Who commanded the 62nd army. Battle of Stalingrad: defense of Stalingrad
Taking into account the tasks to be solved, the peculiarities of the conduct of hostilities by the parties, the spatial and temporal scale, as well as the results, the Battle of Stalingrad includes two periods: defensive - from July 17 to November 18, 1942; offensive - from November 19, 1942 to February 2, 1943
The strategic defensive operation in the Stalingrad direction lasted 125 days and nights and included two stages. The first stage is the conduct of defensive combat operations by the troops of the fronts on the distant approaches to Stalingrad (July 17 - September 12). The second stage is the conduct of defensive operations to hold Stalingrad (September 13 - November 18, 1942).
The German command delivered the main blow with the forces of the 6th Army in the direction of Stalingrad along the shortest path through the large bend of the Don from the west and southwest, just in the defense zones of the 62nd (commander - major general, from August 3 - lieutenant general , from September 6 - major general, from September 10 - lieutenant general) and the 64th (commander - lieutenant general V.I. Chuikov, from August 4 - lieutenant general) armies. The operational initiative was in the hands of the German command with almost double superiority in forces and means.
defensive fighting troops of the fronts on the distant approaches to Stalingrad (July 17 - September 12)
The first stage of the operation began on July 17, 1942, in a large bend of the Don, with combat contact between units of the 62nd Army and the forward detachments of German troops. Fierce battles ensued. The enemy had to deploy five divisions out of fourteen and spend six days to approach the main line of defense of the troops of the Stalingrad Front. However, under the onslaught of superior enemy forces, Soviet troops were forced to retreat to new, poorly equipped or even unequipped lines. But even under these conditions, they inflicted significant losses on the enemy.
By the end of July, the situation in the Stalingrad direction continued to be very tense. German troops deeply covered both flanks of the 62nd Army, reached the Don in the Nizhne-Chirskaya area, where the 64th Army held the defense, and created the threat of a breakthrough to Stalingrad from the southwest.
Due to the increased width of the defense zone (about 700 km), by the decision of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, the Stalingrad Front, commanded by Lieutenant General from July 23, was divided on August 5 into the Stalingrad and South-Eastern Fronts. In order to achieve closer interaction between the troops of both fronts, from August 9, the leadership of the defense of Stalingrad was united in one hand, in connection with which the Stalingrad Front was subordinated to the commander of the troops of the South-Eastern Front, Colonel General.
By mid-November, the advance of the German troops was stopped on the entire front. The enemy was forced to finally go on the defensive. This was the end of the strategic defensive operation of the Battle of Stalingrad. The troops of the Stalingrad, South-Eastern and Don fronts fulfilled their tasks, holding back the powerful offensive of the enemy in the Stalingrad direction, creating the prerequisites for a counteroffensive.
During the defensive battles, the Wehrmacht suffered huge losses. In the struggle for Stalingrad, the enemy lost about 700,000 killed and wounded, over 2,000 guns and mortars, over 1,000 tanks and assault guns, and over 1,400 combat and transport aircraft. Instead of a non-stop advance to the Volga, the enemy troops were drawn into protracted, exhausting battles in the Stalingrad region. The plan of the German command for the summer of 1942 was frustrated. At the same time, the Soviet troops also suffered heavy losses in personnel - 644 thousand people, of which 324 thousand people were irretrievable, and 320 thousand were sanitary people. The losses of weapons amounted to: about 1400 tanks, more than 12 thousand guns and mortars and more than 2 thousand aircraft.
Soviet troops continued to advance
He is one of the creators of the Victory in the Battle of Stalingrad. It was he, the commander of the 62nd Army, who in September 1942 received the task of defending Stalingrad. Far from today, in connection with this task, another phrase was added - "at any cost." The price of victory was indeed terribly high. A few years later, Chuikov himself wrote about this - in his memoirs, which he called succinctly and honestly - "The Beginning of the Road." In the 1970s, they will see the light under a different name - "The Battle of the Century." In any case, the memoirs are strikingly different from many other memoirs published in those years. Censorship and politeness were not able to "spoil" the vividness of Chuikov's memory. In this memory, there is a place not only for the "headquarters" war through the eyes of Commander-62. Although Vasily Ivanovich’s headquarters was alive ...
“By the evening of September 12, we arrived at the crossing in Krasnaya Sloboda. A T-34 tank has been loaded onto a motor ferry, and a second tank is being prepared for loading. My car is not allowed. I had to show the documents of the commander of the 62nd Army.
I introduced myself as the deputy commander of the tank corps for the technical part.
I asked him to describe the situation in his unit.
“By yesterday evening,” he reported, “there were about forty tanks in the corps, of which only half were on the move, the rest were knocked out, but were used as fixed firing points.
Our ferry goes around the sandy spit of Golodny Island from the north and heads to the central pier. Occasionally, shells explode on the water. The fire is not targeted. Not dangerous. We are approaching the coast. From afar you can see how, when our ferry approaches, the pier is filled with people. The wounded are carried out of the cracks, craters and shelters, people with bundles and suitcases appear. All of them before the approach of the ferry escaped from the fire in cracks, pits, funnels from bombs.
There were dried streaks of dirt on sooty faces - tears mixed with dust. Children, exhausted by thirst and hunger, stretch their arms to the water ... The heart contracts, a lump of bitterness rises to the throat.
Certainly, peasant son, Chuikov knew the price of Victory well. And, perhaps, only a peasant's son could fulfill the order - to keep the City, the battle for which daily grinded companies, battalions, regiments. Here he writes about the tragic September 1942: “In the atmosphere of those days, one could say“ time is blood ”; because the lost time will have to be paid with the blood of our people. He accepted the army when its units in the city were cut off from the main forces of the front, and the Germans had already reached the Volga. This 62nd had to fight for every house in Stalingrad. "Pavlov's House" is also the 62nd Army ...
We are reading today about Commander Chuikov and his understanding of fighting at any cost: “The army, under the command of V.I. Chuikov, became famous for the heroic six-month defense of Stalingrad in street battles in a completely destroyed city, fighting on isolated bridgeheads, on the banks of the wide Volga.
In Stalingrad, V. I. Chuikov introduces close combat tactics. Our and German trenches are located at a grenade throw distance. This complicates the work of enemy aviation and artillery, they are simply afraid to hit their own. Despite the fact that the superiority of Paulus in manpower is obvious, the Soviet troops are constantly counterattacking, and mostly at night. This makes it possible to recapture the positions left during the day. For the Red Army, the battles in Stalingrad were the first serious battles in the city. The appearance of special assault groups is also associated with the name of V.I. Chuikov. They were the first to suddenly burst into houses, and used underground communications for movement. The Germans did not understand when and, most importantly, where to expect a counterattack.
The soldiers loved him. They believed Chuikov. His instructions were followed: “Burst into the house together with a grenade. The grenade is ahead, you are behind it, so go through the whole house. Even from Stalingrad, Chuikov was called: General Sturm!
He really was in the right place. Chuikov was brought to this place not only by the flair and experience of the higher authorities. Let's say "politically correct": the future hero of Stalingrad was kept by fate itself. Soldier's Destiny! “During the departure on July 23, 1942 life path Chuikov almost broke off ahead of time. Near locality Surovikino U-2 was attacked by a German aircraft. No weapons were installed on the U-2, and the pilot had to apply all his skill to evade enemy attacks. In the end, the maneuvers came to an end near the ground. U-2 just collided with the ground and fell apart. By a lucky chance, both the pilot and Chuikov escaped with only bruises, and the German pilot, most likely, decided that the job was done and flew away.
From the memoirs of the son of Marshal Chuikov, Alexander Vasilyevich: “He said:“ I stood with my fist clenched, and there was a desire to cross myself. And I feel that I can’t unclench my fingers, I can’t put them together for the sign of the cross, they cramped. And he crossed himself with his fist. Until the Victory, he was baptized with his fist. One day, after the death of Marshal, the son was sorting through his documents. In the party card I found a note written by my father's hand: “Oh, mighty one! Turn the night into day, and the earth into a flower garden. All difficult things are easy for me and help me. Soldier's prayer of a general nicknamed Sturm ...
After Stalingrad, the 62nd Army will become the 8th Guards. The army commander himself for the defense of the City will be presented with the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. At the last moment, the performance will be changed. The Stars of the Hero will come to him later - in the 44th and 45th. For Stalingrad, Chuikov will receive the Order of Suvorov, I degree.
Until the end of the war, he will remain the commander of his army, "Stalingrad". Under his leadership, the 8th Guards would liberate Soviet Ukraine and Belarus, and clear Poland of fascism. Berlin will be taken by storm in 1945. At the command post of Colonel General Chuikov on May 2, 1945, the head of the Berlin garrison, General Weidling, will sign the surrender of the German troops and surrender - with the remnants of the garrison.
In July 1981, the former commander of the 62nd Army, former Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces of the USSR, former head of the Civil Defense of the USSR, personal pensioner of allied significance, Marshal of the Soviet Union Chuikov, wrote to the Central Committee of the CPSU: request: after my death, bury the ashes on Mamaev Kurgan in Stalingrad, where I organized my command post on September 12, 1942 ... From that place you can hear the roar of the Volga waters, volleys of guns and the pain of the Stalingrad ruins, thousands of soldiers whom I commanded are buried there.
He will be gone in a few months, on March 18, 1982. Chuikov will be buried on Mamaev Kurgan - next to the fallen soldiers and commanders of the Stalingrad 62nd Army. The whole great city will come to say goodbye to Vasily Ivanovich...
The battle for Stalingrad in terms of the duration and fierceness of the fighting, in terms of the number of people and military equipment participating, surpassed at that time all the battles of world history.
At certain stages, more than 2 million people, up to 2 thousand tanks, more than 2 thousand aircraft, up to 26 thousand guns participated in it on both sides. The fascist German troops lost more than 800 thousand soldiers and officers, as well as a large number of military equipment, weapons and equipment, killed, wounded, captured.
Defense of Stalingrad (now Volgograd)
In accordance with the plan of the summer offensive campaign of 1942, the German command, having concentrated large forces in the southwestern direction, expected to defeat the Soviet troops, go to the big bend of the Don, seize Stalingrad on the move and capture the Caucasus, and then resume the offensive in the Moscow direction.
For the attack on Stalingrad, the 6th Army (commander - Colonel General F. von Paulus) was allocated from Army Group B. By July 17, it included 13 divisions, in which there were about 270 thousand people, 3 thousand guns and mortars and about 500 tanks. They were supported by aviation of the 4th air fleet - up to 1200 combat aircraft.
The Headquarters of the Supreme High Command moved the 62nd, 63rd and 64th armies from its reserve to the Stalingrad direction. July 12 at the base of the field command of the troops Southwestern Front The Stalingrad Front was created under the command of Marshal of the Soviet Union S. K. Timoshenko. On July 23, Lieutenant General V.N. Gordov was appointed commander of the front. The front also included the 21st, 28th, 38th, 57th combined arms and 8th air armies of the former Southwestern Front, and from July 30 - the 51st Army of the North Caucasian Front. At the same time, the 57th, as well as the 38th and 28th armies, on the basis of which the 1st and 4th tank armies were formed, were in reserve. The Volga military flotilla was subordinated to the front commander.
The newly created front began to fulfill the task, having only 12 divisions, in which there were 160 thousand soldiers and commanders, 2.2 thousand guns and mortars and about 400 tanks, in the 8th air army there were 454 aircraft.
In addition, 150-200 long-range bombers and 60 air defense fighters were involved. In the initial period of defensive actions near Stalingrad, the enemy outnumbered the Soviet troops by 1.7 times in personnel, by 1.3 times in artillery and tanks, and by more than 2 times in the number of aircraft.
On July 14, 1942, Stalingrad was declared under martial law. Four defensive bypasses were built on the outskirts of the city: outer, middle, inner and city. The entire population, including children, was mobilized for the construction of defensive structures. The factories of Stalingrad completely switched to the production of military products. Militia units, self-defense work units were created at factories and enterprises. Civilians, equipment of individual enterprises and material values evacuated to the left bank of the Volga.
Defensive battles began on the distant approaches to Stalingrad. The main efforts of the troops of the Stalingrad Front were concentrated in the large bend of the Don, where they occupied the defenses of the 62nd and 64th armies in order to prevent the enemy from forcing the river and breaking through it by the shortest route to Stalingrad. From July 17, the forward detachments of these armies fought defensive battles for 6 days at the turn of the Chir and Tsimla rivers. This allowed us to gain time to strengthen the defense at the main line. Despite the steadfastness, courage and perseverance shown by the troops, the armies of the Stalingrad Front failed to defeat the enemy groupings that had penetrated, and they had to retreat to the near approaches to the city.
On July 23-29, the German 6th Army attempted enveloping strikes on the flanks Soviet troops encircle them in the big bend of the Don, go to the Kalach region and break through to Stalingrad from the west. As a result of the stubborn defense of the 62nd and 64th armies and the counterattack of the formations of the 1st and 4th tank armies, the enemy's plan was thwarted.
Defense of Stalingrad. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
July 31, the German command turned the 4th Panzer Army Colonel General G. Goth from the Caucasus to the Stalingrad direction. On August 2, its advanced units reached Kotelnikovsky, creating a threat of a breakthrough to the city. Fighting began on the southwestern approaches to Stalingrad.
To facilitate command and control of troops stretched over a 500 km zone, on August 7, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command formed a new one from several armies of the Stalingrad Front - the South-Eastern Front, the command of which was entrusted to Colonel General A. I. Eremenko. The main efforts of the Stalingrad Front were directed to the fight against the 6th german army, advancing on Stalingrad from the west and north-west, and the South-Eastern Front - on the defense of the south-western direction. On August 9-10, the troops of the South-Eastern Front launched a counterattack on the 4th Panzer Army and forced it to stop.
On August 21, the infantry of the 6th German Army crossed the Don and built bridges, after which tank divisions moved to Stalingrad. At the same time, Gotha's tanks launched an offensive from the south and southwest. 23 August 4th Air Army von Richthofen subjected the city to a massive bombardment, dropping more than 1000 tons of bombs on the city.
Tank formations of the 6th Army moved towards the city, encountering almost no resistance, however, in the Gumrak area, they had to overcome the positions of anti-aircraft gun crews that had been put forward to fight the tanks until the evening. Nevertheless, on August 23, the 14th Panzer Corps of the 6th Army managed to break through to the Volga north of Stalingrad near the village of Latoshynka. The enemy wanted to break into the city on the move through its northern outskirts, however, along with the army units, people's militia detachments, the Stalingrad police, the 10th division of the NKVD troops, sailors of the Volga military flotilla, cadets of military schools stood up to defend the city.
The enemy's breakthrough to the Volga further complicated and worsened the position of the units defending the city. The Soviet command took measures to destroy the enemy grouping that had broken through to the Volga. Until September 10, the troops of the Stalingrad Front and the reserves of the Headquarters transferred to its structure launched continuous counterattacks from the north-west on the left flank of the 6th German Army. It was not possible to push the enemy back from the Volga, but the enemy offensive on the northwestern approaches to Stalingrad was suspended. The 62nd Army was cut off from the rest of the troops of the Stalingrad Front and was transferred to the South-Eastern Front.
Since September 12, the defense of Stalingrad was entrusted to the 62nd Army, commanded by General V. I. Chuikov, and troops of the 64th Army General M.S. Shumilov. On the same day, after another bombardment, German troops launched an attack on the city from all directions. In the north main goal there was Mamaev Kurgan, from the height of which the crossing over the Volga was clearly visible, in the center the German infantry made its way to the railway station, in the south, Goth's tanks, with the support of the infantry, gradually moved towards the elevator.
On September 13, the Soviet command decided to transfer the 13th Guards Rifle Division to the city. Having crossed the Volga for two nights, the guards threw back the German troops from the area of the central crossing over the Volga, cleared many streets and quarters of them. On September 16, the troops of the 62nd Army, with the support of aviation, stormed the Mamaev Kurgan. Fierce battles for the southern and central part cities were fought until the end of the month.
On September 21, on the front from Mamaev Kurgan to the Zatsaritsyno part of the city, the Germans launched a new offensive with the forces of five divisions. A day later, on September 22, the 62nd Army was cut into two parts: the Germans reached the central crossing north of the Tsaritsa River. From here they had the opportunity to view almost the entire rear of the army and conduct an offensive along the coast, cutting off the Soviet units from the river.
By September 26, the Germans managed to come close to the Volga in almost all areas. Nevertheless, Soviet troops continued to hold a narrow strip of the coast, and in some places even separate buildings at some distance from the embankment. Many objects changed hands many times.
The fighting in the city took on a protracted character. The troops of Paulus lacked the strength to finally throw the defenders of the city into the Volga, and the Soviet ones - to dislodge the Germans from their positions.
The struggle was for each building, and sometimes for part of the building, floor or basement. Snipers were active. The use of aviation and artillery, due to the proximity of enemy formations, became almost impossible.
From September 27 to October 4, active hostilities were waged on the northern outskirts for the villages of the Krasny Oktyabr and Barrikady factories, and from October 4 - for these factories themselves.
At the same time, the Germans were attacking in the center on Mamaev Kurgan and on the extreme right flank of the 62nd Army in the Orlovka area. By the evening of September 27, Mamaev Kurgan fell. An extremely difficult situation developed in the area of the mouth of the Tsaritsa River, from where the Soviet units, experiencing an acute shortage of ammunition and food and losing control, began to cross over to the left bank of the Volga. The 62nd Army responded with counterattacks of the newly arriving reserves.
They were rapidly melting, however, the losses of the 6th Army took on catastrophic proportions.
It included almost all the armies of the Stalingrad Front, except for the 62nd. Commander was appointed General K. K. Rokossovsky. From the composition of the South-Eastern Front, whose troops fought in the city and to the south, the Stalingrad Front was formed under the command General A. I. Eremenko. Each front was directly subordinated to the Stavka.
Commander of the Don Front Konstantin Rokossovsky and General Pavel Batov (right) in a trench near Stalingrad. Photo reproduction. Photo: RIA Novosti
By the end of the first decade of October, enemy attacks began to weaken, but in the middle of the month Paulus launched a new assault. On October 14, the German troops, after a powerful air and artillery preparation, went on the attack again.
Several divisions advanced on a sector of about 5 km. This offensive of the enemy, which lasted almost three weeks, led to the most fierce battle in the city.
On October 15, the Germans managed to capture the Stalingrad Tractor Plant and break through to the Volga, cutting the 62nd Army in half. After that, they launched an offensive along the banks of the Volga to the south. On October 17, the 138th division arrived in the army to support Chuikov's weakened formations. Fresh forces repelled enemy attacks, and from October 18, Paulus' ram began to noticeably lose its strength.
To alleviate the position of the 62nd Army, on October 19, troops from the Don Front went on the offensive from the area north of the city. The territorial success of the flank counterattacks was insignificant, but they delayed the regrouping undertaken by Paulus.
By the end of October, the offensive operations of the 6th Army slowed down, although in the area between the Barrikady and Krasny Oktyabr factories, no more than 400 m remained to go to the Volga. Nevertheless, the tension of the fighting weakened, and the Germans basically consolidated the captured positions.
November 11 was made the last attempt to capture the city. This time the offensive was carried out by the forces of five infantry and two tank divisions, reinforced by fresh engineer battalions. The Germans managed to capture another section of the coast 500-600 m long in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Barricades plant, but this was the last success of the 6th Army.
In other sectors, Chuikov's troops held their positions.
The offensive of the German troops in the Stalingrad direction was finally stopped.
By the end of the defensive period of the Battle of Stalingrad, the 62nd Army held the area north of the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, the Barrikady plant, and the northeastern quarters of the city center. The 64th Army defended the approaches.
During the defensive battles for Stalingrad, the Wehrmacht, according to Soviet data, lost in July - November up to 700 thousand soldiers and officers killed and wounded, more than 1000 tanks, over 2000 guns and mortars, more than 1400 aircraft. General losses of the Red Army in Stalingrad defensive operation amounted to 643 842 people, 1426 tanks, 12 137 guns and mortars, 2063 aircraft.
Soviet troops exhausted and bled the enemy grouping operating near Stalingrad, which created favorable conditions for a counteroffensive.
Stalingrad offensive operation
By the autumn of 1942, the technical re-equipment of the Red Army had been basically completed. At the factories located in the deep rear and evacuated factories, mass production new military equipment, which not only was not inferior, but often surpassed the equipment and weapons of the Wehrmacht. During the past battles, Soviet troops gained combat experience. The moment had come when it was necessary to wrest the initiative from the enemy and begin mass expulsion of him from the borders of the Soviet Union.
With the participation of the military councils of the fronts at Headquarters, a plan was developed for the Stalingrad offensive operation.
The Soviet troops were to launch a decisive counter-offensive on a front of 400 km, encircle and destroy the enemy strike force concentrated in the Stalingrad area. This task was assigned to the troops of three fronts - the South-Western ( Commander General N. F. Vatutin), Donskoy ( Commander General K. K. Rokossovsky) and Stalingrad ( Commander General A. I. Eremenko).
The forces of the parties were approximately equal, although in tanks, artillery and aviation, Soviet troops already had a slight superiority over the enemy. Under such conditions, in order to successfully carry out the operation, it was necessary to create a significant superiority in forces in the directions of the main attacks, which was achieved with great skill. The success was ensured primarily due to the fact that special attention was paid to operational camouflage. The troops moved to the assigned positions only at night, while the radio stations of the units remained in the same places, continuing to work, so that the enemy had the impression that the units remained in their previous positions. All correspondence was forbidden, and orders were given only orally, and only to direct executors.
The Soviet command concentrated more than a million people on the direction of the main attack in a 60 km sector, supported by 900 T-34 tanks that had just rolled off the assembly line. Such a concentration of military equipment at the front has never happened before.
One of the centers of fighting in Stalingrad is an elevator. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
The German command did not show due attention to the position of its Army Group "B", because. was waiting for the offensive of the Soviet troops against the Army Group "Center".
Group B Commander General Weichs did not agree with this opinion. He was worried about the bridgehead prepared by the enemy on the right bank of the Don opposite his formations. According to his urgent demands, by the end of October, several newly formed Luftwaffe field units were transferred to the Don in order to strengthen the defensive positions of the Italian, Hungarian and Romanian formations.
Weichs' predictions were confirmed in early November, when photographs taken aerial reconnaissance, showed the presence of several new crossings in the area. Two days later, Hitler ordered the transfer of the 6th Panzer and two infantry divisions from the English Channel to Army Group B as reserve reinforcements for the 8th Italian and 3rd Romanian armies. It took about five weeks for their preparation and transfer to Russia. Hitler, however, did not expect any significant action until early December, so he calculated that the reinforcements should have arrived on time.
By the second week of November, with the appearance of Soviet tank units on the bridgehead, Weichs no longer doubted that a major offensive was being prepared in the zone of the 3rd Romanian army, which, possibly, would also be directed against the German 4th tank army. Since all of his reserves were at Stalingrad, Weichs decided to form a new grouping as part of the 48th Panzer Corps, which he placed behind the 3rd Romanian Army. He also transferred the 3rd Romanian armored division to this corps and was about to transfer the 29th motorized division of the 4th tank army there, but changed his mind, because he also expected an offensive in the area where the Gota formations were located. However, all the efforts made by Weichs turned out to be clearly insufficient, and the High Command was more interested in building up the power of the 6th Army for the decisive battle for Stalingrad than in strengthening the weak flanks of General Weichs' formations.
On November 19, at 0850, after a powerful, almost one and a half hour artillery preparation, despite the fog and heavy snowfall, the troops of the Southwestern and Don fronts, located northwest of Stalingrad, went on the offensive. The 5th Panzer, 1st Guards and 21st Armies acted against the 3rd Romanian.
Only one 5th tank army in its composition consisted of six rifle divisions, two tank corps, one cavalry corps and several artillery, aviation and anti-aircraft missile regiments. Due to a sharp deterioration in weather conditions, aviation was inactive.
It also turned out that during the artillery preparation, the enemy’s firepower was not completely suppressed, which is why the offensive of the Soviet troops at some point slowed down. After assessing the situation, the commander of the Southwestern Front, Lieutenant-General N.F. Vatutin, decided to bring tank corps into battle, which made it possible to finally crack the Romanian defense and develop the offensive.
On the Don Front, especially fierce battles unfolded in the offensive zone of the right-flank formations of the 65th Army. The first two lines of enemy trenches, passing along the coastal hills, were captured on the move. However, decisive battles unfolded behind the third line, which took place along the chalk heights. They were a powerful defense center. The location of the heights made it possible to fire at all the approaches to them with crossfire. All the hollows and steep slopes of the heights were mined and covered with barbed wire, and the approaches to them crossed deep and winding ravines. The Soviet infantry that reached this line was forced to lie down under heavy fire from the dismounted units of the Romanian cavalry division, reinforced by German units.
The enemy carried out violent counterattacks, trying to push the attackers back to their original position. It was not possible to get around the heights at that moment, and after a powerful artillery raid, the soldiers of the 304th rifle division went to storm the enemy fortifications. Despite the hurricane of machine-gun and automatic fire, by 4 p.m. the enemy's stubborn resistance had been broken.
As a result of the first day of the offensive, the troops of the Southwestern Front achieved the greatest success. They broke through the defenses in two areas: southwest of the city of Serafimovich and in the Kletskaya area. A gap up to 16 km wide was formed in the enemy defenses.
On November 20, south of Stalingrad, the Stalingrad Front went on the offensive. This came as a complete surprise to the Germans. The offensive of the Stalingrad Front also began in adverse weather conditions.
It was decided to begin artillery training in each army as soon as the necessary conditions. It was necessary to abandon its simultaneous conduct on the scale of the front, however, as well as from aviation training. Due to limited visibility, it was necessary to fire at unobservable targets, with the exception of those guns that were launched for direct fire. Despite this, the enemy's fire system was largely disrupted.
Soviet soldiers are fighting in the streets. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
After the artillery preparation, which lasted 40-75 minutes, the formations of the 51st and 57th armies went on the offensive.
Having broken through the defenses of the 4th Romanian army and repelled numerous counterattacks, they began to develop success in the western direction. By the middle of the day, conditions were created for the introduction of army mobile groups into the breakthrough.
The rifle formations of the armies advanced after the mobile groups, consolidating the success achieved.
To close the gap, the command of the 4th Romanian army had to bring into battle its last reserve - two regiments of the 8th cavalry division. But even this could not save the situation. The front collapsed, and the remnants of the Romanian troops fled.
The incoming reports painted a bleak picture: the front was cut, the Romanians were fleeing the battlefield, the counterattack of the 48th Panzer Corps was thwarted.
The Red Army went on the offensive south of Stalingrad, and the 4th Romanian Army, which was defending there, was defeated.
The Luftwaffe command reported that due to bad weather, aviation could not support ground troops. On the operational maps, the prospect of encirclement of the 6th Wehrmacht Army clearly loomed. The red arrows of the blows of the Soviet troops hung dangerously over its flanks and were about to close in the area between the Volga and the Don. In the course of almost continuous meetings at Hitler's headquarters, there was a feverish search for a way out of the situation. It was necessary to urgently make a decision about the fate of the 6th Army. Hitler himself, as well as Keitel and Jodl, considered it necessary to hold positions in the Stalingrad region and confine themselves to a regrouping of forces. The leadership of the OKH and the command of Army Group "B" found the only way to avoid disaster in withdrawing the troops of the 6th Army beyond the Don. However, Hitler's position was categorical. As a result, it was decided to transfer two tank divisions from the North Caucasus to Stalingrad.
The Wehrmacht command still hoped to stop the offensive of the Soviet troops with counterattacks by tank formations. The 6th Army was ordered to stay where it was. Hitler assured her command that he would not allow the encirclement of the army, and if it did happen, he would take all measures to unblock it.
While the German command was looking for ways to prevent the impending catastrophe, the Soviet troops developed the success achieved. A unit of the 26th Panzer Corps, during a daring night operation, managed to capture the only surviving crossing over the Don near the town of Kalach. The capture of this bridge was of great operational importance. The rapid overcoming of this large water barrier by the Soviet troops ensured the successful completion of the operation to encircle the enemy troops near Stalingrad.
By the end of November 22, the troops of the Stalingrad and Southwestern fronts were separated by only 20-25 km. On the evening of November 22, Stalin ordered the commander of the Stalingrad Front, Yeryomenko, to join tomorrow with the advanced troops of the Southwestern Front, which had reached Kalach, and close the encirclement.
Anticipating such a development of events and in order to prevent complete encirclement 6th field army, the German command urgently transferred the 14th tank corps to the area east of Kalach. Throughout the night of November 23 and the first half of the next day, units of the Soviet 4th mechanized corps held back the onslaught of enemy tank units rushing south and did not let them through.
The commander of the 6th Army already at 18 o'clock on November 22 radioed to the headquarters of Army Group "B" that the army was surrounded, the situation with ammunition was critical, fuel supplies were running out, and food was enough for only 12 days. Since the command of the Wehrmacht on the Don did not have any forces that could release the encircled army, Paulus turned to the Headquarters with a request for an independent breakthrough from the encirclement. However, his request went unanswered.
Red Army soldier with a banner. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
Instead, he was ordered to immediately go to the boiler, where to organize an all-round defense and wait for help from outside.
On November 23, the troops of all three fronts continued the offensive. On this day, the operation reached its climax.
Two brigades of the 26th Panzer Corps crossed the Don and launched an offensive against Kalach in the morning. A stubborn battle ensued. The enemy fiercely resisted, realizing the importance of holding this city. Nevertheless, by 2 p.m., he was driven out of Kalach, which housed the main supply base for the entire Stalingrad group. All the numerous warehouses with fuel, ammunition, food and other military equipment located there were either destroyed by the Germans themselves or captured by Soviet troops.
At about 4 p.m. on November 23, the troops of the Southwestern and Stalingrad fronts met in the Sovetsky area, thus completing the encirclement of the enemy's Stalingrad grouping. Despite the fact that instead of the planned two or three days, the operation took five days, the success was achieved.
An oppressive atmosphere reigned at Hitler's headquarters after the news of the encirclement of the 6th Army was received. Despite the obviously disastrous situation of the 6th Army, Hitler did not even want to hear about the abandonment of Stalingrad, because. in this case, all the successes of the summer offensive in the south would have been nullified, and with them all hopes for conquering the Caucasus would have disappeared. In addition, it was believed that the battle with the superior forces of Soviet troops in the open field, in harsh winter conditions, with limited vehicles, fuel and ammunition, had too little chance of a favorable outcome. Therefore, it is better to gain a foothold in the positions occupied and strive to unblock the grouping. This point of view was supported by the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, Reichsmarschall G. Goering, who assured the Fuhrer that his aviation would provide air supply to the encircled group. On the morning of November 24, the 6th Army was ordered to take up an all-round defense and wait for a deblocking offensive from the outside.
Violent passions also flared up at the headquarters of the 6th Army on November 23. The encirclement ring around the 6th Army had just closed, and a decision had to be made urgently. There was still no response to Paulus's radiogram, in which he requested "freedom of action". But Paulus hesitated to take responsibility for the breakthrough. By his order, the corps commanders gathered for a meeting at the army headquarters in order to work out a plan for further actions.
Commander of the 51st army corps General W. Seidlitz-Kurzbach called for an immediate breakthrough. He was supported by the commander of the 14th Panzer Corps General G. Hube.
But most of the corps commanders, led by the chief of staff of the army General A. Schmidt spoke out against. Things got to the point that in the course of a heated dispute, the infuriated commander of the 8th Army Corps General W. Gates threatened to personally shoot Seydlitz if he insisted on disobeying the Fuhrer. In the end, everyone agreed that Hitler should be approached for permission to break through. At 23:45, such a radiogram was sent. The answer came the next morning. In it, the troops of the 6th Army, surrounded in Stalingrad, were called "troops of the fortress of Stalingrad", and the breakthrough was denied. Paulus again gathered the corps commanders and brought them the order of the Fuhrer.
Some of the generals tried to express their counterarguments, but the army commander rejected all objections.
An urgent transfer of troops from Stalingrad began to the western sector of the front. In a short time, the enemy managed to create a grouping of six divisions. In order to pin down his forces in Stalingrad itself, on November 23, the 62nd Army of General V.I. Chuikov went on the offensive. Its troops attacked the Germans on the Mamayev Kurgan and in the area of the Krasny Oktyabr plant, but met with fierce resistance. The depth of their advancement during the day did not exceed 100-200 m.
By November 24, the encirclement was thin, an attempt to break through it could bring success, it was only necessary to remove troops from the Volga front. But Paulus was a too cautious and indecisive person, a general who was used to obeying and accurately weighing his actions. He obeyed the order. Subsequently, he confessed to the officers of his headquarters: “It is possible that the daredevil Reichenau after November 19, he would have made his way to the west with the 6th Army and then told Hitler: "Now you can judge me." But, you know, unfortunately, I'm not Reichenau."
On November 27, the Fuhrer ordered Field Marshal von Manstein prepare the deblockade of the 6th field army. Hitler relied on new heavy tanks - "Tigers", hoping that they would be able to break through the encirclement from the outside. Despite the fact that these machines had not yet been tested in combat and no one knew how they would behave in the conditions of the Russian winter, he believed that even one battalion of "Tigers" could radically change the situation near Stalingrad.
While Manstein received reinforcements from the Caucasus and prepared the operation, Soviet troops expanded the outer ring and fortified it. When on December 12 Panzer Group Gotha made a breakthrough, it was able to break through the positions of the Soviet troops, and its advanced units were separated from Paulus by less than 50 km. But Hitler forbade Friedrich Paulus to expose the Volga Front and, leaving Stalingrad, to make his way towards the “tigers” of Goth, which finally decided the fate of the 6th Army.
By January 1943, the enemy was driven back from the Stalingrad "cauldron" by 170-250 km. The death of the encircled troops became inevitable. Almost the entire territory occupied by them was shot through by Soviet artillery fire. Despite Goering's promise, in practice, the average daily aviation capacity in supplying the 6th Army could not exceed 100 tons instead of the required 500. In addition, the delivery of goods to the encircled groups in Stalingrad and other "boilers" caused huge losses in German aviation.
The ruins of the fountain "Barmaley" - which has become one of the symbols of Stalingrad. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
On January 10, 1943, Colonel General Paulus, despite the hopeless situation of his army, refused to capitulate, trying to tie down the Soviet troops surrounding him as much as possible. On the same day, the Red Army launched an operation to destroy the 6th field army of the Wehrmacht. IN last days January, Soviet troops pushed the remnants of Paulus's army into a small area of a completely destroyed city and dismembered the Wehrmacht units that continued to defend. On January 24, 1943, General Paulus sent one of the last radiograms to Hitler, in which he reported that the group was on the verge of destruction and offered to evacuate valuable specialists. Hitler again forbade the remnants of the 6th Army to break through to his own and refused to take out of the "cauldron" anyone except the wounded.
On the night of January 31, the 38th motorized rifle brigade and the 329th sapper battalion blocked the area of the department store where Paulus' headquarters was located. The last radio message received by the commander of the 6th Army was an order for his promotion to field marshal, which the headquarters regarded as an invitation to suicide. Early in the morning, two Soviet parliamentarians made their way into the basement of a dilapidated building and handed over an ultimatum to the field marshal. In the afternoon, Paulus rose to the surface and went to the headquarters of the Don Front, where Rokossovsky was waiting for him with the text of surrender. However, despite the fact that the field marshal surrendered and signed the capitulation, in the northern part of Stalingrad the German garrison under the command of Colonel General Stecker refused to accept the terms of surrender and was destroyed by concentrated heavy artillery fire. At 16.00 on February 2, 1943, the terms of surrender of the 6th field army of the Wehrmacht came into force.
The Hitlerite government declared mourning in the country.
For three days, the funeral ringing of church bells sounded over German cities and villages.
Since the Great Patriotic War Soviet historical literature claims that a 330,000-strong enemy grouping was surrounded in the Stalingrad area, although this figure is not confirmed by any documentary data.
The point of view of the German side on this issue is ambiguous. However, with all the scatter of opinions, the figure of 250-280 thousand people is most often called. This figure is consistent with the total number of evacuees (25,000), captured (91,000), and enemy soldiers killed and buried in the battle area (about 160,000). The vast majority of those who surrendered also died from hypothermia and typhus, and after almost 12 years in Soviet camps, only 6,000 people returned to their homeland.
Kotelnikovsky operation Having completed the encirclement of a large grouping of German troops near Stalingrad, the troops of the 51st Army of the Stalingrad Front (commander - Colonel-General A. I. Eremenko) in November 1942 came from the north to the approaches to the village of Kotelnikovsky, where they entrenched themselves and went on the defensive.
The German command made every effort to break through the corridor to the 6th Army surrounded by Soviet troops. For this purpose, in early December, in the area of the village. Kotelnikovsky, an attack group was created consisting of 13 divisions (including 3 tank and 1 motorized) and a number of reinforcement units under the command of Colonel-General G. Goth - the Goth army group. The group included a battalion of heavy Tiger tanks, which were first used on the southern sector of the Soviet-German front. In the direction of the main attack, which was delivered along the Kotelnikovsky-Stalingrad railway, the enemy managed to create a temporary advantage over the defending troops of the 51st Army in men and artillery by 2 times, and in terms of the number of tanks - more than 6 times.
They broke through the defenses of the Soviet troops and on the second day they reached the area of the village of Verkhnekumsky. In order to divert part of the forces of the shock group, on December 14, in the area of \u200b\u200bthe village of Nizhnechirskaya, the 5th Shock Army of the Stalingrad Front went on the offensive. She broke through German defense and captured the village, but the position of the 51st Army remained difficult. The enemy continued the offensive, while the army and the front no longer had any reserves left. The Soviet Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, in an effort to prevent the enemy from breaking through and releasing the encircled German troops, allocated the 2nd Guards Army and a mechanized corps from its reserve to reinforce the Stalingrad Front, setting them the task of defeating the enemy strike force.
On December 19, having suffered significant losses, the Goth group reached the Myshkova River. 35-40 km remained to the encircled grouping, however, Paulus's troops were ordered to remain in their positions and not strike back, and Goth could no longer move further.
On December 24, having jointly created approximately double superiority over the enemy, the 2nd Guards and 51st Armies, with the assistance of part of the forces of the 5th Shock Army, went on the offensive. Main blow the 2nd Guards Army attacked with fresh forces towards the Kotelnikov group. The 51st Army was advancing on Kotelnikovsky from the east, while enveloping the Gotha group from the south with tank and mechanized corps. On the first day of the offensive, the 2nd guards army broke through the enemy's battle formations and captured crossings across the Myshkova River. Mobile formations were introduced into the breakthrough, which began to rapidly move towards Kotelnikovsky.
On December 27, the 7th Panzer Corps came out to Kotelnikovsky from the west, and the 6th Mechanized Corps bypassed Kotelnikovsky from the southeast. At the same time, the tank and mechanized corps of the 51st Army cut off the enemy grouping's escape route to the southwest. Continuous strikes against the retreating enemy troops were carried out by aircraft of the 8th Air Army. On December 29, Kotelnikovsky was released and the threat of an enemy breakthrough was finally eliminated.
As a result of the Soviet counter-offensive, the enemy's attempt to release the 6th Army encircled near Stalingrad was thwarted, and the German troops were thrown back from the outer front of the encirclement by 200-250 km.
18.01.1897 - 09.04.1965
Hero of the Soviet Union
monuments | |
tombstone |
L Opatin Anton Ivanovich - Commander of the 13th Königsberg Guards Rifle Corps of the 43rd Army of the 1st Baltic Front, Guard Lieutenant General.
Born on January 6 (18), 1897 in the village of Kamennaya, now the Brest district of the Brest region of Belarus, into a peasant family. Russian. In 1916-1917 he served in the Russian imperial army. As a private soldier, he fought on the Southwestern Front of the First World War.
In the Red Army since August 1918. During the Civil War, as part of the 1st Cavalry Army, assistant platoon commander, then assistant commander and squadron commander Lopatin A.I. fought against the armies of Denikin, Wrangel, Poland. Member of the CPSU (b) / CPSU since 1919.
After the war, he was assistant platoon and squadron commander, squadron commander, head of the regimental school, assistant regiment commander for economic affairs. In 1925 and 1927 he graduated from the Leningrad advanced training courses for officers. In 1929 he graduated from the training courses for assistant regiment commanders at the Leningrad Cavalry School in 1929. From November 1931 - commander of a cavalry regiment. From July 1937 - commander of the 6th Cavalry Division. Since September 1938, he was a teacher of tactics at the cavalry courses of the Red Army. From July 1939 - inspector of the cavalry of the Trans-Baikal Military District. Since June 1940 - acting deputy commander of the 15th Army of the Far Eastern Front. From November 1940 - commander of the 31st Rifle Corps in the Kiev Special Military District.
During the Great Patriotic War, Major General Lopatin A.I. joined the commander of the 31st Rifle Corps as part of the 5th Army of the Southwestern Front. Member of the border battles in Ukraine, the Kyiv defensive operation. Since October 1941 - commander of the 37th Army of the Southern Front, which participated in the Rostov offensive operation of 1941.
In June-July 1942, he was commander of the 9th Army of the Southwestern Front, which was defending in the Donbass and in the large bend of the Don. In August-September 1942 A.I. Lopatin commanded the 62nd Army of the Stalingrad Front. He was removed from his post by the front commander A.I. Eremenko on charges of unauthorized withdrawal of troops and concealment of this fact from the front command.
After a short stay in the reserve of the Supreme High Command, he was sent to the North-Western Front. From October 1942 he commanded the 43rd, from March 1943 - the 11th armies on the North-Western Front. Member of the Demyansk operation in 1943. From September 1943 - Commander of the 20th Army of the Kalinin Front. From January to July 1944 - Deputy Commander of the 43rd Army of the 1st Baltic Front.
In July 1944 Lopatin A.I. at his own request, he was sent to independent command work and was appointed commander of the 13th Guards Rifle Corps in the 43rd Army on the 1st Baltic and 3rd Belorussian fronts, which participated in the Belorussian, Baltic, Gumbinnen-Goldap, East Prussian and Zemland operations .
13th Guards Rifle Corps (43rd Army, 1st Baltic Front) under the command of Guards Lieutenant General Lopatin A.I. during the summer offensive of 1944, he fought his way from the Belarusian city of Vitebsk to the Lithuanian city of Siauliai, liberating three cities and hundreds of settlements.
During East Prussian operation from April 6, 1945, he took part in the assault on the city of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad). By the end of April 9, 1945, units and formations of the corps broke through the defensive bypass and occupied the city center. The enemy suffered great damage in terms of manpower and equipment: up to 8000 enemy soldiers were destroyed by the soldiers of the corps, 6540 prisoners, 250 guns and mortars, 301 machine guns, 402 vehicles were captured.
From April 13 to April 17, 1945, the corps of A.I. Lopatina participated in the battles to eliminate the Zemland group. Two defensive lines of the enemy were broken through, the cities of Gross-Heidenkrug, Zimerbude, Paise were liberated, up to 9000 enemy soldiers and 211 guns were destroyed, 5833 prisoners, 330 guns and mortars, 61 tanks and an assault gun were captured.
At order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of April 19, 1945 for the skillful command of the corps, as well as for the courage and bravery shown by the Guards to Lieutenant General Lopatin Anton Ivanovich He was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.
Guard Lieutenant General Lopatin A.I. in July 1945 he was appointed commander of the 2nd separate rifle corps of the Trans-Baikal Front. In the Soviet-Japanese war in August 1945, this corps crossed the Argun River, overcame the Khairkhan mountain range, and rapidly advanced 180 kilometers in four days. Having completely stunned the enemy, the corps occupied the main passes of the Great Khingan Range, ensuring a breakthrough of the 36th Army of the front into the depths of Manchuria. Parts of the corps captured 6,000 Japanese prisoners.
After the war, he continued to serve in the Soviet Army, until 1946 he commanded a corps. In 1947 he graduated from the Higher Academic Courses at the Higher Military Academy named after K.E. Voroshilov (then the name of the Military Academy General Staff). From the beginning of 1947 - acting assistant commander of the 7th Guards Army of the Transcaucasian Military District. From April 1947 - commander of the 13th Rifle Corps. From September 1947 - Assistant Commander of the Transcaucasian Military District. From July 1949 he commanded the 9th Guards rifle corps in the Belarusian military district.
Since 1954, Lieutenant General Lopatin A.I. - in reserve. He lived in Moscow (since May 8, 1965 - a hero city), where he died on April 9, 1965. He was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy Cemetery (plot 6).
Military ranks:
colonel,
brigade commander (17.02.1938),
major general (06/04/1940),
lieutenant general (03/27/1942).He was awarded three Orders of Lenin (03/27/1942, 02/21/1945, 04/19/1945), three Orders of the Red Banner (1920, 11/3/1944, ...), two Orders of Kutuzov 1st degree (07/22/1944, 09/08/1945) , Order of the Red Star (02/22/1938), medals.
The name of the Hero of the Soviet Union Lopatin A.I. wear the streets of the city of Budyonnovsk, Stavropol Territory, the village of Vzmorye, Kaliningrad Region. In 1965, his name was given to a large fishing freezer trawler of the Kaliningrad fishing port.
The biography was supplemented by Anton Bocharov (Koltsovo village, Novosibirsk Region).
Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov - Soviet military leader, in 1955 he became Marshal of the Soviet Union, twice Hero of the Soviet Union (1944 and 1945). Born February 12, 1900, died March 18, 1982. During the Great Patriotic War, he commanded the 62nd Army, which especially distinguished itself during the Battle of Stalingrad. On May 4, 1970, for the special merits that he showed during the days of the defense of the city and the defeat of the Nazi troops near Stalingrad, Chuikov was awarded the title of "Honorary Citizen of the Hero City of Volgograd." According to the will drawn up by the marshal, he was buried in Volgograd on the famous Mamaev Kurgan at the foot of the majestic monument "Motherland".
The future marshal of the Soviet Union was born in the small village of Serebryanye Prudy, located in the Venevsky district of the Tula province, in the family of a hereditary farmer Ivan Ionovich Chuikov. The Chuikov family was very large, Ivan Ionovich had 8 sons and 4 daughters. It was quite difficult to maintain such a horde. Therefore, from childhood, Vasily knew the hard peasant labor and what it is to work in the field from dawn to dusk. In order to help the family at the age of 12, Chuikov left his home and went to Petrograd to work. In the capital, he becomes an apprentice in a spur workshop. At that time spurs for tsarist army a lot was required. In the workshop, Vasily Chuikov learned to be a locksmith, here he was caught by the First World War. Almost all adult workers went to the front, and old people and children remained at workbenches.
In September 1917, the demand for spurs came to naught, the workshop for their production was closed and Vasily Chuikov was left without a job. After listening to the instructions of his older brothers, who already served in the Navy, he went to serve as a volunteer. In October 1917, he was enrolled as a cabin boy in a mine training detachment located in Kronstadt. So Vasily Chuikov ended up on military service which turned out to be his vocation and life's work.
In 1918, Vasily Chuikov became a cadet of the first Moscow military instructor courses of the Red Army, in July 1918 he took part in the suppression of the rebellion of the Left Social Revolutionaries in Moscow. Since 1919 he became a member of the RCP (b). During the Civil War, thanks to his abilities and talent, he made an excellent career, starting as an assistant company commander, at the age of 19 he already commanded an entire rifle regiment, fought in the South, East and Western fronts. For participation in the battles and the shown courage, he was awarded two orders of the Red Banner, as well as a gold and inscribed gold watch.
The most important thing was that during the Civil War, Chuikov understood what it means to command people in battle and what responsibility lies with the command staff for the fulfillment of the assigned tasks and the lives of soldiers. During the Civil War, Chuikov was wounded 4 times. In 1922, Chuikov, leaving his regiment, was sent to study in military academy them. M. V. Frunze, which he successfully completed in 1925, returning to serve in his native division. A year later, Vasily Chuikov again continued to serve at the academy, this time at the Oriental Faculty. In 1927, he was sent to China as a military adviser.
In 1929-1932, Chuykov served as head of the department of headquarters of the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army, commanded by V.K. Blucher. Since 1932, he was the head of advanced training courses for command personnel, and after the commander of a brigade, corps and group of troops, the 9th army, with which he took part in the liberation of Western Belarus in 1939 and the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. Chuikov later recalled that the Soviet-Finnish war was the most terrible campaign in which he had a chance to take part. According to the recollections of the marshal, there was a stench around the infirmaries, which was felt at a distance of several kilometers - there were so many gangrenous and frostbitten people there. According to Chuikov’s memoirs, reinforcements from the southern regions of Ukraine arrived in the unit - they didn’t even see snow and didn’t know how to stand on skis, and they had to fight against well-trained mobile ski units of the Finnish army in a terrible frost.
From 1940 to 1942, V. I. Chuikov served as a military attache in China under the commander-in-chief of the Chinese army, Chiang Kai-shek. At that time, China was already waging war against the Japanese aggressors, who were able to capture the central regions of the country, Manchuria and a number of Chinese cities. During this period, a number of operations were carried out against the Japanese army using both the Kuomintang troops and the troops of the Chinese Red Army. At the same time, Chuikov faced a very difficult task, it was necessary to keep a united front in the country in the fight against the Japanese. And this is in conditions when, from the beginning of 1941, the troops of the Communist Party of China (Mao Zedong) and the troops of the Kuomintang (Chiang Kai-shek) fought among themselves. Thanks to the qualities of a scout, a military diplomat and an innate military talent, Chuikov managed to turn the tide in the Celestial Empire in such a difficult military-political situation, where a powerful front began to be created that protected the Soviet Far Eastern borders from Japanese aggression.
In May 1942, Chuikov was recalled from China and appointed deputy commander of the reserve army, located in the Tula region. In early July 1942, this army was renamed the 64th and transferred to the Stalingrad Front in the area of the big bend of the Don. Since the place of the commander was still free, Chuikov had to decide on the promotion to the place and the occupation of the defense. Until the summer of 1942, the commander had not yet had to meet with such a strong enemy as the Wehrmacht. In order to better understand the enemy and the tactics of the Germans, he met with soldiers and commanders who had already been in battle.
Chuikov spent his first fighting day on the Eastern Front on July 25, 1942, since then these days went without interruption and continued until the very end of the war. Already in the first days, Vasily Chuikov draws a number of conclusions that were necessary to increase the stability of the defense of the troops. He noted the weaknesses of the German army. In particular, the fact that German artillery raids are scattered and conducted for the most part along the front line, and not along the depth of defense, during the battle there is no fire maneuver, there is no clear organization of the fire shaft. He also notes that german tanks do not go on the attack without infantry and air support. Among the infantry units of the Germans, he noted the desire to suppress the defense with the help of automatic weapons. He also noticed the fact that the Germans most clearly established the work of military aviation.
Commander of the 62nd Army, Lieutenant General V. I. Chuikov (left) and member of the Military Council General K. A. Gurov (center) inspecting the rifle of sniper Vasily Zaitsev.
However, to manage the troops in such a way as not to expose the enemy to their weak spots at that time it was almost impossible. Since the mobility of the German and Soviet infantry divisions were simply incomparable. In addition, all units of the German army, up to and including an infantry company, as well as batteries and tanks, were provided with radio communications. At the same time, during the preparation of military operations, Vasily Chuikov had to fly personally on a U-2 aircraft to check the position of the units. So during the departure on July 23, 1942, Chuikov's life path almost ended prematurely. In the area of the settlement of Surovikino, the U-2 was attacked by a German aircraft. No weapons were installed on the U-2 and the pilot had to apply all his skill in order to evade enemy attacks. In the end, the maneuvers came to an end at the very ground, where the U-2 simply hit the ground and fell apart. By a lucky chance, both the pilot and Chuikov escaped with only bruises, and the German pilot, most likely, decided that the job was done and flew away.
By September 12, 1942, the situation at the front of the 62nd and 64th Soviet armies became critical. Retreating under the onslaught of a superior enemy, the units retreated to lines of 2-10 km. from the outskirts of Stalingrad. At the same time, in the area of the village of Kuporosnoye, the Germans reached the Volga, cutting off parts of the 62nd Army from the main forces of the front. The front commander assigned the units the task of defending the factory districts and the central part of Stalingrad. On the same day, Vasily Chuikov becomes the commander of the 62nd Army, receiving the task of defending the city at any cost. When appointing him to this position, the front command noted such qualities of Lieutenant General V.I. Chuikov as firmness, courage, determination, a high sense of responsibility, operational outlook, etc.
In the most critical days During the Stalingrad epic, Chuikov’s troops were not only able to withstand continuous battles, but also took an active part in the defeat of the encircled grouping of German troops at the final stage of the battle. For the defense of Stalingrad, Vasily Chuikov was presented with the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but at the very last moment the idea was changed, the general received the Order of Suvorov, I degree. For successful combat operations to defeat the enemy in April 1943, the 62nd Army was renamed the 8th Guards.
From April 1943 to May 1945, Vasily Chuikov commanded the 8th Guards Army, which operated quite successfully in the Izyum-Barvenkovskaya and Donbass operations, as well as in the battle for the Dnieper, Bereznegovato-Snegirevskaya, Nikopol-Krivoy Rog, Odessa, Belorussian, Warsaw- Poznan operations and the storming of Berlin. The front commander Malinovsky described Colonel-General Chuikov in his description of May 1944 as follows: “The leadership of the troops is carried out competently, skillfully. The operational-tactical training is good, Chuikov knows how to rally his subordinates around him and mobilize them to carry out the assigned combat missions. Personally bold, determined, energetic and demanding general who can organize a modern breakthrough of enemy defenses and develop a breakthrough to operational success.
In March 1944, Vasily Chuikov was awarded the first title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The general received this award for the liberation of Ukraine. With the liquidation of the grouping of German troops in the Crimea, the troops of the southern fronts were withdrawn to the reserve of the headquarters of the supreme command, and the 8th Guards Army was transferred to the 1st Belorussian Front. During the Vistula-Oder operation, the combat units of this army took part in breaking through the German defense in depth, freed concentration camp Majdanek near Lublin, liberated the cities of Poznan and Lodz, captured a bridgehead on the western bank of the Oder.
The general received the second title of Hero of the Soviet Union in April 1945 for the successful assault and capture of Poznan. In the Berlin operation, the troops of the 8th Guards Army acted in the main direction of the 1st Belorussian Front. Chuikov's guards were able to break through the German defenses on the Seelow Heights and successfully fought in Berlin itself. Helped them in this and the experience of fighting, received in Stalingrad in 1942. During the Berlin offensive operation, Vasily Chuikov was called: “General-Storm”.
After the end of the war, from 1945 Chuikov was deputy, from 1946 - first deputy, and from 1949 - Commander-in-Chief of the group of Soviet troops in Germany. In 1948 he was awarded the rank of General of the Army. From May 1953 he was commander of the troops of the Kyiv Special Military District. By the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of March 11, 1955, Vasily Chuikov was awarded the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union. Since 1960, Chuikov became the commander-in-chief ground forces- Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR. He was Deputy Minister of Defense until 1972, at the same time being also the head of the Civil Defense of the USSR. Since 1972 - Inspector General of the Group of General Inspectors of the USSR Ministry of Defense. The post of inspector was his last military position.
In Moscow, in the house where Chuikov once lived, a memorial plaque was erected, city streets were named after the marshal in Russia and other countries of the world. Monuments were erected to him, in particular, in October 2010, a bust to him was erected in Zaporozhye.
Information sources:
-http://www.wwii-soldat.narod.ru/MARSHALS/ARTICLES/chuikov.htm
-http://www.otvoyna.ru/chuykov.htm
-http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=328
-http://ru.wikipedia.org
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