveyors of factories to the front line, often even without painting and without sighting equipment installed.
Street fighting in Stalingrad.
The Headquarters considered Eremenko's plan, but considered it unfeasible (the operation was too deep, etc.)
As a result, the Headquarters proposed the following version of the encirclement and defeat of the German troops near Stalingrad. On October 7, the directive of the General Staff (No. 170644) was issued on the conduct of an offensive operation on two fronts to encircle the 6th Army. The Don Front was asked to strike the main blow in the direction of Kotluban, break through the front and go to the Gumrak area. At the same time, the Stalingrad Front was advancing from the Gornaya Polyana region to Elshanka, and after breaking through the front, the units advanced to the Gumrak region, where they connected with the DF units. In this operation, the front command was allowed to use fresh units. Don Front - 7th Rifle Division, Stalingrad Front - 7th St. K., 4 Apt. K. The operation was scheduled for October 20th.
Thus, it was planned to surround and destroy only the German troops leading fighting directly in Stalingrad (14th Panzer 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 an offensive operation. He referred to the impossibility of breaking through the front in the Kotluban region. According to his calculations, 4 divisions were required for a breakthrough, 3 divisions for the development of a breakthrough, and 3 more divisions for cover from German attacks; thus, 7 fresh divisions were clearly not enough. Rokossovsky proposed to strike the main blow in the Kuzmichi area (height 139.7), that is, all along the same old scheme: encircle units of the 14th Panzer Corps, link up with the 62nd Army, and only after that move towards Gumrak to link up with units of the 64th Army. The headquarters of the Don Front planned 4 days for this: -24 October. The "Orlovsky ledge" of the Germans haunted Rokossovsky since August 23, so he decided to "insure" and first deal with this "corn", and then complete the complete encirclement.
The Stavka did not accept Rokossovsky's proposal and recommended that he prepare an operation according to the Stavka's plan; however, he was allowed to conduct a private operation against the Oryol group of Germans on October 10, without attracting fresh forces.
In total, more than 2,500 officers and 24 generals of the 6th Army were taken prisoner during Operation Ring. In total, over 91 thousand soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht were taken prisoner. Trophies of the Soviet troops from January 10 to February 2, 1943, according to a report from the headquarters of the Don Front, were 5762 guns, 1312 mortars, 12701 machine guns, 156,987 rifles, 10,722 machine guns, 744 aircraft, 1,666 tanks, 261 armored vehicles, 80,438 vehicles, 10,679 motorcycles, 240 tractors, 571 tractors, 3 armored trains and other military property.
Battle results
The victory of the Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad is the largest military and political event during the Second World War. The great battle, which ended in the encirclement, defeat and capture of a select enemy grouping, made a huge contribution to achieving a radical change in the course of 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 military art appeared with all their might armed forces USSR. Soviet operational art was enriched by the experience of encircling and destroying the enemy.
As a result of the battle, the Red Army firmly seized the strategic initiative and now dictated its will to the enemy.
The outcome of the Battle of Stalingrad caused bewilderment and confusion in the Axis. A crisis of pro-fascist regimes began in Italy, Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia. The influence of Germany on its allies sharply weakened, and the differences between them became noticeably aggravated.
Defectors and prisoners
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According to some other sources, from 91 to 110 thousand German prisoners were taken prisoner near Stalingrad. Subsequently, 140 thousand enemy soldiers and officers were buried on the battlefield by our troops (not counting the tens of thousands of German servicemen who died in the "boiler" for 73 days). According to 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 "The Second World War", published in Germany in 1995, indicates that 201,000 soldiers and officers were captured near Stalingrad, of which only 6,000 returned to their homeland after the war. According to the estimates of the German historian Rüdiger Overmans, published in a special issue of the historical journal Damalz dedicated to the Battle of Stalingrad, about 250,000 people were encircled near Stalingrad. Approximately 25,000 of them managed to be evacuated from the Stalingrad pocket and more than 100,000 Wehrmacht soldiers and officers died in January 1943 during the completion of the Soviet operation "Ring". 130,000 people were taken prisoner, including 110,000 Germans, and the rest were the so-called “voluntary helpers” of the Wehrmacht (“Khivi” is an abbreviation for German word Hillwillge (Hiwi), literal translation; "voluntary assistant"). Of these, about 5,000 survived and returned home to Germany. The 6th Army had about 52,000 Khivs, for whom the headquarters of this army developed the main directions for the training of "voluntary assistants", in which the latter were considered as "reliable comrades in the fight against Bolshevism." Among these "volunteers" were Russian support personnel and an anti-aircraft artillery battalion manned by Ukrainians. In addition, in the 6th Army ... there were about 1000 people of the Todt organization, consisting mainly of Western European workers, Croatian and Romanian associations, numbering from 1000 to 5000 soldiers, as well as several Italians.
If we compare the German and Russian data on the number of soldiers and officers captured in the Stalingrad region, then the following picture appears. AT Russian sources all the so-called "voluntary assistants" of the Wehrmacht (more than 50,000 people) are excluded from the number of prisoners of war, whom the Soviet competent authorities never classified as "prisoners of war", but considered them as traitors to the Motherland, subject to trial under the laws of wartime. Concerning mass death prisoners of war from the "Stalingrad cauldron", then most of them died during the first year of their captivity due to exhaustion, the effects of cold and numerous diseases received during the period of being surrounded. Some data can be cited on this score: only in the period from February 3 to June 10, 1943 in the camp of German prisoners of war in Beketovka (Stalingrad region), the consequences of the "Stalingrad cauldron" cost the lives of more than 27,000 people; and out of 1800 captured officers stationed in the premises of the former monastery in Yelabuga, by April 1943 only a quarter of the contingent survived
