From 28 June to 20 September, Luftflotte 4's original strength of 1,600 aircraft, of which 1,155 were operational, fell to 950, of which only 550 were operational. The destroyed wall of the plant is visible at the top of the cliff. [129] The American historians Williamson Murray and Alan Millet wrote that it was Manstein's message to Hitler on 24 November advising him that the 6th Army should not break out, along with Gring's statements that the Luftwaffe could supply Stalingrad that "sealed the fate of the Sixth Army". The preparations for the attack could be heard by the Romanians, who continued to push for reinforcements, only to be refused again. This allowed journalists to visit Pavlov's house more easily than buildings nearer the main German assaults. On 2 February 2013 Volgograd hosted a military parade and other events to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the final victory. [136], The director of Luftflotte 4, Wolfram von Richthofen, tried to get this decision overturned. Several attempts to re-establish a defensive line failed when German units outflanked them. On the eve of that day the 295th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht received replenishment and the task to finally get to the Volga on its site. 227 of 27 July 1942 decreed that all commanders who ordered unauthorised retreats would be subject to a military tribunal. In September, fierce battles took place for it, but after an unsuccessful assault on the night of September 29, attempts to retake the State Bank were no longer undertaken. Manstein, however, who knew that Sixth Army could not survive the winter there, instructed his headquarters to draw up a further plan in the event of Hitler's seeing sense. There were no losses: the Germans were not in the ruins. The defense of this house alone lasted 58 days. The Luftwaffe also lost close to 1,000 highly experienced bomber crew personnel. The Romanian Air Force lost 79 aircraft, most of them captured on the ground along with their airfields. And we all it's true felt better. [128], The Red Army units immediately formed two defensive fronts: a circumvallation facing inward and a contravallation facing outward. The last time Red Army men tried on September 19 to repel the Germans, the sappers blew up the wall and the assault group managed to occupy part of the building, but during the offensive on September 22 the German infantry again repulsed them. Despite this, and with no support available from other units, the AA gunners stayed at their posts and took on the advancing panzers. The offensive was repelled. But it also describes the many instances of sacrifice, heroism, and suffering the men defending Stalingrad experienced. The Soviet forces raced west and met on 23 November at the town of Kalach, sealing the ring around Stalingrad. The aim was to win as much time as possible to withdraw forces from the Caucasus (Army Group A) and to rush troops from other Fronts to form a new front that would be able in some measure to check our counter-offensive. The Germans adopted a simple defence of fixing wire nets over all windows to protect themselves from grenades. By 27 Sept. the Germans occupied the southern portion of the city, but the Soviets held the centre and northern part. Army Group South was selected for a sprint forward through the southern Russian steppes into the Caucasus to capture the vital Soviet oil fields there. In it the battle for the house was colorfully described, the initiative of the younger and the role of the senior command staff was noted, the international garrison stood out, and even its fighters were listed: "Russians: Pavlov, Aleksandrov, Afanasiev, Ukrainians: Sobgaid, Glushchenko, Georgians: Mosiyashvili, Stepanoshvili, Uzbek: Turgunov, Kazakh: Murzaev, Abkhazian: Sukba, Tajik: Turdyev, Tatar: Romazanov and dozens of their army buddies. " "[7], Pavlov's House became a symbol of the stubborn and dogged resistance of the Soviet forces during the Battle of Stalingrad, which eventually ended in a decisive victory for the Soviet forces after months of fighting and heavy casualties on both sides. "[91] Infantryman Lev Lvovich's explanation, for example, is typical for these interviews; as he recalls, "[i]t was a necessary and important step. The 369th (Croatian) Reinforced Infantry Regiment was the only non-German unit[57] selected by the Wehrmacht to enter Stalingrad city during assault operations. Paulus testified for the prosecution during the Nuremberg Trials and assured families in Germany that those soldiers taken prisoner at Stalingrad were safe. He denied that he was the commander of the remaining northern pocket in Stalingrad and refused to issue an order in his name for them to surrender. However, the participants themselves - fighters and commanders of the 13th Guards Rifle Division - attached much more importance to these events than the notorious legend. Nearby was also the House of Sovkontrol the future House of Zabolotny a mirror copy of the Pavlov House. [205], The events of the Battle for Stalingrad have been covered in numerous media works of British, American, German, and Russian origin,[206] for its significance as a turning point in the Second World War and for the loss of life associated with the battle. [130][131] After 1945, Manstein claimed that he told Hitler that the 6th Army must break out. [11], A Russian TV documentary in 2009, Legendary Redoubt, ( ) on the Russian Channel One reported on Pavlov's House. Based on Soviet records, over 11,000 German soldiers continued to resist in isolated groups within the city for the next month. England would be again bombarded, threat of invasion revived And now! Stalin rushed all available troops to the east bank of the Volga, some from as far away as Siberia. It was later rebuilt and a monument made of bricks from its ruins was attached to the building where it stands today in modern-day Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad). Fragment of the map "Plan of the city of Stalingrad and its environs" 1941-1942. And then, suddenly, at the far end of the yard I caught sight of a human figure. Map of the night battle of the 13th Guards Rifle Division copied from the book of the General Staff "Battles in Stalingrad" of 1944, transferred to the aerial photo. For the Germans it was a mystery how the garrison on the upper floors was supplied. The fleet's total strength decreased by 40 percent. The article took a U-turn from the others and was an excellent example of army agitprop. Any movement - whether a fighter, running from entrance to entrance, or a civilian in search of food - drew fire. [48] It has been said that Stalin prevented civilians from leaving the city in the belief that their presence would encourage greater resistance from the city's defenders. Beyond the warehouse buildings and the wide neutral strip of Penza Street, the huge wasteland of January 9 square began, where two still unnamed and unremarkable buildings could be seen. [117], Recognising that German troops were ill-prepared for offensive operations during the winter of 1942 and that most of them were redeployed elsewhere on the southern sector of the Eastern Front, the Stavka decided to conduct a number of offensive operations between 19 November 1942 and 2 February 1943. One thrust would come from the area of Kotelnikovo, well to the south, and around 160 kilometres (100mi) from the Sixth Army. This was the first major effort to clear the Milk House since mid-September. Rodimtsev together with the headquarters was forced to evacuate from the tunnel opposite the NKVD complex to the Banniy ravine. The front line of the defense is under constant artillery fire. This house were not so far from Pavlov's house, in this house were command HQ under which command were troops defending Pavlov's house. The loss of the two airfields, at Pitomnik on 16 January 1943 and Gumrak on the night of 21/22 January,[154] meant an end to air supplies and to the evacuation of the wounded. Beyond that army, a single German division, the 16th Motorised Infantry, covered 400km. : 109,000 Romanians casualties (from November 1942 to December 1942), included 70,000 captured or missing. [citation needed], The surrounded Axis personnel comprised 265,000 Germans, Romanians, Italians,[124] and Croatians. If you're looking for a detailed account of street fighting in Stalingrad or specifics on Pavlov's house, this book is not your answer. Finally they managed to get in touch with the artillerymen on the other side of the Volga - the area of the Krutoy ravine, along which the Germans collected reinforcements, was enveloped in dust from bursts of large-caliber projectiles. This artillery was able to bombard the German positions or at least provide counter-battery fire. The Germans set up a "mobile defence" of small units that were to hold towns until supporting armour arrived. The burden of the initial defence of the city fell on the 1077th Anti-Aircraft Regiment,[58] a unit made up mainly of young female volunteers who had no training for engaging ground targets. The Battle of Stalingrad (German: Schlacht von Stalingrad [laxt fn talngat];[16] Russian: , tr. It was only of importance as a convenient place, in the bottleneck between Don and the Volga, where we could block an attack on our flank by Russian forces coming from the east. F. Pavlov was the commander of the assault group that seized the building, and the defense was led by senior lieutenant IF Afanasyev. Stalingrad, the 2013 film by Fyodor Bondarchuk, presents a Russian perspective on the fierce battle for the titular city with gratuitous special effects. The 62nd Army had been cut in two and, due to intensive air attack on its supply ferries, was receiving much less material support. The Germans could not go further. Stalingrad was practically lost - and, therefore, evidence of the opposite was required, examples of a long and successful defense. The Unknown Stalingrad: Anatomy of the Legend of Pavlov's House Battle for Stalingrad - WAR HISTORY ONLINE The battle for the German-Romanian airfield at Karpova lasted two days, with Romanian gunners destroying numerous Soviet tanks. [151][152] The German High Command informed Paulus, "Every day that the army holds out longer helps the whole front and draws away the Russian divisions from it. [107], From 5 to 12 September, Luftflotte 4 conducted 7,507 sorties (938 per day). [13], After the war Pavlov communicated little with his ex-comrades, with many of them bewildered by his fame and in disagreement with the story that had been built around Pavlov. Dom Pavlova) was a fortified apartment building which Red Army defenders held for 60 days against the Wehrmacht offensive during the Battle of Stalingrad. Pictures are taken from the ruins of a four-story building, which stood to the east of the mill - there is now a panorama museum at this location. Photo about victory, museum, chimney, brick, russia, ruins, stalingrad, history, volgograd, battle, destroyed, building . When Rodimtsev's division was visited by reporter Vasily Grossman, he talked for a long time with Chekhov, a modest and thoughtful guy, who at the age of 19 became an excellent killing machine. A little north of the NKVD buildings was mill number 4, a strong four-story structure with secure basements. The inscription on the memorial wall reads: In this house, the feat of war and labor merged into one., Pingback: Gerhardt's Mill - Stalingrad WW2 Monument. [26] The Axis flanks were overrun and the 6th Army was cut off and surrounded in the Stalingrad area. The struggle for the small section of the center of the city took a positional character: the opponents exchanged artillery and mortar shelling, and the number of people killed by sniper fire increased sharply. Now "each part of the cauldron came personally under Hitler". Though initially successful, the German attacks stalled in the face of Soviet reinforcements brought in from across the Volga. The speech contained an oblique reference to the battle, which suggested that Germany was now in a defensive war. The film is the second German movie to portray the Battle of Stalingrad. This armed resistance continued until 15 February and in a few areas until 20 February. But, like most wartime legends created by the employees of GlavPU RKKA [Main Political Directorate of the Red Army], the official history of the defense of Pavlov's House has little to do with reality. Operation Thunderclap being the code word initiating the breakout. Due to a limited number of available aircraft and having only one available airfield, at Pitomnik, the Luftwaffe could only deliver 105 tonnes of supplies per day, only a fraction of the minimum 750 tonnes that both Paulus and Zeitzler estimated the 6th Army needed. However, there is another version that Ya. During their second and third assaults on the city, the Germans captured the workers' settlements "Red October" and "Barricades", the settlement of Rynok, Sculpture Park, the Mountain Settlement and the Stalingrad Tractor Plant. Some bombers performed adequately the Heinkel He 111 proved to be quite capable and was much faster than the Ju 52.[138]. There were cases when German soldiers, in order to cross the shot area, changed into women's clothes. This house was considered one of the most prestigious in Stalingrad, next to it were elite residential buildings: the House of Signalers, the House of the NKVD workers, the House of Railwaymen and others. [56] The exact number of civilians killed is unknown but was most likely very high. [162], On the next day, the southern pocket in Stalingrad collapsed. The siege lasted from 27 September to 25 November 1942 and eventually the Red Army managed to relieve it from the siege. The lull did not last long. '", By 18 December, the German Army had pushed to within 48km (30mi) of Sixth Army's positions. The German Sixth Army had driven the Soviet 62nd Army back through the streets of Stalingrad, and by the start of November 1942 was in sight of the Volga. Zhukov states, "Compared with the Germans, the troops of the satellites were not so well armed, less experienced and less efficient, even in defence. The four-storey residential building with four entrances of the Regional Consumer Union at 61 Penzenskaya Street on 9th January Square (now Lenin Square ) was built in the mid-1930s by the architect Sergei Voloshinov . [129] The American historian Gerhard Weinberg wrote that Manstein distorted his record on the matter. The location and circumstances of the photograph have not yet been determined. The inability of the German blitzkrieg to make headway against such grinding and self-sacrificial attrition warfare made the failure to capture Pavlov's House (despite numerous attempts) stand out as a symbol of resistance against a supposedly superior force. The Lighthouse of Stalingrad: the hidden truth at the centre of WWII's 691 were here. Anatoly Nikolaevich Kuryshov, who defended the legendary Pavlov House at the age of 11, is the only living hero out of 25 who took part in this event now living in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. What happened next is known only from the words of Yakov Pavlov himself. Some were kept in the city to help rebuild it. Photo taken at the mouth of the Dolgiy ravine. In this first photo from the "killed" series, the fighter in the lower right corner is still "alive". Bloody urban warfare began again in Stalingrad, but this time it was the Germans who were pushed back to the banks of the Volga. Much of the city was smashed to rubble, although some factories continued production while workers joined in the fighting. The response by the Wehrmacht was both chaotic and indecisive. There is an attached memorial constructed from bricks picked up after the battle on the East side facing the Volga. The defense line was extremely unlucky - it passed along the edge of a high cliff. The Soviet front's composition and names changed several times in the battle. In late September 1942, between 30 and 50 soldiers of the 42nd Guards Regiment, 13th Guards Rifle Division secured the large apartment blocks from German control,[4] following its recapture by four soldiers four days beforehand which Yakov Pavlov himself led. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. These raids caused little damage and were of nuisance value only. This damage can still be seen today. Some 35,000 were eventually sent on transports, of which 17,000 did not survive. [97] Women were also snipers at Stalingrad. For two months, subdivisions of the 34th and 42nd Guards Rifle Regiments tried to knock out the Germans from these fortified points. Starting 23 October 1942, Romanian pilots flew a total of 4,000 sorties, during which they destroyed 61 Soviet aircraft. [58] Civilians, including women and children, were put to work building trenchworks and protective fortifications. In total there were more than 50 people in the building, so common everyday rules and a commandant were required. A low-level Soviet envoy party (comprising Major Aleksandr Smyslov, Captain Nikolay Dyatlenko and a trumpeter) carried generous surrender terms to Paulus: if he surrendered within 24 hours, he would receive a guarantee of safety for all prisoners, medical care for the sick and wounded, prisoners being allowed to keep their personal belongings, "normal" food rations, and repatriation to any country they wished after the war. Chekhov. When a position was lost, an immediate attempt was usually made to re-take it with fresh forces. The German air arm found itself spread thinly across Europe, struggling to maintain its strength in the other southern sectors of the Soviet-German front. Russia has held, Egypt for the present is safe. All of the 19 German tanks were lost, as well as 81 of the R-2 light tanks. The start of Case Blue had been planned for late May 1942. Supplying the 270,000 men trapped in the "cauldron" required 700 tons of supplies a day. Incredible Urban Combat Pictures From Stalingrad - Not One Step Back The last of the Red Army defenders of the Pavlov House during the Battle of Stalingrad died an ATR shooter Kamolzhon Turgunov from the village of Bardankul, Turakurgan district of the Namangan region of the Republic of Uzbekistan (he died on March 16, 2015 at the 93rd year of his life in his homeland) and a shooter Duisenov Kalambay from the village of Merke, Zhambul region of the Republic of Kazakhstan (died on May 4, 2006). Supply and communication trenches were created leading from the rear of Pavlovs House to the river bank of the Volga, which received supply from supply vessels which were often shelled by German artillery when crossing the river.