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On October 5th, 1942, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Stalin gave an order
to the commander of the Stalingrad front that he take all the necessary
measures for the defence of Stalingrad in order to prevent the surrender
of the city to the enemy. In October that year the fighting for Stalingrad,
as fierce as it was, reached its height. More than one thousand warplanes
bombed the city daily. On a very narrow section of the front the enemy
committed to the offensive 2 or 3 divisions, using from 150 to 200 tanks.
And the battles continued non-stop for several days at times. On October
10th, 1942, within the period of 80 hours, the German warplanes dropped
their bombs on the “Barrikady” plant, whose defence was conducted by the
Siberian division under the command of Major-General Gurtyev. 200 heavy
and medium tanks attacked the plant’s ruins. Following the tanks were intoxicated
fascist sub-machine gunners. But the Hitlerites failed to crush the resistance
of the Soviet soldiers. Each quarter, house and even story turned into
the so-called independently fighting garrisons that offered fierce resistance.
And it happened very often that sergeants and privates became the commanders
of such little garrisons. In quite a number of cases several Soviet soldiers
confronted the onslaught of a whole battalion. There was also a case when
the Germans threw 5 tanks and one battalion of sub-machine gunners against
4 soldiers that covered their unit’s flanks. In an equal battle 4 courageous
men managed to repulse the Hitlerites’ attack and burnt 3 tanks.
- One day the link between a regiment of General Gurtyev’s division and
the other units came to an abrupt halt at the very height of the fighting.
Sergeant Putilov received an order to restore communication. While Putilov
was searching for a rupture in the wire, he was wounded in the shoulder
by a mine fragment. Despite a serious wound, the soldier crawled forward
and found the rupture exactly at the moment when a shell fragment that
exploded nearby damaged his hand. Being unable to work with his hand, Putilov
clenched the wire with his teeth, causing the current to flow through his
body. Thus, the much-needed communication was restored. Later Marshal Chuikov
recollected sorrowfully: “How many people were killed in Stalingrad! It
was a bloody jumble.” But in the period between September 27th and October
8th, 1942 the Germans advanced in the direction of their main strike only
400 to 600 metres forward in locations near the plant settlements. As you
know, they needed 40 days to capture France and 19 to occupy Poland, while
in Stalingrad their progress was minimal - the 600- metre advancement in
12 days. Many people were killed during the defence of Stalingrad. Recollecting
one of the war episodes, the former sergeant of the 155th guards rifle
regiment Mikhail Burtsev says:
- “On that day we conducted defence in the north-eastern part of the Stalingrad
Tractor Plant. The battle was fierce enough. The Germans attacked us non-stop
and in fact, gave us no peace. And in order to neutralize the enemy fire,
the battalion commander gave me an order to approach our tank and show
the target to the tankmen. Orders must be carried out. And making short
rushes here and crawling there I started making my way to the “T-34” tank.
The Germans saw me and began firing at me from all their weapons. I fell,
and probably it seemed to them that I was killed. Crawling, I reached the
tank. After showing the enemy machine-gun to the tankmen I crawled back.
The way our soldiers rose from the ground and launched their attack meant
that the tankmen had finished their work. The Hitlerites started to surrender,
and those who did not raise their hands were shot dead.”
- The feat, performed by Sergeant Yakov Pavlov, was a wonderful example
of staunchness and heroism, shown by the Soviet soldiers. After receiving
an order to occupy a multi-storied building that was of paramount importance
for the defence of a section of the battle front, Sergeant Pavlov, accompanied
by a few soldiers, under the concentrated enemy fire, crossed the city
square and approached the building, where the Nazi soldiers were holding
out. In a violent skirmish the Soviet soldiers kicked out the Hitlerites
from the first story and then from the rest of the building and strengthened
their positions there. For storming the house that was defended by Pavlov
and his soldiers the enemy used masses of infantry , artillery, tanks and
even aviation. The Hitlerites attacked the “ Pavlov house” dozens of times
but failed to crush the resistance of a small group of Soviet soldiers.
Pavlov and his comrades held the defended target for more than 50 days.
Among the brave soldiers that displayed unprecedented heroism in the defence
of the “Pavlov house” were Russians Pavlov, Afanasyev, Alexandrov, Ukrainians
Sabgaida and Glushchenko, Georgians Mosiyashvili and Stepanoshvili, Uzbek
Turgunov, Kazakh Murzayev, Abkhaz Sukba, Tajik Turdyyev, and Tatar Romazanov.
All of them defended their Motherland.
- In the decisive days of the defence of Stalingrad Lieutenant Murashov
together with 10 soldiers repulsed 18 enemy attacks and wiped out more
than 200 Hitlerites in one day. In the 17-day fighting on the Stalingrad
streets machine-gunner Yermakov killed about 300 Hitlerites. Sniper Maxim
Passar, a Nanai by nationality, eliminated 236 fascist soldiers and officers.
There was a case when 8 fascist tanks attacked a Soviet tank under the
command of Hasan Yambekov. The heroic crew fought an unequal battle and
knocked out 4 fascists tanks. The tank of Hasan Yambekov was hit by a termite
shell but the tankmen continued firing from their burning tank. Surrounded
by the fascist sub-machine gunners had no plans to surrender and continued
their fight till the last drop of blood. The tank unit radio operator on
duty managed to pick the well-known voice of tank commander Hasan Yambekov
on the radio. The hero tankman said: “Farewell to you, comrades, don’t
forget us…”
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- An interesting thing happened to Vladimir Zavorotnev, a soldier
of the 62nd army on October 17th, 1942. At the end of a counterattack we
launched in order to dislodge the Germans from the northern part of the
Stalingrad plant a heavy shell exploded nearby, and the blast buried me,
later said Zavorotnev. When I regained consciousness, I couldn’t understand
where I was and what happened to me. Any attempt to take a deep breath
caused me piercing pain. But while a soldier is a live he tries to fight.
All of a sudden I heard somebody taking a deep sigh. Stretching out my
hand, I found some buttons on someone’s chest.
- “Who are you? Give me the number of your unit”, I told him. The
man was silent. To make sure, I asked him again in German, which I spoke
very badly.
- “I’m a non-commissioned officer Rudolf Oskar Valts,” he answered at
last. My heart began to beat. Such a thing had never happened to me before
– to be buried alive with a German. Now he asked me in German what was
my name and where I was from.
- “I’m a Russian. A rank-and-file sub-machine gunner.”
- Valts was silent for quite long, probably thinking about something.
“You are my prisoner”, the German officer said with impudence.
- I was outraged at once, and this gave me more strength. “It’s pure rubbish!
Let’s wait and see who captured whom”, I thought. And all of a sudden the
German dug his teeth into my throat. I didn’t leave him unanswered either.
We fought for some time, then became very weak and stopped our efforts.
- “Why have you come to Russia?" - I asked him.
- “Now it’s our land", - the officer said coarsely. “We, Germans,
will build a new order here. We’ll give food, heat and happiness to the
German people. And the Russian people will be exterminated. And you, the
Russian swine, will kick the bucket all the same. We have already defeated
you. Sure, you are dead".
- It was the height of impudence I could bear no more, and we started
fighting again. Next minute I managed to hit him heavily in the chin. I
squeezed his throat, and continued holding him this way till he calmed
down…
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