They commanded fronts and armies in the Battle of Stalingrad. They fought for Stalingrad

For decades now, the city of Volgograd has been welcoming guests in early February. The whole country, together with the Volgograd residents, celebrates a great date - the victorious completion of the legendary Battle of Stalingrad. It became the decisive battle of the entire Second World War and marked the beginning of a radical change in the course of the Great Patriotic War. Here, on the banks of the Volga, the offensive of the Nazi troops ended and their expulsion from the territory of our country began

The victory of our army at Stalingrad is one of the most glorious pages in the annals of the Great Patriotic War. For 200 days and nights - from July 17, 1942 to February 2, 1943 - an unprecedented battle took place on the Volga. And the Red Army emerged victorious.

In terms of the duration and ferocity of the battles, the number of people and military equipment involved, the Battle of Stalingrad surpassed all battles in world history at that time. It unfolded over a vast territory of 100 thousand square kilometers. At certain stages, over 2 million people, up to 2 thousand tanks, more than 2 thousand aircraft, and up to 26 thousand guns took part in it on both sides. At Stalingrad, Soviet troops defeated five armies: two German, two Romanian and one Italian. The enemy lost more than 800 thousand soldiers and officers killed, wounded, and captured, as well as a large amount of military equipment, weapons and equipment.

Menacing clouds over the Volga

By mid-summer 1942, hostilities approached the Volga. The German command also included Stalingrad in the plan for a large-scale offensive in the south of the USSR (Caucasus, Crimea). Germany's goal was to take possession of an industrial city with factories producing military products that were needed; gaining access to the Volga, from where it was possible to get to the Caspian Sea, to the Caucasus, where the oil necessary for the front was extracted.

Hitler wanted to implement this plan in just a week with the help of Paulus's 6th Field Army. It included 13 divisions, with about 270,000 people, 3 thousand guns and about five hundred tanks.

On the USSR side, German forces were opposed by the Stalingrad Front. It was created by decision of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command on July 12, 1942. The beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad can be considered July 17, when, near the Chir and Tsimla rivers, the advanced detachments of the 62nd and 64th armies of the Stalingrad Front met with detachments of the 6th German Army. Throughout the second half of the summer there were fierce battles near Stalingrad.

Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad and their exploits

On August 23, 1942, German tanks approached Stalingrad. From that day on, fascist aircraft began to systematically bomb the city. The battles on the ground also did not subside. It was simply impossible to live in the city - you had to fight to win. 75 thousand people volunteered for the front. But in the city itself, people worked both day and night. By mid-September, the German army broke through to the city center, and fighting took place right in the streets. The Nazis intensified their attack. German aircraft dropped about 1 million bombs on the city.

The Germans conquered many European countries. Sometimes they only needed 2-3 weeks to capture the entire country. In Stalingrad the situation was different. It took the Nazis weeks to capture one house, one street. The heroism of Soviet soldiers was unparalleled. Sniper Vasily Zaitsev, Hero of the Soviet Union, destroyed 225 opponents with targeted shots. Nikolai Panikakha threw himself under an enemy tank with a bottle of flammable mixture. Nikolai Serdyukov is sleeping eternally on Mamayev Kurgan - he covered the embrasure of the enemy pillbox with himself, silencing the firing point. Signalmen Matvey Putilov and Vasily Titaev established communication by clamping the ends of the wire with their teeth. Nurse Gulya Koroleva carried dozens of seriously wounded soldiers from the battlefield.

The tanks that continued to be built in Stalingrad were manned by volunteer crews consisting of factory workers, including women. The equipment was immediately sent from the factory assembly lines to the front line. During street fighting, the Soviet command used a new tactic - to constantly keep the front lines as close to the enemy as physically possible (usually no more than 30 meters). Thus, the German infantry had to fight relying on themselves, without the support of artillery and aircraft.

The battle on Mamayev Kurgan, on this blood-soaked height, was unusually merciless. The height changed hands several times. At the grain elevator, the fighting took place so closely that Soviet and German soldiers could feel each other's breath. It was especially difficult due to severe frosts.

The battles for the Red October plant, the tractor plant and the Barrikady artillery plant became known throughout the world. While Soviet soldiers continued to defend their positions by firing at the Germans, factory workers repaired damaged Soviet tanks and weapons in the immediate vicinity of the battlefield, and sometimes on the battlefield itself.

Victory is near

The beginning of autumn and mid-November passed in battles. By November, almost the entire city, despite resistance, was captured by the Germans. Only a small strip of land on the banks of the Volga was still held by our troops. But it was too early to declare the capture of Stalingrad, as Hitler did. The Germans did not know that the Soviet command already had a plan for the defeat of the German troops, which began to be developed at the height of the fighting, on September 12. The development of the offensive operation “Uranus” was carried out by Marshal G.K. Zhukov.

Within two months, under conditions of heightened secrecy, a strike force was created near Stalingrad. The Nazis were aware of the weakness of their flanks, but did not assume that the Soviet command would be able to gather the required number of troops.

Locking the enemy in a ring

On November 19, troops of the Southwestern Front under the command of General N.F. Vatutin and the Don Front under the command of General K.K. Rokossovsky went on the offensive. They managed to surround the enemy, despite his stubborn resistance. During the offensive, five enemy divisions were captured and seven were defeated. Since November 23, the efforts of the Soviet troops were aimed at strengthening the blockade around the enemy. In order to lift this blockade, the German command formed the Don Army Group (commander - Field Marshal Manstein), however, it was defeated. And so the Soviet troops closed a ring around the enemy, surrounding 22 divisions numbering 330 thousand soldiers.

The Soviet command presented an ultimatum to the surrounded units. Realizing the hopelessness of their situation, on February 2, 1943, the remnants of the 6th Army in Stalingrad surrendered. Over 200 days of fighting, the enemy lost more than 1.5 million people killed and wounded. In Germany, three months of mourning were declared over the defeat.

The Battle of Stalingrad was the turning point of the war. After it, Soviet troops launched a decisive offensive. The battle on the Volga also inspired the allies - in 1944 the long-awaited second front was opened, and in European countries the internal struggle against the Hitler regime intensified.

This period of the Great Patriotic War, 200 days long, became a turning point on the path to the Great Victory. The confrontation from July 17, 1942 to February 2, 1943 ended in the success of our army, the chances of which grew stronger and closer thanks to the courageous actions of its soldiers. “History.RF” remembers the heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad and their exploits.

Who are they - the heroes of Stalingrad?

In pre-war times, most of them were ordinary people: employees of factories, factories and collective farms, graduates of schools and colleges... During the war, they became pilots, tank crews, sappers, signalmen, and commanders. And not all of them were adult men; there were quite a few young guys and even girls.

They selflessly rushed towards the enemy, saving fellow soldiers and helping to successfully complete military operations - often at the cost of their own lives. 200 days and nights. With their courage they brought Victory closer. They also motivated Soviet soldiers to believe that they must stand to the end in defense of the Motherland. And this is also a big deal!

Heroes and their exploits

Already on July 23, one of the fighters distinguished himself. 33-year-old Ukrainian Peter Boloto, who worked in a mine before the war, during one of the battles he personally knocked out 8 enemy tanks out of 30 that broke through into the defense territory.

On the same day, the first air ram in the Battle of Stalingrad was carried out. Alexander Popov in a single-engine fighter I-16 entered into battle with a German bomber. First, Popov damaged it, then, realizing that the ammunition was expended and the enemy was leaving, he hit the tail of the enemy plane with the I-16 propeller. He himself received a serious leg injury.

On July 24, heroic tankmen went down in history - commander A. V. Fedenko, and E. N. Bykov, S. P. Protsenko And I. A. Yakovlev. Their T-34 was attacked by ten fascist tanks at once - despite this, they knocked out four. After the shell hit the T-34, a fire started. Our soldiers opened the hatches, but quickly realized that they were surrounded and that they were going to be captured. They chose death. From the burning tank, the commander’s address to the Soviet soldiers was heard over the radio: “Farewell, comrades, don’t forget us, we are dying in a burning tank, but we are not surrendering to the enemy!” This was their first fight...

The fourth of August is associated with the name of a 29-year-old pilot Trofima Voytanik. While rescuing a lieutenant in an air battle, he was attacked by two enemy fighters, one of which he was able to shoot down with a frontal ram. And he survived - he descended by parachute. The German plane doomedly crashed to the ground.

August 6 Soviet tankman G. I. Zelenykh stopped the penetration of the Nazis into the depths of the defense in the area of the Tinguta station. He sent his flaming T-34 into a concentration of enemy soldiers and guns - the tank crushed them, and then exploded.

On the same day, a 20-year-old pilot Mikhail Baranov shot down 4 aircraft in a battle with 25 fighters and bombers. In total, during the fighting - and he died in 1943 - he personally destroyed 24 enemy aircraft, conducting 85 air battles.

August 7 pilot Vladimir Zemlyansky on the Il-2 he carried out an attack on fascist tanks that had broken through to the outskirts of Stalingrad. After being hit by a shell, the fighter directed the blazing plane directly towards the column of tanks and German vehicles. He himself died in the explosion. "Farewell! I’m dying for my Motherland!” - these were Zemlyansky’s last words; other pilots heard them through headphones. In total, during the war, Vladimir made 45 sorties and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy.

August 16 pilot Ivan Kobyletsky rammed a German fighter over the Stalingrad airfield, after which it successfully landed there. The next day, on a Yak-1 plane, he fought against seven enemy Me-109s for 20 minutes. He did not stop fighting, even when he was hit and burning - only after reaching a height of 300 meters, he jumped out with a parachute. Due to an unsuccessful landing, a hip and two ribs were broken.

On August 17, 16 guardsmen under the command of a 19-year-old Vasily Kochetova at the cost of their lives they stopped the tanks at an altitude of 180.9 near the village of Sirotinskaya. The enemy forces were superior to the Soviet ones, but this did not stop our fighters from fighting. The platoon under Kochetov’s command launched a counterattack, the soldiers threw themselves under tanks with grenades. He himself, already seriously wounded in the leg, did not leave the front line. Died as a result of a mortal wound, the remaining soldiers of his platoon continued the confrontation.

August 18, two Red Army soldiers - a 19-year-old Alexander Pokalchuk and 21 year old Petr Gutchenko- They covered the machine gun embrasure at the village of Kletskaya with their bodies. The all-round machine-gun fire that the Nazis fired from above did not allow the Soviet troops to advance. First, Gutchenko and Pokalchuk crawled to the bunker with grenades, threw two each - it didn’t help. Then they took extreme measures. At the cost of your life.

The twenty-third of August is marked by the manifestation of women's courage in war. On that day, the Germans managed to reach the northern outskirts of Stalingrad, but they failed to break into the city itself - they were met by three anti-aircraft batteries of the 1077th regiment. They were run by girls. During August 23-24, anti-aircraft gunners knocked out 83 tanks, 33 of which were destroyed. But very few of them managed to survive. In the photo - survivors of that battle Valya Neshpor, Nina Shiryaeva And Valya Grigorieva.

On August 24, in the Malaya Rossoshi area, a group of 33 fighters under the command G. A. Strelkova During the day, she repulsed attacks from 70 enemy tanks, destroying 27 of them and 150 Germans. Moreover, all Soviet soldiers from this group remained alive.

25-th of August Olga Kovaleva, who before the war was the first female steelmaker, leading melting in the open-hearth shop, and with its beginning - the only one in the fighter squad of the Red October plant, died during the attack on the Meliorativny farm. She raised her comrades behind her to attack, and of course, she rushed at the enemy herself...

On August 29, another Red October worker went down in history - Petr Goncharov. He joined the ranks of the people's militia and subsequently became a famous sniper. During the Second World War, he single-handedly destroyed more than 400 fascists. Killed in action on January 30, 1944 at the age of 41.

On September 8, a 20-year-old man made his first combat mission. Boris Gomolko- and immediately with heroism. He successfully rammed two planes, but his own began to fall apart in the sky - Boris jumped with a parachute. The Germans he shot down tried to escape in the same way. Already on the ground he shot one and captured the other. 16 days later, Gomolko, covering ground troops in an unequal battle, was mortally wounded.

September 14, 20-year-old sergeant Ilya Chumbarev rammed an enemy reconnaissance plane. He came down to the ground not by parachute, but by his Yak plane. He continued the war with the rank of lieutenant.

On the night of September 14-15, the rifle division led by Alexander Rodimtsev crossed the Volga when the Germans had already reached its bank, counterattacked the enemy and recaptured Mamayev Kurgan. As Rodimtsev himself recalled: “German planes flew over our heads. The walls of houses collapsed, iron warped. Clouds of smoke and dust hurt my eyes. We had to advance in this deadly hell to drive the Germans away from the Volga and occupy the coastal streets.”

From September 23, the defense of a 4-story residential building lasted for 58 days by a group of 31 soldiers led by a 24-year-old Yakova Pavlova. The Germans constantly attempted to attack, but were not allowed to destroy it. Three fighters of the group died, Pavlov himself was wounded, but survived the war. Died at the age of 63.

On October 2, during the defense of the Red October plant, a volunteer sailor Mikhail Panikakha, left without grenades, crawled out of the trench towards a German tank with bottles of combustible mixture, a bullet hit one bottle - the liquid spilled over the defender’s body and caught fire. But Panikakha did not lie down to die - he rushed at the tank like a living torch and added fire to the enemy, breaking a second bottle on the armored vehicle. Fragment of the video for the Lesson of Courage (in full:).

On October 5, during the liquidation of fascist combat points, the Red Army soldiers came under machine-gun fire. A 30-year-old private stopped him by throwing grenades at the bunker Nikolay Averyanov, who worked on a collective farm before the war. However, the fire resumed - then the fighter, having no more ammunition, closed the embrasure with himself.

On October 10, the 28-year-old acted in approximately the same way Alexander Pecherskikh- first he threw grenades at the enemy machine gun, shot several Germans and captured one. But that's not all. When he was left without ammunition, he closed the bunker embrasure with himself. Before the war he worked on a collective farm and then on a state farm.

One hundred days from October 16, the division's fighters under the command Ivan Lyudnikova held the line, preventing the Germans from breaking through to the Barricades plant. They were in this position until November 11, when the enemy broke through to the river. But even finding themselves surrounded by attacking Germans on three sides, the Soviet soldiers did not retreat. Lyudnikov, by the way, participated in more than one war, but survived them all, dying at the age of 73.

October 28, 21-year-old sapper Efim Dudnikov killed a fascist officer, took his pistol and documents. The next day he eliminated 16 more Nazis. He is also known for successfully transporting the division's command and control across the Volga under air bombing and heavy mortar fire.

October 30 soldier Ivan Ivchenko closed the machine gun embrasure with his chest, which was hindering the advance of Soviet soldiers. Thanks to this, the group managed to get out from under the fire.

On the night of November 7–8, the 24-year-old, who was a collective farm worker before the war, Ivan Karkhanin rushed to the embrasure and closed it with himself - the bunker was destroyed. Already in the morning the regiment attacked the Germans and captured the desired line.

November 8 pilot Petr Rozhkov During his first combat mission, he engaged three fighters and shot down two of them. The third rammed, realizing that its ammunition had run out. He managed to land his damaged plane at the airfield.

And on November 10 the pilot Petr Dymchenko, a turner before the war, in an air battle with 15 enemy aircraft, he shot down four of them, but he himself died. A street in Volgograd is named after the hero.

November 21, rifle company commander, 22 years old Ivan Zaburov, and in pre-war times - an accountant on a collective farm, covered the embrasure of the bunker with himself. After this, his fighters immediately rushed to the attack and successfully completed the task.

On the same day, a 20-year-old signalman Vasily Titaev At the height of the battle for Mamayev Kurgan, he was sent to fix the broken line of communication between the two commanders. When he was clearing the cliff, he was wounded in the head by a mine: he was found lying on the edge of a shell crater, with communication wires clenched in his teeth. Fragment of the video for the Lesson of Courage (in full: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du_7USqUH4s …).

On 22 November the 8th Motorcycle Regiment commanded Petra Belika carried out a raid on the German field airfield Oblivskaya and destroyed 25 aircraft there. In 8 days, our soldiers killed 800 Germans and captured 1,100, destroyed 7 ammunition depots, 247 vehicles, 14 tanks. In addition, the fighters freed 850 people from captivity.

November 26, during the battle, a battery involving a 24-year-old Kazakh Karsybaya Spataeva repelled an enemy attack from three sides. At the moment when the tank that had broken through began to threaten the Soviet soldiers, Spataev, with a mine in his hands, threw himself under it and this decided the outcome of the battle. In memory of the hero, his native village of Koktobe was renamed Spataevo.

December 16 19 year old Vasily Prokatov, who had only managed to finish 9th grade before the war, during the regiment’s attempt to overcome the Don, he climbed a steep icy cliff and closed the embrasure of the enemy’s bunker. Thus, he gave his fellow soldiers the opportunity to cross the Don without losses and take a bridgehead. At the site of his feat, near the village of Derezovka, there is a monument to him.

From November 10 to December 17, during the battles for Stalingrad, sniper Vasily Zaitsev destroyed 225 enemy soldiers, including 11 snipers. “For us, the soldiers and commanders of the 62nd Army, there is no land beyond the Volga. We have stood and will stand to the death!” - his words. He was seriously wounded in 1943 and went blind, but lived for a long time - up to 76 years.

December 16-17, 29-year-old regiment Nikolay Sergeev was on a mission to break through enemy defenses in the area of the Astakhov farm. Sergeev’s tank was knocked out, the soldier with burnt legs moved to another and launched a new attack. They tried to destroy the armored vehicle again - the crew fought until the tank exploded.

December 19, 24-year-old Saratov resident Ilya Kaplunov, being the only survivor of an enemy attack, entered into an unequal duel on his tank and knocked out five enemy tanks. In this battle, his leg was first torn off, then his arm, but, bleeding, he continued to destroy the enemy. Single-handedly knocked out 9 tanks.

December 24, at night, tank corps of the 47-year-old Vasily Badanov destroyed a German airfield, destroying a large number of enemy aircraft. The Nazi troops were deprived of their supplies, and this accelerated their surrender.

On January 7, 1943, in the battle for Zimovniki, senior sergeant Nikolay Markov in a T-34 tank he went to ram a fascist tank. According to Markov himself: “At full speed, I hit him in the side and immediately lost consciousness. When I woke up, I saw that the “German” had tilted and the caterpillar had crawled across the ground. Not right away, but our engine started. My head was buzzing, my left arm didn’t work, it was broken... We stepped back, and we saw the Nazis jumping out of the damaged tank. The commander mowed them all down with a machine gun. The German tank attack foundered..."

January 13, 18-year-old junior sergeant Nikolay Serdyukov, a former mechanic at the Barrikady plant, approached the German bunkers with two privates - they threw the last grenades into one of the bunkers and were killed. Afterwards, Serdyukov single-handedly closed the remaining bunker.

January 21 19 year old Alexey Naumov As part of the KV crew, in 5 hours of active combat, he destroyed 5 German tanks, 5 bunkers, 19 guns and mortars, 15 machine gun emplacements, 24 vehicles with infantry, as well as about a hundred soldiers and officers. When Naumov's tank was surrounded and attacked, the crew fought until the last bullet. As a result, the Germans set the tank on fire - while dying, Naumov’s team sang “Internationale”...

January 22, 19-year-old sniper Maxim Passar gave his life, destroying enemy heavy machine gun crews from 100 meters away, and thereby ensured the successful outcome of his own attack. In total, by this date there were 272 fascists on his account. He received the posthumous title of Hero of Russia only in 2010 after an appeal from his fellow countrymen.

Bottom line

The Battle of Stalingrad came to an end on February 2, 1943 at 16:00 - the fighting that lasted 200 days was over. The Soviet Union defeated the enemy army - it had no choice but to retreat. The result of the battle for Stalingrad was important for the entire Great Patriotic War: the world learned how strong the USSR was and that it was possible to defeat Germany. The Germans themselves had to change their tactics. But this, as we know, did not help them in the future.

RUSSIAN FEDERATION

MUNICIPAL STATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

Novokvasnikovskaya secondary school.

MKOU "Novsokvasnikovskaya Secondary School"

2012 – 2013 academic year year.

Marshals and generals of the Battle of Stalingrad.

Goals: development in students of citizenship and patriotism as the most important spiritual and moral qualities, the ability to actively demonstrate them in various spheres of society, instilling high responsibility and loyalty to duty to the Motherland.

Tasks:

· To form students’ knowledge about the Great Patriotic War, its defenders and their exploits.

· Contribute to the moral and patriotic education of students, to cultivate love and respect for their people, for the history of their country, city, school, and respect for veterans of the Great Patriotic War.

· Develop children's search and research work and creative abilities.

Progress of the lesson.

(Song “Hot Snow”. A. Pakhmutova)

1st. Time has its own memory - history. And therefore the world never forgets about the tragedies that shook the planet in different eras, including brutal wars.

Today we will remember the names and surnames of those who led this great battle.

It was in Stalingrad in 1942-43 that the future fate of the planet was decided.

Most of the divisions that arrived from the General Headquarters reserve did not yet have combat experience. Other divisions were exhausted from previous battles. At the cost of incredible efforts, Soviet soldiers had to hold back the onslaught of the enemy.

The memory of the Battle of Stalingrad is the memory of a great national feat, spiritual impulse, unity and courage. ( slide)

1. Do you remember how in the battle for Tsaritsyn,

The squad followed the squad

The feat of the fighters was repeated

In the battle for our Stalingrad.

2. For every house... but there were no houses -

Charred, terrible remains

For every meter - but to the Volga from the hills

The tanks were crawling with a vibrating howl.

And there were still meters to the water and the Volga was cold with misfortune.

3. Traces of the enemy - ruins and ashes

Every living thing here has been burned to the ground.

Through the smoke - no sun in the black sky

Where the streets used to be are stones and ash.

4. Here everything is mixed up in this whirlwind:

Fire and smoke, dust and lead hail.

Who will survive here... until death

The formidable Stalingrad will not be forgotten.

The commanders of Stalingrad... How much these words mean in the history of Russia and in the history of the world, and how little is said about those who remained in the history and memory of people, and about those who disappeared into the eternity of non-existence. Glorified and favored, awarded and exalted, repressed and shot, surrounded and able to break through, cursed by their people and covered with the shame of the enemy’s neglect, with their death trampling the death of their own and others, they, pressed together with their comrades in arms to the Volga, did what which inscribed their names in golden letters in the history of mankind.

On behalf of the headquarters of the Supreme High Commandcoordinatedcombat operations of our troops generals: Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky and Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov.(slide)

1. May there be thousands of guns against us here

Each person has tens of tons of lead.

Even if we are mortal, even if we are only human,

But we are loyal to our fatherland to the end.

2. “Stand to death, not a step back!” –

This was the motto of our soldiers

And they did not spare their lives

Expelling the enemy from his native land.

3. Even though it took us a long time to retreat

At the cost of grief and loss

But “There is no Land beyond the Volga for us” -

Iron Stalingrad said!

4. And here is the order “Don’t take a step back!”

Stalin's harsh order

Instilled courage in the hearts of people

That the hour of Victory is not far away.

On July 12, 1942, by decision of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, the Stalingrad Front was created under the command of Marshal of the USSR Sergei Konstantinovich Timoshenko, and from August, Colonel General Andrei Ivanovich Eremenko. July 14, 1942, the Stalingrad region was declared in a state of siege.. Let's name the names of the commanders. They are military leaders of different generations, but they are united by two great words - “Stalingrad” and “Commander”:

1. ZHUKOV Georgy Konstantinovich, Deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief;

Over the years, as a representative of the Headquarters, he coordinated the actions of the fronts at Stalingrad. During the successful large-scale offensive operation, five enemy armies were defeated: two German tanks, two Romanian and Italian.

2. VASILEVSKY Alexander Mikhailovich, Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army; representative of the Supreme Command Headquarters

Under his leadership, the largest operations of the Soviet Armed Forces were developed. M. Vasilevsky coordinated the actions of the fronts: in the Battle of Stalingrad (operations “Uranus”, “Little Saturn”)

3. Timoshenko Semyon Konstantinovich, commander of the Stalingrad Front;

In July 1942, Marshal Timoshenko was appointed commander of the Stalingrad Front, and in October - the North-Western Front.

4. EREMENKO Andrey Ivanovich, commander of the Stalingrad Front;

Commander of the South-Eastern Front.

DuringOperation UranusIn November1942, Eremenko’s troops broke through the enemy’s defensive lines to the southStalingradand joined forces with the generalN. F. Vatutina, thereby closing the ring of encirclement around6th German ArmygeneralFriedrich Paulus.

5. ROKOSSOVSKY Konstantin Konstantinovich, commander of the Don Front; September 30th 1942 lieutenant generalK.K. Rokossovsky was appointed commanderDon Front. With his participation, a plan was developedOperation Uranusto encircle and destroy the enemy group advancing on Stalingrad. Forces on several fronts

November 19 1942the operation beganNovember 23ring around the 6th army generalF. Pauluswas closed.

6. CHUIKOV Vasily Ivanovich, commander of the 62nd Army. From september1942commanded62nd Army, which became famous for its heroic six-month defenseStalingradin street fighting in a completely destroyed city, fighting on isolated bridgeheads on the banks of a wideVolga.

I. Chuikova is inVolgograd, on the Square of Sorrow (Mamaev kurgan).

One of the central streets is named after ChuikovVolgograd, the one along which the front line of defense of the 62nd Army passed (1982 ).

7. VATUTIN Nikolay Fedorovich, commander of the Southwestern Front; In October 1942, Nikolai Fedorovich was appointed commander of the created Southwestern Front, took direct part in the development, preparation and conductStalingrad operation . Vatutin's troops in cooperation with the troops of Stalingrad (commander ) and Donskoy (commanderRokossovsky K.K. ) fronts from November 19 to December 16, 1942 carried out Operation Little Saturn - they surrounded the groupField Marshal Paulus near Stalingrad. In this operation, the actions of the Southwestern Front led to the defeat of the 8th Italian, the remnants of the 3rd Romanian armies, and the German Hollidt group.

8. VORONOV Nikolay Nikolaevich, Marshal of Artillery;

On November 19, 1942, a powerful artillery preparation began, which largely predetermined the success of the counteroffensive, as a result of which a three hundred thousand enemy group was surrounded

9. SHUMILOV Mikhail Stepanovich, Colonel General of the 64th Army;

64 - the army under his command held back the 4th Tank Army on the distant approaches of Stalingrad for almost a month
Gotha

10. RODIMTSEV Alexander Ilyich, Major General of the 62nd Army;

13th Guards Rifle Division(later - the 13th Poltava Order of Lenin, twice Red Banner Guards Rifle Division) became part of the 62nd Army, which heroically defended Stalingrad.

11. CHISTYAKOV Ivan Mikhailovich, Colonel General; During the Battle of Stalingrad he commanded the 21st Army. Field Marshal Paulus showed high organizational skills during the encirclement and defeat of the 6th German Army.

12. MALINOVSKY Rodion Yakovlevich, commander of the 66th and 2nd Guards armies; In August 1942, to strengthen the defense onStalingrad direction The 66th Army was created, reinforced with tank and artillery units. Its commander was appointed

13. TOLBUKHIN Fedor Ivanovich, commander of the 57th Army;In July 1942, Tolbukhin was appointed commander of the 57th Army, which defended the southern approaches toStalingrad . For more than three months, its formations fought heavy defensive battles, not allowing the 4th Wehrmacht Tank Army to reach the city, and then participated in the dismemberment and destruction of the German group encircled on the Volga.

14. MOSKALENKO Kirill Semenovich, commander of the 1st Tank and 2nd Guards (first formation) armies; WITH12th of February1942 - commander of the 6th Cavalry Corps, from March to July1942- commander38th Army(Valuysko-Rossoshansky defensive operation), after the transformation of the latter, from July 1942, he commanded1st Tank Army, with which he participated in battles on the distant approaches toStalingrad(July−August 1942). In August 1942 he was appointed commander1st Guards Army, with which until October 1942 he participated inBattle of Stalingrad

15. GOLIKOV Philip Ivanovich, Commander of the 1st Guards Army; In August 1942, Golikov was appointed commander

1st Guards ArmyonSouth-East

AndStalingradfronts, participated in defensive battles on the approaches toStalingrad.

From September 1942 - Deputy Commander

Stalingrad Front

16. AKHROMEEV Sergey Fedorovich, platoon commander of the 197th Infantry Regiment of the 28th Army;

Platoon commander of the 197th Infantry Regiment of the 28th Army

17. BIRYUZOV Sergey Semenovich, Chief of Staff of the 2nd Guards Army;

From November 1942 to April 1943 - Chief of Staff of the 2nd Guards ArmyStalingrad(laterSouthern) front.

18. KOSHEVOY Petr Kirillovich, commander of the 24th Guards Rifle Division;

Since July 1942, commander of the 24th Guards Rifle Division

19. KRYLOV Nikolai Ivanovich, Chief of Staff of the 62nd Army;

Chief of staff62nd Army, which waged months-long street battles in the city.

1. I see the city of Stalingrad in 1942
The earth is burning, the water is burning.
Metal boils in hell.
The sky is blue and the sun is not visible
The city is shrouded in black smoke, and it’s hard to breathe

10. Where was Stalingrad once,
The stove pipes were just sticking out.
There was a thick, foul stench,
And corpses lay in the fields.
They dug into the ground as best they could.
We couldn't look for a more reliable place.
“There is no land for us beyond the Volga,”
Like an oath often repeated.

11Death approached him point blank.
The steel was lashed by darkness.
Artilleryman, infantryman, sapper -
He hasn't gone crazy.
What is the flames of Gehenna and hell to him?
He defended Stalingrad.

12. Just a soldier, lieutenant, general
He grew up in the suffering of battle.
Where the metal died in the fire,
He passed through alive.
One hundred grueling days in a row
He defended Stalingrad.

They will receive marshal ranks after the Battle of Stalingrad, some already in peacetime, after the Victory, with the exception of those who received it on May 7, 1940. But both marshals and generals - they were all great patriots of their Motherland, commanders of the Great Army, in which all were sons of their people. It was their regiments and divisions, corps and armies, retreating, breaking through and dying, that took the lives of their enemies, fighting for Brest and Kyiv, Minsk and Smolensk, Stalingrad and Sevastopol. It was they who crushed the “invincible” armadas of the tank and field armies of the “thousand-year” Reich. Their strategy turned out to be higher and their tactics more cunning than that of the well-born Prussian field marshals and generals. It was their sergeants who were able to turn houses into impregnable fortresses, and the soldiers stood to the death where no one would ever have stood.

13. And finally the day came
Which had to happen.
The giant gathered his strength,
And remembering the centuries-old valor,
The people rose as one
to a mortal battle for holy Rus'.

14.Everything around began to rumble,
Our soldiers went forward
There, to the west, day after day,
Until the hour of reckoning has struck.

15. Our sword severely punished
Fascists in their own lair,
And showed the way to insight
For those who have lost their way on the road.
There was a mortal battle at Stalingrad
Everyone defended our native city,
The fire burns like a memory of terrible years,
We will remember everyone who is not here today.

Stalingrad survived because it was in it that the whole meaning of the Motherland was embodied. That is why nowhere else in the world has there been such mass heroism. All the spiritual and moral strength of our people was concentrated here.

The world applauded the victory of Soviet military art, which marked a radical change in the course of the Second World War. There were three words on the lips of the whole world in those days:

"Russia, Stalin, Stalingrad...".

(Song “Let’s bow to those great years.”)

On February 2, 1943, the Battle of Stalingrad ended. This bloody turning point in the history of the country revealed many heroes. Here are just a few of them.

Street fighting in Stalingrad. Storming the house. November 1942 Photo: Georgy Zelma

Feat of the artist

19-year-old actress, Muscovite and simply beautiful Gulya (Marionella) Koroleva volunteered for the front. In 1941, she ended up in the medical battalion of a rifle regiment, which almost immediately received assignment to the very heat of the Stalingrad cauldron.

Gulya Koroleva

Gulya Koroleva was born into the family of a theater director and actress. From early childhood, the girl was such a lively child that her neighbors nicknamed her Satanella instead of Marionella. Shoes, dresses, bows, filming. Perhaps, with the exception of the last, the life of Gulya Koroleva was no different from the life of an ordinary girl.

By the beginning of the war, Gulya had already managed to get married and even give birth to a son, Sasha, whom she affectionately called Hedgehog. Would anyone have been able to condemn her if she had refused to go to the front? Hardly.

She independently signed up for the medical battalion and went to the front. But she did not manage to stay in the war for long. Six months later, Gulya Koroleva passed away...

In November 1942, during the battle for height 56.8 in the area of the Panshino farm, Gorodishchensky district, Gulya literally carried 50 seriously wounded soldiers from the battlefield. And then, when the moral strength of the fighters was exhausted, she herself went on the attack. The brave nurse was the first to break into an enemy trench and kill 15 German soldiers and officers with several grenade throws. The already mortally wounded Gulya Koroleva fought this unequal battle until reinforcements arrived. To end.

Once upon a time, songs were written about Guli Koroleva’s feat, and her dedication was an example for millions of Soviet girls and boys. Her name is carved in gold on the banner of military glory on Mamayev Kurgan, and a village in the Sovetsky district of Volgograd and a street are named after her. True, if you ask modern schoolchildren, they are unlikely to be able to answer who it is and what Gulya Koroleva became famous for.

House of Sergeant Pavlov

Not every tourist recognizes this inconspicuous house opposite the Battle of Stalingrad Panorama Museum. Most often, the destroyed mill that stands not far from the museum is mistaken for the legendary Pavlov’s house. The Gerhardt mill, almost completely destroyed by fascist bombing, was not restored after the end of the Great Patriotic War, but the house, which by that time had become a real symbol, was restored first.

This ordinary 4-story building got its name - Pavlov's House - thanks to Sgt. Yakov Pavlov, who commanded the defense of this building in September 1942.

Pavlov's House in Volgograd

At that time, the most fierce fighting was taking place in Stalingrad, when 24-year-old Sergeant Yakov Pavlov with three fighters - Chernogolov, Glushchenko and Alexandrov- We received the task - to reconnoiter the situation in one of the houses in the city center. At the appointed time, Pavlov and his comrades ran across the road between Gerhardt’s mill and the house and lay down in shelter. After the German artillery died down, the soldiers entered the house. They were given orders to hold the building until reinforcements arrived.

This went on for two months. Having a meager supply of ammunition and food, the fighters managed not only to dislodge the Germans from their occupied positions, but also to completely capture the building. To survive and withstand continuous attacks, they had to make dangerous forays and destroy enemy garrisons.

As he later wrote in his memoirs Vasily Chuikov:“This small group, defending one house, destroyed more enemy soldiers than the Nazis lost during the capture of Paris.”

But there were people in the house, peaceful citizens. Pavlov's garrison managed to make invisible underground passages to the sewer hatches and remove the exhausted townspeople from under fire.

The house, which received a common name, actually had more defenders. To date, the names of 24 of them are known. They are engraved on a memorial plate that is installed on the building.

Yakov Pavlov

Yakov Pavlov himself continued to serve at the front after the Battle of Stalingrad. He was a gunner and commander of the intelligence department of the Ukrainian and Belorussian fronts. And in June 1945, for the heroic defense of his house in Stalingrad, Pavlov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. By the way, he became the only defender of the House who received such a high award.

Island for the Colonel

Ivan Lyudnikov

Great Patriotic War Ivan Ilyich Lyudnikov I met him when he was already a mature man - a commander of the Red Army, a participant in the Civil War.

A professional military man, colonel, Ivan Lyudnikov by June 22, 1941 commanded the 200th Infantry Division, which took part in the battles for the defense of Kyiv and Chernigov. Lyudnikov arrived in Stalingrad in May 1942, where he headed the 138th Infantry Division. For one hundred days and nights, the soldiers of his unit defended the Stalingrad Barricades plant. This territory of 700 by 400 meters in the urban village of Nizhnie Barrikady, later called “Lyudnikov Island,” was surrounded by the Germans on three sides, and the Volga flowed on the fourth side.

As Lyudnikov himself wrote in his memoirs, this territory received its name “island” thanks to one of the pilots who dropped ammunition on the Soviet troops at night. Flying up to the designated point, he radioed: “Hey, there, “on the island,” turn on the lights!” When the Germans saw that the Red Army men were lighting fires, they also lit a fire. Then the pilot commanded over the radio again: “Hey, “on the island,” put out the lights!” This went on for several months. The guards, squeezed into a tight ring, held back the onslaught of German troops until the counteroffensive began. Only at the end of January 1943 did parts of the unit turn north and set out to destroy other groups of fascist troops in the area of factory villages.

After the Battle of Stalingrad, Ivan Lyudnikov was sent to the Central Front, where he took part in the Battle of Kursk, the crossing of the Dnieper, and then fought in Manchuria, was the commandant in Port Arthur and the commander of a group of Soviet troops in China.

Today, a memorial to heroically fighting soldiers has been erected at this site.

“Ivan Ilyich never lost his head and in the event of an unsuccessful development of the battle, remaining even at that moment balanced, emphatically calm, he gave orders calmly and intelligibly, without raising his voice. At the same time, he, like no one else, knew how to demand from his subordinates and help them. It was felt that the crucible of the Stalingrad epic, the flames of the Battle of Kursk and the experience of many other battles through which he went through strongly strengthened his character as a commander,” his contemporary wrote about Lyudnikov in his memoirs, Hero of the Soviet Union, Army General Pyotr Lashchenko.

Sailor cast in bronze

In the Krasnooktyabrsky district of Volgograd, directly opposite the Red October plant, there is a monument. Cast in bronze is a man engulfed in flames, rage in his eyes, and his arms extended forward and preventing an invisible enemy from passing forward. So forever he froze, like a tiger, in a mighty leap. This is a monument to the heroic sailor who defended Stalingrad - Mikhail Panikakha.

Monument to Mikhail Panikakha.

Mikhail Panikakha was drafted into the Red Army from Ukraine. Served as a sailor in the Pacific Fleet. During the Great Patriotic War, at his own request, he was sent to Stalingrad. He was enlisted in the 883rd Infantry Regiment of the 193rd Infantry Division of the 62nd Army as an armor-piercing officer. On November 2, 1942, in the area of the Red October plant, Mikhail Panikakha found himself in a trench surrounded by German tanks. With grenades and Molotov cocktails, Panikakha tried to crawl towards the tanks, but a German bullet hit one of the bottles, and the Red Army soldier instantly flared up like a torch. Engulfed in flames, Panikakha rushed towards the German tank.

Mikhail Panikakha.

“Everyone saw how a burning man jumped out of the trench, ran close to the fascist tank and hit the grill of the engine hatch with a bottle. An instant - and a huge flash of fire and smoke consumed the hero along with the fascist car he set on fire,” wrote in his memoirs “From Stalingrad to Berlin” Marshal of the Soviet Union Vasily Chuikov.

Mikhail Panikakha was 24 years old... He was buried right there, at the site of his heroism, in a deep crater near the Red October plant.

Sniper legend

Vasily Zaitsev born in a small village in the Orenburg province (now Chelyabinsk region). From early childhood he was accustomed to hunting and at the age of 12 he received his first gun as a gift. Vasily Zaitsev found the war in the Pacific Fleet, where he served.

Vasily Zaitsev.

By mid-1942, Zaitsev submitted five reports asking to be sent to the front. Finally, the command granted his request. This is how 27-year-old Vasily Zaitsev ended up in Stalingrad, where he was able to put into practice his skills acquired in his youth while hunting. Zaitsev was especially glorified by his sniper duel with the German “super sniper”, the head of the Berlin sniper school, Koening. He was sent to Stalingrad specifically to destroy Zaitsev, but he managed to “outplay” the German. In total, during the Battle of Stalingrad, Vasily Zaitsev managed to destroy 242 German enemies.

Vasily Zaitsev and new snipers.

The feat of Vasily Zaitsev is immortalized on the canvas of the panorama “The Defeat of the Nazi Troops at Stalingrad” in the Panorama Museum “Battle of Stalingrad”, and the story of the confrontation between the legendary shooter and a German sniper formed the basis of the feature film “Enemy at the Gates”, where the role of Zaitsev was played by a Hollywood actor Jude Law. And, of course, the words of the hero sniper became completely legendary: “For us there is no land beyond the Volga. We have stood and will stand to the death."
This list of heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad can be continued endlessly. There are not tens of them, but thousands. Everyone who fought the enemy contributed to the victory over the fascist invaders.

BORIS USIK,
Director of the State Panorama Museum "Battle of Stalingrad"

Who are they? Where did their regiments and divisions come to the banks of the Volga?

Like all commanders of the Land of Soviets, the commanders of Stalingrad must be represented by three generations of military leaders. The first generation are the commanders of great upheavals on our land - revolutions and civil wars, national and interstate conflicts.
They fought in the First World War, had combat experience and, having gone through the crucible of revolutions and the Civil War, brought all the best they could to the young Red Army, not yet realizing that the Red Army would be an instrument of the policy of leaders and general secretaries, their experience, excellent training and the best knowledge of military professionals will be crossed out by the political mistrust of the leaders.
Many of the best and the best of many did not live to see the Great Patriotic War due to repression and political struggle in the early 30s of the 20th century. Their names will forever remain in the memory of the people, their exploits are recorded in old history textbooks, glorified in songs and the names of city streets. Now it is impossible to predict how the course of the Second World War, especially its initial period, would have developed if M.V. Frunze and Ya.B. Gamarnik, V.K. Blucher and M.N. Tukhachevsky, F.E. Dzerzhinsky and A.I. Egorov and many others, more and less famous and famous. In the Battle of Stalingrad, their comrades and colleagues carried the heavy commander's burden with dignity.
Soldiers of the First World War - commanders of the Second World War. Many of them met their opponents on the battlefields of the First World War. German non-commissioned officers also became generals and field marshals, although some remained corporals. It was because of them and by their will that the generals and field marshals of the “Third Reich” came to the banks of the Volga, and while, by their will, they brought numerous armies and divisions to make us slaves, and to use the lands watered with the sweat and blood of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers at their own discretion, establishing the “iron” German order on them.
But here suddenly it’s not quite like that. The troops defending Stalingrad did not obey the German order already familiar from the First World War. The troops of K.K. Rokossovsky and K.P. Trubnikov, R.Ya. Malinovsky and E.I. Vasilenko and many hundreds of other commanders who knew the gas attacks of the First World War and the famous breakthrough of Brusilov, the stereotyped German tactics and strategy and the unpreparedness of their allies, driven to Stalingrad from all over Europe, to endure the hardships and deprivations of a real war.
After the first battles on the western borders of the USSR, the German General Staff made a general conclusion: “The Russians have mastered the tactics of rearguard battles, and their divisions and armies are not susceptible to encirclement...” But no! The “Russians” did not master the tactics of rearguard battles, but “remembered” what the military academies and schools of Tsarist Russia taught, and “remembered” the experience of the First World War. For some reason, when we are hit, and hit very hard, we quickly “remember” what we were taught and know how to apply it.
Not everyone, however, had this experience. Thus, Marshal of the Soviet Union G.I. Kulik, who received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the Finnish campaign, when mountain-pack 45-mm cannons, moved on horses and small sleighs, made a worthy contribution to the capture of the defensive lines of the Mannerheim Line, turned out to be absolutely unprepared to the conduct of modern warfare. After the failure to break through Vlasov’s 2nd Shock Army, where G.I. Kulik was a representative of Headquarters, he was demoted to “Major General” personally by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.
But these were exceptions. Most of the commanders of the old, royal school were real commanders and patriots of Russia. The failures of 1941 lie on the conscience of the country’s political leadership, which, having imposed the theory of “offensive war,” “little bloodshed,” “on foreign territory,” deprived military leaders of the opportunity to use, for example, the same tactics of encircling “tank and mechanized formations with pincers,” which German commanders took it into service. But the theory was developed by our military under the leadership of V.K. Triandafillov and M.N. Tukhachevsky, and German commanders studied at our schools and academies.
After an unsuccessful operation of Soviet troops near Kharkov in May 1942, the 15th Guards Rifle Division, under the command of Emelyan Ivanovich Vasilenko, a first-generation commander and participant in the wars of the beginning of the century, emerged from the encirclement, retaining all its weapons. What’s surprising is that the division received the title of Guards on February 16, 1942, and on March 27 it was awarded the Order of the Red Banner “... for its courage and high military skill.” And this was when, as many now write, including our historians, the entire Red Army was retreating.
But there were dozens of such divisions and corps. And the corps of K.K. Rokossovsky, the future commander of the Don Front, which completed the Battle of Stalingrad?! The corps, which was at the initial stage of formation, carried out an offensive operation on the western border and held back the tank wedges of German divisions for almost a month.
Then there was the battle for Moscow, where K.K. Rokossovsky, collecting retreating units together with G.K. Zhukov, managed to stop four Wehrmacht armies, two tank and two field, with a total of ninety divisions. Once G.K. Zhukov was a regiment commander in a cavalry division commanded by K.K. Rokossovsky. Then they were in the Battle of Stalingrad and won, won with their experience, their knowledge, won with their love for the Motherland, for the army, for their military profession.
There were few people like them after the repressions of the thirties, the percentage of senior commanders was less than 20%, but, occupying key positions in the most difficult moments of the battles, they raised the second and third generations of commanders, who then made up the main corps in terms of quantitative composition generals of the Red and then the Soviet Army.
Young, loyal, but lacking the experience that the first generation commanders had, they quickly moved up the ranks, received high military ranks and were doomed to military failure in the difficult year of 1941. History has brought to us the inability of these commanders to control troops in the most difficult conditions of the initial period. How could they manage when three or four months ago the same commander of the Western Front, D. G. Pavlov, was the commander of a tank division, the commander of the Kyiv Special District was the commander of an infantry division, which distinguished itself during the capture of the Mannerheim Line in the Finnish campaign. The commanders of the aviation armies were yesterday's commanders of regiments and squadrons. The main air force in the Battle of Stalingrad was the 8th Air Army. Its commander Timofey Timofeevich Khryukin was a squadron commander in the Belarusian Military District with the rank of “senior lieutenant” back in 1938, in 1939 he was the commander of the Air Force of the 14th Combined Arms Army, colonel, and in 1942 – the commander of the 8th Air Army, general. -major.
The same was the fate of the commander of the 16th Air Army, Sergei Ignatievich Rudenko, who in 1927 was a member of the Kachin aviation school, and in 1934 already commanded the 31st mixed aviation division with the rank of colonel. A quick rise through the ranks is acceptable and harmless in peacetime, but in war it turns into a great tragedy.
Hundreds of our planes burned without taking off at border airfields, our pilots died on their first combat missions, and losses of one in ten in 1941 were then restored through the incredible work of the entire Soviet people only for the Battle of Kursk, where our aviation had superiority in the air. The second generation of Stalingrad commanders also includes the commander of the Southwestern Front during the Battle of Stalingrad, Lieutenant General Nikolai Fedorovich Vatutin. In 1925, Nikolai Fedorovich was a company commander, and in July 1942 - commander of the Voronezh Front. He was born with the talent of a commander and, skillfully relying on the experience and knowledge of the first generation commanders, managed to become on par with them. In the galaxy of military leaders, the star of N. F. Vatutin was one of the brightest. As well as Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky. They represented the military leadership corps of the second generation, the generation that made up the bulk of the commanders of the Great Patriotic War.
They were young, loved by the people and leaders, they learned quickly, they were in a hurry to live, they were in a hurry to decide without looking back... And they died... Dozens, hundreds during the war. They were raised by the time and experience of their senior comrades - the commanders of the first generation. Their death is deeply regrettable, because with them the fate of Russia in the post-war period would certainly have been different. The second generation of Stalingrad commanders decided and predetermined the outcome of the most important operations of the Great Patriotic War and the final phase of the Second World War. These commanders decided the fate of the armed forces, and not only their country, in the post-war period.
So, for example, the chief of staff of the 62nd Army N.N. Krylov will be the first to receive the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Strategic Missile Forces and, in addition, the highest military rank. Marshal of the Soviet Union V.I. Chuikov, commander of the 62nd Army in the Battle of Stalingrad, in the future – Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces of the Soviet Union. And there were a significant number of such generals who fought at Stalingrad, who went all the way to Berlin, and even to the Pacific Ocean. Their combat experience, knowledge, faith in those with whom they traveled the roads of war served for the good of the Motherland for a long time, strengthening the Armed Forces, constantly improving their combat training and technical equipment.
Until about the end of the 60s, the Armed Forces of the USSR were an unstoppable force thanks to the second generation commanders in service. Infinitely honest and devoted to military duty, they continued to fight even after the Great Victory. They defended the structure of the Armed Forces, their support, training, the right to life of individual branches of the military, types of weapons before the leaders and general secretaries. And very often, at least in comparison with military losses, they died, if not physically, then mentally and morally. The fates of G.K. Zhukov and N.G. Kuznetsov, K.K. Rokossovsky and T.T. Khryukin mirrored the fates of many commanders of the pre-war years. Along with them is Marshal of the Soviet Union S.F. Akhromeev, who rose above death in the name of the honor of the commander.
The third generation of commanders of Stalingrad and the entire Great Patriotic War were nuggets with talent from God, whose names always appeared in the days of troubled times and military tragedies. The great people, who have inhabited Eurasia for thousands of years, from among their many nations and nationalities have always nominated those worthy of “leading a regiment,” and the people’s council and militia at different periods themselves chose who would lead them to battle. History has preserved in memory the names of many thousands of previously unknown military leaders who revealed their talent in the most difficult days of the war.
We include among them the commanders of the middle, and therefore the main in terms of severity and complexity of combat missions, echelon. The commanders of regiments, brigades, and divisions in the Battle of Stalingrad were replaced three times.
On the night of September 22-23, 1942, the 284th Infantry Division of Colonel N. F. Batyuk crossed to the right bank of the Volga in two regiments. Nikolai Filippovich Batyuk was in the military rank of lieutenant colonel, 38 years old, a former worker. It was his division that turned the tide in the central part of Stalingrad, where by that time the 13th Guards and 95th Rifle Divisions that had landed earlier had lost up to 80% of their personnel in a week. But these are personnel divisions, and General A. I. Rodimtsev and Colonel V. A. Gorishny were experienced commanders and fought in Stalingrad at the peak of their leadership skills, holding back an enemy five times superior. In his memoirs, the commander of the Stalingrad Front, A.I. Eremenko, noted: “...During these days, in fierce battles, the 13th Guards, 95th and 284th Rifle Divisions withstood the most fierce onslaught of the enemy and did not allow him to reach the Volga in the central part of the city, they also prevented him from taking possession of Mamayev Kurgan.”
The need for mid- and senior-level commanders became especially acute by the summer of 1942. These are losses in border combat operations, when armies and divisions, moving into combat areas, fell into German pincers; these are battles for Ukraine, Smolensk, Crimea and, of course, the battle for Moscow. Numerous courses for training officers, both at all military schools and independently, could not meet the needs of the front, and already at the beginning of 1942 the need for mid-level commanders (battalion - regiment) reached 60% of the available positions in the army, and in brigades and divisions - up to 30% of positions. And how could it be otherwise, when during the Battle of Stalingrad the battalion commander was out of action after three weeks, the regiment - after a month and a half, the brigade and division - after four months. Therefore, the losses of the third generation of commanders of the Great Patriotic War were the most numerous. During the 200 days and nights of the Battle of Stalingrad, 1027 battalion commanders, 207 regiment commanders, 96 brigade commanders, 18 division commanders died. Those mid-level commanders who went through Stalingrad then commanded formations and were the main executive command staff of armies and fronts in subsequent operations of the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War.
If the reputation of the first generation commanders was sharply reduced in the eyes of the people due to the repressions of the 30s and failures in local conflicts, especially in the conflict with Finland of 1939-1940, the second generation commanders - due to the initial period of the war, then the third generation was so respected and authoritative, especially the commanders of the Battle of Stalingrad, that by 1952, among the Marshals of the Soviet Union and marshals of the military branches, 50% were those who fought in the Battle of Stalingrad, among colonel generals - 38%, lieutenant generals - 21%, generals majors – 18%. The experience gained by the commanders in the most difficult and bloody battle of the 20th century gave them the right to be in the first rank of commanders in world military history.
To assess the contribution of the commanders of the Battle of Stalingrad to the fate of our Fatherland both in wartime and in peacetime, it is necessary to take into account the following facts: in total, during the history of the Soviet Union, the highest military rank - Marshal of the Soviet Union - and equal to it - Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union - was awarded to 44 commanders , including L. I. Brezhnev and L. P. Beria. During the period from September 22, 1935, when the highest military rank of “Marshal of the Soviet Union” was introduced, to April 28, 1990, when it was awarded to the last Marshal of the Soviet Union, Dmitry Timofeevich Yazov, it was awarded to 41 people and three - the rank of “Admiral” Fleet of the Soviet Union." In total, 44 military leaders wore the uniform of the highest recognition of their military leadership merits and military leadership talent. And 14 of them took part in the Battle of Stalingrad! If we add to them I.V. Stalin and D.F. Ustinov, who did everything possible and even more to win the Battle of Stalingrad, then out of 44 Marshals of the Soviet Union, 16 raised their marshal’s baton in the trenches of Stalingrad. Let's name these commanders. They are military leaders of different generations, but they are united by two great words - “Stalingrad” and “Commander”:
AKHROMEEV Sergey Fedorovich, platoon commander of the 197th Infantry Regiment of the 28th Army;
BIRYUZOV SERGEY SEMENOVICH, Chief of Staff of the 2nd Guards Army;
VASILEVSKY ALEXANDER MIKHAILOVICH, Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army; representative of the Supreme Command Headquarters;
GOLIKOV FILIPP IVANOVYCH, Commander of the 1st Guards Army;
EREMENKO ANDREY IVANOVICH,
ZHUKOV GEORGY KONSTANTINOVICH, Deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief;
KOSHEVOY PETER KIRILLOVICH, commander of the 24th Guards Rifle Division;
KRYLOV NIKOLAI IVANOVICH, Chief of Staff of the 62nd Army;
MALINOVSKY RODION YAKOVLEVICH, commander of the 66th and 2nd Guards armies;
MOSKALENKO KIRILL SEMENOVICH, commander of the 1st Tank and 2nd Guards (first formation) armies;
ROKOSSOVSKY KONSTANTIN KONSTANTINOVICH, commander of the Don Front;
TYMOSHENKO SEMYON KONSTANTINOVYCH, commander of the Stalingrad Front;
TOLBUKHIN FEDOR IVANOVICH, commander of the 57th Army;
CHUIKOV VASILY IVANOVICH, commander of the 62nd Army.
They will receive marshal ranks after the Battle of Stalingrad, some already in peacetime, after the Victory, with the exception of S.K. Timoshenko, who received it on May 7, 1940. But both marshals and generals - they were all great patriots of their Motherland, commanders of the Great Army, in which all were sons of their people. It was their regiments and divisions, corps and armies, retreating, breaking through and dying, that took the lives of their enemies, fighting for Brest and Kyiv, Minsk and Smolensk, Stalingrad and Sevastopol. It was they who crushed the “invincible” armadas of the tank and field armies of the “thousand-year” Reich. Their strategy turned out to be higher and their tactics more cunning than that of the well-born Prussian field marshals and generals. It was their sergeants who were able to turn houses into impregnable fortresses, and the soldiers stood to the death where no one would ever have stood.
The present and future generations living on this land are indebted to them