According to Soviet intelligence documents shown in the documentary, a remarkable NKVD report from March 1943 is available showing the tenacity of some of these German groups: The mopping-up of counter-revolutionary elements in the city of Stalingrad proceeded. This resulted in a very thin line, with some sectors where 12km (0.621.24mi) stretches were being defended by a single platoon (platoons typically have around 20 to 50 men). The Soviets did not bother employing tanks in areas where urban destruction restricted their mobility. Only forty dead Soviet fighters were found, though the Germans had thought there were many more due to the intensity of resistance. Regular river ferries were quickly destroyed by the Luftwaffe, which then targeted troop barges being towed slowly across by tugs. Not all of the 6th Army was trapped: 50,000 soldiers were brushed aside outside the pocket. There was nothing we could do for them.[187]. Marshal V. Chuikov said in his memoirs: This small group, defending one house, destroyed the enemy soldiers more than the Nazis lost in the capture of Paris. Some German holdouts continued to operate in the city and resist until early March 1943. In the area of the 9th January Square, the 42nd Guards Rifle Regiment of the 13th Guards Division defended The regiment commander, Colonel Yelin, instructed Captain Zhukov to carry out an operation to seize two important residential buildings. Positions were taken individually, but the Germans were never able to capture the key crossing points along the river bank. The Front was reformed from reserve armies on 22 October 1942. One of a series of famous Stalingrad photographs of G. Zelma. In another part of the city, a Soviet platoon under the command of Sergeant Yakov Pavlov fortified a four-story building that oversaw a square 300 meters from the river bank, later called Pavlov's House. Only 27 of the latter were lost in combat, however, the remaining 54 being abandoned after breaking down or running out of fuel. When Rodimtsev's division was visited by reporter Vasily Grossman, he talked for a long time with Chekhov, a modest and thoughtful guy, who at the age of 19 became an excellent killing machine. Any movement - whether a fighter, running from entrance to entrance, or a civilian in search of food - drew fire. In autumn, the Soviet generals Georgy Zhukov and Aleksandr Vasilevsky, responsible for strategic planning in the Stalingrad area, concentrated forces in the steppes to the north and south of the city. [197], At this point, the British had won the Battle of El Alamein in November 1942. On the left is the 1st Battalion of the 42nd Guards Rifle Regiment of Lieutenant F.G. Fedoseyeva surrounded in the department exchange, The diagram of the frontline of the 13th Guards Rifle Division on September 25, 1942, transferred to the aerial photo. On the right flank, where the positions of the 34th Guards Rifle Regiment were located, the situation was even worse. Pursuing the enemy, the fighters, among other things, were able to rescue several groups of Red Army men who had been captured earlier. But the division, encircled and pressed to the Volga, stood its ground, holding several blocks in the city center. The German Sixth Army had driven the Soviet 62nd Army back through the streets of Stalingrad, and by the start of November 1942 was in sight of the Volga. Occasionally Italian actions were mentioned in official German communiques. The Battle of Stalingrad: The Battle that Broke Hitler The initial objectives in the region around Stalingrad were to destroy the industrial capacity of the city and to block the Volga River traffic connecting the Caucasus and Caspian Sea to central Russia, as the city is strategically located near a big bend of the Volga. In recognition of the determination of its defenders, Stalingrad was awarded the title Hero City in 1945. This film highlights the conflict between the German Sixth Army and the Soviet 62nd Army in Southern Stalingrad during September 1942. World War II History: Pavlov's House in StalingradThey Shall Not Pass [26] The Axis flanks were overrun and the 6th Army was cut off and surrounded in the Stalingrad area. [159] On 28 January, the cauldron was split into three parts. "[161] Paulus notified Hitler that his men would likely collapse before the day was out. How three million Germans died after VE Day. [48] Beyond the Volga River on the eastern boundary of Stalingrad, additional Soviet units were formed into the 62nd Army under Lieutenant General Vasiliy Chuikov on 11 September 1942. The Soviets also had large amounts of artillery support from the opposite side of the Volga. The Hungarian 2nd Army was given the task of defending a 200km (120mi) section of the front north of Stalingrad between the Italian Army and Voronezh. Pictures are taken from the ruins of a four-story building, which stood to the east of the mill - there is now a panorama museum at this location. 4,341 tanks (~150 by Romanians) (2530% were total write-offs. Taking this advice to heart, Pavlov ordered the building to be surrounded with four layers of barbed wire and minefields, and set up machine-gun posts in every available window facing the square. [Note 4], As historian Chris Bellamy notes, the Germans paid a high strategic price for the aircraft sent into Stalingrad: the Luftwaffe was forced to divert much of its air strength away from the oil-rich Caucasus, which had been Hitler's original grand-strategic objective. Delays in ending the siege pushed back the start date for Blau several times, and the city did not fall until early July. HISTORY Milkhouse [149] As Zhukov states, "The military and political leadership of Nazi Germany sought not to relieve them, but to get them to fight on for as long possible so as to tie up the Soviet forces. [114], The Royal Romanian Air Force was also involved in the Axis air operations at Stalingrad. Poised in Eastern Ukraine, it was to spearhead the offensive. "L-shaped house" was a five-six-story "Stalinka", from the upper floors from which German spotters could view almost the entire bridgehead of the 13th Guards Rifle Division. The attached the 685th Rifle Regiment advanced towards the January 9 square and school No. 2 Nomonhan: Japanese-Soviet Tactical Combat, 1939; MAPS, Meine Stalingradeinstze (My Stalingrad Sorties), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ4Jz0H4fAA, "Heeresarzt 10-Day Casualty Reports per Army/Army Group, 1943", "80 years ago, the Soviets began defending Stalingrad against Germany". Left Guard Sergeant Yakov Fedorovich Pavlov, right Guard Senior Lieutenant Ivan Filippovich Afanasyev. An artillery fire point was set up on the top floor, where a group of artillery observers headed by an officer came daily. [62] The Soviets continued to pour aerial reinforcements into the Stalingrad area in late September, but continued to suffer appalling losses; the Luftwaffe had complete control of the skies. Paulus testified for the prosecution during the Nuremberg Trials and assured families in Germany that those soldiers taken prisoner at Stalingrad were safe. Adolf Hitler was determined to hold the city at all costs and forbade the 6th Army from attempting a breakout; instead, attempts were made to supply it by air and to break the encirclement from the outside. The units of the 295th Infantry Division which broke through to the Volga fell into a trap on the shore, and began to retreat along the ravine back to the tramway bridge. Hait and private I. T. Svirin. The Soviets flew 11,317 night sorties over Stalingrad and the Don-bend sector between 17 July and 19 November. One thrust would come from the area of Kotelnikovo, well to the south, and around 160 kilometres (100mi) from the Sixth Army. The city itself was of vital strategic importance to both, but more than that the prestige of capturing the city with Stalin . [117], Recognising that German troops were ill-prepared for offensive operations during the winter of 1942 and that most of them were redeployed elsewhere on the southern sector of the Eastern Front, the Stavka decided to conduct a number of offensive operations between 19 November 1942 and 2 February 1943. Battle of Stalingrad - Definition, Dates & Significance - History "[139] The Luftwaffe was able to deliver an average of 85 tonnes of supplies per day out of an air transport capacity of 106 tonnes per day. [205], The events of the Battle for Stalingrad have been covered in numerous media works of British, American, German, and Russian origin,[206] for its significance as a turning point in the Second World War and for the loss of life associated with the battle. The building was semi-surrounded for 58 days, and during those days it sustained numerous hits from air bombs and shells. When a position was lost, an immediate attempt was usually made to re-take it with fresh forces. Pavlovs House Companion | PDF | Battle Of Stalingrad | Military - Scribd For both Stalin and Hitler, Stalingrad became a matter of prestige far beyond its strategic significance. The example of an ordinary sergeant was really inspiring for ordinary fighters, and the whole country recognized Yakov Pavlov. at Stalingrad Catherine Merridale notes that, seemingly paradoxically, "their response was frequently relief. While a motorised breakout might have been possible in the first few weeks, the 6th Army now had insufficient fuel and the German soldiers would have faced great difficulty breaking through the Soviet lines on foot in harsh winter conditions. Whilst the building was originally captured by Pavlov, the commander of the position was Lieutenant Afanasev. A soldier prepares to throw a grenade. Stalingradskaya bitva, IPA: [stlnratskj bitv]; 23 August 1942 - 2 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control . On 31 January, regular programmes on German state radio were replaced by a broadcast of the sombre Adagio movement from Anton Bruckner's Seventh Symphony, followed by the announcement of the defeat at Stalingrad. [182] Stalingrad marked the first time that the Nazi government publicly acknowledged a failure in its war effort. These bridgeheads in retrospect presented a serious threat to Army Group B. The Soviets were initially surprised by the number of Germans they had trapped and had to reinforce their encircling troops. [157] On 24 January, in his radio report to Hitler, Paulus reported: "18,000 wounded without the slightest aid of bandages and medicines. In response, Hitler issued a tranche of field promotions to the Sixth Army's officers. But the approach of the main body of soldiers was blocked by unsuppressed German firing points from the flanks, from the neighboring "L-shaped house" and other buildings. The Germans set up a "mobile defence" of small units that were to hold towns until supporting armour arrived. Newspapers visited positions, talked with commanders and political workers, among them Leonid Koren, agitator of 42nd Guards Rifle Regiment. And, at the far end of the yard, besides the other cesspool, behind a low stone wall, the yellow corpses of skinny Germans were piled up men who had died in that basementabout a dozen wax-like dummies. [123] The link-up of the Soviet forces, not filmed at the time, was later re-enacted for a propaganda film which was shown worldwide. The shore of the Volga in the warehouse area and the building of a butter milling plant. Having reached the wall, Soviet soldiers stumbled upon a barbed wire fence and fell under a machine gun crossfire. During the defence of Stalingrad, the Red Army deployed five armies in and around the city (28th, 51st, 57th, 62nd and 64th Armies); and an additional nine armies in the encirclement counteroffensive[51] (24th, 65th, 66th Armies and 16th Air Army from the north as part of the Don Front offensive, and 1st Guards Army, 5th Tank, 21st Army, 2nd Air Army and 17th Air Army from the south as part of the Southwestern Front). Around 40,000 civilians were taken to Germany as slave workers, some fled during battle and a small number were evacuated by the Soviets, but by February 1943 only 10,000 to 60,000 civilians were still alive. Despite the fact that the main German positions in the finished northern wing of the Railwaymen's House could not be seized, the Red Army men managed to occupy the foundation of the southern wing, predetermining the tactical plan for the next assault. Zhukov states, "Compared with the Germans, the troops of the satellites were not so well armed, less experienced and less efficient, even in defence. He told Hitler that he was no longer able to command his men, who were without ammunition or food. On the Western Front, Germany held most of Europe, the U-boat offensive in the Atlantic was holding American support at bay, and in North Africa Erwin Rommel had just captured Tobruk. The struggle for the small section of the center of the city took a positional character: the opponents exchanged artillery and mortar shelling, and the number of people killed by sniper fire increased sharply. Sergeant Yakov Fedotovich Pavlov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on June 27, 1945 by a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR for a feat accomplished back in Stalingrad. He argues that, though it is "easy to argue that from the summer of 1942 the Soviet army fought because it was forced to fight," to concentrate solely on coercion is nonetheless to "distort our view of the Soviet war effort. The destruction of an entire army (the largest killed, captured, wounded figures for Axis soldiers, nearly 1million, during the war) and the frustration of Germany's grand strategy made the battle a watershed moment. From that moment, Senior Lieutenant Afanasyev began to command the defense of the building. Sources conflict on the date at which the siege began, and the date at which the Soviet reinforcements reached the building and lifted the siege. The siege lasted from 27 September to 25 November 1942 and eventually the Red Army managed to relieve it from the siege. Having watched the new gameplay videos on the U10 maps, I was somewhat sad to see IS-1s, Panthers, and Tigers at Stalingrad. From 16 to 25 September, it carried out 9,746 missions (975 per day). Thinly spread, deployed in exposed positions, outnumbered and poorly equipped, the Romanian 3rd Army, which held the northern flank of the German 6th Army, was overrun. [77] Assigned to counterattack at the Mamayev Kurgan and at Railway Station No. In late September 1942, between 30 and 50 soldiers of the 42nd Guards Regiment, 13th Guards Rifle Division secured the large apartment blocks from German control,[4] following its recapture by four soldiers four days beforehand which Yakov Pavlov himself led. These tanks, unpainted and lacking gun-sights, were driven directly from the factory floor to the front line. In the turmoil of the battle, dodging from crater to crater, the four fighters crossed the distance from the military exchange houses to the four-story building and disappeared into the aperture of the entrance. Before Operation Uranus, the 1st Romanian Armoured Division consisted of 121 R-2 light tanks and 19 German-produced tanks (Panzer III and IV). Soviet forces offered little resistance in the vast empty steppes and started streaming eastward. "[118], During the siege, the German and allied Italian, Hungarian, and Romanian armies protecting Army Group B's north and south flanks had pressed their headquarters for support. The Germans called this unseen urban warfare Rattenkrieg ("Rat War"),[84] and bitterly joked about capturing the kitchen but still fighting for the living room and the bedroom. For Russians, 75 Years Later, Stalingrad Is a Battle to Remember Under Section . The strongpoints of the division in the ruins of the brewery and in the cellars of the NKVD prison were bad for an article about the heroic defenders of Stalingrad, and the Germans firmly holed up in the Railwaymens House and the L-shaped House. horses' skeletons, and to the right, there was an enormous horrible cesspool fortunately, frozen solid. Yakov Pavlov left the Army in 1946 as a lieutenant and joined the Communist Party. On this day in the 13th Guards Rifle Division were awarded guards badges and distinguished fighters were rewarded , a divisional ensemble performed, in dugouts and basements of strong points meetings were held, on the beach the baths for fighters were organized and winter uniforms were issued. This second plan was given the name Operation Thunderclap. Pavlovs House is a 4-storey residential building located on Lenin Square in Volgograd , in which a group of Soviet soldiers heroically defended during the Battle of Stalingrad for 58 days. page division . In spite of the failure of the German offensive to reach the 6th Army, the air supply operation continued under ever more difficult circumstances. On September 27, 1942, as a result of bombing by German aircraft, the architect of the house, Sergei Voloshinov, and his pregnant wife were killed . Daily sorties decreased from 1,343 per day to 975 per day. The Battle of Stalingrad was fought between the German 6th Army and a large number of Soviet Armies lasted from 23 August 1942 until 2 February 1943 for control of the city of Stalingrad in the south-western Soviet Union. Stalingradskaya bitva, IPA:[stlnratskj bitv]; 23 August 1942 2 February 1943)[17][18][19] was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later renamed Volgograd) in Southern Russia. Choice Reviews Online, 27(05), pp.27-2848-27-2848. At 20:00 the attack began again. On the eve of that day the 295th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht received replenishment and the task to finally get to the Volga on its site. Nevertheless, they continued to resist, in part because they believed the Soviets would execute any who surrendered. Three days later, when the first trainload of Raus's division steamed into Kotelnikovo station to unload, his troops were greeted by "a hail of shells" from Soviet batteries. In the foreground is Maria Ulyanova (Labychenkova), full-time nurse of the Pavlovs House garrison. An estimated 750,000 Soviets died defending the city . : 109,000 Romanians casualties (from November 1942 to December 1942), included 70,000 captured or missing. Battle for Stalingrad - WAR HISTORY ONLINE Aleksandrov, V.S.Glushchenko, N.Ya. The sides of the building testify to the different intensities of mortar and artillery fire - minimal on the Volga side, on the other three sides traces of firing from all types of artillery can be seen, as well as loopholes in the window openings made by the defenders of the house. The inscription on it reads: On May 4, 1985, a memorial wall-monument was unveiled on the end wall of the house from the side of Sovetskaya Street. The Stukas claimed 41 of the 106 Soviet tanks knocked out that morning, while escorting Bf 109s destroyed 77 Soviet aircraft. The film is the second German movie to portray the Battle of Stalingrad. Both sides began to attach propaganda value to the city, which bore the name of the Soviet leader meaning that the capture of the city would have been a great ideological victory for the Reich. [107], From 5 to 12 September, Luftflotte 4 conducted 7,507 sorties (938 per day). [1] The defenders, as well as the civilians hiding in the basement, were eventually relieved by counter-attacking Soviet forces after holding out from 27 September to 25 November 1942. Hundreds of cubic meters of very high-quality brickwork and reinforced concrete were blown out of the building. This allowed journalists to visit Pavlov's house more easily than buildings nearer the main German assaults. [164][165], There was no one with a camera present to film the capture of Paulus. The other would start from the Chir front west of the Don, which was little more than 60 kilometres (40mi) from the edge of the Kessel, but the continuing attacks of Romanenko's 5th Tank Army against the German detachments along the river Chir ruled out that start-line. [44] The Italians were forced to retreat only after a massive armoured attack in which German reinforcements failed to arrive in time, according to German historian Rolf-Dieter Mller. PDF Operation Hubertus - The Assault on the "Red House" 11 November 1942 The plan was similar to the one Zhukov had used to achieve victory at Khalkhin Gol three years before, where he had sprung a double envelopment and destroyed the 23rd Division of the Japanese army.[122]. This Army Group was created on 21 November 1942 from parts of Army Group B in order for it to hold the line between. Historical Memorial Complex "To the Heroes of the Stalingrad Battle" at Mamayev Hill. Zabolotny, digging a trench through Solnechnaya Street, managed to occupy the ruins of a four-story building, which in future will be designated as "Zabolotnys House." We did not go into the basement itself what was the use? Pavlov had already established himself as an excellent fighter - a week earlier he, along with Zabolotny and a group of fighters, cleared the military exchange from the Germans, for which he later received the medal "For Courage". Both Pavlov and Afanasyev were wounded, but both Pavlov and Afanasyev survived the war. In the area of the 9th January Square, the 42nd Guards Rifle Regiment of the 13th Guards Division defended The Milk House | Greenville IL - Facebook The initial advance of the 6th Army was so successful that Hitler intervened and ordered the 4th Panzer Army to join Army Group South (A) to the south. A year of German gains during Case Blue had been wiped out. Nevertheless, the German forces were determined to continue their advance and heavy fighting continued for another two months. About the author (2019) David M. Glantz and Jonathan M. House have collaborated on all five volumes of the Stalingrad Trilogy, as well as on the books When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler and The Battle of Kursk. The first was not completed before the war except for the foundation and the northern wing. The response by the Wehrmacht was both chaotic and indecisive. 227 ("Not a step back!") It was only of importance as a convenient place, in the bottleneck between Don and the Volga, where we could block an attack on our flank by Russian forces coming from the east. "[50] The battle earned him one of his two Hero of the Soviet Union awards. [188] Weakened by disease, starvation and lack of medical care during the encirclement, they were sent on forced marches to prisoner camps and later to labour camps all over the Soviet Union. Okhlobystin. 1, it suffered particularly heavy losses. [95] Many of the Soviet wireless and telephone operators were women who often suffered heavy casualties when their command posts came under fire. "[153], The Germans inside the pocket retreated from the suburbs of Stalingrad to the city itself. [105], Fighting raged inside the Barrikady Factory until the end of October. However, there is another version that Ya. Two major pockets were formed and destroyed: the first, northeast of Kharkov, on 2 July, and a second, around Millerovo, Rostov Oblast, a week later. But this city plan was in many ways provisional: for example, it did not indicate sturdy multi-storey high rises which played a decisive role in street fighting. Sergeant Voronov I.V. Only on December 23, was Army Group A ordered to withdraw from the Caucasus to avoid from being trapped there. The Gerhardt Mill ruins in Volgograd, Russia - Dreamstime Naumova to conduct reconnaissance of a four-story building on the January 9 square, standing next to the ruins of "Zabolotnys house." ", "The Struggle for Stalingrad City: Opposing Orders of Battle, Combat Orders and Reports, and Operational and Tactical Maps. rata kad nemaka vojska duboko je zagazil. Stalin was feted as the hero of the hour and made a Marshal of the Soviet Union. British war correspondent Alexander Werth described the following scene in his Russia at War book, based on a first-hand account of his visit to Stalingrad on 35 February 1943, We[] went into the yard of the large burnt out building of the Red Army House; and here one realised particularly clearly what the last days of Stalingrad had been to so many of the Germans. The Germans could not go further. [145], On 16 December, the Soviets launched Operation Little Saturn, which attempted to punch through the Axis army (mainly Italians) on the Don. At four in the morning on 2 February, Strecker was informed that one of his own officers had gone to the Soviets to negotiate surrender terms. Thus, they converted multi-floored apartment blocks, factories, warehouses, street corner residences and office buildings into a series of well-defended strong-points with small 510-man units. On the night of September 29 scouts of the 39th Guards Sapper Regiment managed to stealthily get close to the building and shoved through the windows incendiary bottles. Stalingrad was strategically important to both sides as a major industrial and transport hub on the Volga River. [88] On the other hand, Beevor noted the often extraordinary bravery of the Soviet soldiers in a battle that was only comparable to Verdun, and argued that terror alone cannot explain such self-sacrifice. Based on Soviet records, over 11,000 German soldiers continued to resist in isolated groups within the city for the next month. When it became clear that from the upper floors of the house several German lines were visible, a communication line was installed in the building, and spotters settled in the attic. Your email address will not be published. There were no losses: the Germans were not in the ruins. The feat of the defenders of Pavlovs house is immortalized with a memorial wall on the end wall of the house from the side of the square. Having graduated with honors from the Central School of Sniper Instructors, Chekhov was not only a good shooter, but he was also able to train comrades in his specialty, many of whom later surpassed him. The history of the mill began in 1899, when the Gerhardt family of entrepreneurs received permission to build a flour-grinding complex in what is now central Volgograd, overlooking the River Volga. [40][41][42][43] Italian forces were generally held in little regard by the Germans, and were accused of low morale: in reality, the Italian divisions fought comparatively well, with the 3rd Infantry Division "Ravenna" and 5th Infantry Division "Cosseria" showing spirit, according to a German liaison officer. Troops on both sides faced the constant strain of close-range combat. And then, suddenly, at the far end of the yard I caught sight of a human figure. The Germans adopted a simple defence of fixing wire nets over all windows to protect themselves from grenades. [1] [2] Gerhardt's Mill is situated directly across from Pavlov's House in central (modern-day) Volgograd. Photo from the collection of Dirk Jeschke (Dirk Jeschke) provided by Anton Jolie. It is preserved in its bombed-out state and is one of the main landmarks of the Battle of Stalingrad. [143], The toll on the Transportgruppen was heavy. Of the 210,000 Germans, 10,000 remained to fight on, 105,000 surrendered, 35,000 left by air and the remaining 60,000 died. *A collage of aerial photos from October 2, 1942 and an August video panorama of the Volga coast. A hundred meters from the State Bank were the ruins of the brewery, where the soldiers of the 39th Guards Regiment occupied positions. The offensive was repelled. With the river at their backs, they fought street-by-street, house-by-house against the Wehrmacht.
Error Could Not Find Function "ggboxplot",
Examples Of Unnatural Things,
Waikiki Yacht Club Menu,
Lisa Kennedy Tattoo,
Articles M
