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71-613: It traces its history to the formation of a divisional region of air defence first established in December 1941. By April 1, 1942, the 1077th Anti-Aircraft Regiment was part of the Stalingrad Divisional Region of Air Defence, and by 1 October 1942, the formation had been elevated to the Stalingrad Corps Region of Air Defence. December 25, 1941 is considered the official day of the formation of

142-550: A defensive line failed when German units outflanked them. Two major pockets were formed and destroyed: the first, northeast of Kharkov, on 2 July, and a second, around Millerovo , Rostov Oblast , a week later. Meanwhile, the Hungarian 2nd Army and the German 4th Panzer Army had launched an assault on Voronezh , capturing the city on 5 July. The initial advance of the 6th Army was so successful that Hitler intervened and ordered

213-401: A fierce exchange of fire until those positions were destroyed. The official Soviet historical account of the war acknowledges this event, stating that the anti-aircraft troops of the 1077th Anti-Aircraft Regiment, led by Colonel W. S. German, engaged the enemy's tanks and motorized infantry without immediate support from rifle units. The regiment fought alone for two days, successfully repelling

284-468: A front running from Leningrad to Rostov , with several minor salients . Hitler remained confident of breaking the Red Army , despite heavy losses west of Moscow in the winter of 1941–42, because large parts of Army Group Centre had been rested and re-equipped. Hitler decided that the 1942 summer campaign would target the southern Soviet Union. The initial objectives around Stalingrad were to destroy

355-403: A military tribunal. Blocking detachments composed of NKVD or regular troops were positioned behind Red Army units to prevent desertion and straggling, sometimes executing deserters and perceived malingerers. During the battle, the 62nd Army had the most arrests and executions: 203 in all, of which 49 were executed, while 139 were sent to penal companies and battalions. Blocking detachments of

426-689: A number of German and Romanian units that were to take part in Blau were besieging Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula . Delays in ending the siege pushed back the start date for Blau several times, and the city did not fall until early July. Operation Fridericus I by the Germans against the "Izyum bulge", pinched off the Soviet salient in the Second Battle of Kharkov, and resulted in

497-572: Is ten times worse than hell". By the end of August, Army Group South (B) had finally reached the Volga, north of Stalingrad. Another advance to the river south of the city followed, while the Soviets abandoned their Rossoshka position for the inner defensive ring west of Stalingrad. The wings of the 6th Army and the 4th Panzer Army met near Jablotchni along the Zaritza on 2 Sept. A letter found on

568-418: The 100th Jäger Division . Georgy Zhukov , who was deputy commander-in-chief and commander of Stalingrad's defence during the battle, noted the importance of the battle, stating that: It was clear to me that the battle for Stalingrad was of the greatest military and political significance. If Stalingrad fell, the enemy command would be able to cut off the south of the country from the center. We could lose

639-711: The 8th Air Defence Army , centred in Ukraine , in April 1980. It was then transferred again to the new 19th Air Defence Army in April 1986. After the fall of the Soviet Union the formation came under the control of the Russian Air Defence Forces . It became the 51st Air Defence Corps in July 1998, and the 7th Brigade of Air-Space Defence in 2009. The headquarters moved to Novocherkassk in April 2012. It

710-589: The Army Group to split in two. Army Group South (A), under the command of Wilhelm List , was to continue advancing south towards the Caucasus as planned with the 17th Army and First Panzer Army. Army Group South (B), including Paulus's 6th Army and Hermann Hoth 's 4th Panzer Army, was to move east towards the Volga and Stalingrad. Army Group B was commanded by General Maximilian von Weichs . The start of Case Blue had been planned for late May 1942. However,

781-620: The Bofors guns. On August 23, 1942, the German 6th Army initiated an offensive on Stalingrad, preceded by extensive bombing that caused significant damage to the city. The 16th Panzer Division advanced towards Gumrak Airport, located 15 kilometers northwest of the city, and encountered resistance from Soviet anti-aircraft guns. According to the records of the 16th Panzer Division , they encountered determined opposition from tenacious female fighters manning 37 anti-aircraft positions, engaging in

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852-596: The Stalingrad Front on 17 July on the distant approaches to Stalingrad, in the bend of the Don . A significant clash in the early stages of the battle was fought at Kalach , in which "We had had to pay a high cost in men and material ... left on the Kalach battlefield were numerous burnt-out or shot-up German tanks." Military historian David Glantz indicated that four hard-fought battles – collectively known as

923-463: The envelopment of a large Soviet force between 17 May and 29 May. Similarly, Operation Wilhelm attacked Voltshansk on 13 June, and Operation Fridericus attacked Kupiansk on 22 June. Blau finally opened as Army Group South began its attack into southern Russia on 28 June 1942. The German offensive achieved rapid success, as Soviet forces offered little resistance in the vast empty steppes and started streaming eastward. Several attempts to re-establish

994-473: The 4th Panzer Army to join Army Group South (A) to the south. A massive road block resulted when the 4th Panzer and the 1st Panzer choked the roads, stopping both in their tracks while they cleared the mess of thousands of vehicles. The traffic jam is thought to have delayed the advance by at least one week. With the advance now slowed, Hitler changed his mind and reassigned the 4th Panzer Army back to

1065-751: The 86th Air Defense Forces Division, operating on the Southwestern Front. In 1945, the 86th Division was responsible for providing air defense support to the Kharkiv and Odessa Military Regions, as well as the Independent Coastal Army. Battle of Stalingrad [REDACTED] Army Group B : [REDACTED] Army Group Don [REDACTED] Stalingrad Front : [REDACTED] Don Front [REDACTED] Southwestern Front The Battle of Stalingrad (17 July 1942 – 2 February 1943)

1136-517: The 9 Stalingrad Red Banner Air Defence Corps by 07/28/1944. During the Great Patriotic War , the division [later corps] covered a combat path of 2,400 kilometres from Stalingrad to Budapest. On the combat account of the soldiers of the formation, there are 812 downed aircraft, 173 destroyed tanks, 150 vehicles, 163 enemy firing points, 46 artillery and mortar batteries, up to 11 regiments of enemy manpower. For courage and heroism shown in

1207-554: The German assault. The Germans formed bridgeheads across the Don on 20 August, with the 295th and 76th Infantry Divisions enabling the XIVth Panzer Corps "to thrust to the Volga north of Stalingrad." The German 6th Army was only a few dozen kilometres from Stalingrad. The 4th Panzer Army, ordered south on 13 July to block the Soviet retreat "weakened by the 17th Army and the 1st Panzer Army", had turned northwards to help take

1278-461: The Germans, and were accused of low morale: in reality, the Italian divisions fought comparatively well, with the 3rd Infantry Division "Ravenna" and 5th Infantry Division "Cosseria" showing spirit, according to a German liaison officer. Italian forces were forced to retreat only after a massive armoured attack in which German reinforcements failed to arrive in time. To the south, Army Group A

1349-469: The Kharkov operation began on 12 May. The Soviets achieved initial success, prompting 6th Army commander Friedrich Paulus to request reinforcements. However, a German counterattack on 13 May halted the Soviet advance. On 17 May, Ewald von Kleist 's forces launched Operation Fridericus I, encircling and destroying much of the Soviet forces in the ensuing Second Battle of Kharkov . The defeat at Kharkov left

1420-590: The Kotluban Operations – north of Stalingrad, where the Soviets made their greatest stand, decided Germany's fate before the Nazis ever set foot in the city itself, and were a turning point in the war. Beginning in late August and lasting into October, the Soviets committed between two and four armies in hastily coordinated and poorly controlled attacks against the Germans' northern flank. The actions resulted in over 200,000 Soviet Army casualties but did slow

1491-543: The Mamayev Kurgan hill, the 71st attacked the central rail station and toward the central landing stage on the Volga, while 48th Panzer Corps attacked south of the Tsaritsa River. Though initially successful, the German attacks stalled in the face of Soviet reinforcements brought in from across the Volga. Rodimtsev's 13th Guards Rifle Division had been hurried up to cross the river and join the defenders inside

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1562-525: The Red Army launched Operation Uranus , a two-pronged attack targeting the Romanian armies protecting the 6th Army's flanks. The Axis flanks were overrun and the 6th Army was encircled. Adolf Hitler was determined to hold the city for Germany at all costs and forbade the 6th Army from trying a breakout; instead, attempts were made to supply it by air and to break the encirclement from the outside. Though

1633-573: The Red Army's victory at Stalingrad is commemorated among the Days of Military Honour . It is also well known in many other countries that belonged to the Allied powers , and has thus become ingrained in popular culture . Likewise, in a number of the post-Soviet states , the Battle of Stalingrad is recognized as an important aspect of what is known as the Great Patriotic War . By the spring of 1942, despite

1704-511: The Soviet leader. Hitler ordered the annihilation of Stalingrad's population, declaring that after its capture, all male citizens would be killed and women and children deported due to their "thoroughly communistic" nature. The city's fall was intended to secure the northern and western flanks of the German advance on Baku to capture its petroleum resources. This expansion of objectives stemmed from German overconfidence and an underestimation of Soviet reserves. Meanwhile, Stalin, convinced that

1775-512: The Soviets vulnerable to the German summer offensive. Despite the setback, Stalin continued to prioritize defending Moscow, allocating only limited reinforcements to the Southwestern Front. The commitment of panzer divisions needed for Case Blue to the Second Battle of Kharkov further delayed the offensive's start. On 1 June, Hitler modified the summer plans, delaying Case Blue to 20 June after preliminary operations in Ukraine. If I do not get

1846-409: The Soviets were successful in preventing the Germans from making enough airdrops to the trapped Axis armies at Stalingrad, heavy fighting continued for another two months. On 2 February 1943, the 6th Army, having exhausted their ammunition and food, finally capitulated after several months of battle, making it the first of Hitler's field armies to have surrendered. In modern-day Russia , the legacy of

1917-599: The Stalingrad Tractor Factory and the Volga ferry near Latashanka. The majority of the regiment was composed of men, but its directing and rangefinding crews and unit headquarters were made up of women. Several women also crewed anti-aircraft guns. The 1077th was notified of the German tanks' approach at 14:30 and its 6th Battery, dominating the Sukhaya Mechatka ravine, claimed the destruction of 28 German tanks. Later that day, its 3rd Battery on

1988-403: The Stalingrad Tractor Factory. A Soviet female soldier stated about the battle that: I had been imagining what war was like – everything on fire, children crying, cats running about, and when we got to Stalingrad it turned out to be really like that, only more terrible. One of the first units to offer resistance in this area was the 1077th Anti-Aircraft Regiment , covering

2059-645: The Stalingrad and Don Fronts detained 51,758 men from the beginning of the battle to 15 October, with the majority returned to their units. Of those detained, the vast majority of which were from the Don Front, 980 were executed and 1,349 sent to penal companies. In the two-day period between 13 and 15 September, the 62nd Army blocking detachment detained 1,218 men, returning most to their units while shooting 21 men and arresting ten. Beevor claims that 13,500 Soviet soldiers were executed by Soviet authorities during

2130-506: The Volga River on the eastern boundary of Stalingrad, additional Soviet units were formed into the 62nd Army under Lieutenant General Vasiliy Chuikov on 11 September 1942. Tasked with holding the city at all costs, Chuikov proclaimed, "We will defend the city or die in the attempt." The battle earned him one of his two Hero of the Soviet Union awards. During the defence of Stalingrad, the Red Army deployed five armies in and around

2201-529: The Volga ;– the important water artery, along which a large amount of goods flowed from the Caucasus. Stalin rushed all available troops to the east bank of the Volga, some from as far away as Siberia . Regular river ferries were quickly destroyed by the Luftwaffe, which then targeted troop barges being towed slowly across by tugs. It has been said that Stalin prevented civilians from leaving

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2272-463: The Volga, supported by the strikes of Henschel Hs 129 ground attack aircraft. Crossing the railway line to Stalingrad at 564 km Station around midday, both divisions continued their rush towards the river. Around 15:00, Hyacinth Graf Strachwitz 's Panzer Detachment and the kampfgruppe of the 2nd Battalion, 64th Panzer Grenadier Regiment from the 16th Panzer reached the area of Latashanka, Rynok, and Spartanovka, northern suburbs of Stalingrad, and

2343-458: The Volga, where we could block an attack on our flank by Russian forces coming from the east. At the start, Stalingrad was no more than a name on the map to us. The Soviets had enough warning of the German advance to ship grain, cattle, and railway cars across the Volga out of harm's way. This "harvest victory" left the city short of food even before the German attack began. Before the Heer reached

2414-415: The assaults of German submachine gunners. While engaged in combat, they managed to damage or destroy 83 tanks as well as 15 other vehicles carrying infantry. Additionally, the regiment neutralized over three battalions of assault infantry and shot down 14 enemy aircraft. The 1077th Anti-Aircraft Regiment continued to serve in the Soviet forces until the end of the war. In May 1945, the regiment became part of

2485-553: The attack on Stalingrad. By the end of July, Soviet forces were pushed back across the Don River . At this point, the Don and Volga Rivers are only 65 km (40 mi) apart, and the Germans left their main supply depots west of the Don. The Germans began using the armies of their Italian , Hungarian and Romanian allies to guard their left (northern) flank. Italian actions were also mentioned in official German communiques. Italian forces were generally held in little regard by

2556-415: The battle, however, this claim has been disputed. By 12 September, at the time of their retreat into the city, the Soviet 62nd Army had been reduced to 90 tanks, 700 mortars and just 20,000 personnel. The remaining tanks were used as immobile strong-points within the city. The initial German attack on 14 September attempted to take the city in a rush. The 51st Army Corps' 295th Infantry Division went after

2627-459: The body of a German officer described the insanity of the battle and brutal nature of the urban combat: We must reach the Volga. We can see it – less than a kilometer away. We have the constant support of our aircraft and artillery. We are fighting like madmen but cannot reach the river. The whole war for France was shorter than the fight for one Volga factory. We must be up against suicide squads. They have simply decided to fight to

2698-585: The bombing. However, death toll of civilians due to the bombing has been estimated to have been 40,000, or as many as 70,000, though these estimates may be exaggerated. Also estimated are 150,000 wounded. The Soviet Air Force , the Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily (VVS), was swept aside by the Luftwaffe. The VVS bases in the immediate area lost 201 aircraft between 23 and 31 August, and despite meagre reinforcements of some 100 aircraft in August, it

2769-527: The city ( 28th , 51st , 57th , 62nd and 64th Armies ); and an additional nine armies in the encirclement counteroffensive ( 24th , 65th , 66th Armies and 16th Air Army from the north as part of the Don Front offensive, and 1st Guards Army , 5th Tank , 21st Army , 2nd Air Army and 17th Air Army from the south as part of the Southwestern Front ). German forces first clashed with

2840-417: The city from the south. On 19 August, German forces were in position to launch an attack on the city. On 23 August, the 6th Army reached the outskirts of Stalingrad in pursuit of the 62nd and 64th Armies, which had fallen back into the city. Kleist said after the war: The capture of Stalingrad was subsidiary to the main aim. It was only of importance as a convenient place, in the bottleneck between Don and

2911-402: The city in the belief that their presence would encourage greater resistance from the city's defenders. Civilians, including women and children, were put to work building trenchworks and protective fortifications. Casualties due to the air raid on 23 August and beyond are debated, as between 23 and 26 August, Soviet reports indicate 955 people were killed and another 1,181 wounded as a result of

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2982-516: The city itself, the Luftwaffe had cut off shipping on the Volga. In the days between 25 and 31 July, 32 Soviet ships were sunk, with another nine crippled. Generaloberst Wolfram von Richthofen 's Luftflotte 4 dropped some 1,000 tons of bombs on 23 August, with the aerial attack on Stalingrad being the most single intense aerial bombardment at that point on the Eastern Front , and

3053-688: The city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd). One notable act of valor was when they engaged an approaching Panzer unit by adjusting their guns to the lowest elevation and directly firing at the advancing tanks. English-language sources of information concerning the 1077th unit provide limited and conflicting details. However, it is believed that similar to other anti-aircraft units, they received inadequate training and had insufficient ammunition supplies. Instead of armor-piercing rounds , they were equipped with fragmentation ' flak ' rounds, which raises doubts regarding their effectiveness against armored targets. The unit utilized M1939 guns, which were 37-mm replicas of

3124-586: The city's industrial capacity and block the Volga River traffic, crucial for connecting the Caucasus and Caspian Sea to central Russia. The capture of Stalingrad would also disrupt Lend-Lease supplies via the Persian Corridor . On 23 July 1942, Hitler expanded the campaign's objectives to include occupying Stalingrad, a city with immense propaganda value due to its name, which bore that of

3195-402: The city. Assigned to counterattack at the Mamayev Kurgan and at Railway Station No. 1, it suffered particularly heavy losses. Despite their losses, Rodimtsev's troops were able to inflict similar damage on their opponents. By 26 September, the opposing 71st Infantry Division had half of its battalions considered exhausted, reduced from all of them being considered average in combat capability when

3266-406: The city. By mid-November, the Germans, at great cost, had pushed the Soviet defenders back into narrow zones along the Volga's west bank. However, winter set in within a few months and conditions became particularly brutal, with temperatures often dropping tens of degrees below freezing . In addition to fierce urban combat, brutal trench warfare was prevalent at Stalingrad as well. On 19 November,

3337-494: The country's oil fields at any cost. The German military first clashed with the Red Army's Stalingrad Front on the distant approaches to Stalingrad on 17 July. On 23 August, the 6th Army and elements of the 4th Panzer Army launched their offensive with support from intensive bombing raids by the Luftwaffe , which reduced much of the city to rubble. The battle soon degenerated into house-to-house fighting, which escalated drastically as both sides continued pouring reinforcements into

3408-577: The end of 1945, having completed the assigned tasks, the corps was relocated to Kharkiv , and then to Dnepropetrovsk [now Dnipro]. The 45th Stalingrad Red Banner dpvo was at Rostov-on-Don under the Southwestern Air Defence District ( ru:Юго-Западный округ ПВО ) by August 1946. The 45th Division of PVO came under the command of the SW Air Defence District. Today's antecedent 12th Air Defence Corps

3479-798: The failure of Operation Barbarossa to defeat the Soviet Union in a single campaign, the Wehrmacht had captured vast territories, including Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic republics. On the Western Front, Germany held most of Europe, the U-boat offensive was curbing American support, and in North Africa , Erwin Rommel had just captured Tobruk . In the east, the Germans had stabilized

3550-628: The fight against the Nazi invaders, 17 servicemen of the division were awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union . For the entire period of its existence, 40 Heroes of the Soviet Union served in the combat formations of the unit. Among them were triple Hero of the Soviet Union Marshal of Aviation Alexander Pokryshkin , and twice Heroes of the Soviet Union Alexander Koldunov and Sergey Lugansky . At

3621-672: The formation. On December 6, 1943, the formation was awarded the Order of the Red Banner , for the feats shown by personnel in the defence of Stalingrad. In 1942 and 1943 the Stalingrad Corps Region formed part of the Don Front , the Southern Front , and by December 1943 the Eastern Air Defence Front ( ru:Восточный фронт ПВО ). The Stalingrad Corps Region became the 9th Air Defence Corps on 21 April 1944, and

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3692-510: The heaviest bombing raid that had ever taken place on the Eastern Front. At least 90% of the city's housing stock was obliterated as a result. The Stalingrad Tractor Factory continued to turn out T-34 tanks up until German troops burst into the plant. The 369th (Croatian) Reinforced Infantry Regiment was the only non-German unit selected by the Wehrmacht to enter Stalingrad city during assault operations, with it fighting as part of

3763-490: The last soldier. And how many soldiers are left over there? When will this hell come to an end? Historian David Glantz stated that the grinding and brutal battle resembled "the fighting on the Somme and at Verdun in 1916 more than it did the familiar blitzkrieg war of the previous three summers". On 5 September, the Soviet 24th and 66th Armies organized a massive attack against XIV Panzer Corps . The Luftwaffe helped repel

3834-483: The local technical university formed a "tank destroyer" unit. They assembled tanks from leftover parts at the tractor factory. These tanks, unpainted and lacking gun-sights, were driven directly from the factory floor to the front line. They could only be aimed at point-blank range through the bore of their gun barrels. Chuikov later remarked that soldiers approaching the battle would say "We are entering hell", but after one or two days, they said "No, this isn't hell, this

3905-771: The main German attack would target Moscow, prioritized defending the Soviet capital. As the Soviet winter counteroffensive of 1941–1942 culminated in March, the Soviet high command began planning for the summer campaign. Although Stalin desired a general offensive, he was dissuaded by Chief of the General Staff Boris Shaposhnikov , Deputy Chief of the General Staff Aleksandr Vasilevsky , and Western Main Direction commander Georgy Zhukov . Ultimately, Stalin instructed that

3976-420: The offensive by heavily attacking Soviet artillery positions and defensive lines. The Soviets were forced to withdraw at midday after only a few hours. Of the 120 tanks the Soviets had committed, 30 were lost to air attack. On 13 September, the battle for the city itself began. With German forces launching an attack which overran the small hill where the 62nd Soviet Army headquarters was established, in addition,

4047-450: The oil of Maikop and Grozny then I must finish [ liquidieren ; "kill off", "liquidate"] this war. 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 . The planned summer offensive, code-named Fall Blau ( Case Blue ), was to include the German 6th, 17th , 4th Panzer and 1st Panzer Armies. Hitler intervened, however, ordering

4118-458: The railway station was captured, and German forces advanced far enough to threaten the Volga landing stage. Soviet operations were constantly hampered by the Luftwaffe . On 18 September, the Soviet 1st Guards and 24th Army launched an offensive against VIII Army Corps at Kotluban. VIII. Fliegerkorps dispatched multiple waves of Stuka dive-bombers to prevent a breakthrough. The offensive

4189-516: The regiment, claiming the destruction of 37 guns, and the unit's surprise that its opponents had in part included women. In the early stages of the battle, the NKVD organised poorly armed "Workers' militias " similar to those that had defended the city twenty-four years earlier , composed of civilians not directly involved in war production for immediate use in the battle. The civilians were often sent into battle without rifles. Staff and students from

4260-448: The road between Yerzovka and Stalingrad, saw particularly intense fighting against the 16th Panzer, reportedly fighting "shot for shot." Two women were decorated for their actions that day, and the regiment's report praised the "exceptional steadfastness and heroism" of the women soldiers. The regiment lost 35 guns, eighteen killed, 46 wounded, and 74 missing on 23 and 24 August. The 16th Panzer Division's history mentioned its encounter with

4331-476: The single largest and costliest urban battle in military history . It was the bloodiest and fiercest battle of the entirety of World War II—and arguably in all of human history—as both sides suffered tremendous casualties amidst ferocious fighting in and around the city. The battle is commonly regarded as the turning point in the European theatre of World War II , as Germany's Oberkommando der Wehrmacht

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4402-483: The summer campaign be based on "active strategic defense," while also ordering local offensives across the Eastern Front. Southwestern Main Direction commander Semyon Timoshenko proposed an attack from the Izyum salient south of Kharkov to encircle and destroy the German 6th Army . Despite opposition from Shaposhnikov and Vasilevsky, Stalin approved the plan. After delays in troop movements and logistical challenges,

4473-444: Was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II , beginning when Nazi Germany and its Axis allies attacked and became locked in a protracted struggle with the Soviet Union for control over the Soviet city of Stalingrad (now known as Volgograd) in southern Russia . The battle was characterized by fierce close-quarters combat and direct assaults on civilians in aerial raids; the battle epitomized urban warfare , being

4544-758: Was a unit of the Stalingrad Corps Region of the Soviet Air Defense Forces that participated in the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942. Under the leadership of Colonel Raiynin, the regiment operated within the Stalingrad Military District and later came under the command of the Stalingrad Front during the battle for the city. Comprising mostly of young female volunteers who had recently completed high school. The regiment demonstrated great bravery in defending

4615-699: Was established in March 1960 in Rostov-on-Don, part of the Baku Air Defence District of the Soviet Air Defence Forces . The 10th Air Defence Division was disbanded in 1973 and its units, including the 393rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment at Privolzhskiy , Astrakhan Oblast, became part of the corps. In 1980 the Baku Air Defence District was disbanded, and the corps came under the command of

4686-467: Was forced to withdraw a considerable amount of military forces from other regions to replace losses on the Eastern Front. By the time the hostilities ended, the German 6th Army and 4th Panzer Army had been destroyed and Army Group B was routed. The Soviets' victory at Stalingrad shifted the Eastern Front's balance of power in their favour, while also boosting the morale of the Red Army . Both sides placed great strategic importance on Stalingrad, for it

4757-524: Was left with just 192 serviceable aircraft, 57 of which were fighters. Early on 23 August, the German 16th Panzer and 3rd Motorized Divisions attacked out of the Vertyachy bridgehead with a force 120 tanks and over 200 armored personnel carriers strong. The German attack broke through the 1382nd Rifle Regiment of the 87th Rifle Division and the 137th Tank Brigade, which were forced to retreat towards Dmitryevka. The 16th Panzer Division drove east towards

4828-486: Was pushing far into the Caucasus, but the advance slowed as supply lines grew overextended. The two German army groups were too far apart to support one another. After German intentions became clear in July, Stalin appointed General Andrey Yeryomenko commander of the Southeastern Front on 1 August 1942. Yeryomenko and Commissar Nikita Khrushchev were tasked with planning the defence of Stalingrad. Beyond

4899-489: Was reorganised from the 7th Brigade of Air-Space Defence into the 51st Air Defence Division in 2014. Today it appears to include the 1536th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (Rostov-na-Don, Rostov Oblast); the 1537th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (Novorossiysk, Krasnodar Kray); the 1721st Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment; and two radar ("radio-technical") units. 1077th Anti-Aircraft Regiment The 1077th Anti-Aircraft Regiment ( Russian : 1077-й зенитный артиллерийский полк )

4970-455: Was repelled. The Stukas claimed 41 of the 106 Soviet tanks knocked out that morning, while escorting Bf 109s destroyed 77 Soviet aircraft. Lieutenant General Alexander Rodimtsev was in charge of the 13th Guards Rifle Division, and received one of two Hero of the Soviet Union awards issued during the battle for his actions. Stalin's Order No. 227 of 27 July 1942 decreed that all commanders who ordered unauthorised retreats would be subject to

5041-515: Was the largest industrial centre of the Soviet Union and an important transport hub on the Volga River : controlling Stalingrad meant gaining access to the oil fields of the Caucasus and having supreme authority over the Volga River. The city also held significant symbolic importance because it bore the name of Joseph Stalin , the incumbent leader of the Soviet Union. As the conflict progressed, Germany's fuel supplies dwindled and thus drove it to focus on moving deeper into Soviet territory and taking

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