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By Tatyana Moskovchenko
The city of Stalingrad has always been a major port on the Volga River.
In July 1941, a month after the Nazi invasion, a special Soviet army detachment
was formed on the Volga River to train the rank and file servicemen for
the Volga fighting fleet. In October, it was transformed into the Volga
Naval Flotilla. At that time it comprised seven gunboats, fifteen armoured
boats, more than twenty minesweepers and two floating artillery batteries.
As the battlefront drew closer to the Volga River in 1942, its strategic
role of the major inland waterway became greater and more vital to both
sides. The Luftwaffe started laying mines in the riverbed to halt all shipping
along the Volga. In a relatively short period of time, the Nazis laid up
to 350 mines in the riverbed. The Soviet army did not have enough special
equipment, sweeps in particular, to neutralize them. To make up for this,
several wooden river ships and barges were turned into minesweepers. Then,
the Luftwaffe started to attack vessels in ports and en route. Cargo ships
had to be formed into convoys, which were protected by anti-aircraft vessels.
Amoured boats were also used as escort vessels for such convoys.
But the Volga Naval Flotilla kept on carrying troops, war equipment and
supplies. Its personnel displayed courage and heroism, which was equal
to that of the defenders of the city. It is no exaggeration to say that
60 years ago the fate of the city depended on the uninterrupted supply
of everything the Stalingrad front needed. All in all, the Volga Naval
Flotilla undertook more than 35,000 runs across the river. What’s more,
wherever it could, the Volga Naval Flotilla also supported the Soviet land
forces with gunfire.
The enemy kept the river under fire. The Flotilla had to take advantage
of the night hours, but still its ships were not always able to reach the
city undetected. The Germans used to fire flares to sight Soviet ships
and then to plaster them down with heavy fire. More than fifty vessels
were lost as a result of the Luftwafe heavy bombing and about twenty vessels
struck mines.
The Soviet side constantly devised measures to make the Volga shipping
safer. Despite all the difficulties, the armoured boats were equipped with
tank turrets. It was in the battle of Stalingrad that the boats first employed
rocket mortars. When new - smaller and lighter - models were produced,
they were installed on armoured boats as well. That’s how the world-famous
Katyusha rocket mortars appeared on the Volga during the battle of Stalingrad.
The heroic deeds of the Volga Naval Flotilla are undoubtedly equal to the
most illustrious feats performed in the battle of Stalingrad. The Soviet
army suffered heavy losses, but it also dealt the German war machine a
crushing blow on the Volga as well as on land.
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