4 ( Grudinins mill). ISBN: 9781472135216. These factors, taken together, prevented the Luftwaffe from effectively employing the full potential of its transport forces, ensuring that they were unable to deliver the quantity of supplies needed to sustain the 6th Army.[140]. horses' skeletons, and to the right, there was an enormous horrible cesspool fortunately, frozen solid. Soon Rodimtsev lost contact with the rest of the division - the Germans cut the cable along the shore. The shock groups of the 295th Infantry Division, having crushed through the defenses of the 34th Guards Rifle Regiment, reached the Volga near the mouth of the Krutoy ravine. [114], The Royal Romanian Air Force was also involved in the Axis air operations at Stalingrad. Snipers on both sides used the ruins to inflict casualties. He telegraphed the 6th Army later that day, claiming that it had made a historic contribution to the greatest struggle in German history and that it should stand fast "to the last soldier and the last bullet". After being put on public display in Britain, this was presented to Stalin by Winston Churchill at the Tehran Conference later in 1943. To support the offensive, a sapper battalion arrived from the commander of the engineering troops of the 6th Army, Max von Stiotta ( Max Edler von Stiotta ). [195] In a speech on 9 November 1944, Hitler himself blamed Stalingrad for Germany's impending doom.[196]. However, a number of German and Romanian units that were to take part in Blau were besieging Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula. The strain on both military commanders was immense: Paulus developed an uncontrollable tic in his eye, which eventually affected the left side of his face, while Chuikov experienced an outbreak of eczema that required him to have his hands completely bandaged. Of its three regiments, one was completely smashed and the other only had three battalions remaining. David Glantz indicated[52] that four hard-fought battles collectively known as the Kotluban Operations north of Stalingrad, where the Soviets made their greatest stand, decided Germany's fate before the Nazis ever set foot in the city itself, and were a turning point in the war. More than thirty civilians were also in the basements, some were seriously injured as a result of fires that broke out after the attacks of German artillery. [33] Hitler proclaimed that after Stalingrad's capture, its male citizens were to be killed and all women and children were to be deported because its population was "thoroughly communistic" and "especially dangerous". Most notably, he promoted Paulus to the rank of Generalfeldmarschall. Under Section . It follows a platoon of German Army soldiers transferred to the Eastern Front of World War II, where they find themselves fighting in the Battle of Stalingrad . Between 23 and 26 August, Soviet reports indicate 955 people were killed and another 1,181 wounded as a result of the bombing. During their second and third assaults on the city, the Germans captured the workers' settlements "Red October" and "Barricades", the settlement of Rynok, Sculpture Park, the Mountain Settlement and the Stalingrad Tractor Plant. One thrust would come from the area of Kotelnikovo, well to the south, and around 160 kilometres (100mi) from the Sixth Army. Germany's defeat shattered its reputation for invincibility and dealt a devastating blow to German morale. However, the predictable nature of the relief operation brought significant risk for all German forces in the area. German large-caliber artillery swept the wooden quarters of workers' settlements, high-rise buildings and huge workshops, and the aviation of the 4th Luftwaffe Air Force heavily bombed the positions of the Soviet troops during the October battles, causing huge losses as several divisions were burned up in few days: the 138th, The 193rd and 308th Rifle Divisions, and the 37th Guards Rifle Division During that time the Rodimtsevs division held the quietest place on the line of defense of the 62nd Army, and soon writers and journalists were drawn there. [133][134], Adolf Hitler had declared in a public speech (in the Berlin Sportpalast) on 30 September 1942 that the German army would never leave the city. Lieutenant General Alexander Rodimtsev was in charge of the 13th Guards Rifle Division, and received one of two Heroes of the Soviet Union awarded during the battle for his actions. Concluding its four-part series on the Battle of Stalingrad, Army University Press is proud to present Stalingrad: The Grain Elevator. This second plan was given the name Operation Thunderclap. This is how it looked after the war: The ruins of mill is now a part of Pavlov's house memorial, the modern look of ruins: Tasked with holding the city at all costs,[49] Chuikov proclaimed, "We will defend the city or die in the attempt. Daily sorties decreased from 1,343 per day to 975 per day. Other losses included 42 Ju 86s, 9 Fw 200 Condors, 5 He 177 bombers and 1 Ju 290. Some historians believe that the defense was led by senior sergeant Ya. By 12 September, at the time of their retreat into the city, the Soviet 62nd Army had been reduced to 90 tanks, 700 mortars and just 20,000 personnel. Of the 120 tanks the Soviets had committed, 30 were lost to air attack.[68]. From 16 to 25 September, it carried out 9,746 missions (975 per day). It was not until 1955 that the last of the 5,0006,000 survivors were repatriated (to West Germany) after a plea to the Politburo by Konrad Adenauer. [citation needed], The surrounded Axis personnel comprised 265,000 Germans, Romanians, Italians,[124] and Croatians. Video filmed cameraman VI. The northern pocket consisting of the VIIIth Corps, under General Walter Heitz, and the XIth Corps, was now cut off from telephone communication with Paulus in the southern pocket. 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. Battle for Stalingrad: the 1943 Soviet General Staff study. How three million Germans died after VE Day. Germany, already operating on dwindling fuel supplies, focused its efforts on moving deeper into Soviet territory and taking the oil fields at any cost. On the morning of September 25, units of the 13th Guards Rifle Division, carrying out the order of the army headquarters, " tried to improve their positions in small groups using grenades, bottles with a combustible mixture and mortars of all calibers." The preparations for the attack could be heard by the Romanians, who continued to push for reinforcements, only to be refused again. The Lighthouse of Stalingrad by Iain MacGregor | Waterstones ", "Why was the Battle of Stalingrad So Significant? The Romanian Air Force lost 79 aircraft, most of them captured on the ground along with their airfields. [71] During the battle the 62nd Army had the most arrests and executions: 203 in all, of which 49 were executed, while 139 were sent to penal companies and battalions. The situation of the Romanian tanks is known, however. The destroyed wall of the plant is visible at the top of the cliff. The 16th Panzer was shocked to find that, due to Soviet manpower shortages, it had been fighting female soldiers. Many members of the house's garrison were killed and wounded whilst assaulting the German held "Milk House" on 26 November.[3]. The Stukas claimed 41 of the 106 Soviet tanks knocked out that morning, while escorting Bf 109s destroyed 77 Soviet aircraft. The Gerhardt Mill ruins in Volgograd, Russia. Millions were killed, wounded, missing, or captured in what was perhaps the most brutal battle in modern history. 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. Grading Historical Movies: Fedor Bondarchuk's "Stalingrad" (2013) At a meeting shortly after the Soviet encirclement, German army chiefs pushed for an immediate breakout to a new line on the west of the Don, but Hitler was at his Bavarian retreat of Obersalzberg in Berchtesgaden with the head of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Gring. [106] The Soviet-controlled area shrank down to a few strips of land along the western bank of the Volga, and in November the fighting concentrated around what Soviet newspapers referred to as "Lyudnikov's Island", a small patch of ground behind the Barrikady Factory where the remnants of Colonel Ivan Lyudnikov's 138th Rifle Division resisted all ferocious assaults thrown by the Germans and became a symbol of the stout Soviet defence of Stalingrad. page division . Between 25 and 31 July, 32 Soviet ships were sunk, with another nine crippled.[54]. In the early stages of the defense, Pavlov discovered that an anti-tank riflea PTRS-41he had mounted on the roof was particularly effective when used to ambush unsuspecting German tanks; once the tanks had approached to within range of the weapon, their thin turret-roof armor was exposed to AT rifle fire from above, and they were unable to elevate their weapons enough to retaliate.[6]. On October 24, during the second attack, the Railwaymen's House was shelled by 152 mm howitzers from the right bank of the Volga. The traffic jam is thought to have delayed the advance by at least one week. [34] Hitler planned for the fall of the city firmly securing the northern and western flanks of the German armies as they advanced on Baku, with the aim of gaining its strategic petroleum resources for Germany. Soviet Victory Soviets still hold Red House at . Much of the city was smashed to rubble, although some factories continued production while workers joined in the fighting. Lieutenant Alexander Stroganov was recommended for the Order of Lenin, but the command of the 62nd Army lowered the award to the medal "For Courage". Due to a limited number of available aircraft and having only one available airfield, at Pitomnik, the Luftwaffe could only deliver 105 tonnes of supplies per day, only a fraction of the minimum 750 tonnes that both Paulus and Zeitzler estimated the 6th Army needed. Battle for Stalingrad - WAR HISTORY ONLINE Among the defenders of the garrison, who were in the building not constantly, but only periodically, were sniper sergeant Anatoly Ivanovich Chekhov and medical instructor Maria Stepanovna Ulyanova, who took up arms during the German attacks. The burden of the initial defence of the city fell on the 1077th Anti-Aircraft Regiment,[58] a unit made up mainly of young female volunteers who had no training for engaging ground targets. He collapsed along with the fighters who defended him. The strongpoint remained German. The Unknown Stalingrad: Anatomy of the Legend of Pavlov's House [Note 3]. [148], On 23 December, the attempt to relieve Stalingrad was abandoned and Manstein's forces switched over to the defensive to deal with new Soviet offensives. By right this became Junior Sergeant Pavlov. The Gerhardt Mill ruins in Volgograd, Russia - Dreamstime We start 1943 under conditions I would never have dared to hope. An estimated 750,000 Soviets died defending the city . The initial German attack on 14 September attempted to take the city in a rush. 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. A low-level Soviet envoy party (comprising Major Aleksandr Smyslov, Captain Nikolay Dyatlenko and a trumpeter) carried generous surrender terms to Paulus: if he surrendered within 24 hours, he would receive a guarantee of safety for all prisoners, medical care for the sick and wounded, prisoners being allowed to keep their personal belongings, "normal" food rations, and repatriation to any country they wished after the war. By mid-November, the Germans, at great cost, had pushed the Soviet defenders back into narrow zones along the west bank of the river. In addition, the German 6th Army included between 40,000 and 65,000 Hilfswillige (Hiwi), or "volunteer auxiliaries",[125][126] a term used for personnel recruited amongst Soviet POWs and civilians from areas under occupation. All enemy concentration, field kitchens and water sources became the objects of close attention for well-aimed marksmen from both sides. The Stalingrad Tractor Factory continued to turn out T-34 tanks up until German troops burst into the plant. VIII. The German public was not officially told of the impending disaster until the end of January 1943, though positive media reports had stopped in the weeks before the announcement. This was accomplished by Romanian Vickers/Reia 75mm anti-aircraft guns, which proved effective against Soviet armour. If Stalingrad is one of the most significant symbols of the Great Patriotic War, then Pavlov's House is the cornerstone of thatsymbol. One person, though, Roman Karmen, managed to record the first interrogation of Paulus that took place the same day, at Shumilov's 64th Army's HQ, and a few hours later at Rokossovsky's Don Front HQ. Sensing that this was the last chance for a breakout, Manstein pleaded with Hitler on 18 December, but Hitler refused. 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 . This left only the LVII Panzer Corps around Kotelnikovo, supported by the rest of Hoth's very mixed Fourth Panzer Army, to relieve Paulus's trapped divisions. 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. The German 16th Panzer Division reportedly had to fight the 1077th's gunners "shot for shot" until all 37 anti-aircraft guns were destroyed or overrun. The remaining forces continued to resist, hiding in cellars and sewers, but by early March 1943 the last small and isolated pockets of resistance had surrendered. They could only be aimed at point-blank range through the bore of their gun barrels.[66]. [144] So heavy were the Luftwaffe's losses that four of Luftflotte 4's transport units (KGrzbV 700, KGrzbV 900, I./KGrzbV 1 and II./KGzbV 1) were "formally dissolved".[55]. The labyrinths of ruins, strong walls and huge cellars of the prison were well suited for city fighting, and the NKVD buildings became the core of the defense of Rodimtsevs division. The Germans had no usable tanks in the city, and those that still functioned could, at best, be used as makeshift pillboxes. The next two days in the division's sector were relatively calm - only to the south was frequent fire heard. Paulus chose the grain elevator and silos as the symbol of Stalingrad for a patch he was having designed to commemorate the battle after a German victory. [21] Blocks and buildings would change hands numerous times through intense hand-to-hand fighting. 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. [177] In addition, an unknown amount of Hungarian, Italian, and Romanian materiel was lost. In 1985 a memorial was erected, listing the names of the garrison. "[50] The battle earned him one of his two Hero of the Soviet Union awards. The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (present Volgograd) in Southern Russia, on the eastern boundary of Europe. 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. Ya. Every time when soldiers or tanks tried to get close to the house, IF Afanasyev and his comrades met them with heavy fire from the basement, windows and roof; they were supported by fire from the main positions of the regiment. Judging by the direction of the trench, the mortar shelling hits the military exchange. Pavlov's "House" was rebuilt after the battle and is still used as an apartment building today. Army Group Don was formed under Field Marshal von Manstein. The armies in the area were also poorly equipped in terms of anti-tank weapons. Stopping the retreating and demoralized fighters of the 3rd battalion, he led a counterattack on the Germans who had broken through to the headquarters of the division. Here is a recent article I have translated from Russian which describes the true story of Pavlov's House and the struggles of the 13th Guards Rifle Division in Stalingrad in the Autumn of 1942. In addition to the fighters, civilians in the basement of the house included old people, women and children. Bloody urban warfare began again in Stalingrad, but this time it was the Germans who were pushed back to the banks of the Volga. Dom Pavlova) was a fortified apartment building which Red Army defenders held for 60 days against the Wehrmacht offensive during the Battle of Stalingrad. On the right flank, where the positions of the 34th Guards Rifle Regiment were located, the situation was even worse. Pavlov was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for his actions. The operating room was in the sewer pipe in the slope of the steep bank of the Volga, near the headquarters of the division near the mouth of the Dolgiy ravine . [129] The American historian Gerhard Weinberg wrote that Manstein distorted his record on the matter. - Real History Online, The Sword of Stalingrad- An Award From King George VI, The reconnaissance group of Sergeant Pavlov Ya.F., which seized the building. The battle began with the heavy bombing of the city by Generaloberst Wolfram von Richthofen's Luftflotte 4. The 25-year-old junior sergeant chose three soldiers from his section, - VS. Glushchenko, A.P. A massive German air raid on 23 August caused a firestorm, killing hundreds and turning Stalingrad into a vast landscape of rubble and burnt ruins. Army Group B was in disarray and faced strong Soviet pressure across all its fronts. The Battle of Stalingrad: The Battle that Broke Hitler There was an overwhelming surge in confidence and belief in victory. The 62nd Army had begun to learn city fighting. The shore of the Volga in the warehouse area and the building of a butter milling plant. Out of the nearly 91,000 German prisoners captured in Stalingrad, only about 5,000 returned. The German command rightly believed that the tasks of the infantry divisions in the center of the city were fully completed: the Volga shore was reached, the main crossing of the Russians ceased to function. [55] At least 90% of the city's housing stock was obliterated. The Battle of Stalingrad (German: Schlacht von Stalingrad [laxt fn talngat];[16] Russian: , tr. [101], After 27 September, much of the fighting in the city shifted north to the industrial district. In particular, the so-called HiWis, Soviet citizens fighting for the Germans, had no illusions about their fate if captured.