Beyond the Volga there is no land for us!
Initially, the main attack of the Germans and their allies was aimed at Voronezh. But already here their calculation was thwarted by the heroic resistance of the Red Army. The Nazis managed to capture only half of Voronezh. The front line passed through the city streets. The Germans did not manage to occupy the whole territory of Voronezh. After this failure, Hitler decided to direct the main blow of the army group “B” to Stalingrad. The Fuehrer hoped to kill three birds with one stone - using a deep roundabout maneuver, capture Moscow, cut the transport artery, the most important for the USSR, the Volga River, win a major moral and psychological victory over the Red Army, taking the city named after the Leader of the Soviet people J.V . Stalin. On November 8, 1942, Hitler publicly stated: “If we were opposed to waiting not at the central front, but at Stalingrad, then this is explained by the fact that I wanted in a certain place, in a certain city to reach the Volga. Thus, the transportation of 30 million tons of cargo, including 9 million tons of oil, is stopped. This is a huge transport route, and we wanted to have it. ”
In the summer of 1942, the Germans and their allies concentrated huge forces on the Soviet-German front — no less than 179 divisions of the Wehrmacht and the SS troops. More than 60 divisions from satellite countries came to their aid. Thus, about 240 divisions came out against the Red Army, twice the strength of the forces that acted against Tsarist Russia during the First World War. In August 1942 Wehrmacht troops came close to Stalingrad. At the height of the fighting, the Nazis threw at least 2,000 aircraft into the city. The Nazis fired at him from 2 thousand guns. August 25, Stalingrad was declared a state of siege. Armed factory workers went straight from the shops to defend their city. Subsequently, these units joined the formation of the Red Army, which defended Stalingrad.
From August 23 to September 13, Soviet soldiers repelled at least 80 tank and infantry attacks of the Nazi troops, destroyed hundreds of enemy equipment and many thousands of enemy soldiers and officers. Fierce fighting broke out on Mamaev Hill, near the station, Central Pier and other areas of the city. By mid-September, the Nazis managed to stop. Formed a stable front line. Many areas of Stalingrad were never captured by the enemy. For example, the Germans did not pass into the central quarters, located between the area of January 9 and the Red October plant. The headquarters of the 62nd Army, which heroically defended Stalingrad, was based in this area. The northeastern outskirts of the city, the Market, was unattainable for the Nazis.
“Beyond the Volga there is no land for us!” - these words, spoken by a sniper, Hero of the Soviet Union Vasily Zaitsev, sounded to the whole country as the great oath of Stalingrad to stand to death, but not to give the cities to the enemy. The commanders and political workers said to the fighters: “You must remember: each house is a fortress, and the unit that protects it is a garrison that has no right to surrender it to enemies.” The headquarters of the 62nd Army and the 13th Division were on the right bank of the Volga, that is, on the side of the river where the battles were fought. Soviet generals and colonels, who directly led the defense of Stalingrad, did not abandon their soldiers and remained with them in the thick of the battle.
As part of the 62nd Army assault groups were formed. They fought not by number, but by skill. The commander of the 62nd Army, Lieutenant-General V.I. Chuikov, in one of his articles, wrote: “The assault group is the brainchild of close combat. Her indispensable weapon is a grenade. The grenade suggests the distance of the assault - the closer to the enemy, the better ... ".
The 13th Infantry Division commanded by Major General A.I. fought heroically in Stalingrad Rodimtsev. This unit was transferred to the city in the most difficult days of the defense - in mid-September. Once in Stalingrad, the fighters of the division went into action with the enemy. And they did not begin with a defense, but with an offensive, throwing the Nazis away from the Volga. The Stalingrad battles were also distinguished by units under the command of S.F. Gorokhova, L.N. Gurtieva, V.G. Zholudeva, I.I. Lyudnikova, N.F. Batyuk.
Many Red Army defenders of Stalingrad, showed heroism and self-sacrifice. Their exploits are immortal. One of these Stalingrad heroes is the senior sergeant of the Khvostanstyev. Standing on a post on one of the streets, he saw 6 German tanks advancing on him. Khvostanstyev with cannon shots hit three German armored vehicles. But the shells ran out. Then Khvostantsev, firing an anti-tank gun, hit another tank. He stopped the fifth armored vehicle, killing the tracks with a grenade. The sixth tank continued to climb forward. Then Khvostantsev grabbed the last grenade and with it rushed under the tracks. The hero died, but the Nazi tanks did not pass into the desired area of the city.
During September-October, the Red Army destroyed about 800 tanks in Stalingrad, shot down over a thousand aircraft, and destroyed more than 100 thousand enemy soldiers and officers. The City Committee of the CPSU (b), headed by the Secretary of the Regional Committee A.S. Chuyanov led the defense of Stalingrad and did everything for its successful completion. In the front ranks of the city defenders were the Communists-Bolsheviks. They had only one privilege - the first to go on the attack or fight in the most difficult areas. They did not spare themselves for the sake of victory over the enemy. The authority of the Bolshevik party among the Red Army soldiers during the battles in the city grew considerably. The fighters saw who was the soul of defense and who did not spare life for defeating the enemy. Therefore, they sought to be similar to the Communists and joined the ranks of the CPSU (b).
At meetings of the party organizations of the units defending Stalingrad, the results of the past battles were discussed, an exchange of experience was organized in the struggle against the German fascist invaders. In addition, the communist warriors familiarized themselves with the situation on other fronts and in the country as a whole, with the international situation, and also studied the orders and speeches of I.V. Stalin and "A Short Course in the History of the CPSU (B)" The defenders of Stalingrad have always felt the visionary guidance and help of the Supreme Commander in everything. This affected the stable and uninterrupted supply of ammunition, equipment, and food to the front, in the recruits arriving at the front. J.V. Stalin's leadership over the defense of the city was felt in a well-established and strict order of all its sides.
Steel ring
In the days of fighting in the city on the Volga, J.V. Stalin developed the basic principles of the counterattack of the Soviet troops on this sector of the Soviet-German front. Under the strictest secrecy, the General Headquarters of the Red Army, taking as a basis the Stalinist initiative, meticulously and carefully prepared a plan for crushing flank counter-attacks against the enemy troops fighting in the Stalingrad area. For the German command, the counterattack of the South-Western, Don and Stalingrad fronts carried out on November 19 and 20 was a complete surprise. The Soviet troops, after delivering powerful blows to the base of the nazi 6th field and 4th tank armies that had advanced to Stalingrad, "cut off" him and in the following days the division of Field Marshal F. Paulus squeezed in a steel ring. In the environment was 330 thousandth group of Hitler's Wehrmacht. Never before in the history of wars did such a large mass of troops, equipment and equipment get into such “boilers”. The steel ring was so strong that even the thousands of armored German armada under the command of Field Marshal E. Manstein, which included 30 divisions, was unable to breach it after the offensive undertaken in December. The soldiers and officers from the Paulus group continued to die from the shelling of Soviet artillery, aerial bombardment, famine, cold, and disease. For the Nazi warriors, the Stalingrad "cauldron" became a real hell.
At the end of January 1943, understanding the futility of further defense, Paulus and his entourage decided to surrender. On January 31 and February 2, the remnants of a German group surrounded at Stalingrad surrendered to Soviet captivity.
On November 6, 1943 in his report on the occasion of the 26th Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution J.V. Stalin declared: “The battle at Stalingrad ended with the encirclement of the 300,000-strong German army, the defeat of the latter and the capture of about 1/3 of the surrounded troops. To have an idea about the size of the unprecedented in the history of the massacre that broke out on the fields of Stalingrad, you need to know that at the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, 147,200 killed German soldiers and officers and 46,700 killed Soviet soldiers and officers were picked up and buried. Stalingrad was the decline of the Nazi army ... ".
After the battle on the Volga, the Hitlerite army was no longer able to restore its former potential. At Stalingrad, the fascist beast was a broken ridge. The battle on the Volga served as a prologue to the capture of Berlin and the complete defeat of the troops of Nazi Germany and its allies, which took place in the spring of 1945.
The greatness and uniqueness of the Stalingrad battle was so significant that even the eternal enemies of the Soviet Union — the British and American imperialists — were forced to admit through their teeth the enormity of the battle and the military skill of the Red Army and Soviet officers. US Secretary of State Helle said in one of his speeches: “A great victory was won at Stalingrad. It was achieved by such troops, whose combat qualities are higher than those of anyone in the current war. The Stalingrad victory is the greatest demonstration of the remarkable fighting qualities of the Russian armed forces. ” A columnist for the British newspaper The Times wrote: “This is not only about the superiority of Russian artillery. Here we are talking about the superiority of the Russian strategy. Obviously, we are dealing with a completely new strategy ... Europe is not facing the Soviet army in its former concept, but a completely new Soviet army with a new strategy. ”
Great success at the walls of Stalingrad was achieved thanks to the military skills, increased experience, as well as endurance, perseverance, courage, courage of Soviet soldiers, officers, workers and all residents of the city. The basis of this victory was heroism and the sacrifice of the Bolsheviks-communists, their remarkable ability to effectively organize Soviet citizens and military personnel to strengthen the rear, defense and offensive. The defeat of the German, Italian and Romanian troops on the Volga was the result of the commanding genius J.V. Stalin, his strategic plan, the ability to correctly and farsightedly lead the Armed Forces of the USSR.
