|
||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|||||||||
|
17389 - Stalingrad Russians 3pc Set
(Click here to go back) |
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| The city of Stalingrad, once named Tsaritsyn,
along the Volga River was an important Soviet industrial center. The
German offense during the summer of 1942 brought the 6th Army to the
suburbs of this home of 500,000 souls. German air attacks and bombardments
soon reduced the city to rubble. Despite these attacks, Joseph Stalin
was determined not to give up the city that was his namesake. General
Vassili Chuikov was placed in command of the Russian 62nd Army. Although
on the defense, the stubborn Soviet forces contested every city block.
Because of this, the German invaders exhausted not only their spirits
but also their supplies.
By late autumn the Russian defenses were confined to a small strip on the west bank of the Volga. Chuikov ferried men and supplies from the east bank. The Soviet command moved fresh units into the Stalingrad area. These included crack Siberian brigades that would be effective in the approaching winter months. Red Army Marshall Georgi Zhukov crafted a bold plan to relieve the siege of Stalingrad. He noted that many of the German forces on the Stalingrad flanks contained division of Italian, Romanian and Hungarian units. These he reasoned would not be effective in winter fighting. On November 19th, Zhukov sent his forces on the northern flank in a sweeping arc to begin the encirclement of the German 6th Army. The next day the southern pincer was sent forward and by the 23rd the German were surrounded. It still remained for the 62nd Army to regain control of Stalingrad.
Savage fighting with fearful casualties on both sides, amid the
horrible conditions of the cold winter nearly exhausted the Russians,
while the Germans were slowly starving. By the end of January 1943,
the German position was hopeless and they surrendered to the Russians.
There are no official records for the losses at Stalingrad. Most
sources agree that over 750,000 Red Army soldiers were casualties
in the conflict. An official census of the civilian population found
only 1,515 people still living in Stalingrad right after the battle.
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
