EntranceThe Battle of Stalingrad is fact and fiction. Myths about the Battle of Stalingrad
February 2 marks the 75th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, which was marked by the surrender of the 330,000-strong group of Field Marshal Paulus, or rather, what was left of it after two months of hunger, shelling and bombing. About 90 thousand people were captured by the Soviets. Germany had never known such a defeat. Stalingrad was the beginning of a radical turning point in the Great Patriotic War. Remembering this day military glory Russia, the portal’s editors publish an article by Dr. Protodeacon Vladimir Vasilik, dedicated to various myths related to the Battle of Stalingrad.
MYTH No. 1.
The victory at Stalingrad was achieved thanks to Stalin's order No. 227, penal battalions and detachments.
Indeed, after the defeat of our troops near Kharkov in May 1942, the fall of Sevastopol on July 4, 1942 and the abandonment of Rostov, fearing further retreat and trying to stabilize the situation, Stalin signed order No. 227 on July 28, 1942, which received the name “Ni” at the front. one step back! This order called for resistance and condemned the widespread thesis that the vast expanses of the country provided ample opportunities for retreat. The order provided for punitive measures, including execution, for leaving positions and retreating without an order. He demanded the restoration of iron discipline. The repressive measures were aimed at stopping the Nazi offensive by any means, which could lead to an irreparable catastrophe. This order established penal units and army barrage detachments. On July 30, the order was read out to all units and made a tremendous impression, playing an important mobilizing role.
This is how, for example, Konstantin Simonov recalled the impact of this order on people’s consciousness: “The poems “If your home is dear to you” were written by me under the direct impression of Stalin’s July order, the meaning of which was that there was nowhere to retreat further, that the enemy had to be stopped at any cost, at the most merciless price, or die... Now the movement of life seemed like some kind of leap in the future - either jump over, or die.”
As a former penal battalion member, three times seriously wounded war veteran, major general, notes, failure to take the necessary, sometimes tough, measures in a critical situation can lead to irreparable consequences. This is well illustrated by the following example: during a train crash, a young man’s foot was caught between two carriages, and he could not free himself from this vice, but the carriage was already burning, and the flames were approaching. Suddenly a military man with a saber appeared nearby, he snatched it from its sheath to chop off the pinched and already crushed foot. Those present protested violently and did not allow the military man to “mutilate” the young man. So he burned alive along with the carriage. Isn’t this a direct analogy with how our Motherland would have burned in the fire of the war imposed on us if these tough measures had not been taken?
However, a legitimate question arises: how great were the repressions really? How many, for example, were punished for desertion during the Battle of Stalingrad? The English historian Anthony Beaver speaks of 13,000 executed. In reality, this value is overestimated by 12 times: German researcher Joseph Hellbeck in his book “Stalingrad. Memoirs of Witnesses and Eyewitnesses” provides data that is much closer to reality - 668 shot and 1,200 sent to penal companies and battalions.
The number of penal prisoners during the Battle of Stalingrad amounted to no more than 1%
It is also a myth that the victory at Stalingrad was won by penalty soldiers. The penalty officer himself, an officer of permanent composition, that is, in fact, a suicide bomber, holder of many military orders A.V. Pyltsyn categorically rejects the idea of the decisive contribution of penal battalions to the victory in the Great Patriotic War, including the Battle of Stalingrad. He especially notes in his works that the number of penal prisoners during the Battle of Stalingrad numbered no more than one percent from total number Soviet soldiers and officers.
Unfortunately, A.I. also paid tribute to this myth. Solzhenitsyn, who wrote in “The Gulag Archipelago” about the flow of penal prisoners, whose blood became, in his opinion, the cement for the foundation of the victory at Stalingrad. For this he received a fair rebuke from the hero of the Battle of Stalingrad, commander of the 62nd Army, Marshal Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov:
“I am painfully aware of the insult you inflicted on us, the people of Stalingrad. I say this because I myself experienced 200 fiery days and nights, all the time I was on the right bank of the Volga and in Stalingrad. Perhaps, in your opinion, I, as a penal prisoner, was appointed to command the 62nd Army, about the merits of which our newspaper Pravda wrote on November 25, 1942: “In the petition, which mentions the armies defending Stalingrad, the special role of the 62nd Army is emphasized th Army, which repelled the main German attacks on Stalingrad, its commander, Lieutenant General Comrade V.I. Chuikov. and his main assistants vol. Colonel Gorokhov, Major General Rodimtsev, Major General Guryev, Colonel Balvinov, Colonel Gurtiev and others.” In your opinion, Solzhenitsyn, it turns out that the guards divisions were “cemented” by penal companies?! Is it really possible that sniper Vasily Zaitsev, who destroyed about 300 fascists, sergeant Yakov Pavlov and a group of fighters of different nationalities led by him, defended a house for 58 days and nights, which the Nazis never took, but placed more of their corpses around this house than during the capture of the French the capital of Paris - were these good defenders of Stalingrad really “cemented” by penal companies? Was the glorious son of the Spanish people Ruben Ibarruri really a penalty box or “cemented” by the penalty box? You, Solzhenitsyn, dared to mock these heroes.”
According to the well-founded opinion of the modern German researcher Joseph Hellbeck, there was simply no work for the barrier detachments: the fighters had sufficient motivation and the will to resist. The heroes of Stalingrad mentioned by Marshal Chuikov are vivid examples of this.
MYTH No. 2.
It stems from the first. Allegedly, the Soviet soldiers were a faceless mass, poorly armed and trained, and won only by numbers.
“Here we must conquer every meter of land in difficult battles.”
Again, this is refuted by the above-mentioned exploits of Vasily Zaitsev, Yakov Pavlov, Ruben Ibarruri and hundreds of others. But let's give evidence from enemies, written not after the war, but on the spot, from the trenches of Stalingrad:
“Equipped with the most modern weapons, the Russians deal us the most severe blows. This is most clearly demonstrated in the battles for Stalingrad. Here we must conquer every meter of land in heavy battles and bring great sacrifices, since the Russian fights stubbornly and fiercely, until his last breath..." (From a letter from Corporal Otto Bauer, mailing address 43396 B, to Hermann Kuge. November 18, 1942).
“...Stalingrad is hell on earth, Verdun, red Verdun, with new weapons. We attack daily. If we manage to occupy 20 meters in the morning, in the evening the Russians push us back..." (From a letter from Corporal Walter Oppermann, p/n 44111, to his brother, November 18, 1942).
At the beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad, the Germans had a numerical advantage
“...When we came to Stalingrad, there were 140 of us, and by September 1, after two weeks of fighting, only 16 remained. All the rest were wounded and killed. We do not have a single officer, and a non-commissioned officer was forced to take command of the unit. Up to a thousand wounded are transported from Stalingrad to the rear every day. As you can see, our losses are considerable..." (From a letter from soldier Heinrich Malchus, p/p 17189, to Corporal Karl Weitzel. November 13, 1942).
“...You can’t show yourself from behind cover during the day, otherwise you’ll be shot down like a dog. The Russian has a sharp and accurate eye. There were once 180 of us, only 7 remain. There used to be 14 machine gunners No. 1, now there are only two...” (From a letter from machine gunner Adolf to his mother. November 18, 1942).
As for numbers, it should be noted that at the beginning and in the middle of the Battle of Stalingrad, the Germans had the numerical advantage. The formations of Paulus's 6th Army advancing at the end of July numbered 270 thousand people against 160 thousand Soviet soldiers, 3000 guns and mortars against 2200 Soviet, 500 tanks against 400 Soviet. And even at the beginning of the offensive operation "Uranus" on November 19, 1942, the superiority of the Soviet troops was minimal: in personnel - 1.1 to 1, in guns and mortars - 1.5 to 1, in tanks - 2.2 to 1, in aviation - 1.1 to 1. Meanwhile, for large-scale offensive operations military science requires fourfold superiority in manpower and technology. This proves that already during the Battle of Stalingrad we fought not with numbers, but with skill.
Myth No. 3.
The Germans, who experienced the horrors of the blockade, were innocent victims of both regimes - Hitler's and Stalin's, equally responsible for the war.
It was precisely this false concept that led to the speech of the Urengoy boy Nikolai Denisov in the Bundestag, in which he bemoans the fate of poor German prisoners of war.
And how did many of them themselves feel about the fate that befell them? As to fair retribution and God's judgment. Here are some more excerpts from the letters:
“...Yes, here you have to thank God for every hour that you remain alive. No one can escape their destiny here. The worst thing is that you have to wait resignedly until your time comes. Either by sanitary train to your homeland, or immediately and terrible death to the other world. Only a few lucky ones, chosen by God, will safely survive the war at the front near Stalingrad..." (From a letter from soldier Paul Bolze to Maria Smud. November 18, 1942).
November 19. If we lose this war, we will be avenged for everything we have done. Thousands of Russians and Jews were shot with their wives and children near Kiev and Kharkov. This is simply incredible. But that is why we must exert every effort to win the war.
5 January. Our division has a cemetery near Stalingrad, where over 1000 people are buried. That's just terrible. People who are now being sent from transport units to the infantry can be considered sentenced to death.
January 15. There is no way out of the boiler and there never will be. From time to time, mines explode around us..." (From the diary of officer F.P. of the 8th light rifle and machine gun fleet of the 212th regiment.).
By the way, the last letter explains the fierce resistance that the Germans offered even in the Stalingrad cauldron. It is explained by propaganda that suggested that the “subhuman” Russians know no mercy, as well as by the fear of retribution for the crimes actually committed, of which there were more than enough. The mentioned thousands of Russians and Jews shot near Kiev are just the tip of the iceberg. One execution in Babi Yar September 30, 1941 – 100 thousand people. In Crimea, the Germans and their accomplices - Crimean Tatars– killed 50 thousand Crimean Jews, not to mention many ordinary Soviet citizens. During the occupation, 22,828 civilians and Soviet prisoners of war were shot, tortured or driven into slavery in Simferopol, 69,866 people in Sevastopol, 11,707 in Yalta, 43,429 in Kerch, 12,598 in Evpatoria, 11,300 people in Feodosia, etc. .
In Odessa, the Romanians and Germans destroyed about 140 thousand inhabitants.
But what happened at Stalingrad or in Stalingrad itself! Here is just one act of the Commission for the Investigation of the Atrocities of the Nazi Invaders, dedicated to the terrible Dulag No. 205, where, according to various sources, from 6,000 to 15,000 prisoners of war and civilians of Stalingrad died:
“After the liberation of the village of Alekseevka, Gorodishchensky district, on January 22 by units of the Red Army, a prisoner of war camp was discovered in its vicinity, designated by the German command under No. 205. Here, behind barbed wire, in dark and cramped pits dug in the open steppe, by the time the Soviets arrived The troops contained 950 prisoners of war, some of whom were civilians of the city of Stalingrad. The overwhelming majority of prisoners were so weak from hunger, beatings, exhaustion, and backbreaking work that they were unable to move without assistance.
Here's how the civilian population was treated:
“Below is published an act on the atrocities of the Nazi scoundrels in the village of Skosyrskaya, Rostov region: “Before retreating from the village, the Germans committed a bloody massacre of the civilian population. Hitler's bandits shot a 6th grade student high school Grigory Pashutin, hospital employee Leonid Perepelkin, tractor driver Khristofor Shilov, collective farm chairman Yegor Kharitonov, disabled person Nikanor Lyutin, Alexander Shirokoradenko, Andrei Shilov, Alexander Semenov and others. There were sick Soviet citizens in the local hospital. The fascist monsters drove them to the river and shot them. Some patients could not move and remained in the hospital. The Nazis burned the hospital along with the sick citizens who were in it.” The act was signed by: Captain Mitrofanov, Captain Kovtunov, military paramedic Tkalenko, junior lieutenant Kolesnikov, residents of the village of Skosyrskaya M. Kharitonova, M. Voronina, A. Shevchenko, S. Voronina and L. Shilova. (Sovinformburo)
I believe that after such descriptions many will not want to feel sorry for the unfortunate Germans, much less compare them with our Red Army soldiers, who treated captured Germans completely differently. They were not kept under open air, they were given normal working rations. Unfortunately, this did not save many who reached extreme exhaustion. Of the 90 thousand captured at Stalingrad, 27 thousand died from dystrophy. However, measures were taken, 35 thousand prisoners of war were sent for treatment and placed on increased allowance. After 1949, about 60 thousand Stalingrad prisoners returned to Germany. Many German prisoners of war retained the warmest memories of Soviet captivity, incomparable to what our captured soldiers and officers faced with the Germans.
And finally, many German prisoners of war rightly considered the cause of all their troubles to be their own leadership, which refused to accept the offer of surrender and doomed its soldiers to senseless death. Here's just one example:
“Everyone on the battery - 49 people - read the Soviet ultimatum leaflet. At the end of the reading, I told my comrades that we were doomed people and that the ultimatum presented to Paulus was a life preserver thrown to us by a generous enemy...” (From the testimony of prisoner Martin Gander).
“...I read the ultimatum, and burning anger at our generals boiled up in me. They, apparently, decided to completely kill us in this damn place. Let the generals and officers fight themselves. Enough for me. I'm fed up with the war..." (From the testimony of captured corporal Joseph Schwartz, 10th company of the 131st infantry regiment of the 44th infantry division. II.I.1943).
MYTH No. 4.
Stalingrad was supposedly just one of the “key places” of the Second World War.
Comparing the battle of Stalingrad and El Alamein looks simply indecent
In order to justify the inaction of England and the United States in 1941-1943 and inflate their very modest contribution to the Victory over fascism, the concept of the so-called “key places” of the Second World War, which allegedly decided its outcome, was developed in English and American historiography. In this concept Battle of Stalingrad was miraculously equated with the battle of El Alamein in Egypt in October 1942, because if as a result of Stalingrad Hitler was unable to break through to the Volga and, accordingly, further to the south and east, then as a result of the battles of El Alamein he was unable to reach to the Suez Canal and capture Palestine. Of course, if the salvation of Palestine is considered the main result of the Second World War, then the Anglo-Saxon historians are right. However, it is clear to any sane person that its main result is the defeat of the Third Reich and its allies and ridding the world of the fascist plague. From this point of view, comparing the battle of Stalingrad and El Alamein looks simply indecent. Let's look at at least some data. Thus, at Stalingrad, at the time of the offensive, about 1 million soldiers, equipped with 15 thousand guns and rocket launchers, took part on our side. They were also opposed by a million-strong German-Romanian group, which had more than 10 thousand guns and large-caliber mortars. At El Alamein, 220 thousand British, French and Greeks with 2359 guns fought against 115 thousand Germans and Italians armed with 1219 artillery barrels. From July 1942 to February 1943, the Italian-German bloc lost no more than 40 thousand people killed and wounded in northern Africa. During the same time, at least 760 thousand enemy soldiers were put out of action between the Don and Volga rivers. These data are provided by Western researchers themselves. The heads of the Allied powers themselves were well aware of the very modest nature of their efforts and paid tribute to the Soviet Union and the heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad. This is what F.D. wrote in his letter to Stalingrad. Roosevelt:
“On behalf of the people of the United States of America, I present this certificate to the city of Stalingrad to commemorate our admiration for its valiant defenders, whose courage, fortitude and dedication during the siege from September 13, 1942 to January 31, 1943 will forever inspire the hearts of all free people. .."
And Churchill quite openly called the battles for El Alamein a “pinprick.” Hitler had a similar attitude towards the war in North Africa. Marshal Rommel noted: “In Berlin, the campaign in North Africa was of secondary importance, and neither Hitler nor General base They didn’t take it particularly seriously.” Meanwhile, the Battle of Stalingrad really marked the beginning of a radical turning point in the war. Victory in it plunged Germany into mourning, kept Japan and Turkey from entering the war with the USSR, and forced many German allies to look for ways to a separate peace. And finally, she inspired all people of good will to fight fascism.
Remembering the Battle of Stalingrad, we ponder the ways of God's Providence
Remembering the Battle of Stalingrad, we ponder the ways of God's Providence. The Lord led and is leading Russia through trials, falls and revival, just as He led Old Testament Israel. The terrible military disaster of 1941 and the defeats of 1942 gave way to great victories that had no analogues in world history. All this, of course, is connected with an incredible, terrible feat Soviet people, great military and labor efforts. But we must remember Who is the source of strength, courage and wisdom. In the Battle of Stalingrad and, more broadly, in the Great Patriotic War, His mercy to Russia and judgment on occult Reich The Lord told us: “It was from Me.”
In conclusion, here are the words of a participant in the Great Patriotic War, her hero, a great old man who recently died:
“This great, terrible Patriotic War, of course, was the result of God’s allowance for our apostasy from God, for our moral violation of God’s law and for the fact that in Russia they tried to do away with religion, with faith, with the Church. This was the enemy’s plan: for complete atheism to reign everywhere.
The Lord foresaw these enemy plans, and in order to prevent their implementation, the Lord allowed the war. Not by chance. And we see that the war really turned people to faith, and the rulers treated the Church completely differently. Especially when Stalin issued a decree on the opening of churches in Russia. This undoubtedly brought God’s mercy to our country, to our Church, to our people. Humanly speaking, of course, we can say that the high military spirit of our soldiers won. And we must pay tribute to the country’s leadership, which raised such a brilliant commander as Zhukov. In former times, the Lord raised up Suvorov and Kutuzov for Russia. In our time, Georgy Zhukov was the mercy of God. We owe our salvation to him.
Our military equipment immediately rose, became stronger and improved. Humanly speaking, we attribute all this to the fact that people united and worked successfully on the front line and in the rear. This is right. But the Lord gave them strength, energy and intelligence.
When I read the memoirs of Marshal Zhukov, I was struck by the moment where he writes about how he was amazed at the beginning of the war by the genius of the strategic plans of the German generals. Then he was surprised at the mistakes and miscalculations that they subsequently made. This is what Zhukov says for his part. For my part, I will say: the Wisdom of God did all this! The Lord, whomever he wants to punish, always deprives him of reason and intelligence... And the same person who at first showed wisdom, when the grace of God receded, makes mistakes.
When the Lord had already decided to give help to our people, our army, He darkened the minds of the fascists, and gave wisdom, military ingenuity, courage and success to our military leaders. The Lord gave strength, energy, intelligence to our designers and engineers in order to win. As they say: “Without God there is no way!”
The trouble is that we do not see the Providence of God and do not give glory to the Lord for showing such providence, such care. It is sad...
As a matter of fact, Russia has risen from insignificance and grown to great power only by the grace of God, only by the power of God, miracles... And no one wants to talk about it.”
Indeed, most often they prefer to remain silent about this. But we need to talk about this loudly. Especially now, in our difficult times, which are in many ways reminiscent of the pre-war ones. So that Russia will grow again to a great power, and we will grow to the extent of those great people who suffered the Victory given to us by God...
On December 20, 1942, German tanks reached the small frozen Myshkova River. From there, some 35-40 kilometers remained to Stalingrad and the 6th Army of General Paulus surrounded in it. One of their participants, Yuri Bondarev, described the fierce battles that took place there in the novel “ Hot Snow”, based on which director Gavriil Egiazarov made a film of the same name - one of the best Soviet films about that War...
An infantry cadet with the soul of an artilleryman
Bondarev's main characters are artillerymen, and the story is told from the perspective of the battery fire platoon commander, Lieutenant Nikolai Kuznetsov.
Meanwhile, the author himself did not begin his military career as an officer or an artilleryman. In the summer of 1942, 18-year-old Bondarev was sent to the 2nd Berdichev Infantry School, but did not manage to receive the rank - in October the cadets were urgently sent to the front, near Stalingrad.
There, yesterday's cadet became the commander of a mortar crew, in December near Kotelnikov he was shell-shocked, wounded, received frostbite and ended up in the “gods of war” after the hospital, and became an officer only towards the end of the war.
In 1967, when Bondarev, collecting material for a future novel, tried to meet with von Manstein in Munich, the 80-year-old Nazi field marshal refused the meeting, citing poor health.
According to Bondarev, he himself was not particularly sorry that the attempt failed. He admitted that “I felt for him the same thing that twenty-five years ago, when I shot at his tanks in the unforgotten days of 1942. I understood why this “undefeated on the battlefield” did not want to meet with the Russian soldier.”
Why Manstein
The 6th Army was considered one of the most combat-ready in the Wehrmacht. It was she who was tasked with wiping the city on the Volga from its face. Did not work out. More than 330 thousand German soldiers and officers were surrounded, and Field Marshal Erich von Manstein was entrusted with rescuing them.
Why him? Behind him was the authorship of the victorious 1940 campaign against France, the occupation of Crimea in 1941 and the capture of Sevastopol in 1942. Hitler considered him the best military strategist: if Manstein doesn’t succeed, no one will succeed.
The field marshal hastily formed Army Group Don. It included several large formations, the most powerful of which was the tank group of General Hermann Hoth. The operation was named pompously in German - Wintergewitter (“Winter Storm”).
Corporate identity: a blow where you didn't expect it
The offensive began on December 12, 1942. The Germans almost immediately broke through the outer ring of encirclement in the Kotelnichesky direction, literally sweeping away the 302nd Infantry Division of the 51st Army of General Nikolai Trufanov and breaking into operational space.
The Soviet command expected a strike, but to the west, from Nizhne-Chirskaya. There, on the middle Don, the distance to the 6th Army was only 40 kilometers.
As a result, Manstein managed to outplay Soviet generals Andrei Eremenko (Stalingrad Front) and Nikolai Vatutin (Southwestern Front). He took the longer route and struck from the south. On December 13, Goth's tankers reached the Aksai River, having gone a quarter of the way to Stalingrad. There was very little left, and the encirclement would have been broken.
How General Volsky managed to surprise first Stalin and then Hoth
Attack Soviet tanks KV-1 of the Stalingrad Front with infantry support.
To eliminate the breakthrough, Headquarters hastily transferred the 2nd guards army General Rodion Malinovsky. But she had to march almost 300 kilometers in winter in a forced march, and before her approach the enemy had to be somehow delayed.
The command entrusted this task to the 4th mechanized corps of General Vasily Volsky, separate tank regiments and the 20th anti-tank artillery brigade.
Before telling how General Volsky managed to surprise the Germans, it is impossible to keep silent about the incident in which he managed to surprise himself... Stalin.
The fact is that on the eve of the counter-offensive at Stalingrad, in November 1942, Volsky sent a letter to Stalin, which could have enormous consequences. At least for Vasily Timofeevich himself.
Here is what Marshal Alexander Vasilevsky said about this letter in a conversation with Konstantin Simonov: “Volsky wrote to Stalin approximately the following. Dear Comrade Stalin. I consider it my duty to inform you that I do not believe in the success of the upcoming offensive (the operation to encircle and defeat the army of Paulus - Ed.). We do not have enough strength and resources for it. I'm convinced that we won't be able to break through German defense and complete the task assigned to us. That this whole operation could end in disaster, that such a catastrophe would cause incalculable consequences, bring us losses, have a detrimental effect on the entire situation of the country, and after this the Germans could end up not only on the Volga, but also beyond the Volga...
As an honest party member, Volsky asked for a reality check decisions taken, and, perhaps, abandon the operation altogether.
The letter reached the addressee, but fortunately, neither the author himself nor the developers of our victorious plan for Operation Uranus were harmed. General Volsky took part in our counter-offensive, and was subsequently awarded and promoted several times. It was he who made Goth “turn around.”
An active defense was imposed on the Nazis: Volsky’s tankers from all sides, including from the rear, counterattacked Hoth’s divisions. This “rotating battle,” as the Germans dubbed it (the opponents changed places several times, storming the heights south of Verkhne-Kumsky), lasted five whole days.
Then, on December 19, Hoth brought the 17th Panzer Division into battle. It broke through the right flank of the Soviet defense, threatening the 4th Mechanized Corps with encirclement. With a heavy heart, Volsky was forced to withdraw his units to the next line of defense - the Myshkova River.
From there, Manstein’s tankers had only 35 kilometers to reach Paulus’s grouping. But time was won - behind the 4th Corps, the 8th and 3rd Guards Rifle Divisions of Malinovsky’s Army had already taken up defensive positions, and the infantry units of the 5th Shock Army, reinforced by two tank brigades, were deployed.
There was a “thunderstorm”, but “thunder” did not strike
Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus (left), commander of the Wehrmacht's 6th Army encircled in Stalingrad, his chief of staff, Lieutenant General Arthur Schmidt, and his adjutant Wilhelm Adam after surrender. Stalingrad, Beketovka, headquarters of the Soviet 64th Army.
One of the important parts of the “Winter Storm” was the Donnerschlag (“Thunderbolt”) plan, according to which the 6th Army was supposed to break out of the “cauldron”, break through to the Donskaya Tsarina River and link up with Manstein’s troops. But the paradox was that the commander of the encircled men himself did not dare to take such a step.
Having familiarized himself with the plan, the chief of staff of the 6th Army, General Arthur Schmidt, replied to the field marshal that this would lead to a complete disaster. And Paulus agreed with him, citing the fact that the Fuhrer categorically forbade him to leave Stalingrad. The commander of Army Group Don did not insist.
Could the 6th Army get through to Manstein's troops? This is still debated in historical forums. It is only known that the surrounded group had only 30 kilometers of fuel left. In addition, as soon as Paulus began the breakthrough, he was immediately attacked from all sides by Soviet units, monitoring the slightest changes on the front line. The risk was too great and the resources too few.
A day containing four days, and mothballs instead of snow
Hoth's tanks fell on Soviet positions on the northern bank of the Myshkova River. In Bondarev’s novel and the film based on it, our artillerymen, infantrymen and tankmen fight them off for exactly one day, after which, after waiting until the Germans are exhausted, General Bessonov (in the film he was wonderfully played by Georgy Zhzhonov) brings a fresh tank corps into battle and drives back the enemy.
In fact, the battles lasted not one day, but four, from December 20 to 24. Scary and dramatic. With tank attacks and repeated bombing of our positions.
The snow here was really hot - from the flames of destroyed tanks, explosions of aerial bombs and artillery shots. The Germans, having taken a bridgehead on the northern bank of the river, tried to expand it several times and rolled back each time.
By the end of the film, the viewer also believed that the snow was hot - against the backdrop of destroyed tanks, destroyed trenches and communication passages. The fact is that during the filming of the famous film, a problem arose with snow.
We filmed the battles at a tank training ground near Novosibirsk, relying on local frosts and heavy snow. And at first, Siberia even more than justified itself: the cold caused the filming equipment to break down.
But in March, winter suddenly ended and the snow began to melt quickly. I had to bring a whole carload of mothballs and sprinkle them on the “trenches.” The smell was terrible, but only the participants in the filming knew about it.
The finale of the film was filmed in Alabino, near Moscow, in late April - early May. The weather was already like summer. And according to the recollections of the actors, they literally melted in their greatcoats and quilted jackets. But there was no mothballs. Here snow was depicted with chalk and lime...
The end of “Winter Storm”
A German Messerschmitt Bf.109 fighter was shot down and grounded (the landing gear was down) in the center of Stalingrad. Summer 1943.
And then, in 1942, the fate of the “Winter Thunderstorm” was decided not on Myshkova, but 250 kilometers to the north-west. According to Manstein’s plan, there were to be two unblocking strikes: the main one was delivered by Hoth, and the auxiliary one, from Nizhne-Chirskaya, by General Karl-Adolf Hollidt.
But there, the troops of the Southwestern Front, together with the 6th Army of the Voronezh Front, went on the offensive on December 16 and, during Operation Little Saturn, broke through the enemy’s defenses, which were held by Germany’s allies - the Italians and Romanians.
General Hollidt, whose flank was dangerously exposed, had no time for Stalingrad. Soviet units approached the city of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, aiming at Rostov-on-Don.
Manstein realized that a strategic catastrophe was brewing: Army Group A, which included Don, could be cut off from North Caucasus and surrounded. There was an urgent need to strengthen the collapsing Chir Front.
On February 2, 2018, Russia celebrates the 75th anniversary of the defeat of fascist troops at Stalingrad.
Disputes about the significance of this grandiose battle in world history are still raging, and myths, cliches and outright lies are constant companions to almost any mention of the Battle of Stalingrad. Let's try to separate the wheat from the chaff?
"PEOPLE WITH HEARTS OF STEEL"
You can’t fool history, you can’t turn it back. But you can retouch it in the right color and turn something in the right way. Especially if the Second World War ended long ago, and a new generation has grown up, brought up on Hollywood blockbusters and preferring computer games to documentary historical prose.
At first everything was honest and straightforward. Almost all newspapers, magazines, films and radio broadcasts of the allied countries after the defeat of the Wehrmacht at Stalingrad told the truth. The New York Times of February 7, 1943 reported:
“The final destruction of the remnants of the German army at Stalingrad was the end of a story that will be remembered for generations. In this great war there has never been such a furious siege and such unbending resistance.”
Roosevelt then said: the most significant changes in World War II occurred in Stalingrad. Churchill sent to the USSR a sword forged by special order of King George VI with the engraved inscription: “To people with hearts of steel - citizens of Stalingrad as a sign of respect for them by the English people.”
But later everything changed.
THE MYTH OF LOCAL IMPORTANCE
The main lie about Stalingrad, imposed on the world by the West today, is that the battle on the Volga did not play a key role in World War II and was local, says Mikhail Myagkov, scientific director of the Russian Military Historical Society. - Allegedly main battle took place in North Africa, in El Alamein. But these military actions are not comparable either in terms of losses or military efforts.
In fact, about 1 million soldiers took part in the Battle of Stalingrad from the Red Army, and they were also opposed by a million-strong German-Romanian group. At El Alamein, 220 thousand British, French and Greeks fought against 115 thousand Germans and Italians.
From July 1942 to February 1943 in North Africa, the Italian-German bloc lost no more than 40 thousand people killed and wounded. During the same time, at least 760 thousand enemy soldiers were put out of action between the Don and Volga rivers.
If the disaster at Stalingrad caused three days of mourning in Germany, like an unprecedented defeat, then the “desert fox” himself spoke eloquently about the events at El Alamein. German Field Marshal Rommel: “Neither Hitler nor the General Staff took the operation in North Africa particularly seriously.”
SAVING LEND-LEASE?
The idea that the Allies' supply of weapons to the Red Army played a key role in the Battle of Stalingrad is widespread both in the West and in our country. There is certainly some truth in this statement.
The Allies began to supply military equipment in the USSR already in the winter of 1941. And this was a significant help for the Red Army, weakened in heavy battles. But the complete truth is that by the beginning of the Battle of the Volga, the agreed supply programs to the USSR were only 55% completed by the Americans and British.
In 1941-1942, the USSR received only 7% of those sent during the war from the USA to different countries cargo. The main amount of weapons and other materials was received by the Soviet Union only in 1944-1945 - after a radical turning point in the course of the war.
TRAGEDY OF CIVILIANS
Of course, not everything that is said about the Battle of Stalingrad in the Western press or in some Russian media, - not true. One of the most difficult pages of Stalingrad is the tragedy of civilians who were not evacuated from the city before the start of the battle.
According to one source, by the summer of 1942, 490 thousand people lived in Stalingrad. From February to May 1942, thousands of evacuated Leningraders were added to them. According to some Volgograd journalists, by the summer of 1942 there were more than 600 thousand people in the city.
According to members of the “Children of Military Stalingrad” society, Stalin did not allow the evacuation of civilians and even children. He believed that Soviet soldiers would fight better knowing that behind them were the defenseless residents of the city.
According to other sources, there was no official ban on evacuation, but it started too late. They managed to transport only 100 thousand people across the Volga. The remaining civilians in the city died during fierce fighting.
TRANSITION TO THE WEHRMACHT SIDE
Another of the “inconvenient” pages of the Stalingrad epic is the transition to the 6th German Army large quantity Soviet soldiers. According to Western historians Manfred Keurig and Rüdiger Overmans, every fifth soldier in Paulus's army was Russian.
Already in September 1942, when the first German offensive on Stalingrad was stopped, the political departments and departments of the NKVD armies near Stalingrad began to receive messages from the front that “former Soviet soldiers” were often fighting against them.
It is believed that at the most dramatic moment of the Stalingrad epic, about 50 thousand Russians went over to the side of the Germans. Most Russian historians believe that this figure is greatly exaggerated.
The documents of the 6th Army mention 20 thousand so-called Hiwis (Hilfswilliger - German “willing to help”). These are people who were captured and did dirty work in the German troops. The Germans usually did not trust them with weapons.
NO STEP BACK!
On July 28, 1942, Stalin’s famous order No. 227 “Not a step back!” was issued, prohibiting retreat without an order, forming penal battalions, as well as barrage detachments that were allowed to shoot panickers, deserters and cowards on the spot.
Some historians and publicists believe that it was largely thanks to this order that the Red Army managed to stop the German advance at Stalingrad. Historian and writer Alexey Isaev, author of the book “Myths and Truth about Stalingrad,” believes that the role of the order “Not a step back!” in the Battle of Stalingrad is greatly exaggerated: “Barrier detachments were usually formed not from NKVD units, but from cadets of military schools. But there were few of them, and they were of no use on the streets of Stalingrad. Most often, the barrier detachments acted like ordinary rifle units.”
However, according to official data, according to order No. 227, about 13.5 thousand soldiers were shot during the battles in Stalingrad, which corresponds to almost a whole rifle division. The commander of the 62nd Army, Vasily Chuikov, said: “In a burning city, we cannot afford a guardhouse for cowards.”
One of the interesting trends recent years- promotion of negative cliches about our history in computer games. Western programmers have already created a whole universe of military battles.
For example, a game based on the events of the Battle of Stalingrad, Call of Duty, is extremely popular all over the world, in which three Red Army soldiers are given one rifle and sent into an attack, forcing them to wait until the armed soldier is killed so that his comrades can pick up the weapon. The fighters are driven into the attack by detachments of NKVD soldiers, who urge them on with machine-gun bursts and shouts: “Stalin ordered, damn it, just forward!”
There is another game - about the Second world war, in which the Red Army does not exist, as if the USSR did not take part in the war against Hitler.
In another popular game, all the exploits of Soviet soldiers come down to shooting deserters, while the Americans land in Normandy and liberate Europe from the Nazis, and the Russians, as always, have nothing to do with it.
Computer games reach hundreds of millions of people, says the deputy head of the scientific and methodological department of the Victory Museum. Sergei Belov, - the data entered into them is replicated throughout the world and projected onto the consciousness of schoolchildren. Need to expand the line domestic games, create true stories about the Second World War in which Russia would be adequately represented.
Elena Khakimova.
RIA Novosti/A. Kapustyansky.
Ruins of Stalingrad. February 1943
It was the most bloody battle Second World War. She was so cruel that Soviet Union hid the truth. Now the secret is revealed.
Time: January 31, 1943. Location: the basement of a department store destroyed by shells in the Soviet city of Stalingrad. But it was not the unhappy and exhausted faces of the Nazis that were etched into the memory of the soldiers of the Soviet Red Army when they discovered the underground hole in which Adolf Hitler’s exhausted commanders had taken refuge.
“Garbage, human excrement and who knows what else accumulated there up to the waist,” recalled Major Anatoly Zoldatov (as in the original - approx. transl.). – The stench was incredible. There were two toilets, and above both there were signs that said “No Russians allowed.”
The incredibly terrible, but legendary and decisive Battle of Stalingrad had just ended with the terrible and humiliating defeat of Hitler's 6th Army. A couple of years will pass, and Nazi Germany will capitulate.
Lieutenant Colonel Leonid Vinokur was the first to notice the commander of the German troops lying in the corner with awards on his chest. “When I came in, he was lying on the bed. He lay there in his greatcoat and cap. He had two-week stubble on his cheeks, and it seemed that he had lost all his courage,” Vinokur recalled. This commander was Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus.
The stories of participants in the Battle of the Volga, during which 60 thousand German troops and between 500 thousand and a million Red Army soldiers died, form part of a collection of previously unknown conversations with Russian soldiers of Stalingrad. These materials were published for the first time in the form of a book, “The Stalingrad Protocols,” which was prepared for publication by the German historian Jochen Hellbeck. He gained access to several thousand recorded interviews with Red Army soldiers who fought in World War II. These records are kept in the archives of the Soviet Academy of Sciences in Moscow.
The stories of the participants, which were initially planned to be included in the chronicle of the “Great Patriotic War” of the Soviet Union, are so frank and full of terrible details that the Kremlin after 1945 published only a small part of them, preferring the generally accepted version from the arsenal of Stalinist propaganda. These “protocols” lay idle in the Moscow archives until 2008, when Hellbeck, following a tip, managed to gain access to 10 thousand pages of these documents.
From the stories of the participants it follows that one of the main motives for the fierce counter-offensive of the Red Army was the cruelty and bloodthirstiness of the occupying German army. Soviet sniper Vasily Zaitsev told his interlocutor: “You see young girls, children hanging from trees in the park - it has a colossal impact.”
Major Pyotr Zayonchkovsky said that he found the body of his dead comrade, who was tortured by the Nazis: “The skin and nails on his right hand were completely torn off. The eye was burned out, and on the left temple there was a wound from a red-hot piece of iron. The right side of his face was covered with flammable liquid and burned.”
First-hand accounts also bring to mind the terrible trials that befell both sides during the most difficult and grueling street battles, when they fought for every house. Sometimes it turned out that the Red Army soldiers occupied one floor of the building, while the Germans held the other. “Grenades, machine guns, bayonets, knives and shovels are used in street fighting,” recalled Lieutenant General Chuikov. “They stand face to face and hammer each other. The Germans can't stand it."
From a historical perspective, these protocols have great importance, because they cast doubt on Nazi claims later taken up by the Soviet Union's opponents cold war, that the Red Army soldiers fought so decisively only because otherwise they would have been shot by the Soviet secret police.
British historian Anthony Beevor, in his book “Stalingrad,” claims that 13 thousand Soviet soldiers were shot during the Battle of Stalingrad. He also notes that more than 50 thousand Soviet citizens fought on the side of the German troops in Stalingrad alone. However, Soviet documents obtained by Hellbeck indicate that by mid-October 1942, that is, three and a half months before the defeat of the Nazis, fewer than 300 people were shot.
It is possible that some interviews were given solely for Soviet propaganda purposes. This question remains open. From conversations with political workers, it follows that they played an important role in the battle, inspiring soldiers to fight. Political instructors said that at the height of the battle they distributed leaflets to the soldiers that talked about the “hero of the day.” “It was considered a disgrace if a communist did not march in the front ranks and lead soldiers into battle,” recalled Brigade Commissar Vasiliev.
Hellbook notes in his minutes that between August and October 1942 the number of CPSU members in Stalingrad grew from 28.5 thousand to 53.5 thousand people, and that the Red Army was confident in its political and moral superiority over the Nazis. “The Red Army was a political army,” the historian told Spiegel magazine.
However, Stalingrad came at a great price even to those victorious heroes of the Red Army who managed to survive this bloodiest battle of World War II. Vasily Zaitsev, who claimed to have killed 242 Germans, was the army's best sniper. “You often have to remember, and memory has a powerful effect,” he said a year later, when the term “post-traumatic stress disorder” had not yet been invented. “Now my nerves are frayed, and I’m constantly shaking.” Other Stalingrad survivors committed suicide years later.
"The Independent", UK
Delivery of military cargo to the Stalingrad area. 1942
Street battle in Stalingrad. September 1942
Fight in one of the workshops of the Red October plant. December 1942
Killed Germans. Stalingrad area, winter 1943
When the wall began to collapse, and the iron beams even on the middle floors became hot and began to bend with a creak, a crowd of those holding the defense rushed through the main entrance and the windows of the first floor onto the street. These were exhausted, broken people who could barely stand on their feet from fatigue. They were unarmed, and their faces, distorted with horror, were blackened by soot. Sweat was pouring off them. They raised their hands, staggered, stumbled and fell down the stairs into the open area. Only 40 out of 300 survived. Then for another 15 minutes the groans and insane screams of those who were surrounded by fire, who were buried by the blackened walls, and who were wounded by our shots were heard. They were consumed by fire, and no one could help them.” (Völkischer Beobachter, autumn 1942.)
With this excerpt from an article in a German newspaper, describing the Battle of Stalingrad and seemingly anticipating the events in Berlin three years later, I, dear readers, allow myself to begin this article about the Battle of Stalingrad from a somewhat unusual perspective. Not from a perspective that ignores the suffering and horrors of war that I witnessed soviet soldier, as it may seem at first, but from a completely different point of view, which will open your eyes, the reader, and allow you to see more.
On July 17, the world paid tribute to the Battle of Stalingrad for the 75th time. It is shrouded in many myths and is part of the truth of the winner that was the Soviet Union - a monstrous dictatorship, completely similar (if not worse) to the Nazis.
Now we are in the endless steppes deep in the Russian rear, where only wormwood grows, and only a monotonous edge stretches for hundreds of kilometers. This region is so vast that the soldiers of the German army fell into despair and depression, moving forward even when the Red Army was completely defeated, and its soldiers were taken prisoner by the millions due to the absolute amateurism of the supreme Soviet political leadership. Endless Rus' literally absorbed the Germans.
And yet, in just over a year, the Germans managed to advance all the way to Tsaritsyn, as Stalingrad was originally called, while other German units, operating as part of Operation Edelweiss, were approaching Baku. German soldiers took pictures with camels, and time zones separated them from home just like thousands of kilometers.
Thus, the conditions were created for the start of one of the most terrible battles of the largest military conflict in human history. The goal was set - to conquer the city bearing the name of the Soviet dictator, and thus cut the strategic transport route - the Volga.
In its desire to capture Stalingrad, the Wehrmacht was guided by a whole complex of ideological and strategic considerations. For the same reasons Soviet troops conducted a stubborn defense, which ultimately culminated in the first major victory of the Red Army. This victory not only returned the shoulder straps to many Soviet officers, but also contributed to the fact that commanders received previously unprecedented autonomy in matters of war. The fact is that Stalin, unlike Hitler, finally allowed his commanders to do what they knew how to do and what they were prepared for.
Context
The Battle of Stalingrad began 75 years ago
Reflex 07/17/2017The tragedy of the last flight to Stalingrad
Die Welt 01/25/2017The bloodiest battle of World War II
The National Interest 11/29/2016However, the victory at Stalingrad would not have happened if the Allies had not sent the Soviet Union (and it faced enormous difficulties and lost most of its industrial and food base) weapons, ammunition, food, fuel and everything without which it was impossible to conduct a modern maneuverable war.
True, not only the supply of weapons played a role, but also the very important struggle waged by the allies in North Africa. The victory there stopped an attempt in the second direction to deliver a strategic blow to the resources of the world that was fighting the Nazis. military force. The enemy was defeated, and resources important for the Allied armies, that is, for the Red Army, were saved.
But the truth of the winner, which we were taught for decades, had its own pathos, and it in its own way “dissected” parts of history so that they suited the communist regime. Based on this concept, the victorious Soviet Union was given the dubious right to turn those countries where its tanks reached into its own provinces.
In Russia, in this sense, everything has remained the same until now, because its version of history begins in June 1941, when a former Nazi ally invaded the territory of the USSR, and the friendship between Adolf and Joseph came to an end. The corresponding ideologically narrow view of history after June 1941 fits into this framework. The broader context, which is literally decisive for the overall assessment of events, is completely excluded.
But if we turn to the military operations and battles that took place in North Africa both before and during the Battle of Stalingrad, we will understand that neither in scale nor in the military forces involved they are in no way inferior to the battles on Eastern Front. If we talk about their results, then the battles in North Africa even surpass the achievements on the Eastern Front, for example, in the number of captured Germans and destroyed German military forces, which, if things had turned out differently, could have been involved in the Soviet front, and this is fundamental would thus change the balance of power in favor of the enemy.
The mission of the Afrika Korps and Italian forces in North Africa was to seize oil fields in the Middle East and the Suez Canal, as well as cut off communications between Europe and India. The success of these forces would lead, if not to the defeat of the allies, then at least to the prolongation of the conflict, and therefore to millions of new victims.
The end of these military operations after the victory of the British Commonwealth forces at El Alamein and after the landing of American units in North Africa meant for the Axis forces the loss of more than a million soldiers, 2,500 tanks and a huge amount of ammunition that they had strategic importance for the Axis victory and were not used on the Eastern Front. And the enemy suffered these losses precisely during the period when the Battle of Stalingrad reached its apogee, which marked a turning point on the Eastern Front of World War II.
In addition, it is important, in my opinion, to emphasize that our Czechoslovak soldiers fought against a common enemy both on the African front and on the Eastern front. True, the paradox of history is that these Czechoslovak fighters were fewer in number than those Czechs who, under pressure of circumstances, served in the Wehrmacht, and that after the war, despite the fact that they risked their lives for our freedom, the communist dictatorship subjected them to repression.
The purpose of the article is not to question or downplay the Red Army's first successful battle. However, it is important to note that the victory over the Afrika Korps and Italian troops helped break some of the huge pincer that Germany was about to close, thereby cutting off the Allies from a significant part of their resources, especially oil.
The same tactics ultimately led Nazi Germany and its satellites to defeat. After all, after the Romanian oil fields were captured and American aircraft began to strike refineries producing synthetic fuels, the German military machine began to skid until it finally stopped.
History is the teacher of life (Historia magistra vitae), as the ancient Latin wisdom says. It would be nice for us to once and for all learn a lesson from history and accept it as it is. I'm talking about the undisguised truth, not raped by the Red Army, not hanged in the courtyard of the Pankratz prison, not robbed by the minions of lies, not slandered by the “prostitutes” of communist and Nazi ideology, not imprisoned in a prison or camp - a truth that from time immemorial has been inconvenient for criminals .
This also applies to ourselves. Our past is also imperfect, but we must know it in order to finally recover from it.
InoSMI materials contain assessments exclusively of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the InoSMI editorial staff.