How did the victory of the Soviet Union in the Battle of Stalingrad affect the course of the war. What role did Stalingrad play in the plans of Nazi Germany and what were the consequences. The course of the Battle of Stalingrad, losses on both sides, its significance and historical results.

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

During the winter-spring campaign of 1942, the situation on the Soviet-German front was unfavorable for the Red Army. A number of unsuccessful offensive operations were carried out, which in some cases had a certain small-town success, but on the whole ended in failure. The Soviet troops failed to take full advantage of the winter offensive of 1941, as a result of which they lost very advantageous bridgeheads and areas. In addition, a significant part of the strategic reserve, intended for major offensive operations, was involved. The headquarters incorrectly determined the directions of the main attacks, assuming that the main events in the summer of 1942 would unfold in the northwest and center of Russia. The southern and southeastern directions were given secondary importance. In the autumn of 1941, orders were given to build defensive lines on the Don, the North Caucasus and the Stalingrad direction, but they did not have time to complete their equipment by the summer of 1942.

The enemy, unlike our troops, had full control of the strategic initiative. His main task for the summer - autumn of 1942 was to capture the main raw materials, industrial and agricultural regions of the Soviet Union. The leading role in this was assigned to Army Group South, which suffered the least losses since the beginning of the war against the USSR and had the greatest combat potential.

By the end of spring, it became clear that the enemy was rushing to the Volga. As the chronicle of events has shown, the main battles will unfold on the outskirts of Stalingrad, and later in the city itself.

The course of the battle

The Battle of Stalingrad of 1942-1943 will last 200 days and will become the largest and most bloody battle not only of the Second World War, but in the entire history of the 20th century. The course of the Battle of Stalingrad is divided into two stages:

• defense on the outskirts and in the city itself;
• strategic offensive operation of the Soviet troops.

The plans of the parties to the beginning of the battle

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

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

Map of the "Battle of Stalingrad"

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

Army Group "B" after forcing the Don was intended to equip defensive positions, simultaneously occupy the isthmus between the Volga and the Don and, moving in the interfluve, strike in the direction of Stalingrad. The city was instructed to take further mobile formations to advance along the Volga to Astrakhan, finally disrupting transport links along the main river of the country.

The Soviet command decided to prevent the capture of the city and the exit of the Nazis to the Volga with the help of stubborn defense of four unfinished lines in engineering terms - the so-called bypasses. Due to the untimely determination of the direction of the enemy's movement and miscalculations in the planning of military operations in the spring-summer campaign, the Stavka was unable to concentrate the necessary forces in this sector. The newly created Stalingrad Front had only 3 armies from the deep reserve and 2 air armies. Later, it included several more formations, units and formations of the Southern Front, which suffered significant losses in the Caucasus direction. By this time, major changes had taken place in command and control of the troops. The fronts began to report directly to the Stavka, and its representative was included in the command of each front. On the Stalingrad front, this role was performed by General of the Army Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov.

The number of troops, the balance of forces and means at the beginning of the battle

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

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

Despite the fact that the Soviet command continuously increased the number of troops, gradually transferring formations and units from the depths of the country, it was not possible to fully occupy the defense zone with a width of more than 500 kilometers. The activity of enemy tank formations was very high. At the same time, aviation superiority was overwhelming. The German Air Force had complete air supremacy.

Battle of Stalingrad - fighting on the outskirts

On July 17, the forward detachments of our troops entered into battle with the enemy's vanguard. This date was the beginning of the battle. During the first six days, the pace of the offensive was slowed down, but it still remained very high. On July 23, the enemy made an attempt to encircle one of our armies with powerful blows from the flanks. The command of the Soviet troops in a short time had to prepare two counterattacks, which were carried out from July 25 to 27. These strikes prevented the encirclement. By July 30, the German command threw all the reserves into battle. The offensive potential of the Nazis was exhausted. The enemy went over to a forced defense, waiting for reinforcements to arrive. Already on August 1, the tank army, transferred to Army Group A, was returned back to the Stalingrad direction.

During the first 10 days of August, the enemy was able to reach the outer defensive line, and in some places even break through it. Due to the active actions of the enemy, the defense zone of our troops grew from 500 to 800 kilometers, which forced our command to divide the Stalingrad Front into two independent ones - the Stalingrad and the newly formed South-East, which included the 62nd Army. Until the end of the battle, the commander of the 62nd Army was V. I. Chuikov.

Until August 22, hostilities continued on the outer defensive bypass. Stubborn defense was combined with offensive actions, but it was not possible to keep the enemy at this line. The enemy overcame the middle bypass practically on the move, and on August 23 the fighting began on the inner defensive line. On the near approaches to the city, the Nazis were met by the NKVD troops of the Stalingrad garrison. On the same day, the enemy broke through to the Volga north of the city, cutting off our combined arms army from the main forces of the Stalingrad Front. German aircraft inflicted enormous damage that day with a massive raid on the city. The central regions were destroyed, our troops suffered serious losses, including an increase in the number of deaths among the population. There were more than 40 thousand dead and died from wounds - the elderly, women, children.

On the southern approaches the situation was no less tense: the enemy broke through the outer and middle defensive lines. Our army launched counterattacks, trying to restore the situation, but the Wehrmacht troops methodically advanced towards the city.

The situation was very difficult. The enemy was in close proximity to the city. Under these conditions, Stalin decided to strike a little to the north in order to weaken the onslaught of the enemy. In addition, it took time to prepare the city defensive bypass for combat operations.

By September 12, the front line came close to Stalingrad and passed 10 kilometers from the city. It was necessary to urgently weaken the onslaught of the enemy. Stalingrad was located in a semicircle, covered from the northeast and southwest by two tank armies. By this time, the main forces of the Stalingrad and South-Eastern fronts occupied the city defensive bypass. With the withdrawal of the main forces of our troops to the outskirts, the defensive period of the Battle of Stalingrad on the outskirts of the city ended.

City defense

By mid-September, the enemy had practically doubled the number and armament of his troops. The grouping was increased due to the transfer of formations from the west and the Caucasian direction. A significant proportion of them were the troops of Germany's satellites - Romania and Italy. Hitler at a meeting at the headquarters of the Wehrmacht, which was located in Vinnitsa, demanded that the commander of Army Group "B" General Weihe and the commander of the 6th Army, General Paulus, take over Stalingrad as soon as possible.

The Soviet command also increased the grouping of its troops, pushing reserves from the depths of the country and replenishing the already existing units with personnel and weapons. By the beginning of the struggle for the city itself, the balance of power was still on the side of the enemy. If parity was observed in terms of personnel, then the Nazis outnumbered our troops by 1.3 times in artillery, 1.6 times in tanks, and 2.6 times in aircraft.

On September 13, with two powerful blows, the enemy launched an attack on the central part of the city. These two groups included up to 350 tanks. The enemy managed to advance to the factory areas and come close to Mamayev Kurgan. The actions of the enemy were actively supported by aviation. It should be noted that, having command of the air, the German planes inflicted enormous damage on the defenders of the city. Aviation of the Nazis for the entire period of the Battle of Stalingrad made an unimaginable number, even by the standards of the Second World War, sorties, turning the city into ruins.

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

On September 18, two counterattacks from the area of ​​Mamaev Kurgan were prepared, and on the 19th, two counterattacks were delivered. The strikes continued until September 20, but did not lead to a significant change in the situation.

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

The first assault on the city by Nazi troops from 13 to 26 September brought them limited success. The enemy reached the Volga in the central regions of the city and on the left flank.
From September 27, the German command, without weakening the onslaught in the center, concentrated on the outskirts of the city and factory areas. As a result, by October 8, the enemy managed to capture all the dominant heights on the western outskirts. From them, the city was completely visible, as well as the channel of the Volga. Thus, the crossing of the river became even more complicated, the maneuver of our troops was constrained. However, the offensive potential of the German armies was coming to an end. A regrouping and replenishment was needed.

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

In early October, the Wehrmacht headquarters planned a general assault on the city, having managed to concentrate large forces on almost all sectors of the front. On October 9, the attackers resumed their attacks on the city. They managed to capture a number of Stalingrad industrial settlements and part of the Tractor Plant, cut one of our armies into several parts and reach the Volga in a narrow section of 2.5 kilometers. Gradually, the activity of the enemy faded. On November 11, the last assault attempt was made. After the losses suffered, the German troops went on the defensive on November 18. On this day, the defensive stage of the battle ended, but the Battle of Stalingrad itself was only approaching its climax.

Results of the defensive stage of the battle

The main task of the defensive stage was completed - the Soviet troops managed to defend the city, bled the enemy's strike groups and prepared the conditions for the start of a counteroffensive. The enemy suffered unprecedented losses before. According to various estimates, they amounted to about 700 thousand killed, up to 1000 tanks, about 1400 guns and mortars, 1400 aircraft.

The defense of Stalingrad gave invaluable experience to commanders of all levels in command and control. Methods and methods of conducting combat operations in the conditions of the city, tested in Stalingrad, subsequently turned out to be in demand more than once. The defensive operation contributed to the development of Soviet military art, revealed the military leadership qualities of many military leaders, and became a school of combat skill for every soldier of the Red Army without exception.

Soviet losses were also very high - about 640 thousand personnel, 1400 tanks, 2000 aircraft and 12000 guns and mortars.

The offensive stage of the Battle of Stalingrad

The strategic offensive operation began on November 19, 1942 and ended on February 2, 1943. It was carried out by the forces of three fronts.

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

The plans of the parties, the balance of forces and means

On November 14, according to Hitler's directive, the German troops went over to strategic defense. Offensive operations continued only in the Stalingrad direction, where the enemy stormed the city. The troops of Army Group "B" took up defenses from Voronezh in the north to the Manych River in the south. The most combat-ready units were near Stalingrad, and the flanks were defended by the Romanian and Italian troops. In reserve, the commander of the army group had 8 divisions, due to the activity of the Soviet troops along the entire length of the front, he was limited in the depth of their application.

The Soviet command planned to carry out the operation with the forces of the Southwestern, Stalingrad and Don fronts. Their tasks were as follows:

• South-Western Front - a strike force consisting of three armies, go on the offensive in the direction of the city of Kalach, defeat the 3rd Romanian army and reach the connection with the troops of the Stalingrad Front by the end of the third day of the operation.
• The Stalingrad Front - a strike force consisting of three armies, go on the offensive in the north-western direction, defeat the 6th Army Corps of the Romanian Army and unite with the troops of the South-Western Front.
• Don Front - by strikes of two armies in converging directions to surround the enemy with subsequent destruction in a small bend of the Don.

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

Planning for the Soviet counter-offensive operation began in mid-October, at the height of the battles for Stalingrad. By order of the Headquarters, the front commanders managed to create the necessary superiority in personnel and equipment before the start of the offensive. On the Southwestern Front, Soviet troops outnumbered the Nazis in personnel by 1.1, in artillery by 1.4 and in tanks by 2.8 times. In the zone of the Don Front, the ratio was as follows - in personnel 1.5 times, in artillery 2.4 times in favor of our troops, in tanks parity. The superiority of the Stalingrad Front was: in personnel - 1.1, in artillery - 1.2, in tanks - 3.2 times.

It is noteworthy that the concentration of strike groups took place covertly, only at night and in bad weather conditions.

A characteristic feature of the developed operation was the principle of massing aviation and artillery in the directions of the main attacks. It was possible to achieve an unprecedented density of artillery - in some areas it reached 117 units per kilometer of the front.

Difficult tasks were assigned to the engineering units and subdivisions. A huge amount of work had to be done to clear mine areas, terrain and roads, and build crossings.

The course of the offensive operation

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

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

Things were more complicated at the Don Front. There, our troops encountered stubborn resistance in conditions of extremely difficult terrain and saturation of the enemy defenses with mine-explosive barriers. By the end of the first day, the wedging depth was 3-5 kilometers. Subsequently, the troops of the front were drawn into protracted battles and the 4th tank enemy army managed to avoid encirclement.

For the Nazi command, the counteroffensive came as a surprise. Hitler's directive on the transition to strategic defensive actions was dated November 14, but they did not have time to go over to it. On November 18, in Stalingrad, the Nazi troops were still on the offensive. The command of Army Group "B" erroneously determined the direction of the main attacks of the Soviet troops. On the first day, it was at a loss, only sending telegrams to the Wehrmacht headquarters with a statement of facts. The commander of Army Group B, General Weikhe, ordered the commander of the 6th Army to stop the offensive in Stalingrad and to allocate the necessary number of formations in order to stop the Russian pressure and cover the flanks. As a result of the measures taken, resistance in the offensive zone of the Southwestern Front increased.

On November 20, the offensive of the Stalingrad Front began, which once again came as a complete surprise to the leadership of the Wehrmacht. The Nazis urgently needed to find a way out of the current situation.

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

On the same day, units of the Southwestern Front crossed the Don and captured the city of Kalach.
The headquarters of the Wehrmacht did not stop trying to find a way out of a difficult situation. Two tank armies were ordered to be transferred from the North Caucasus. Paulus was ordered not to leave Stalingrad. Hitler did not want to put up with the fact that he would have to retreat from the Volga. The consequences of this decision will be fatal both for the army of Paulus and for all the Nazi troops.

By November 22, the distance between the forward units of the Stalingrad and Southwestern fronts had been reduced to 12 kilometers. At 16.00 on November 23, the fronts connected. The encirclement of the enemy grouping was completed. In the Stalingrad "cauldron" were 22 divisions and auxiliary units. On the same day, the Romanian corps numbering almost 27 thousand people were taken prisoner.

However, a number of difficulties arose. The total length of the outer front was very large, almost 450 kilometers, and the distance between the inner and outer fronts was insufficient. The task was to move the external front as far west as possible in the shortest possible time in order to isolate the encircled Paulus grouping and prevent its deblockade from the outside. At the same time, it was necessary to create powerful reserves for stability. At the same time, the formations on the internal front had to start destroying the enemy in the "cauldron" in a short time.

Until November 30, the troops of three fronts tried to cut the encircled 6th Army into pieces, while simultaneously squeezing the ring. To this day, the area occupied by enemy troops has decreased by half.

It should be noted that the enemy stubbornly resisted, skillfully using reserves. In addition, an assessment of his strength was incorrectly made. The General Staff assumed that there were approximately 90,000 Nazis surrounded, while the actual number exceeded 300,000.

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

The counteroffensive did not end with the encirclement of the grouping, the Soviet troops seized the initiative. Soon it was necessary to complete the defeat of the enemy troops.

Operation Saturn and the Ring

The headquarters of the Wehrmacht and the command of Army Group "B" began the formation in early December of the Army Group "Don", designed to release the group, which was surrounded near Stalingrad. This group included formations transferred from near Voronezh, Orel, the North Caucasus, from France, as well as parts of the 4th Panzer Army, which had escaped encirclement. At the same time, the balance of forces in favor of the enemy was overwhelming. In the breakthrough area, he outnumbered the Soviet troops in men and artillery by 2 times, and in tanks by 6 times.

Soviet troops in December had to start solving several tasks at once:

• Developing the offensive, defeat the enemy on the Middle Don - Operation Saturn was developed to solve it
• Prevent the breakthrough of Army Group "Don" to the 6th Army
• Eliminate the encircled enemy grouping - for this they developed the operation "Ring".

On December 12, the enemy launched an offensive. At first, using a large superiority in tanks, the Germans broke through the defenses and advanced 25 kilometers in the first day. For 7 days of the offensive operation, enemy forces approached the encircled grouping at a distance of 40 kilometers. The Soviet command urgently activated the reserves.

Map of Operation Little Saturn

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

On December 24, after a short artillery preparation, the Stalingrad Front launched an offensive, delivering the main blow in the direction of Kotelnikovsky. On December 26, the city was liberated. Subsequently, the troops of the front were given the task of eliminating the Tormosinsk grouping, which they coped with by December 31. From this date, a regrouping began for an attack on Rostov.

As a result of successful operations in the Middle Don and in the Kotelnikovsky area, our troops managed to thwart the plans of the Wehrmacht to release the encircled group, defeat large formations and units of the German, Italian and Romanian troops, move the external front from the Stalingrad "cauldron" by 200 kilometers.

Aviation, meanwhile, took the encircled grouping into a tight blockade, minimizing attempts by the Wehrmacht headquarters to supply the 6th Army.

Operation Saturn

From January 10 to February 2, the command of the Soviet troops carried out an operation code-named "Ring" to eliminate the encircled 6th Army of the Nazis. Initially, it was assumed that the encirclement and destruction of the enemy grouping would take place in a shorter time, but the lack of forces of the fronts affected, which on the move failed to cut the enemy grouping into pieces. The activity of the German troops outside the cauldron delayed part of the forces, and the enemy himself inside the ring had by no means weakened by that time.

The Stavka entrusted the operation to the Don Front. In addition, part of the forces was allocated by the Stalingrad Front, which by that time had been renamed the Southern Front and received the task of advancing on Rostov. The commander of the Don Front in the Battle of Stalingrad, General Rokossovsky, decided to dismember the enemy grouping and destroy it piece by piece with powerful cutting blows from west to east.
The balance of forces and means did not give confidence in the success of the operation. The enemy outnumbered the troops of the Don Front in personnel and tanks by 1.2 times and was inferior in artillery by 1.7 and aviation by 3 times. True, due to a lack of fuel, he could not fully use motorized and tank formations.

Operation Ring

On January 8, a message was brought to the Nazis with a proposal for surrender, which they rejected.
On January 10, under the cover of artillery preparation, the offensive of the Don Front began. During the first day, the attackers managed to advance to a depth of 8 kilometers. Artillery units and formations supported the troops with a new type of accompanying fire at that time, which is called the "barrage".

The enemy fought on the same defensive contours on which the Battle of Stalingrad began for our troops. By the end of the second day, the Nazis, under the onslaught of the Soviet army, began to randomly retreat to Stalingrad.

Surrender of the Nazi troops

On January 17, the width of the encirclement strip was reduced by seventy kilometers. A repeated proposal to lay down their arms followed, which was also ignored. Until the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, calls for surrender from the Soviet command came regularly.

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

Until January 31, stubborn fighting continued. On this day, the southern group stopped resisting. The officers and generals of the headquarters of the 6th Army, led by Paulus, surrendered. On the eve of Hitler awarded him the rank of field marshal. The northern group continued to resist. Only on February 1, after a powerful artillery fire raid, did the enemy begin to surrender. On February 2, the fighting stopped completely. A report was sent to Headquarters about the end of the Battle of Stalingrad.

On February 3, the troops of the Don Front began to regroup for further actions in the direction of Kursk.

Losses in the Battle of Stalingrad

All stages of the Battle of Stalingrad were very bloody. Losses on both sides were colossal. Until now, data from different sources are very different from each other. It is generally accepted that the Soviet Union lost over 1.1 million people killed. On the part of the Nazi troops, the total losses are estimated at 1.5 million people, of which the Germans make up about 900 thousand people, the rest are the losses of the satellites. Data on the number of prisoners also vary, but on average their number is close to 100 thousand people.

Equipment losses were also significant. The Wehrmacht missed about 2,000 tanks and assault guns, 10,000 guns and mortars, 3,000 aircraft, 70,000 vehicles.

The consequences of the Battle of Stalingrad became fatal for the Reich. It was from this moment that Germany began to experience a mobilization hunger.

Significance of the Battle of Stalingrad

The victory in this battle served as a turning point in the course of the entire Second World War. In figures and facts, the Battle of Stalingrad can be represented as follows. The Soviet army completely defeated 32 divisions, 3 brigades, 16 divisions were severely defeated, and it took a long time to restore their combat capability. Our troops pushed the front line hundreds of kilometers away from the Volga and Don.
A major defeat shook the unity of the allies of the Reich. The destruction of the Romanian and Italian armies forced the leadership of these countries to think about withdrawing from the war. The victory in the Battle of Stalingrad, and then the successful offensive operations in the Caucasus, convinced Turkey not to join the war against the Soviet Union.

The Battle of Stalingrad, and then the Battle of Kursk, finally secured the strategic initiative for the USSR. The Great Patriotic War lasted another two years, but events no longer developed according to the plans of the fascist leadership

The beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad in July 1942 was unsuccessful for the Soviet Union, the reasons for this are well known. The more valuable and significant for us is the victory in it. Throughout the battle, previously unknown to a wide range of people, military leaders were becoming, gaining combat experience. By the end of the battle on the Volga, these were already the commanders of the great Battle of Stalingrad. Front commanders every day gained invaluable experience in managing large military formations, used new techniques and methods of using various types of troops.

The victory in the battle was of great moral importance for the Soviet army. She managed to crush the strongest opponent, inflict a defeat on him, after which he could not recover. The exploits of the defenders of Stalingrad served as an example for all the soldiers of the Red Army.

The course, results, maps, diagrams, facts, memoirs of the participants in the Battle of Stalingrad are still the subject of study in academies and military schools.

In December 1942, the medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad" was established. More than 700 thousand people have been awarded with it. 112 people became heroes of the Soviet Union in the Battle of Stalingrad.

The dates of November 19 and February 2 have become memorable. For the special merits of the artillery units and formations, the day the counteroffensive began became a holiday - the Day of the Rocket Forces and Artillery. The day of the end of the Battle of Stalingrad is marked as the Day of Military Glory. On May 1, 1945, Stalingrad bears the title of Hero City.

Introduction

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

While the spring thaw lasted, the Germans developed a plan for the summer offensive of 1942, code-named Fall Blau - "Blue Option". The initial goal of the German strike was the oil fields of Grozny and Baku with the possibility of further development of the offensive against Persia. Before the deployment of this offensive, the Germans were going to cut off the Barvenkovsky ledge - a large bridgehead captured by the Red Army on the western bank of the Seversky Donets River.

The Soviet command, in turn, was also going to conduct a summer offensive in the zone of the Bryansk, Southern and Southwestern fronts. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the Red Army was the first to strike and at first the German troops were pushed back almost to Kharkov, the Germans managed to turn the situation in their favor and inflict a major defeat on the Soviet troops. On the sector of the Southern and Southwestern fronts, the defense was weakened to the limit, and on June 28, the 4th Panzer Army of Hermann Goth broke through between Kursk and Kharkov. The Germans went to the Don.

At this point, Hitler, by personal order, made a change to the Blue Option, which later cost Nazi Germany dearly. He divided Army Group South into two parts. Army Group "A" was supposed to continue the offensive in the Caucasus. Army Group B was to reach the Volga, cut off the strategic communications that connected the European part of the USSR with the Caucasus and Central Asia, and capture Stalingrad. For Hitler, this city was important not only from a practical point of view (as a major industrial center), but also purely for ideological reasons. The capture of the city, which bore the name of the main enemy of the Third Reich, would be the greatest propaganda achievement of the German army.

The alignment of forces and the first stage of the battle

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

The Southwestern Front, renamed Stalingrad on July 12, 1942, consisted of about 160,000 personnel, 2,200 guns and mortars, and about 400 tanks. Of the 38 divisions that were part of the front, only 18 were fully equipped, while the rest had from 300 to 4000 people. The 8th Air Army, which operated along with the front, was also significantly inferior in numbers to von Richthofen's fleet. With these forces, the Stalingrad Front was forced to defend a sector more than 500 kilometers wide. A separate problem for the Soviet troops was the flat steppe terrain, on which enemy tanks could operate at full strength. Taking into account the low level of anti-tank weapons in front units and formations, this made the tank threat critical.

The offensive of the German troops began on July 17, 1942. On this day, the vanguards of the 6th Army of the Wehrmacht entered into battle with units of the 62nd Army on the Chir River and in the area of ​​​​the Pronin farm. By July 22, the Germans pushed the Soviet troops back almost 70 kilometers, to the main line of defense of Stalingrad. The German command, which expected to take the city on the move, decided to surround the Red Army units at the villages of Kletskaya and Suvorovskaya, seize crossings across the Don and develop the offensive against Stalingrad without stopping. For this purpose, two strike groups were created, advancing from the north and south. The northern group was formed from units of the 6th Army, the southern group from units of the 4th Panzer Army.

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

Fierce fighting in this area lasted until August 7-8. It was possible to unblock the encircled units, but it was not possible to defeat the advancing Germans. The development of events was also negatively affected by the fact that the level of training of the personnel of the armies of the Stalingrad Front was low, and a number of errors in the coordination of actions made by the unit commanders.

In the south, Soviet troops managed to stop the Germans near the settlements of Surovikino and Rychkovsky. Nevertheless, the Nazis were able to break through the front of the 64th Army. To eliminate this breakthrough, on July 28, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command ordered, no later than the 30th, the forces of the 64th Army, as well as two infantry divisions and a tank corps, to strike and defeat the enemy in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe village of Nizhne-Chirskaya.

Despite the fact that the new units entered the battle on the move and their combat capabilities suffered from this, by the indicated date the Red Army managed to push the Germans and even threaten their encirclement. Unfortunately, the Nazis managed to bring fresh forces into battle and help the group. After that, the fighting escalated even hotter.

On July 28, 1942, another event occurred that cannot be left behind the scenes. On this day, the famous Order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR No. 227, also known as "Not a step back!", was adopted. He significantly toughened the penalties for unauthorized retreat from the battlefield, introduced penal units for the guilty fighters and commanders, and also introduced barrage detachments - special units that were engaged in detaining deserters and returning them to duty. This document, for all its rigidity, was adopted quite positively by the troops and actually reduced the number of disciplinary violations in military units.

At the end of July, the 64th Army was nevertheless forced to withdraw beyond the Don. German troops captured a number of bridgeheads on the left bank of the river. In the area of ​​​​the village of Tsymlyanskaya, the Nazis concentrated very serious forces: two infantry, two motorized and one tank division. The headquarters ordered the Stalingrad Front to drive the Germans to the western (right) bank and restore the line of defense along the Don, but it was not possible to eliminate the breakthrough. On July 30, the Germans went on the offensive from the village of Tsymlyanskaya and by August 3 made significant progress, capturing the Repair station, the station and the city of Kotelnikovo, the settlement of Zhutovo. On the same days, the 6th Romanian corps of the enemy came to the Don. In the zone of operations of the 62nd Army, the Germans went on the offensive on August 7 in the direction of Kalach. The Soviet troops were forced to retreat to the left bank of the Don. On August 15, the Soviet 4th Tank Army had to do the same, because the Germans were able to break through its front in the center and split the defense in half.

By August 16, the troops of the Stalingrad Front withdrew beyond the Don and took up defensive positions on the outer line of the city fortifications. On August 17, the Germans resumed the onslaught and by the 20th they managed to capture the crossings, as well as a bridgehead in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe village of Vertyachiy. Attempts to discard or destroy them were unsuccessful. On August 23, the German group, with the support of aviation, broke through the defense front of the 62nd and 4th tank armies and advanced units reached the Volga. On this day, German aircraft made about 2,000 sorties. Many quarters of the city were in ruins, oil storage facilities were on fire, about 40 thousand civilians died. The enemy broke through to the line Rynok - Orlovka - Gumrak - Peschanka. The struggle passed under the walls of Stalingrad.

Fighting in the city

Having forced the Soviet troops to retreat almost to the outskirts of Stalingrad, the enemy threw six German and one Romanian infantry divisions, two tank divisions and one motorized division against the 62nd Army. The number of tanks in this grouping of the Nazis was approximately 500. From the air, the enemy was supported by at least 1000 aircraft. The threat of the capture of the city became tangible. To eliminate it, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command transferred to the defenders two completed armies (10 rifle divisions, 2 tank brigades), re-equipped the 1st Guards Army (6 rifle divisions, 2 guards rifle, 2 tank brigades), and also subordinated the 16th to the Stalingrad Front air army.

On September 5 and 18, the troops of the Stalingrad Front (September 30, it will be renamed Donskoy) carried out two major operations, thanks to which they managed to weaken the German onslaught on the city, pulling back about 8 infantry, two tank and two motorized divisions. Again, it was not possible to carry out the complete defeat of the Nazi units. Fierce battles for the internal defensive bypass went on for a long time.

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Uranus" and the surrender of Paulus

By the time the Soviet counter-offensive began, in addition to the 6th Army of Paulus, there were also the 2nd Army of von Salmuth, the 4th Panzer Army of Goth, the Italian, Romanian and Hungarian armies near Stalingrad.

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

On November 23, the encirclement ring closed around the 6th Army and the main forces of the 4th Panzer Army of Goth. On November 24, about 30 thousand Italians capitulated near the village of Raspopinskaya. By November 24, the territory occupied by the encircled Nazi units covered about 40 kilometers from west to east, and about 80 from north to south. Further "compression" progressed slowly, as the Germans organized a dense defense and clung to literally every piece of land. Paulus insisted on a breakthrough, but Hitler categorically forbade it. He still did not lose hope that he would be able to help the encircled from outside.

The rescue mission was entrusted to Erich von Manstein. Army Group Don, which he commanded, was supposed to release the besieged army of Paulus in December 1942 with a blow from Kotelnikovsky and Tormosin. On December 12, Operation Winter Storm began. Moreover, the Germans did not go on the offensive with full strength - in fact, by the time the offensive began, they were able to put up only one Wehrmacht tank division and a Romanian infantry division. Subsequently, two more incomplete tank divisions and some infantry joined the offensive. On December 19, Manstein's troops clashed with the 2nd Guards Army of Rodion Malinovsky, and by December 25, the "Winter Thunderstorm" died out in the snowy Don steppes. The Germans retreated to their original positions, having suffered heavy losses.

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

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

The Germans resisted as best they could. The offensive of the Soviet troops was even stopped from 17 to 22 January. After the regrouping of the Red Army, they again went on the attack and on January 26 the Nazi forces were split into two parts. The northern group was located in the area of ​​the Barrikady plant, and the southern group, in which Paulus himself was, was located in the city center. Paulus' command post was located in the basement of the central department store.

On January 30, 1943, Hitler awarded Friedrich Paulus the rank of field marshal. According to the unwritten Prussian military tradition, field marshals never surrendered. So on the part of the Fuhrer, this was a hint of how the commander of the encircled army should have ended his military career. However, Paulus decided that it is better not to understand some of the hints. On January 31, at noon, Paulus surrendered. It took two more days to liquidate the remnants of the Nazi troops in Stalingrad. On February 2, it was all over. The battle of Stalingrad is over.

About 90 thousand German soldiers and officers were captured. The Germans lost about 800 thousand killed, 160 tanks and about 200 aircraft were captured.

Taking into account the tasks to be solved, the peculiarities of the conduct of hostilities by the parties, the spatial and temporal scale, as well as the results, the Battle of Stalingrad includes two periods: defensive - from July 17 to November 18, 1942; offensive - from November 19, 1942 to February 2, 1943

The strategic defensive operation in the Stalingrad direction lasted 125 days and nights and included two stages. The first stage is the conduct of defensive combat operations by the troops of the fronts on the distant approaches to Stalingrad (July 17 - September 12). The second stage is the conduct of defensive operations to hold Stalingrad (September 13 - November 18, 1942).

The German command delivered the main blow with the forces of the 6th Army in the direction of Stalingrad along the shortest path through the large bend of the Don from the west and southwest, just in the defense zones of the 62nd (commander - major general, from August 3 - lieutenant general , from September 6 - major general, from September 10 - lieutenant general) and the 64th (commander - lieutenant general V.I. Chuikov, from August 4 - lieutenant general) armies. The operational initiative was in the hands of the German command with almost double superiority in forces and means.

Defensive combat operations by the troops of the fronts on the distant approaches to Stalingrad (July 17 - September 12)

The first stage of the operation began on July 17, 1942, in a large bend of the Don, with combat contact between units of the 62nd Army and the forward detachments of German troops. Fierce battles ensued. The enemy had to deploy five divisions out of fourteen and spend six days to approach the main line of defense of the troops of the Stalingrad Front. However, under the onslaught of superior enemy forces, Soviet troops were forced to retreat to new, poorly equipped or even unequipped lines. But even under these conditions, they inflicted significant losses on the enemy.

By the end of July, the situation in the Stalingrad direction continued to be very tense. German troops deeply covered both flanks of the 62nd Army, reached the Don in the Nizhne-Chirskaya area, where the 64th Army held the defense, and created the threat of a breakthrough to Stalingrad from the southwest.

Due to the increased width of the defense zone (about 700 km), by the decision of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, the Stalingrad Front, commanded by Lieutenant General from July 23, was divided on August 5 into the Stalingrad and South-Eastern Fronts. In order to achieve closer interaction between the troops of both fronts, from August 9, the leadership of the defense of Stalingrad was united in one hand, in connection with which the Stalingrad Front was subordinated to the commander of the troops of the South-Eastern Front, Colonel General.

By mid-November, the advance of the German troops was stopped on the entire front. The enemy was forced to finally go on the defensive. This was the end of the strategic defensive operation of the Battle of Stalingrad. The troops of the Stalingrad, South-Eastern and Don fronts fulfilled their tasks, holding back the powerful offensive of the enemy in the Stalingrad direction, creating the prerequisites for a counteroffensive.

During the defensive battles, the Wehrmacht suffered huge losses. In the struggle for Stalingrad, the enemy lost about 700,000 killed and wounded, over 2,000 guns and mortars, over 1,000 tanks and assault guns, and over 1,400 combat and transport aircraft. Instead of a non-stop advance to the Volga, the enemy troops were drawn into protracted, exhausting battles in the Stalingrad region. The plan of the German command for the summer of 1942 was frustrated. At the same time, the Soviet troops also suffered heavy losses in personnel - 644 thousand people, of which 324 thousand people were irretrievable, and 320 thousand were sanitary people. The losses of weapons amounted to: about 1400 tanks, more than 12 thousand guns and mortars and more than 2 thousand aircraft.

Soviet troops continued to advance

178. Soviet machine-gun crew changes firing position in a broken house in Stalingrad. 1942

179. Soviet soldiers hold the line in a broken house in Stalingrad. 1942

180. German soldiers surrounded near Stalingrad.

181. The attack of Soviet soldiers on a destroyed house captured by German troops in Stalingrad. 1942

182. The assault group of the 13th Guards Division is clearing houses in Stalingrad, destroying enemy soldiers. 1942

183. Mortar I.G. Goncharov and G.A. Gafatulin firing at German positions in the Stalingrad area from a 120-mm mortar. 1942

184. Soviet snipers go to a firing position in a destroyed house in Stalingrad. January 1943

185. Commander of the 62nd Army of the Stalingrad Front, Lieutenant General t Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov (with a stick) and a member of the military council of the Stalingrad Front, Lieutenant General t Kuzma Akimovich Gurov (on the left hand of Chuikov) in the Stalingrad region. 1943

186. Captured Germans on the streets of Stalingrad.

187. German prisoners walk past the frozen corpse of a German soldier. Stalingrad. 1943

188. The German self-propelled guns Marder III abandoned near Stalingrad. 1943

189. Soviet signalmen are laying a telephone line in the Stalingrad area. 1943

190. A Soviet officer inspects a German tank Pz.II Ausf. F, captured by Soviet troops on the farm Sukhanovsky. Don front. December 1942

191. Member of the Military Council N.S. Khrushchev inspects a captured German tank Pz.Kpfw. IV in Stalingrad. December 28, 1942

192. German gunners move the LeIG 18 gun in the battle in Stalingrad. September 1942

193. Railway platforms with Soviet bombs found by the Germans in the courtyard of one of the destroyed factories in Stalingrad. November 1942

194. The corpse of a German soldier at the direction signs near Stalingrad. February 1943

195. Broken German fighter Messerschmitt Bf.109 near Stalingrad. 1943

196. Captured German aircraft near Stalingrad and ... a samovar. 1943

197. Romanian prisoners of war taken prisoner in the area of ​​​​the village of Raspopinskaya near the city of Kalach. On November 24, 1942, the troops of the Southwestern Front, having defeated the Romanian troops surrounded there, took 30 thousand prisoners and captured a lot of equipment.

198. Soviet assault group before the attack in Stalingrad. 1942

199. Soviet soldiers in battle in Stalingrad. Autumn 1942

200. A string of German prisoners of war near Stalingrad. February 1943

201. A German soldier cleans his carbine during a short break between battles in Stalingrad. Autumn 1942.

202. Soviet soldiers on the streets of Stalingrad, hiding under a tarpaulin. February 1943

203. Frost-covered bodies of two German soldiers at a position near Stalingrad. 1942

204. Soviet aircraft technicians remove machine guns from a German fighter Messerschmitt Bf.109. Stalingrad. 1943

205. German assault group on the ruins of a factory in Stalingrad. Late September - early October 1942.

206. The first Heroes of the Soviet Union in the 16th Air Army, awarded on 01/28/1943. From left to right: V.N. Makarov, I.P. Motor and Z.V. Semenyuk. All of them served in the 512th Fighter Aviation Regiment.

207. Killed German soldiers near Stalingrad, winter 1942-1943

208. Medical Girl The teacher accompanies a wounded soldier in Stalingrad. 1942

209. Soviet soldiers in battle among the destroyed buildings in Stalingrad. 1942

210. Soviet troops in battle in Stalingrad. January 1943

211. Killed soldiers of the 4th Romanian army near Lake Barmatsak, Stalingrad region. 11/20/1942

212. The command post of the 178th Artillery Regiment (45th Rifle Division), Major Rostovtsev, in the basement of the calibration shop of the Krasny Oktyabr plant. December 1942

213. Captured in good condition German tank Pz.Kpfw. IV. The territory of the Stalingrad Tractor Plant. 02/01/1943

214. The retreat of the German units of Army Group "Don" after an unsuccessful attempt to deblock Stalingrad. January 1943

215. Stalingrad after the end of the Battle of Stalingrad. The skeleton of a downed German He-111 bomber from the KG.55 "Greif" bomber group (griffin on the emblem). 1943

216. Feldmar General shal Friedrich Paulus (left), commander of the 6th Wehrmacht army encircled in Stalingrad, chief of his staff, lieutenant general t Arthur Schmidt (Arthur Schmidt) and his adjutant Wilhelm Adam (Wilhelm Adam) after surrendering. Stalingrad, Beketovka, headquarters of the Soviet 64th Army. 01/31/1943

217. Fight in one of the shops of the plant "Red October". December 1942

218. Taking the oath at the banner by marching reinforcements in the 39th Guards Rifle Division on the banks of the Volga, behind the Red October plant. On the left is the commander of the 62nd Army, Lieutenant General t V.I. Chuikov (39th division was part of the 62nd army), the banner is held by the commander of the division, Major General S.S. Guriev. December 1942

219. Gun crew of sergeant A.G. Serov (45th Infantry Division) in one of the shops of the Red October plant in Stalingrad. December 1942

220. Commander of the 65th Army of the Don Front, Lieutenant General t P.I. Batov with officers in the Stalingrad area. Winter 1942/43.

221. Frontline road near the village of Gorodishche near Stalingrad, an abandoned armored car and a dead German soldier.

222. Evacuation of wounded Soviet soldiers. Plant "Barricades", Stalingrad. December 1942

223. Captured Germans from the 11th Infantry Corps, Colonel General ka Karl Strecker, who surrendered on February 2, 1943. District of the Stalingrad Tractor Plant. 02/02/1943

224. German transport aircraft Ju-52, captured by Soviet troops near Stalingrad. November 1942

225. Warming up Ju-52 engines with a heat gun at the Pitomnik airfield (Stalingrad region). January 1943

226. The reconnaissance group of the 39th Guards Rifle Division leaves for a combat mission. Plant "Red October". Stalingrad. 1943

227. Rally in the liberated Stalingrad. February 1943

228. The calculation of the Soviet 14.5-mm anti-tank gun Degtyarev PTRD-41 in the Stalingrad region. 1943

Seventy-one years ago, the Battle of Stalingrad ended - the battle that finally changed the course of World War II. On February 2, 1943, surrounded by the banks of the Volga, German troops capitulated. I dedicate this photo album to this significant event.

1. A Soviet pilot stands near a personalized Yak-1B fighter, donated to the 291st Fighter Aviation Regiment by the collective farmers of the Saratov Region. The inscription on the fuselage of the fighter: “To the unit of the Hero of the Soviet Union Shishkin V.I. from the collective farm Signal of the Revolution of the Voroshilovsky district of the Saratov region. Winter 1942 - 1943

2. A Soviet pilot stands near a personalized Yak-1B fighter, donated to the 291st Fighter Aviation Regiment by the collective farmers of the Saratov Region.

3. A Soviet soldier demonstrates to his comrades German sentry boats, captured among other German property near Stalingrad. 1943

4. German 75 mm gun PaK 40 on the outskirts of a village near Stalingrad.

5. A dog sits in the snow against the backdrop of a column of Italian troops retreating from Stalingrad. December 1942

7. Soviet soldiers walk past the corpses of German soldiers in Stalingrad. 1943

8. Soviet soldiers listen to the accordion player near Stalingrad. 1943

9. Red Army soldiers go on the attack on the enemy near Stalingrad. 1942

10. Soviet infantry attacks the enemy near Stalingrad. 1943

11. Soviet field hospital near Stalingrad. 1942

12. A medical instructor bandages the head of a wounded soldier before sending him to the rear hospital on a dog sled. Stalingrad region. 1943

13. A captured German soldier in ersatz boots in a field near Stalingrad. 1943

14. Soviet soldiers in battle in the destroyed workshop of the Red October plant in Stalingrad. January 1943

15. Infantrymen of the 4th Romanian Army on vacation at the StuG III Ausf. F on the road near Stalingrad. November-December 1942

16. The bodies of German soldiers on the road southwest of Stalingrad near an abandoned Renault AHS truck. February-April 1943

17. Captured German soldiers in the destroyed Stalingrad. 1943

18. Romanian soldiers near a 7.92 mm ZB-30 machine gun in a trench near Stalingrad.

19. An infantryman takes aim with a submachine gun the one lying on the armor of an American-made Soviet tank M3 "Stuart" with a proper name "Suvorov". Don front. Stalingrad region. November 1942

20. Commander of the XIth Army Corps of the Wehrmacht Colonel General to Karl Strecker (Karl Strecker, 1884-1973, standing with his back in the center left) surrenders to the representatives of the Soviet command in Stalingrad. 02/02/1943

21. A group of German infantrymen during an attack near Stalingrad. 1942

22. Civilians on the construction of anti-tank ditches. Stalingrad. 1942

23. One of the units of the Red Army in the area of ​​Stalingrad. 1942

24. colonel generals to the Wehrmacht Friedrich Paulus (Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus, 1890-1957, right) with officers at the command post near Stalingrad. Second from the right is Paulus' adjutant Colonel Wilhelm Adam (1893-1978). December 1942

25. At the crossing of the Volga to Stalingrad. 1942

26. Refugees from Stalingrad during a halt. September 1942

27. Guardsmen of the reconnaissance company of Lieutenant Levchenko during reconnaissance on the outskirts of Stalingrad. 1942

28. The soldiers take their starting positions. Stalingrad front. 1942

29. Evacuation of the plant across the Volga. Stalingrad. 1942

30. Burning Stalingrad. Anti-aircraft artillery firing at German aircraft. Stalingrad, Fallen Fighters Square. 1942

31. Meeting of the Military Council of the Stalingrad Front: from left to right - Khrushchev N.S., Kirichenko A.I., Secretary of the Stalingrad Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks Chuyanov A.S.tand commander of the front colonel general to Eremenko A.I. Stalingrad. 1942

32. A group of machine gunners of the 120th (308th) Guards Rifle Division, under the command of Sergeev A.,conducts reconnaissance during the street fighting in Stalingrad. 1942

33. Red Navy men of the Volga Flotilla during a landing operation near Stalingrad. 1942

34. Military Council of the 62nd Army: from left to right - Chief of Staff of the Army Krylov N.I., Army Commander Chuikov V.I., member of the Military Council Gurov K.A.and commander of the 13th Guards Rifle Division Rodimtsev A.I. District of Stalingrad. 1942

35. Soldiers of the 64th Army are fighting for a house in one of the districts of Stalingrad. 1942

36. Commander of the Don Front, Lieutenant General t Rokossovsky K.K. in a combat position in the region of Stalingrad. 1942

37. Battle in the area of ​​Stalingrad. 1942

38. Fight for the house on Gogol street. 1943

39. Baking bread on your own. Stalingrad front. 1942

40. Fighting in the city center. 1943

41. Storming of the railway station. 1943

42. Soldiers of the long-range guns of junior lieutenant Snegirev I. are firing from the left bank of the Volga. 1943

43. A military orderly carries a wounded soldier of the Red Army. Stalingrad. 1942

44. Soldiers of the Don Front advance to a new firing line in the area of ​​the encircled Stalingrad group of Germans. 1943

45. Soviet sappers pass through the destroyed snow-covered Stalingrad. 1943

46. Captured Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus (1890-1957) exits a GAZ-M1 car at the headquarters of the 64th Army in Beketovka, Stalingrad Region. 01/31/1943

47. Soviet soldiers climb the stairs of a destroyed house in Stalingrad. January 1943

48. Soviet troops in battle in Stalingrad. January 1943

49. Soviet soldiers in battle among the destroyed buildings in Stalingrad. 1942

50. Soviet soldiers attack enemy positions near Stalingrad. January 1943

51. Italian and German prisoners leave Stalingrad after the surrender. February 1943

52. Soviet soldiers move through the destroyed workshop of the plant in Stalingrad during the battle.

53. Soviet light tank T-70 with troops on the armor on the Stalingrad front. November 1942

54. German artillerymen are firing on the outskirts of Stalingrad. In the foreground, a dead Red Army soldier in cover. 1942

55. Conducting political information in the 434th Fighter Aviation Regiment. In the first row from left to right: Heroes of the Soviet Union Senior Lieutenant I.F. Golubin, captain V.P. Babkov, Lieutenant N.A. Karnachenok (posthumously), the commissar of the regiment, battalion commissar V.G. Strelmashchuk. In the background is a Yak-7B fighter with the inscription "Death for death!" on the fuselage. July 1942

56. Wehrmacht infantry at the destroyed plant "Barricades" in Stalingrad.

57. Red Army soldiers with an accordion celebrate the victory in the Battle of Stalingrad on the Square of the Fallen Fighters in the liberated Stalingrad. January
1943

58. Soviet mechanized unit during the offensive near Stalingrad. November 1942

59. Soldiers of the 45th Infantry Division of Colonel Vasily Sokolov at the Krasny Oktyabr plant in the destroyed Stalingrad. December 1942

60. Soviet tanks T-34/76 near the Square of the Fallen Fighters in Stalingrad. January 1943

61. German infantry take cover behind stacks of steel blanks (blooms) at the Krasny Oktyabr plant during the battles for Stalingrad. 1942

62. Sniper Hero of the Soviet Union Vasily Zaytsev explains to the newcomers the upcoming task. Stalingrad. December 1942

63. Soviet snipers go to the firing position in the destroyed Stalingrad. The legendary sniper of the 284th Infantry Division Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev and his students are sent into an ambush. December 1942.

64. Italian driver killed on the road near Stalingrad. Next to the truck FIAT SPA CL39. February 1943

65. Unknown Soviet submachine gunner with PPSh-41 during the battles for Stalingrad. 1942

66. Red Army soldiers are fighting among the ruins of a destroyed workshop in Stalingrad. November 1942

67. Red Army soldiers are fighting among the ruins of a destroyed workshop in Stalingrad. 1942

68. German prisoners of war captured by the Red Army in Stalingrad. January 1943

69. Calculation of the Soviet 76-mm ZiS-3 divisional gun at the position near the Krasny Oktyabr plant in Stalingrad. December 10, 1942

70. An unknown Soviet machine gunner with a DP-27 in one of the destroyed houses in Stalingrad. December 10, 1942

71. Soviet artillery fires on the encircled German troops in Stalingrad. Presumably , in the foreground 76-mm regimental gun model 1927. January 1943

72. Soviet attack aircraft Il-2 aircraft take off on a combat mission near Stalingrad. January 1943

73. exterminate pilot of the 237th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 220th Fighter Aviation Division of the 16th Air Army of the Stalingrad Front, Sergeant Ilya Mikhailovich Chumbarev at the wreckage of a German reconnaissance aircraft shot down by him with the help of a ram Ika Focke-Wulf Fw 189. 1942

74. Soviet artillerymen firing at German positions in Stalingrad from a 152-mm howitzer-gun ML-20 model 1937. January 1943

75. The calculation of the Soviet 76.2-mm gun ZiS-3 is firing in Stalingrad. November 1942

76. Soviet soldiers sit by the fire in a moment of calm in Stalingrad. The soldier second from the left has a captured German MP-40 submachine gun. 01/07/1943

77. Cameraman Valentin Ivanovich Orlyankin (1906-1999) in Stalingrad. 1943

78. The commander of the assault group of the marines P. Golberg in one of the shops of the destroyed plant "Barricades". 1943

82. Soviet troops on the offensive near Stalingrad, in the foreground the famous Katyusha rocket launchers, behind the T-34 tanks.

83. Soviet troops on the offensive, in the foreground is a horse-drawn wagon with food, behind Soviet T-34 tanks. Stalingrad front.

84. Soviet soldiers attack with the support of T-34 tanks near the city of Kalach. November 1942

85. Soldiers of the 13th Guards Rifle Division in Stalingrad during rest hours. December 1942

86. Soviet T-34 tanks with armored soldiers on the march in the snowy steppe during the Stalingrad strategic offensive operation. November 1942

87. Soviet T-34 tanks with armored soldiers on the march in the snowy steppe during the Middle Don offensive. December 1942

88. Tankers of the 24th Soviet tank corps (from December 26, 1942 - the 2nd guards) on the armor of the T-34 tank during the liquidation of the group of German troops surrounded near Stalingrad. December 1942

89. The calculation of the Soviet 120-mm regimental mortar of the mortar battery of the battalion commander Bezdetko fires at the enemy. Stalingrad region. 01/22/1943

90. Captured Feldmar General

93. Red Army prisoners who died of hunger and cold. The POW camp was located in the village of Bolshaya Rossoshka near Stalingrad. January 1943

94. German Heinkel He-177A-5 bombers from I./KG 50 at the airfield in Zaporozhye. These bombers were used to supply the German troops encircled at Stalingrad. January 1943

96. Romanian prisoners of war taken prisoner in the area of ​​​​the village of Raspopinskaya near the city of Kalach. November-December 1942

97. Romanian prisoners of war taken prisoner in the area of ​​​​the village of Raspopinskaya near the city of Kalach. November-December 1942

98. GAZ-MM trucks used as fuel trucks during refueling at one of the stations near Stalingrad. The engine hoods are covered with covers, instead of doors - canvas valves. Don Front, winter 1942-1943.