F Battle of Stalingrad. The Battle of Stalingrad - briefly about the main thing

The day of February 2, 1943, when Soviet troops defeated the fascist invaders near the great Volga River, is a very memorable date. The Battle of Stalingrad is one of the turning points in World War II. Such as the Battle of Moscow or the Battle of Kursk. It gave a significant advantage to our army on its path to victory over the invaders.

Losses in the battle

According to official figures, the Battle of Stalingrad claimed the lives of two million people. According to unofficial estimates - about three. It was this battle that became the reason for mourning in Nazi Germany, declared by Adolf Hitler. And it was precisely this that, figuratively speaking, inflicted a mortal wound on the army of the Third Reich.

The Battle of Stalingrad lasted about two hundred days and turned the once thriving peaceful city into smoking ruins. Of the half a million civilian population listed before the start of hostilities, by the end of the battle only about ten thousand people remained. It cannot be said that the arrival of the Germans was a surprise to the city residents. The authorities hoped that the situation would be resolved and did not pay due attention to the evacuation. However, it was possible to remove most of the children before the aircraft razed the orphanages and schools to the ground.

The battle for Stalingrad began on July 17, and already on the first day of battle colossal losses were noted both among the fascist invaders and in the ranks of the valiant defenders of the city.

German intentions

As was typical for Hitler, his plan was to take the city as quickly as possible. Having learned nothing from previous battles, the German command was inspired by the victories won before coming to Russia. No more than two weeks were allotted for the capture of Stalingrad.

For this purpose the 6th Army of the Wehrmacht was appointed. In theory, it should have been enough to suppress the actions of Soviet defensive detachments, subjugate the civilian population and introduce their own regime in the city. This is how the battle for Stalingrad seemed to the Germans. The summary of Hitler's plan was to seize the industries in which the city was rich, as well as crossings on the Volga River, which gave him access to the Caspian Sea. And from there a direct path to the Caucasus was open for him. In other words, to rich oil deposits. If Hitler had succeeded in his plans, the results of the war could have been completely different.

Approaches to the city, or "Not a step back!"

The Barbarossa plan was a fiasco, and after the defeat near Moscow, Hitler was completely forced to reconsider all his ideas. Abandoning previous goals, the German command took a different path, deciding to seize the Caucasus oil field. Following the established route, the Germans take Donbass, Voronezh and Rostov. The final stage was Stalingrad.

General Paulus, commander of the 6th Army, led his forces to the city, but on the approaches his movement was blocked by the Stalingrad Front in the person of General Timoshenko and his 62nd Army. Thus began fierce fighting that lasted about two months. It was during this period of the battle that order No. 227 was issued, known in history as “Not a step back!” And this played a role. No matter how hard the Germans tried and threw in more and more forces to penetrate the city, they only moved 60 kilometers from their starting point.

The Battle of Stalingrad became more desperate as General Paulus's army increased in numbers. The tank component doubled, and aviation quadrupled. To contain such an onslaught from our side, the South-Eastern Front was formed, led by General Eremenko. In addition to the fact that the ranks of the fascists were significantly replenished, they resorted to roundabout maneuvers. Thus, the enemy movement was actively carried out from the Caucasian direction, but due to the actions of our army, it was of no significant use.

Civilians

According to Stalin's cunning order, only children were evacuated from the city. The rest fell under the order “Not a step back.” In addition, until the last day the people remained confident that everything would work out. However, an order was given to dig trenches near his house. This was the beginning of unrest among civilians. People without permission (and it was given only to the families of officials and other prominent figures) began to leave the city.

Nevertheless, many of the male component volunteered for the front. The rest worked in factories. And it was very useful, since there was a catastrophic lack of ammunition even in repelling the enemy on the approaches to the city. The machines did not stop day and night. Civilians did not indulge themselves in rest either. They did not spare themselves - everything for the front, everything for Victory!

Paulus's breakthrough into the city

Ordinary people remember August 23, 1942 as an unexpected solar eclipse. It was still early before sunset, but the sun was suddenly covered with a black curtain. Numerous aircraft released black smoke in order to confuse the Soviet artillery. The roar of hundreds of engines tore the sky, and the waves emanating from it crushed the windows of buildings and threw civilians to the ground.

With the first bombing, the German squadron razed most of the city to the ground. People were forced to leave their homes and hide in the trenches they had dug earlier. It was either unsafe to be in the building or, due to the bombs that had hit it, it was simply impossible. So the battle for Stalingrad continued in the second stage. The photos that the German pilots managed to take show the whole picture of what was happening from the air.

Fight for every meter

Army Group B, completely strengthened by arriving reinforcements, launched a major offensive. Thus, cutting off the 62nd Army from the main front. So the battle for Stalingrad moved to urban areas. No matter how hard the Red Army soldiers tried to neutralize the corridor for the Germans, nothing worked.

The Russian stronghold had no equal in its strength. The Germans simultaneously admired the heroism of the Red Army and hated it. But they were even more afraid. Paulus himself did not hide his fear of Soviet soldiers in his notes. As he claimed, several battalions were sent into battle every day and almost no one returned back. And this is not an isolated case. This happened every day. The Russians fought desperately and died desperately.

87th Division of the Red Army

An example of the courage and tenacity of the Russian soldiers who knew the Battle of Stalingrad is the 87th Division. Remaining with 33 people, the fighters continued to hold their positions, fortifying themselves at the height of Malye Rossoshki.

To break them, the German command threw 70 tanks and an entire battalion at them. As a result, the Nazis left 150 fallen soldiers and 27 damaged vehicles on the battlefield. But the 87th Division is only a small part of the city’s defense.

The fight continues

By the beginning of the second period of the battle, Army Group B had about 80 divisions. On our side, reinforcements were made up of the 66th Army, which was later joined by the 24th.

The breakthrough into the city center was carried out by two groups of German soldiers under the cover of 350 tanks. This stage, which included the Battle of Stalingrad, was the most terrible. The soldiers of the Red Army fought for every inch of land. Fighting took place everywhere. The roar of tank shots was heard in every point of the city. Aviation did not stop its raids. The planes stood in the sky as if they were never leaving.

There was no district, not even a house, where the battle for Stalingrad did not take place. The map of military operations covered the entire city with neighboring villages and hamlets.

Pavlov's House

The fighting took place both with the use of weapons and hand-to-hand. According to the recollections of surviving German soldiers, the Russians, wearing only tunics, ran into the attack, exposing the already exhausted enemy to horror.

The fighting took place both on the streets and in buildings. And it was even harder for the warriors. Every turn, every corner could hide the enemy. If the first floor was occupied by the Germans, then the Russians could gain a foothold on the second and third. While on the fourth the Germans were again based. Residential buildings could change hands several times. One of these houses holding the enemy was the Pavlovs' house. A group of scouts led by commander Pavlov entrenched themselves in a residential building and, having knocked out the enemy from all four floors, turned the house into an impregnable citadel.

Operation Ural

Most of the city was taken by the Germans. Only along its edges were the forces of the Red Army based, forming three fronts:

Stalingradsky.
Southwestern.
Donskoy.

The total strength of all three fronts had a slight advantage over the Germans in technology and aviation. But this was not enough. And in order to defeat the Nazis, true military art was necessary. This is how Operation Ural was developed. An operation more successful than the Battle of Stalingrad had ever seen. Briefly, it consisted of all three fronts attacking the enemy, cutting him off from his main forces and encircling him. Which soon happened.

The Nazis took measures to free the army of General Paulus, who was encircled. But operations “Thunder” and “Thunderstorm” developed for this purpose did not bring any success.

Operation Ring

The final stage of the defeat of Nazi troops in the Battle of Stalingrad was Operation Ring. Its essence was to eliminate the encircled German troops. The latter were not going to give up. With about 350 thousand personnel (which was sharply reduced to 250 thousand), the Germans planned to hold out until reinforcements arrived. However, this was not allowed either by the rapidly attacking soldiers of the Red Army, smashing the enemy, or by the condition of the troops, which had significantly deteriorated during the time that the battle for Stalingrad lasted.

As a result of the final stage of Operation Ring, the Nazis were cut into two camps, which were soon forced to surrender due to the onslaught of the Russians. General Paulus himself was captured.

Consequences

The significance of the Battle of Stalingrad in the history of World War II is colossal. Having suffered such huge losses, the Nazis lost their advantage in the war. In addition, the success of the Red Army inspired the armies of other states fighting Hitler. As for the fascists themselves, to say that their fighting spirit has weakened is to say nothing.

Hitler himself emphasized the significance of the Battle of Stalingrad and the defeat of the German army in it. According to him, on February 1, 1943, the offensive in the East no longer made any sense.

Losses in the battle

The battle for Stalingrad began on July 17, and already on the first day of battle colossal losses were noted both among the fascist invaders and in the ranks of the valiant defenders of the city.

German intentions

Approaches to the city, or "Not a step back!"

Civilians

Paulus's breakthrough into the city

Fight for every meter

87th Division of the Red Army

The fight continues

By the beginning of the second period of the battle, Army Group B had about 80 divisions. On our side, reinforcements were made up of the 66th Army, which was later joined by the 24th.

There was no district, not even a house, where the battle for Stalingrad did not take place. The map of military operations covered the entire city with neighboring villages and hamlets.

Pavlov's House

Operation Ural

Most of the city was taken by the Germans. Only along its edges were the forces of the Red Army based, forming three fronts:

Stalingradsky.
Southwestern.
Donskoy.

The Nazis took measures to free the army of General Paulus, who was encircled. But operations “Thunder” and “Thunderstorm” developed for this purpose did not bring any success.

Operation Ring

As a result of the final stage of Operation Ring, the Nazis were cut into two camps, which were soon forced to surrender due to the onslaught of the Russians. General Paulus himself was captured.

Consequences

July 17th 1942 At the turn of the Chir River, the advanced units of the 62nd Army of the Stalingrad Front entered into battle with the vanguard of the 6th German Army.

The Battle of Stalingrad has begun.

For two weeks, our armies managed to hold back the onslaught of superior enemy forces. By July 22, the 6th Army of the Wehrmacht was further reinforced by another tank division from the 4th Tank Army. Thus, the balance of forces in the Don bend changed even more in favor of the advancing German group, which already numbered about 250 thousand people, over 700 tanks, 7,500 guns and mortars, and they were supported from the air by up to 1,200 aircraft. While the Stalingrad Front had approximately 180 thousand personnel, 360 tanks, 7,900 guns and mortars, about 340 aircraft.

And yet the Red Army managed to slow down the pace of the enemy’s advance. If in the period from July 12 to 17, 1942, the enemy advanced 30 km daily, then from July 18 to 22 - only 15 km per day. By the end of July, our armies began to withdraw troops to the left bank of the Don.

On July 31, 1942, the selfless resistance of Soviet troops forced the Nazi command to turn from the Caucasus direction to Stalingrad 4th Tank Army under the leadership of Colonel General G.Gotha.

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

The defense line stretched for 800 km. August 5 to facilitate the management of the decision of the Headquarters the front was divided into Stalingrad and South-Eastern.

By mid-August, German troops managed to advance 60-70 km to Stalingrad, and in some areas only 20 km. The city was turning from a front-line city into a front-line city. Despite the continuous transfer of more and more forces to Stalingrad, parity was achieved only in human resources. The Germans had a more than twofold advantage in guns and aircraft, and a fourfold advantage in tanks.

On August 19, 1942, shock units of the 6th combined arms and 4th tank armies simultaneously resumed the offensive on Stalingrad. On August 23, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, German tanks broke through to the Volga and reached the outskirts of the city. On the same day, the enemy launched a massive air raid on Stalingrad. The breakthrough was stopped by militia forces and NKVD detachments.

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

On September 13, German troops resumed their assault on the city. Particularly fierce fighting took place in the area of the station and Mamayev Kurgan (height 102.0). From its top it was possible to control not only the city, but also the crossings across the Volga. Here, from September 1942 to January 1943, some of the most fierce battles of the Great Patriotic War took place.

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

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

Ilya Vasilievich Voronov, one of the defenders of Pavlov’s House, having received several wounds in the arm, leg and stomach, pulled out the safety pin with his teeth and threw grenades at the Germans with his healthy hand. He refused the help of the orderlies and crawled to the first aid station himself. The surgeon removed more than two dozen shrapnel and bullets from his body. Voronov stoically endured the amputation of his leg and hand, losing the maximum amount of blood allowed for life.

He distinguished himself in the battles for the city of Stalingrad from September 14, 1942.
In group battles in the city of Stalingrad, he destroyed up to 50 soldiers and officers. On November 25, 1942, he took part in the assault on the house with his crew. He boldly moved forward and ensured the advance of the units with machine gun fire. His crew with a machine gun was the first to burst into the house. An enemy mine disabled the entire crew and wounded Voronov himself. But the fearless warrior continued to shoot at the resistance of the counterattacking Nazis. Personally, using a machine gun, he defeated 3 attacks of the Nazis, destroying up to 3 dozen Nazis. After the machine gun was smashed and Voronov received two more wounds, he continued to fight. During the battle of the 4th counterattack of the Nazis, Voronov received another wound, but continued to fight, pulling out the safety pin with his teeth and throwing grenades with his healthy hand. Being seriously wounded, he refused the help of paramedics and crawled to the first aid station himself.
For the courage and bravery shown in battles with the German invaders, he is nominated for a government award with the Order of the Red Star.

No less serious battles were fought in other parts of the city defense - on Bald Mountain, in the “ravine of death”, on “Lyudnikov Island”.

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

71 years have passed since fascist tanks, like a jack-in-the-box, found themselves on the northern outskirts of Stalingrad. Meanwhile, hundreds of German planes dropped tons of deadly cargo on the city and its inhabitants. The furious roar of engines and the ominous whistle of bombs, explosions, groans and thousands of deaths, and the Volga engulfed in flames. August 23 was one of the most terrible moments in the city's history. For only 200 fiery days from July 17, 1942 to February 2, 1943, the great confrontation on the Volga continued. We remember the main milestones of the Battle of Stalingrad from the beginning to victory. A victory that changed the course of the war. A victory that was very costly.

In the spring of 1942, Hitler divides Army Group South into two parts. The first should capture the North Caucasus. The second is to move to the Volga, to Stalingrad. The Wehrmacht's summer offensive was called Fall Blau.

Stalingrad seemed to attract German troops to itself like a magnet. The city that bore the name of Stalin. The city that opened the way for the Nazis to the oil reserves of the Caucasus. A city located in the center of the country's transport arteries.

To resist the onslaught of Hitler's army, the Stalingrad Front was formed on July 12, 1942. The first commander was Marshal Timoshenko. It included the 21st Army and the 8th Air Army from the former Southwestern Front. More than 220 thousand soldiers of three reserve armies were also brought into the battle: the 62nd, 63rd and 64th. Plus artillery, 8 armored trains and air regiments, mortar, tank, armored, engineering and other formations. The 63rd and 21st armies were supposed to prevent the Germans from crossing the Don. The remaining forces were sent to defend the borders of Stalingrad.

The residents of Stalingrad are also preparing for defense; units of the people's militia are being formed in the city.

The beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad was quite unusual for that time. There was silence; tens of kilometers lay between the opponents. Nazi columns quickly moved east. At this time, the Red Army was gathering forces to the Stalingrad line and building fortifications.

The start date of the great battle is considered to be July 17, 1942. But, according to the statements of military historian Alexei Isaev, soldiers of the 147th Infantry Division entered the first battle on the evening of July 16 near the villages of Morozov and Zolotoy not far from the Morozovskaya station.

From this moment on, bloody battles begin in the big bend of the Don. Meanwhile, the Stalingrad Front is replenished with the forces of the 28th, 38th and 57th armies.

The day of August 23, 1942 became one of the most tragic in the history of the Battle of Stalingrad. Early in the morning, General von Wittersheim's 14th Panzer Corps reached the Volga in the north of Stalingrad.

The enemy tanks ended up where the city residents did not expect to see them - just a few kilometers from the Stalingrad Tractor Plant.

And in the evening of the same day, at 16:18 Moscow time, Stalingrad turned into hell. Never again has any city in the world withstood such an onslaught. For four days, from August 23 to 26, six hundred enemy bombers made up to 2 thousand sorties daily. Each time they brought death and destruction with them. Hundreds of thousands of incendiary, high-explosive and fragmentation bombs continually rained down on Stalingrad.

The city was in flames, choking with smoke, choking with blood. Generously sprinkled with oil, the Volga also burned, cutting off people’s path to salvation.

What appeared before us on August 23 in Stalingrad struck us like a terrible nightmare. Fire-smoke plumes of bean explosions soared upward continuously, here and there. Huge columns of flame rose to the sky in the area of oil storage facilities. Streams of burning oil and gasoline rushed towards the Volga. The river was burning, the steamships on the Stalingrad roadstead were burning. The asphalt of the streets and squares smelled stinking. Telegraph poles flared up like matches. There was an unimaginable noise, straining the ears with its hellish music. The screech of bombs flying from a height mixed with the roar of explosions, the grinding and clanging of collapsing buildings, and the crackle of raging fire. The dying people moaned, the women and children cried angrily and cried out for help, he later recalled Commander of the Stalingrad Front Andrei Ivanovich Eremenko.

In a matter of hours, the city was practically wiped off the face of the Earth. Houses, theaters, schools - everything turned into ruins. 309 enterprises in Stalingrad were also destroyed. The factories "Red October", STZ, "Barricades" lost most of their workshops and equipment. Transport, communications, and water supply were destroyed. About 40 thousand residents of Stalingrad died.

Red Army soldiers and militias hold the defense in the north of Stalingrad. The troops of the 62nd Army are fighting heavily on the western and northwestern borders. Hitler's aircraft continue their barbaric bombing. From midnight on August 25, a state of siege and special order were introduced in the city. Violation of it is punishable strictly, including execution:

Persons involved in looting and robberies should be shot at the scene of the crime without trial or investigation. All malicious violators of public order and security in the city should be tried by a military tribunal.

A few hours before this, the Stalingrad City Defense Committee adopted another resolution - on the evacuation of women and children to the left bank of the Volga. At that time, no more than 100 thousand were evacuated from a city with a population of more than half a million people, not counting those evacuated from other regions of the country.

The remaining residents are called to the defense of Stalingrad:

We will not hand over our hometown to the Germans for desecration. Let us all stand as one in defense of our beloved city, our home, our family. We will cover all the streets of the city with impenetrable barricades. Let's make every house, every block, every street an impregnable fortress. All for the construction of barricades! Everyone who is capable of carrying weapons, go to the barricades, to defend their hometown, their home!

And they respond. Every day, about 170 thousand people go out to build fortifications and barricades.

By the evening of Monday, September 14, the enemy had penetrated into the very heart of Stalingrad. The railway station and Mamayev Kurgan were captured. Over the next 135 days, height 102.0 will be recaptured more than once and lost again. The defenses at the junction of the 62nd and 64th armies in the area of Vitriol Balka were also broken through. Hitler's troops were able to shoot through the banks of the Volga and the crossing along which reinforcements and food were coming to the city.

Under heavy enemy fire, fighters of the Volga military flotilla and pontoon battalions begin transferring from Krasnoslobodsk to Stalingrad of units of the 13th Guards Rifle Division of Major General Rodimtsev.

In the city there are battles for every street, every house, every piece of land. Strategic objects change hands several times a day. The Red Army soldiers try to stay as close to the enemy as possible in order to avoid attacks from enemy artillery and aircraft. Fierce fighting continues on the approaches to the city.

Soldiers of the 62nd Army are fighting in the area of the tractor plant, Barricades, and Red October. At this time, workers continue to work almost on the battlefield. The 64th Army continues to hold the defense south of the Kuporosnoye village.

And at this time, the fascist Germans gathered forces in the center of Stalingrad. By the evening of September 22, Nazi troops reach the Volga in the area of 9 January Square and the central pier. These days begin the legendary history of the defense of the “House of Pavlov” and “House of Zabolotny”. Bloody battles for the city continue; the Wehrmacht troops still fail to achieve their main goal and take possession of the entire bank of the Volga. However, both sides suffer heavy losses.

Preparations for a counteroffensive near Stalingrad began in September 1942. The plan for the defeat of the Nazi troops was called “Uranus”. Units of the Stalingrad, Southwestern and Don Fronts were involved in the operation: more than a million Red Army soldiers, 15.5 thousand guns, almost 1.5 thousand tanks and assault guns, about 1350 aircraft. In all positions, Soviet troops outnumbered the enemy forces.

The operation began on November 19 with a massive shelling. The armies of the Southwestern Front strike from Kletskaya and Serafimovich, during the day they advance 25-30 kilometers. The forces of the Don Front are thrown in the direction of the Vertyachiy village. On November 20, south of the city, the Stalingrad Front also went on the offensive. On this day the first snow fell.

On November 23, 1942, the ring closes in the area of Kalach-on-Don. The 3rd Romanian Army was defeated. About 330 thousand soldiers and officers of 22 divisions and 160 separate units of the 6th German Army and part of the 4th Tank Army were surrounded. From this day on, our troops begin their offensive and every day they squeeze the Stalingrad cauldron more and more tightly.

In December 1942, troops of the Don and Stalingrad fronts continued to crush the encircled Nazi troops. On December 12, Field Marshal von Manstein's Army Group attempted to reach the encircled 6th Army. The Germans advanced 60 kilometers in the direction of Stalingrad, but by the end of the month the remnants of the enemy forces were driven back hundreds of kilometers. It's time to destroy Paulus's army in the Stalingrad cauldron. The operation, which was entrusted to the soldiers of the Don Front, received the code name “Ring”. The troops were reinforced with artillery, and on January 1, 1943, the 62nd, 64th and 57th armies of the Stalingrad Front became part of the Don Front.

On January 8, 1943, an ultimatum with a proposal to surrender was transmitted by radio to Paulus's headquarters. By this time, Hitler’s troops were very hungry and freezing, and their reserves of ammunition and fuel had come to an end. Soldiers are dying from malnutrition and cold. But the offer of surrender was rejected. An order comes from Hitler's headquarters to continue the resistance. And on January 10, our troops launched a decisive offensive. And already on the 26th, on Mamayev Kurgan, units of the 21st Army linked up with the 62nd Army. The Germans surrender by the thousands.

On the last day of January 1943, the southern group stopped resisting. In the morning, Paulus was brought the last radiogram from Hitler; in anticipation of suicide, he was awarded the next rank of field marshal general. So he became the first Wehrmacht field marshal to surrender.

In the basement of the Central Department Store of Stalingrad they also took the entire headquarters of the 6th German Field Army. In total, 24 generals and more than 90 thousand soldiers and officers were captured. The history of world wars has never known anything like this, either before or since.

It was a disaster from which Hitler and the Wehrmacht were never able to recover - they dreamed of the “Stalingrad cauldron” until the end of the war. The collapse of the fascist army on the Volga convincingly showed that the Red Army and its leadership were able to completely outplay the vaunted German strategists - this is how he assessed that moment of the war General of the Army, Hero of the Soviet Union, participant in the Battle of Stalingrad Valentin Varennikov. - I remember well with what merciless jubilation our commanders and ordinary soldiers greeted the news of the victory on the Volga. We were incredibly proud that we had broken the back of the most powerful German group.

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

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

A large industrial city on the banks of the longest river in Europe - the Volga. A transport hub for important river and land routes that connected the center of the country with the southern regions. Hitler, having captured Stalingrad, would not only have cut an important transport artery of the USSR and created serious difficulties with the supply of the Red Army, but also would have reliably covered the German army advancing in the Caucasus.

Many researchers believe that the presence of Stalin’s name in the city’s name 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 to join the ranks of the allies immediately after the passage for Soviet troops along the Volga was blocked.

Battle of Stalingrad. Summary of events

Time frame of the battle: 07/17/42 - 02/02/43.
Taking part: from Germany - the reinforced 6th Army of Field Marshal Paulus and Allied troops. On the USSR side - the Stalingrad Front, created on July 12, 1942, under the command of first Marshal Timoshenko, from July 23, 1942 - Lieutenant General Gordov, and from August 9, 1942 - Colonel General Eremenko.
Periods of the battle: defensive - from 17.07 to 18.11.42, offensive - from 19.11.42 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 between 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.

The losses on both sides were colossal. The Red Army lost almost 1 million 130 thousand soldiers, 12 thousand guns, 2 thousand aircraft.

Germany and allied countries lost almost 1.5 million soldiers.

Defensive stage

July 17th- the first serious clash of our troops with enemy forces on the shores
August 23- enemy tanks came close to the city. German aircraft began to regularly bomb Stalingrad.
September 13- storming the city. The fame of the workers of the Stalingrad factories and factories, who repaired damaged equipment and weapons under fire, thundered throughout the world.
October 14- the Germans launched an offensive military operation off the banks of the Volga with the aim of capturing Soviet bridgeheads.
November 19- our troops launched a counteroffensive according to the plan for Operation Uranus.

The entire second half of the summer of 1942 was hot. A summary and chronology of defense events indicate that our soldiers, with a shortage of weapons and a significant superiority in manpower on the part of the enemy, accomplished the impossible. They not only defended Stalingrad, but also launched a 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 tighten the ring.
December 17- The Red Army recaptured German positions on the Chir River (the right tributary of the Don).
December 24- ours advanced 200 km into the operational depth.
31th of December- Soviet soldiers advanced another 150 km. The front line has stabilized at the Tormosin-Zhukovskaya-Komissarovsky line.
January 10- our offensive in accordance with the “Ring” plan.
January 26- The German 6th Army is divided into 2 groups.
January 31- the southern part of the former 6th German Army was destroyed.
02 February- the northern group of fascist troops was eliminated. Our soldiers, the heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad, won. The enemy capitulated. Field Marshal Paulus, 24 generals, 2,500 officers and almost 100 thousand exhausted German soldiers were captured.

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

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

Sniper Vasily Zaitsev destroyed 225 opponents with targeted shots.

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

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

Matvey Putilov, Vasily Titaev are 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 of 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, tank crews and pilots - were given to the world by the Battle of Stalingrad. A summary of the course of hostilities is not capable of perpetuating all the exploits. Whole 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 should never be forgotten.

The meaning of the Battle of Stalingrad

The battle was not only of enormous scale, but also of extremely significant political significance. The bloody war continued. The Battle of Stalingrad became its main turning point. Without exaggeration, we can say that it was after the victory at Stalingrad that humanity gained hope for victory over fascism.