"It truly was hell." How to reflect the first blow to Stalingrad

The first assault on Stalingrad (13-26 September 1942) did not lead to the fall of the city. Despite the categorical orders of the German high command, the group of the Wehrmacht storming the city in the shortest possible time was powerless to take Stalingrad. She failed to break the resistance of the Soviet troops. By 26 September, after 13 days of fierce fighting in the city, the enemy captured the center of the city and fought in its southern part. However, Soviet troops continued to fiercely fight back, and the struggle for the ruins of the city continued with unprecedented bitterness. 62-I army, isolated by the enemy from the rest of the front, surrounded by him from three sides and pressed to the Volga, steadfastly and courageously reflected the new and new blows of the enemy, who sought to cut it into pieces and destroy. The position of the defenders of Stalingrad was extremely difficult, but they firmly carried out the order to hold the city at any cost.

Soviet counter strike

To support the garrison of Stalingrad, the Stavka decided to launch a new counterattack from the north and restore a united front with the 62nd Army. To organize the counteroffensive, General G.K. Zhukov again arrived. The new offensive was planned to be carried out by the forces of the 1st Guards and 24th armies, but on a different site — south of the Kotluban station. The 1st Guards Army was actually re-formed: transferring its lane to neighbors, Moskalenko’s headquarters was redeployed to the joint of the 4th tank and the 24th Army, where it received 8 new divisions concentrated on a 12-kilometer section of the front. The army was significantly strengthened by artillery and tanks: RGK artillery; 4th, 7th and 16th tank corps, replenished their material part; three separate tank brigades. The Guards Army received the task of delivering a strike from the Kotluban region in the general direction to Gumrak, destroying the opposing enemy forces and connecting with Chuikov’s troops.

In the first echelon, three tank brigades, as well as troops from the 7 tank corps of Rotmistrov, attacked the infantry directly. The 4 and 16 tank corps constituted the mobile group of the army, which received the task of developing success in breaking through the defenses of the enemy in the first echelon. At the same time, the 16 corps under the command of General A.G. Maslov was to be introduced following the 4 case of General A.G. Kravchenko.

The Germans had a well-prepared defense in the strike area. The leading edge passed along the crests of the dominant heights. They covered the firing positions of artillery and all movements in the depths of the German defense. The surrounding terrain from these heights was viewed for miles. The defenses were kept by the German 60-I, 3-I motorized and 79-I infantry divisions. Thus, the Soviet troops again faced a frontal attack on the bare steppe.

German soldier hiding from the fire behind the tank PzKpfw III during the fighting on the outskirts of Stalingrad

German soldier and tank Pz.Kpfw. III during the battle on the outskirts of the city

German soldiers change positions. Photo source: http://waralbum.ru/

The offensive began in the morning of September 18 1942. The Germans again knew about the Russian offensive and conducted their artillery preparation before the Soviet attack. German artillery struck at the concentration sites of the Soviet troops. Then the Soviet army conducted a half-hour artillery preparation, and tank brigades attacked the front edge of the enemy defenses. Overcoming the stubborn resistance of the enemy, they advanced 1-1,5 km and managed to climb the ridges of heights. But to break the defense to all its depth failed. To increase the impact, in the 14 watch, Moskalenko threw the 4 tank corps and two second-tier divisions into battle. However, they were late with access to the dominant heights. At 18 hours, the German infantry, reinforced by 50 tanks, launched a counterattack and dropped our troops that had thinned and not consolidated from the heights. By this time, the Soviet tanks were knocked out, escort artillery lagged behind in the morning, the bloodless infantry could not restrain the enemy strike.

Over the next four days, Soviet divisions continued fruitless attacks, but again failed to take the crest of heights. On September 23, the 16th Panzer Corps was thrown into the offensive. However, its units could not reach the goal, attacking the enemy head-on in the same areas and directions where the 4th and 7th corps had previously tried to break through. The previous mistakes in interaction continued to affect: tank formations, breaking through the enemy defenses and finding themselves in its depths, lost the support of infantry, artillery and aviation. The Germans skillfully cut off our infantry from tanks with machine-gun, mortar and artillery fire (our artillery was not able to suppress the bulk of the firing positions and points of the enemy), pressed infantry to the ground with air attacks; Soviet tanks were left without infantry support and ran into strong opposition from German artillery, including anti-tank, and tanks from the depths of defense. At the same time, our artillery and aviation could not provide full support to the armored formations that had broken through forward.

The offensive continued until the end of September, the troops suffered significant losses, but failed to break through the defense of the German army. As a result, the 1-I Guards Army was disbanded, and what was left of it was transferred to the 24-th army. The hope that a counterattack would at least distract part of the German forces from Stalingrad was also not justified. The Germans removed only part of the aircraft from Stalingrad. The onslaught of German ground forces almost did not weaken.

The command of the 62 Army also received an order: simultaneously with the troops of the Stalingrad Front to strike in the direction of the north-western outskirts of the city and destroy the enemy in the area. The offensive launched by the commander Chuikov 19 in September led to 3-day encounters in the area of ​​Mamayev Kurgan and the village of Rynok. These counterattacks yielded no results and swallowed up all the already minimal reserves of the army.

The wounded Soviet tank T-34 in Stalingrad. October 1942 of the year

Completion of the first assault

Meanwhile, the Germans had regrouped their troops. The 48 tank corps, part of the Goth tank army, was reassigned to the 6 army. The 24-I tank division and the 389-I infantry division withdrawn from the northern sector were transferred to the area to the west of Orlovka. In the center was heading from the area north of the Settlement 295-I infantry division. The regrouping of the troops was carried out in such a way as to concentrate their main efforts against the center and the northern part of the city.

On September 21, on the front from Mamayev Kurgan to the Tsatsaritsyn part of the city, the Germans launched an offensive with five divisions. By noon, due to the break of communication lines, Chuikov lost control of his left flank. September 22 The 62 Army was cut in two. At the site, Rodimtsev's division, which literally was a bone-worn division (for example, from the 1 Battalion of the 42 Guards Regiment defending the station, 6 people survived), the Germans reached the central crossing north of the Tsaritsa River. From here they were able to view almost the entire rear of the army and conduct an offensive along the coast, cutting off the Soviet units from the river.

General Rodimtsev recalled: ““ The fighting that unfolded in the early morning of September 22 at the division site, in terms of tension, bitterness and casualties, surpassed all previous battles that guards had to wage in the city. Among the flames and smoke, under the continuous fire of machine guns, artillery and tanks, under the bombing strikes of enemy aircraft, the guards fought to the death, defending every street, every house. Violent melee battles flared up every now and then. It truly was hell. I was not in one battle, but I had the opportunity to participate in such a fight for the first time. ”

Rodimtsev's guards entrenched on the coastal strip in the central part of the city, and the Germans were no longer able to recapture anything here. “They died there, but the people did not leave!” Said General Rodimtsev. In order to restore the defense, the commander of September Chuykov 23 threw a newly arrived 284 division of lieutenant colonel N. F. Batyuk into the counterattack (10 thous. Fighters). During the 2-day fierce battle, the enemy’s advance from the central pier area to the north was suspended. But it was not possible to connect with the 42 and 92 of the rifle brigades operating beyond the Tsaritsa River. Their remnants retreated beyond the Volga. Having freed their hands on the southern flank, the Germans began to transfer parts from there to Mamayev Kurgan and to the north.

To restore the supply of Chuikov’s army, new marinas and water communications were urgently organized: the first in the region of Verkhnyaya Akhtuba, the second in the region of Skurdi, the third in the region of Tumak. From here on the ships and ships of Volzhskaya flotilla and in boats, cargo was transported to the marinas at the Krasny Oktyabr factory and at the village of Spartanovka. A pedestrian bridge was built on iron barrels from the Barricades factory to Zaitsevsky Island, and a boat ferry operated between the island and the left bank of the Volga. Rifle brigades operating near the Tsaritsa River were supplied independently through the island of Golodny. In total, during the defense, about 100 thousand soldiers and officers, 11429 tons of cargo, etc., were transported to the right bank.

The commander of the 13 Guards Division, which participated in the defense of Stalingrad, Hero of the Soviet Union, Major General Alexander Ilyich Rodimtsev near the staff dugout. Stalingrad, September 1942

In the photo from left to right: Chief of Staff Major General Nikolai Ivanovich Krylov, Lieutenant General Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov, Lieutenant General Kuzma Akimovich Gurov, Major General Alexander Ilyich Rodimtsev

Results

By the evening of September 24, fights in the city center began to subside, the Soviet army repulsed the first assault. Thus, by 26 September, after 13 days of stubborn struggle in the city, the enemy captured the center of the city and fought in its southern part. However, the enemy was unable to fulfill the main task set for him: to seize the entire bank of the Volga near Stalingrad.

September 24. A. Hitler dismissed the Chief of the General Staff of the Ground Forces, Colonel-General Halder, who was appointed to this post before the start of World War II. He was blamed for the failure of operations to seize Stalingrad and the Caucasus. German military researchers wrote that Halder’s dismissal was caused by his sharp disagreements with the Fuhrer on the question of further operations, especially in the Stalingrad sector. G. Durr, in particular, noted: “The chief of the general staff of the land forces demanded an end to the offensive on Stalingrad; 24 September he was fired. " Von Butlar also draws a similar picture: “Meanwhile, the main command of the ground forces had serious disagreements between Hitler and the chief of the General Staff Halder ... he always tried to paint Hitler a true picture of the situation and show that the capabilities of the troops have a certain limit. In his assessment of the forces and plans of the enemy, Halder wanted to show the perspective of the battle on the Volga as accurately as possible. ”

Instead of Halder, Kurt Zeitzler was appointed General of the Infantry, who had previously been Chief of Staff of Army Group D on the Western Front. In the new chief of staff, Hitler found a persistent executor of his intentions who was fanatically loyal to him. Zeitzler persistently sought to implement the plans for the 1942 summer campaign. As a result, the German High Command did not carry out “work on the mistakes” in the Stalingrad sector. In the German Stavka they believed that the Red Army was defeated, had no serious reserves and was not able to organize a counterattack. The Fuhrer was sure that Stalingrad would soon be taken. Hitler, speaking at the 30 September 1942 of the Reichstag, said: "We will storm Stalingrad and take it - you can rely on it ... If we have taken something, we cannot be moved from there."

It is worth noting that the battles in Stalingrad were radically different from military operations in the field. The city buildings dissected the battle formations of the advancing German divisions; they had to act as regimental and battalion groups. Soviet units created strongholds in especially powerful, durable buildings with small garrisons that could lead the battle in the environment. During the aviation and artillery preparation of the Wehrmacht, our troops tried to get very close to the enemy, reducing their losses to a minimum. With the same purpose, they went to close combat so that the enemy could not fully use his advantage in aviation, artillery and tanks. The defenders of the city were the first in the Red Army to use this method of defensive actions in large quantities, such as skipping German tanks, which were met by anti-tank artillery and anti-tank guns in the depth of the defense. At this time, the enemy’s infantry was cut off with small-arms fire. weapons, mortars. The city is well recommended snipers. They actively used engineering barriers, learned to disguise, covertly maneuver and attack suddenly. For the first time during the war, the soldiers appreciated the helmets: during shelling, bricks and debris falling from the upper floors caused heavy injuries, or even killed.

Soldiers and junior commanders in urban battles received unprecedented freedom in their actions. In Stalingrad, in the conditions of street battles, daily fierce battles of small groups, and even individual fights, the individual qualities of each fighter, his desire to survive and win, gained importance. Those of the recruits who survived after the first attacks and fights, became real hardened fire and iron fighters. The highest commander was usually the battalion commander who fought and died with the soldiers. This led to a significant increase in confidence in their commanders and an increase in initiative. The commander-in-chief of Eremenko during this period mainly played the role of the head of the rear, ensuring the supply of the 62 army, and did it well. The battle led Chuikov and his commanders.


“It was necessary to constantly invent something new,” recalls Krylov. - And many people were engaged in this with enthusiasm, even with passion, from senior commanders and staff officers to ordinary soldiers. People's sense of personal responsibility for the outcome of the battle escalated, the initiative, the ability to dare developed, the fighters learned to think like a commander ”(N. Krylov. The Stalingrad Frontier. M .: Voenizdat, 1984).

The same is noted by Colonel Isakov: “Each attack required its solution and was not much like the previous ones. Naturally, in such peculiar conditions, the role of branch commanders, platoon and company commanders increased immeasurably. Often they had to act independently, sometimes even in isolation from other units. Therefore, initiative, ingenuity and resourcefulness have become more and more important ”(I.I. Isakov. Commanders become husband in battles. M .: Voenizdat, 1968.). Among the most striking examples was the sniper movement. Arrows such as Zaitsev, Chekhov, Ilyin, became real heroes in Stalingrad.

Was born and tactics assault battle. Along with platoons and squads, new tactical units appeared - small in number, but mobile and well-prepared and armed assault groups. They were armed with machine guns, light machine guns, melee weapons, grenades, tolovy charges and flamethrowers. They were followed by fastening groups with machine-gun machine guns, light mortars, anti-tank guns and mines. So, the experience of positional battles of the First World War was revived, when small assault groups were also used to storm powerful enemy positions.

Street fighting in Stalingrad. Autumn 1942

Comments

[parusnik]

A fortress is people ...

[Diana Ilyina]

parusnik Today, 07:32 AM New
A fortress is people ...

Alex, good afternoon! You are right, a fortress is people. And also, if my memory serves me right, then Frederick the Great said that it’s not enough to kill a Russian soldier, he also needs to be knocked down! It is a pity that Hitler was little interested in the history of his own country, would listen to Friedrich and Bismarck, maybe he would die his own death ...

[parusnik]

Good day, Diana! Glad to see you in good health ..

[svp67]

Quote: parusnik

A fortress is people ...

Alas, not only. Now it is a symbiosis of people and technology. Already at the initial stage of the Battle of Stalingrad, the loss of our advantage in terms of armor and power of the cannon was very clearly manifested by our T-34 tank. Look at the proposed photo, it is very characteristic it shows

The tank was struck REPEATED in the frontal armor, but the bottom hole was especially highlighted, since not only the armor was pierced, but also the beam connecting the VLD and NLD, it was the thickest place in the T-34's armor, and all because of the enemy’s not only powerful 50 and 75 guns appeared, but also the main thing was a large number of sub-caliber and cumulative shells. As one of our tank commanders wrote, “our tanks were met by a shower of“ armor-burning ”(read cumulative) shells“ and there were two ways to counter this. The first is to increase the level of training of tank crews and to develop new tactical techniques, which we managed to achieve with sin across the sexes. And the second, increasing the armor protection of our tanks, there was NOTHING done in this matter, which turned out to be HUGE blood for us a year later, on the Kursk Bulge.
And yet, this is so because the Germans strengthened the armor protection of their tanks and our main gun was already 76,2 mm, they were taken from a much shorter distance with ordinary armor-piercing guns. Well, this problem was solved by introducing from the tank ammunition subcaliber shells, from 3 to 5 pieces, issued under the personal responsibility of each tank commander ...
During the first months of the Battle of Stalingrad, our troops lost all their tank units and subunits, partly it was saved by the fact that the STZ was near and working, but he also had to stop and send his workers to the people's militia battalions when the enemy went to its walls.

[Alexey RA]

Quote: svp67

The first is to increase the level of training of tank crews and to develop new tactical techniques, which we managed to achieve with sin across the sexes.

This was achieved somewhere by the end of 1943. In 1942, an attack of tanks through the crest of a hill without artillery preparation was a standard technique on the same northern front near Stalingrad. And what a shame - the available forces made it possible to break through the German defenses without such epic losses. It was just necessary to use these forces competently. The same anti-tank missile on the return ramps could theoretically be suppressed by artillery fire and mortar divisions of the rifle divisions in the breakthrough area - if there is adjustment, communication and statutory interaction between tanks and infantry.

Quote: svp67

And the second, increasing the armor protection of our tanks, there was NOTHING done in this matter, which turned out to be HUGE blood for us a year later, on the Kursk Bulge.

Comrade svp67 simplifies.
In fact, the issue of increasing the security of the T-34 has been raised since the end of 1940. And work in this direction was ongoing. The problem was that these works did not reach the series - due to the inability of industry to translate developments into a large series. And first of all - because of the catastrophic lack of rental.
The lack of thin rolled armored plates killed a series of shielded T-34s. The lack of 60 mm rolled killed the first “mold” - it was necessary to reduce the thickness of the armor to the canonical 45 mm, thereby reducing the protection of the tower. As the uv. M. Svirin, with rental thicker than 45 mm, until about 1944 hell was generally hellish - it was barely enough for heavy tanks and self-propelled guns.
The situation with armored hire was as follows. that his savings were prescribed already by the order of the GKO. And, by the way, the whole carousel with the alteration of the bow of future ISs (with the replacement of casting for hire) with its roots went exactly to the economy of rental and the maximum use of cast armor at the design stage of the tank.

[mat-vey]

Quote: Alexey RA

In fact, the issue of increasing the security of the T-34 has been raised since the end of 1940. And work in this direction was ongoing. The problem was that these works did not reach the series - due to the inability of industry to translate developments into a large series. And first of all - because of the catastrophic lack of rental.

What was the result of the evacuation and deployment of enterprises, the loss of personnel and a heavy load on the transport system ... Therefore, the 42nd (IMHO) is probably the most difficult year of the war ...

[Lex.]

If you look closely, then the tank does not have a machine gun and the aft clearance seems to be through?

[NIKNN]

Quote: svp67

The tank is affected MULTIPLE in the frontal armor, but the bottom hole is especially highlighted

I agree with the meaning of your comment. However, according to the photo, the bottom hole at the junction of the sheets and the beam is clearly not fatal ..., the gun recoil was broken (even drips of liquid are visible), and there are 2 more hits under the tower, so they put an end ...: (((

[Eugene_Kot]

There are not so many holes there. The armor of our T-34 met the requirements. But getting under the tower indicates the accuracy of the enemy fire, which was achieved from close range. 34 worked well in the city due to maneuverability. The picture shows that the tank was stopped with the first hit, and then it was finely finished under the tower. Because there’s nowhere to shoot more in the forehead and it is useless.

[svp67]

Quote: Eugene_Kot

But getting under the tower indicates the accuracy of enemy fire, which is achieved from close range

This indicates the excellent accuracy of the battle of the German guns. And this is achieved not only by the high skill of the gunner, but also by the very high flight speed of the projectile, because of which it has a more gentle trajectory

[BAI]

In the first months of the Battle of Stalingrad, our troops lost all their tank units and subunits,

Well, where does this information come from?
After the attack of the 1st Guards Army (described in the article) "By the beginning of the battle directly for the city, the 23rd Panzer Corps and the 27th Panzer Brigade, which were part of the 62nd Army, had only 110 tanks {84}" In total - but not zero .
Yes, a separate heavy tank brigade No. 158 ceased to exist. But the losses of cars were constantly replenished, and not only by the Stalingrad plant.
It’s not from scratch:
"On the eve of the counterattack

The tank forces of the Southwestern Front included the 5th Panzer Army, the 4th Panzer Corps and three tank regiments. The troops of the Stalingrad Front included the 4th mechanized and 13th tank corps, eight separate tank brigades (13, 56, 84, 90, 235, 236, 254 and the 6th Guards) and three separate tank battalions. The Don Front had the 16th Panzer Corps and four separate tank brigades (9th, 10th, 58th and 121st).

In total, there were about 979 tanks in three fronts, of which more than 80 percent were on the Southwestern and Stalingrad fronts. [76] "

[SerB60]

The beam in the nose of the T-34, although it is the thickest place, but by no means the strongest. If I’m not mistaken, it didn’t harden, so ... ((

[Weyland]

Quote: parusnik

A fortress is people ...

It was recalled: when the Mongols besieged Samarkand, the city authorities almost immediately began negotiations on surrender - moreover, they tried to negotiate the honorable conditions for surrender on the grounds that the fortress was powerful, the garrison was numerous, and it would be difficult for the Mongols to take it.
The Mongols replied: "the defenses of a fortress are determined not by the height and thickness of the walls and not by the number of its defenders, but solely by their courage! if you were going to surrender - then surrender unconditionally! "Samarkand surrendered unconditionally - and all the inhabitants, with the exception of highly qualified specialists, the Mongols slaughtered: each Mongol had to kill 35 Samarkand residents...

[mat-vey]

Since then, “Samarkand” have not changed much ...

[Uncle lee]

And Stalingrad became a symbol of resilience!

[Galleon]

Thanks for the interesting article! Experience for a military man is a precious thing. Read about the experience of grandfathers - how to receive gifts from them. Thanks again.

[Served once]

HEROES! ETERNAL MEMORY OF THEM! And the article should become a textbook in school. Let modern children know and remember their Great Great-Great-Grandfathers!

[Some kind of compote]

Glory to the Heroes of Stalingrad!

[antivirus]

Yakov Mikhailovich Glazunov, captain of the Volga Shipping Company, brother-in-law of my acquaintance, b.
“They call him, in the summer, to the shipping company’s department, to Gorky (perhaps Kuibyshev?), They say:
- "go to Stalingrad, everyone who can be evacuated there"
Loaded at the pier. A raid began, they were quickly kicked out of the pier.
He went along the shore.
- "If you get, then swim to the shore, and others who survive"
And the second ship went in the middle and drowned,
children injured.
They laid out white sheets with red crosses on the deck.
"The fascist threw, threw, but missed. I kept dodging, and left."
"Every time I spoke with a cry"

[Conductor]

T 34 is up to impossible. Medium tank, but massive.

[Alexey RA]

Quote: Conductor

T 34 is up to impossible. Medium tank, but massive.

So the massive large-scale middle peasants pulled out the war. We have a T-34. The Yankees have the same “average middling” “Sherman”. Both could not boast of armor and weapons (although the Yankees had better shells) - but there were many. And even attacks in the style of "the tank with the trawl is stuck - we go around it and go to undermine the head one, then we go around the exploded head one and continue moving, repeat until the end of the minefield“they didn’t lead to a decrease in the stock ... of the Sherman.” Yes, this was not our attack - Belton Cooper described the passage of American minefield tankers to German positions.

Each task force had one minesweeper tank. Having overcome the crest of the hill and overtaking the infantry, they drove straight into the minefields. Although they had to fight not only with mines, but also with thick mud, at first these tanks showed themselves well. Under the blows of the chains, several minutes exploded, adding an extra pair of funnels to the field. But in the end, both minesweeper tanks got bogged down, because on wet ground the engine power was not enough to crank the drum and tracks at the same time. Frozen, they were excellent targets and were soon knocked out.
The next tanks of the columns had no choice but to go around the minesweeper tanks and break through. It ended in a nightmarish domino - the first of the tanks rounded a minesweeper and walked several meters before being blown up by a mine. The next one went around both of them and moved a little further, when he also came across a mine and was blown up.
This continued until one tank finally broke through the minefield to continue the attack. The one following him tried to follow the same route, and sometimes he managed to pass the minefield unscathed. By the third tank, however, the soft earth was turning into a swamp, where the armored vehicles were stuck, despite the “duck legs” that we placed on the connecting links of the trucks. And every stuck tank became a fixed target for killer anti-tank fire. The Germans continued to shell the wrecked car until it caught fire. If the crew tried to get out, he fell under the concentrated fire of their machine guns.
Our brave tankers knew that their cars on a soggy minefield were doomed to certain death, and still continued the offensive. That was one of the most heroic attacks in the history of the war. 64 medium tanks moved into the first attack, and in the first 26 minutes of the battle we lost 48 vehicles. Losses among the crews in this terrible battle were appropriate ...

[Protos]

Quote: Conductor

T 34 is up to impossible. Medium tank, but massive.

The workhorse of war, like the Pz-4, M4A1!
It was they who bore the brunt of the war, and not the really hyped "kote" Pz-5 and Pz-6

[Lex.]

It seems that near Stalingrad, the Bulgarians fought against the Red Army

[Was mammoth]

Italians, Romanians, Germans

[Alexey RA]

Quote: Was Mammoth

Italians, Romanians, Germans

More Hungarians. Moreover, one of the Germans wrote in his memoirs that the Hungarians and Romanians could not be put together - between them always needed a layer of German or Italian units. The reason is simple - Northern Transylvania, previously owned by Romania in 1940, was transferred to Hungary by a decision of the Vienna Arbitration (read - Germany and Italy). And so the Hungarians in the reunited territories developed to the full breadth of their Ugric soul - ethnic cleansing, pogroms ... well, in general, everything is as always (as Hasek described yet). However, the Hungarians remaining in Romania also felt all the tolerance and multiculturalism of the proud descendants of the Romans (well, the Romanians themselves consider them to be). In short, refugees were considered hundreds of thousands.
As a result, the two largest Reich satellite groups had to be bred at different angles - so that they would not suit final solution to the transylvanian issue right under the nose of the Red Army men, who were dead of such a performance.

[Was mammoth]

Quote: Alexey RA

More Hungarians ....

Right There and others were each creature in pairs. Just sunk the words of his father in relation to the Romanians and Italians as warriors. He in Stalingrad became a communist and the first stars on shoulder straps personally Chuikov gave there.

[mat-vey]

The grandmother’s nephew had the most terrible curse (when he was drunk) - “the Romanians-n-us) ... they say the first thing he said they did with the prisoners, then he stopped talking about this topic, he only filled with anger ...

[v34]

Quote: Was Mammoth

Italians, Romanians, Germans

Croats were noted yet.
A few years ago in the suburbs of Stalingrad found the highest? Croatian Order - Star of Zvonimir. I held it in my hands.
The Croats fought very well, at least the Germans appreciated them.
The regiment (emnip 389 or 369) fought in the area of ​​the Krasny Oktyabr factory, where by December-January it was so tattered that Pavelich? Pachechich? (the leader of this same regiment and, along the way, the cavalier of the star Zvonimir) was tired and decided to "mow down." Under the pretext of forming a new legion to replace the knocked out one, he received the go-ahead to evacuate from the boiler.
Horses were eaten by that time, it was also stressful with gas, but on foot he didn’t reach the Gumrak-Nursery airfields, he disappeared, and after six decades Volgograd diggers found his tzatsk.

[Was mammoth]

Quote: v34

... disappeared ...

This is the main thing! One of the creatures in a pair.

[Graz]

photo interesting

[BAI]

And http://waralbum.ru/ is generally a very interesting site. Especially the comments. Knowledgeable people are sitting there.

[BAI]

Here on this KV-1, lined up near Stalingrad, they gave not only 101 comments, but also determined which part belonged. By the way, judging by the photo from the "Military Album" (by the number of photos), the main tanks near Stalingrad were the T-60, T-70 and even T-26. T-34 and KV-1 were in the minority.

[Siberia 9444]

Tin was there! Separately, a sniper put their point.

[Dmitry Burmakin]

"Our regiment stormed the Mamaev Kurgan." Memoirs from 1974. Here is the link http://www.mosoblpress.ru/mass_media/3/130/item11
5565 /
Hell is pitchless

In the early morning of the 16th, after the bombing and powerful artillery preparation from all types of guns from behind the Volga and from the side of the city, after the second volley of guards “Katyushas”, following the tanks, the battalions of our regiment went on the attack. With flamethrowers and grenades we “smoked” the Germans, who sat in the trenches on the slopes. By noon on September 16, our 39th Guards Rifle Regiment stormed Mamaev Kurgan.

In this battle for legendary height, I fought a machine gunner in the front lines of the assault companies. I was in my twentieth year. I was a company Komsomol. Although he was young, he was considered a fired warrior in the company, as he participated in many battles and was wounded near Kiev.

All day and night on September 16, the guard led fierce, bloody battles for Mamaev Kurgan, which more than once turned into hand-to-hand fights. Hand-to-hand combat is usually short, but terrible: here either victory or death. Everything was used: bayonets, butts, knives and just heavy fragments of bombs and shells. Hell was pitch-black, hair moving on my head ... After the fight, in minutes of a short lull, I saw many turned gray.

On September 16 and 17, the height changed hands several times several times. After repeated psychic attacks by drunk and distraught fascists, terrible bombardments of diving bombers, the enemy briefly managed to capture the water tanks at the very top of the Mamaev Kurgan and press our battalion onto the eastern slope. The threat of dismemberment of the regiment was created. We hastily buried in the ground. The front was like a layer cake. Our trenches and trenches were so close to the German that they dared not bomb or shell us with guns or mortars. They fought mainly with grenades and machine guns in close combat. Sometimes they were so close that throwing grenades and shooting was dangerous - you would kill your own. They took machine guns behind the barrel and pounded the enemy with rifle butts. At the signal, the missiles rushed forward again and again ... The dead fell, the wounded moaned, and the living moved on. We stubbornly made our way to the top of the mound - and the enemy could not stand it, retreated, covering the slopes with corpses. Fiercer battles than for Mamaev Kurgan, I did not see before or after Stalingrad. There were times when there were fewer living around than the dead. Hearing the cries of “Hurray!”, The groans of the wounded mixed with cursing fighting, we did not think about death. There was simply no time to think about her. One thought drilled the brain: kill the enemy and repel the mound.

Black Barrow

On September 17, after we recaptured the water tanks (at the very top of the height, where the statue of the Mother Motherland now stands), the Germans became brutalized. The artillery and mortar fire was so strong that there was no way to raise his head, move. For more than an hour, Nazi aviation "kneaded" the land of Mamaev Kurgan. We were thrown bombs and a ton of weight. Once steep and steep slopes from continuous shelling have become gentle. And when it seemed that nothing alive should remain at the height, German tanks went at us, followed by machine gunners.

Day after day, we repulsed the desperate attacks of the enemy one after another, sometimes up to a dozen per day. They themselves went on the counterattack ... Then, in the forty-second year, in a handful of land taken from the mound there were more fragments than the land itself.

Winter. There is snow all around, and the mound is black. Two years later, nothing grew on it, such a density was fire. Our soldiers survived and won: until the end of the battle in this place the Nazis never reached the Volga.