Stalingrad used to be what a city. The city of Stalingrad: what is it called now, and what name did it have before?

Stalingrad is a famous hero city. Many domestic and foreign films have been made about the Battle of Stalingrad, and a huge number of streets and neighborhoods have been named. This article is dedicated to this city and the history of the formation of its modern name - Volgograd.

In Soviet times, it was often possible to find a city on the map of the fifteen republics under the name of some outstanding personality: a commander, a politician, a commander in chief. Stalingrad was no exception.

Stalingrad - origin of the name

In total, the city has had 3 names since its founding. The city was founded in 1589 as Tsaritsyn (next to the Tsaritsa River). Then, in 1925, the city received its second name - Stalingrad, in honor of Stalin, who led the defense of the city from the army of Ataman Krasnov.

Stalingrad - modern name

In 1961, 8 years after Stalin’s death, when the fervor of patriotism towards this person subsided, the city was renamed Volgograd. Back in the 18th century, the city was one of the main industrial cities in Russia, which it remains to this day.

Disputes on the topic of renaming Volgograd back to Stalingrad continue today. People who support the political left, mainly communists, socialists and many older people, believe that renaming the city is disrespectful to history and those people who died in the battle of Stalingrad.

This issue was considered at the highest echelons, at the state level. To reach a consensus, the government decided to retain the name Stalingrad only on specific dates that are directly related to the historical events of the city.

Days when Volgograd is officially called Stalingrad:

• February 2. On this day, Soviet troops defeated the Nazis in the Battle of Stalingrad.
• May 9. National Day of Victory over Nazi Germany and its allies.
• June 22. Day of remembrance and mourning for those killed in World War II.
• September 2. The day of the end of World War II.
• August 23. Day of Remembrance of the inhabitants of Stalingrad killed by fascist bombings.
• November 19. On this day, the defeat of the fascist army at Stalingrad began.

To the question What is the name of the city of Stalingrad now? given by the author User deleted the best answer is The city, now called Volgograd, entered the history of World War II, the history of the USSR and Russia under the name Stalingrad.
After the war, the historical name was changed. Was the decision taken at one time to rename Stalingrad to Volgograd correct? Russians do not have a clear opinion: 39% think this decision is wrong, and 31% think it is correct. The latter point of view is most often shared by people under 35 years of age (39%) and respondents with higher education (37%). The renaming of Stalingrad is considered incorrect mainly by supporters of G. Zyuganov (60%), respondents over 50 years of age (55%), as well as people with incomplete secondary education (47%).
From time to time, proposals are made to return the “historical” name to the city. 20% of respondents support this idea. These are mainly those who do not like the renaming of Stalingrad to Volgograd. Half of those who support the initiators of returning the city to its old name motivate their point of view by the fact that “Stalingrad is the history of Russia,” the memory of the war and those killed during the Battle of Stalingrad (11%): “for history: we need to remember the war” ; “this name has gone down in world history”; “The war veterans will be pleased, and the younger generation will remember how many lives were given so that there would never be a return to bloodshed.”
For 4% of respondents, Stalingrad is “the city of Stalin.” By renaming they would like to perpetuate the memory of their beloved leader: “let Stalin remain for centuries”; “Stalin is a historical figure; we, our generation, love him”; "Stalin's merits are undeniable."
For another 2% of respondents, Stalingrad is “the first name”, “more familiar” (“we are already accustomed to these cities, to the old names”; “the first name is always somehow familiar, better”).
There are almost twice as many opponents of renaming Volgograd to Stalingrad as supporters (38%).
A fifth of respondents (18%) consider this idea pointless and expensive - it causes irritation: “you shouldn’t engage in nonsense”; “enough to make people laugh”; "nothing else to do?"; "an expensive event for a poor country"; “all this costs people’s money”; “changing the name of the city all the time is indecent”; "I'm tired of renaming."
For 8% of respondents, returning the name Stalingrad to the city is unacceptable due to a negative attitude towards the leader: “Stalin does not deserve it - he is a criminal of the highest order”; “There was no greater criminal towards his people.”
And 5% of respondents simply like the name Volgograd. It seems familiar and suitable to them, natural for a city on the Volga: “everyone is already accustomed to the name Volgograd”; “the city stands on the Volga and let it bear the name of this great river”; "Volgograd sounds beautiful."
1% of respondents were against naming cities after politicians (“cities cannot be renamed in honor of leaders”; “there should be no political names in the names of cities”). And another 1% of respondents are convinced that cities should bear their original historical names, and if they are planning to rename Volgograd again, then it is necessary to Tsaritsyn (“I am for the original name of the city - what it was under the tsar”; “if it is restored, then Tsaritsyn"; "the names should remain the same as they were assigned from birth").
It should be noted that every third Russian (33%) does not care what name the famous Volga hero city will bear.
Agree.

Reply from Yoidor Ivanenko[active]
Volgograd

Reply from V@mp[guru]
VOLOGRAD of course!

Reply from Anatoly[newbie]
Hit yourself against the wall! Unified State Examination.

Reply from Georgy Telegin[newbie]
Volgograd

Reply from Daniil Ponomarev[newbie]
Volgograd for sure!

Reply from Elena Kolesnikova[newbie]
Volgograd I'm sure

Reply from Garik Avakyan[guru]
In 1925, Tsaritsyn was renamed Stalingrad. By this time, the city ranked nineteenth among the cities of our state in terms of population. Rapid population growth - from 85 thousand people in 1920 to. 112 thousand in 1925 and 140 thousand in 1927 - served as a kind of impetus for the scale of housing construction.
In the housing construction of this period, a search was carried out for new forms of living, new structures, and a new artistic image of modern housing.
By 1927, the restoration of destroyed medical institutions in the city was completed and the construction of new ones began. The network of school and preschool institutions, cultural centers, and clubs was expanded. During the same period, the Drama Theater with a permanent theater studio was opened. For the workers of the Red October plant, the best club named after Lenin in the city at that time was built.
The further rapid development of the mountains was associated with the industrialization of the country.
In 1928, construction of the country's first tractor plant began on the northern outskirts of Stalingrad. It was erected in an unprecedentedly short time. Already on June 17, 1930, the first wheeled tractor rolled off the main conveyor belt of Seversky Krai. In parallel with the construction of the tractor plant, the construction of a powerful regional power station began. Became a state district power station.
The metallurgical plant "Red October" began producing new products - high-quality steel. In the 30s, a shipyard appeared on the southern outskirts of the city.
The new hardware plant began supplying parts for tractor factories in Stalingrad and Kharkov.
Forestry and woodworking enterprises were reconstructed and expanded, large red and sand-lime brick factories, canning, tanning and soap factories, a meat processing plant, a soft drink plant, bakeries, a furniture plant, knitting factories and other light and food industry enterprises were built.
The city center has been transformed. The houses of loaders, canners, utility workers, pilots, the building of the regional executive committee, residential buildings on Lenin, Saratovskaya, Ostrovsky streets, as well as the buildings that form the Square of the Fallen Fighters, the House of the Red Army and the commune, the central department store, the Intourist Hotel and others formed the main appearance of pre-war Stalingrad. The central embankment was being improved. The wooden warehouses were demolished, the embankment slopes were graded and landscaped.
The Metro cafe appeared on one of them. Already in 1935 - 1937. it was the best embankment among the cities of the Volga region.
Many plans were not destined to come true - the Great Patriotic War began.
From its very first days, the city became one of the largest arsenals in the southeast of the country. Stalingrad factories produced and repaired tanks, artillery pieces, ships, mortars, machine guns and other weapons. A militia division and eight fighter battalions were formed. On October 23, 1941, a city defense committee was created, which played a major role in coordinating the actions of military and civilian authorities.
The construction of defensive fortifications was carried out on a huge scale by units of the 5th Engineer Army and the working people of the city and region. More than 2,800 km of lines, 2,730 km of trenches and communication passages, 1,880 km of anti-tank obstacles, 85 thousand positions for fire weapons, and 4 defensive contours (including the city one) were built.
In the shortest possible time, together with military railway workers, the railway lines Stalingrad - Vladimirovka - Baskunchak and Astrakhan - Kizlyar were built, which subsequently played a significant role in supplying troops in the Stalingrad direction. In the spring of 1942, regular fascist air raids on Stalingrad began, which were repelled by local air defense forces. By the beginning of summer, the enemy seized the strategic initiative in the southwestern direction.
The troops of the Bryansk, Southwestern and Southern fronts, suffering heavy losses, retreated 150 - 400 kilometers. The balance of forces in this direction was in favor of the enemy. The failure of the Kharkov operation worsened the situation at the front. Prot

Reply from ALTON[guru]
Volgograd

Reply from Irina[guru]
and before there was Tsaritsin

The settlement on the territory of modern Volgograd was founded presumably in 1555. It was first mentioned in historical materials as Tsaritsyn in 1589.

The city got its name from the Tsaritsa River, which flows into the Volga. The name is probably based on the Tatar words “sari-su” (yellow river) or “sari-chin” (yellow island), since a Russian settlement with a wooden fortress originally arose on the island. Tsaritsyn and served to defend the Volga route at the junction of the Volga and Don from steppe nomads and bandits roaming the Volga. At the beginning of the 17th century. Tsaritsyn burned down; built again in 1615 on the right bank of the Volga by governor M. Solovtsov. Trade and embassy ships of Persia, Bukhara, India and other countries came under the protection of the fortress. In 1606, under False Dmitry I, the Volga Cossacks took possession of the city, proclaiming one of their comrades here as Tsarevich Peter, the son of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich. From here the Cossacks intended to march on Moscow, but the death of False Dmitry changed their decision.

In 1667-1672. The Tsaritsyn garrison took the side of Stepan Razin. In 1691, a customs office was established in Tsaritsyn, and there was a lively trade in salt and fish. In 1707, the Don Cossacks, led by Vasily Bulavin and Ignatius Nekrasov, took the city, but were soon expelled by government troops arriving from Astrakhan. In 1722 and 1723, Peter I visited the city and gave it to his wife Catherine I. In 1727, Tsaritsyn was again destroyed by fire. In 1731, Tsaritsyn was rebuilt and fortified. The city became the center of the military line from the Volga to the Don. In 1774, the city was besieged twice by E.I. Pugachev, but without success.

In 1708, Tsaritsyn was assigned to the Kazan province, from 1719 - to the Astrakhan province, from 1773 - to the Saratov governorship. Since 1780 - a district town of the Saratov governorship (then the province). At the beginning of the 19th century. Small industry began to emerge in the city (3 brick factories, 2 candle factories, a mustard factory and a beer factory). Five postal roads ran through Tsaritsyn: Moscow, Astrakhan, Saratov, Cherkassy and Tsarevskaya. In 1862, the Volga-Don Railway (Tsaritsyn - Kalach-on-Don) came into operation, in 1879 - to Gryazi and further to Moscow, in 1897 - to the North Caucasus (via Tikhoretsk), in 1900 - m - to Donbass. The agencies of many shipping companies were located in Tsaritsyn. In 1880, the oil refining complex of the Nobel company came into operation, and the largest oil storage facilities in Russia were built. Shipbuilding (large-capacity kerosene tank barges) and the woodworking industry are developing. At the beginning of the 20th century. There were already over 230 factories and factories in the city (15 sawmills, 2 flour mills, 4 iron and mechanical foundries, 5 mustard and salt mills, etc.), banks, and banking offices. The city was telephoned.

In 1913, a tram appeared in Tsaritsyn, and the first electric lights were installed in the central part. Also, 10 Orthodox churches and 1 Lutheran, an Orthodox convent, male and female gymnasiums, vocational and city schools, 2 public libraries, 5 printing houses, 2 hospitals, 2 outpatient clinics, a zemstvo animal hospital, a society of doctors, a bacteriological laboratory, and a meteorological station were opened. , 3 summer fairs were held annually. Trade was of a transit nature: goods were transported from the Volga by rail to Central Russia, the Don and Ciscaucasia.

During the Civil War (1918-1920), fierce fighting took place in Tsaritsyn.

Since 1920, Tsaritsyn has been the center of the Tsaritsyn province. In 1925 the city was renamed Stalingrad. In 1928 - the center of the district as part of the Lower Volga region, in 1932 - the center of the Lower Volga region. In 1934, after the division of the Lower Volga region into Saratov and Stalingrad, Stalingrad became the center of the latter. Since 1936, the Stalingrad region has been transformed into the Stalingrad region. During the first five-year plans, old factories were reconstructed and over 50 new factories were built, incl. the first tractor in the country (1930), StalGRES, shipyard. In 1940, there were 126 enterprises in Stalingrad.

During the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), on the approaches to the city and in the city itself, from July 17, 1942 to February 2, 1943, one of the most important battles of the Second World War (1939-1945) took place - Stalingrad, which became its turning point. Initially, the offensive in the Stalingrad direction was led by the 6th German Army, and from July 31, 1942, by the 4th Tank Army. In a defensive operation, Soviet troops bled the main enemy group near Stalingrad and created the conditions for launching a counteroffensive. Having concentrated additional forces, the Soviet command carried out an offensive operation, as a result of which the Nazi 6th and 4th tank armies, the Romanian 3rd and 4th armies, and the Italian 8th army were surrounded and defeated.

The Battle of Stalingrad lasted 200 days. The fascist bloc lost about 1.5 million people (!) in it killed, wounded, captured and missing - a quarter of all its forces operating on the Soviet-German front.

For outstanding services to the Motherland, on May 1, 1945, Stalingrad was awarded the honorary title of Hero City, and on May 8, 1965, it was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.

Our glorious city was completely destroyed during the Second World War. But immediately after the war, he rose from the ashes like the legendary Phoenix bird. In 1961, the hero city from Stalingrad was renamed Volgograd.

Modern Volgograd is one of the most beautiful cities in Russia. According to the master plan of 1945, it retained the historically established linear planning system, and the coastal part was freed from industrial buildings, warehouses, etc., cutting off residential areas from the river. In the northeast, the city is closed by the Volzhskaya Hydroelectric Power Station (in the city of Volzhsky), in the southwest by the Volga-Don Shipping Canal, which made Volgograd a port of five seas.

Our wonderful city stretches 90 km along the banks of the Volga and covers an area of ​​56.5 thousand hectares. This territory is divided into 8 administrative districts: Traktorozavodsky, Krasnooktyabrsky, Central, Dzerzhinsky, Voroshilovsky, Sovetsky, Kirovsky and Krasnoarmeysky and several workers’ villages. According to the 2002 All-Russian Census, the city's population is 1012.8 thousand people. Of these, 463.3 thousand are men and 549.5 thousand are women.

Volgograd has significant industrial and cultural potential, twenty higher educational institutions, a planetarium with unique equipment, and dozens of libraries.

Volgograd, thanks to its favorable transport and geographical position and high industrial potential, performs important strategic functions in the socio-economic development of the South of Russia. The presence in Volgograd of a powerful scientific base and higher educational institutions of various specializations creates conditions for large-scale restructuring of industrial production and transformations of the urban economic complex on an advanced innovative basis.

Heraldry

Flag

The flag of the hero city of Volgograd is a rectangular panel of red color with a double-sided image in the center of the coat of arms of the hero city of Volgograd. The ratio of the width and length of the flag of the hero city of Volgograd should be 2:3. Red is the original color of the national flags of Russia, representing courage, sovereignty, blood shed for the fatherland, strength, and energy. The image of the coat of arms of the city - the hero of Volgograd on the flag symbolizes that the flag belongs to the city. The ratio of the areas of the coat of arms and the flag should be 1:7.

Coat of arms

According to the official version, Tsaritsyn was founded in 1589, but the city did not have its own coat of arms until the mid-19th century.

And this is how the history of the coat of arms began. By order of Peter I, the Heraldry Office or Heraldry was created in St. Petersburg. Her duties included drawing up and approving coats of arms. On April 12, 1722, in accordance with the personal decree of Peter Alekseevich, Count Francis Santi, an Italian by birth, was appointed assistant to the king of arms and compiler of coats of arms. Since 1724, the Heraldry Office begins to draw up city coats of arms in those cities that do not have them. The city coat of arms should henceforth be placed on the seals of city institutions and on the banners of regiments stationed in these cities. The creation of coats of arms was declared a matter of national importance. But the matter turned out to be labor-intensive; it was necessary to collect information about the cities. For this purpose, questionnaires were sent to the cities, which contained questions about the time the city was founded, natural conditions, flora and fauna, etc. At the end of the questionnaire there was a request to send a drawing and description of the city coat of arms, if you already had one. The information obtained through this survey is now stored in the Russian State Archive in St. Petersburg, but information from Tsaritsyn is not there. The coat of arms of Tsaritsyn appears for the first time in a collection of coats of arms compiled by Santi, but its author is unknown.

Initially, from 1729-1730. The emblem of the Tsaritsyn Dragoon Regiment was used as a coat of arms in Tsaritsyn. Tsaritsyn retained the status of a fortress, and the dragoon regiment was constantly fed there. The emblem featured two crossed silver sturgeons on a red field. But the emblem was not an officially approved coat of arms.

The actual coat of arms of Tsaritsyn was created in the middle of the 19th century. The first draft of the coat of arms was rejected. It looked like this: a French shield divided into two equal parts by a horizontal line, in the upper part there is the coat of arms of the provincial Saratov (three sterlets on a blue field), and in the lower part on a red field there is a golden imperial crown. On top of the shield was a city crown. The imperial crown symbolized the name of the city in the project. But according to the rules of heraldry, it was not permissible for the city crown to be placed above the imperial one, and the project was rejected.

Tsaritsyn received its officially approved coat of arms only in 1854. On October 29, Emperor Nicholas I approved it, and on December 16, the city’s coat of arms was reviewed and finally approved in the Senate. Here is its description: a French shield divided into two equal parts by a horizontal line, in the upper part there is the coat of arms of the provincial Saratov (three sterlets on a blue field), and in the lower part on a red field there are two crossed silver sterlets. The coat of arms was crowned with a city crown, which corresponded to the status of a county town.

Subsequently, a deviation was made in the depiction of the coat of arms. Attributes appeared that corresponded to the status of the provincial city - a golden imperial crown and a wreath of oak leaves entwined with St. Andrew's ribbon. Perhaps this retreat is due to the fact that at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, Tsaritsyn became the largest commercial and industrial center in the southeast of Russia.

After 1917 the city coat of arms was not used. The question of creating a new coat of arms arose again after Volgograd was awarded the title of Hero City in 1965. On January 10, 1966, a resolution was adopted by the executive committee of the Volgograd City Council of Workers' Deputies "On the coat of arms of the hero city of Volgograd." An open competition for projects was announced. But no one took first place. The conditions of the competition were very difficult to reflect in the coat of arms the heroic exploits of Red Tsaritsyn and Stalingrad, as well as the creative work of the townspeople after the war. And knowledge of the laws of heraldry was clearly lacking. Only after additional work by a group of artists from the Art Fund - Evgeny Borisovich Obukhov, German Nikolaevich Li, Alexey Grigorievich Brovko and Gennady Alexandrovich Khanov - the draft coat of arms was approved on March 4, 1968.

The description of the coat of arms is as follows: the general form of the coat of arms of the city - the hero of Volgograd is traditionally heraldic. It is based on a golden-colored shield, divided into two halves by the ribbon of the medal “For the Defense of Stalingrad.” The upper half of the coat of arms is a symbolic image of an impregnable fortress on the Volga. It is presented in the form of battlements of a fortress wall, painted red. The red color symbolizes courage, sovereignty, blood shed for the fatherland, strength, and energy. This is complemented by the “Gold Star” medal, which was awarded to the city, depicted in golden color on a general red background. The lower half of the coat of arms depicts a golden-colored gear, symbolizing the developed industry of the city, and a golden-colored sheaf of wheat, a symbol of the abundance of the Volgograd land. The blue color throughout the field in this part of the coat of arms symbolizes the Volga. The width to height ratio should be 8:9. The coat of arms exists in this form to this day.

75 years ago the Battle of Stalingrad ended .
Today you can increasingly hear that the battle was a meaningless meat grinder and in general, if, they say, they had not “renamed Tsaritsyn after Stalin, then nothing would have happened.” Unfortunately not only professional bread crunchers and the deliberately lying, anti-Soviet distorters know little about it in general, about the reasons for “Operation Blau” and the significance of the battles around Stalingrad for both sides...
And just the day before, an excellent material from Sergei Kuzmichev appeared in the Regnum news agency, telling about the Battle of Stalingrad, literally, on the fingers.
Highly recommend. Moreover, the writing is not dry, but lively, interesting and very informative.

The city of Stalingrad is not currently on the geographical map of Russia. But in the history of our people, and of all humanity, Stalingrad was, is and will be. It has long been transformed from a geographical point into one of the main symbols of Russian history, unbending perseverance, courage and the will to fight. A symbol of a difficult victory, the path to which lay through the bitterness of defeat and tears of loss.
For the enemy who came to us from the west, Stalingrad is also a symbol. A symbol of an unambiguous, unexpected and therefore difficult to explain defeat, still endowed with some mystical features.

It was a gigantic battle that would have been visible even from Earth orbit. At the same time, no less large-scale events took place that significantly influenced its outcome...

In July 1942, Field Marshal Manstein's troops were able to take Sevastopol and the entire Crimean Peninsula by storm and were gathering near Leningrad to apply the experience gained near Sevastopol there. Then they did not yet know that instead of storming Leningrad, they would face heavy defensive battles in the forests and swamps of the Volkhov Front.

From August 1, on the central section of the Soviet-German front near Rzhev, the Red Army will begin the largest operation of 1942 against Army Group Center, which resulted in a whole series of brutal “meat grinders” in the style of the First World War.

These unsuccessful Red Army offensives would consume virtually all of the German reserves. It is they who will first force the German command to cover the flanks of their Stalingrad group with Italian and Romanian divisions, incapable of serious battles, and then will not allow the creation of a full-fledged group to save Paulus’s troops encircled in Stalingrad.

But all this will become clear later, and in July 1942 the general situation on the Soviet-German front gave no reason for optimism at all.

Having lost the battle for Moscow, the military-political leadership of the Third Reich quickly realized that the blitzkrieg had failed and now Germany and its many satellites were facing a war of attrition. From this understanding, a new strategic plan of the German command was born (Operation Blau), aimed at depriving the USSR of the oil resources of the Caucasus, which in June 1941 provided up to 80% of the needs of the Soviet Union, capturing Stalingrad as the largest industrial center and blocking the Volga strategic transport artery in the Astrakhan region. If Operation Blau was successful, the USSR would suffer damage that would undermine its economic ability to resist for a long time.

In German calculations, not least important was the fact that the largest of the three tank factories of the USSR was located in Stalingrad. An industrial and transport hub, Stalingrad became a critical point, in the struggle for which both sides spared neither technical nor human resources.

The battle, which lasted more than six months, received the general name “Battle of Stalingrad,” is now usually divided into three phases: (1) a maneuver battle in the Don steppes on the distant approaches to the city in July and August 1942; (2) battles for city blocks and numerous counterattacks of the Stalingrad Front on the northern flank of the German group, which lasted from August to November 19, 1942; (3) the encirclement of Paulus's troops, repelling the relief German strike and the destruction of the troops encircled in Stalingrad, which ended on February 2, 1943.

The gigantic scale of events will not allow us to consider all the details of the Battle of Stalingrad, but its general course and turning points will be described in this article.

On July 12, 1942, the Southwestern Front was officially renamed Stalingrad. Now the word Stalingrad sounded throughout the entire Soviet Union every day in the reports of the Sovinformburo.

For obvious reasons, these reports did not inform ordinary citizens of the USSR the full tragedy of the events of the summer of 1942, but their meager information was enough to feel the intensity of what was happening in Stalingrad.

In July 1942, Soviet troops defeated at Millerovo retreated east to Stalingrad and south to the Caucasus. The Supreme High Command headquarters ordered the Stalingrad Front to occupy and hold the line west of the Don River. “Under no circumstances should we allow the enemy to break through east of this line towards Stalingrad,” Stavka demanded.

At that time there was no way for Headquarters to carry out this order. 20 infantry, tank and motorized divisions of the 6th Field Army of F. Paulus and the 4th Tank Army of G. Hoth confidently marched towards Stalingrad. They consisted of about 400 thousand experienced, well-trained soldiers and officers, who were deservedly considered the most dangerous military mechanism of the entire Soviet-German front.

A column of German assault guns goes to Stalingrad

The remnants of the troops of the Southwestern Front (numerically corresponding to three rifle divisions) and the newly formed three reserve armies sent to help them together numbered no more than 200 thousand people, most of whom had yet to be delivered to the scene of events.

Watch Sergei Bondarchuk’s film “They Fought for the Motherland.” It is precisely about those events shown by the example of the remnants of an infantry regiment retreating in battle, commanded first by a captain, then by a lieutenant, and then by a sergeant major. The film, which has long become a film classic, very accurately illustrates what was happening then in the Don steppes...

Soviet units and formations in the summer of 1942 were hastily trained formations that, as a rule, had no combat experience. Moreover, this applied not only to infantry, but also to tankers. There was no time to study. How critical the situation was then can be understood from the fact that at Stalingrad, half-trained cadets from eight military schools were sent into battle as ordinary infantrymen! Yesterday's schoolchildren and civilians had not yet transformed into those warriors before whom all of Europe later froze in fear.

Soviet T-34 tanks destroyed at Stalingrad

And this applied not only to ordinary soldiers and junior commanders. The future hero of this battle, Lieutenant General Chuikov, who then arrived as commander of the 62nd Army at Stalingrad, was going to be replaced by the more experienced General Gordov, since Chuikov had not previously participated in battles with the Germans at all.

Another chronic problem of the Red Army ground forces by 1942 was still the lack of vehicles, which greatly complicated the maneuver of reserves and the supply of troops. All available resources of the Soviet automobile industry were then directed to the production of tanks, which were the only means of repelling German mechanized attacks, which resulted in various boilers.

By the summer of 1942, the Red Army was able to form not only tank brigades, but also tank corps, and even began to create tank armies capable of deciding the fate of major battles. However, their combat capabilities in the summer of 1942 were still modest, since confident interaction of tanks with aviation, artillery and infantry required practice and experience. They will say their weighty word a little later, and it will sound like a death sentence.

Soviet tank in position near the Don River

The first battle of the Battle of Stalingrad took place at 17:40 on July 16 near the Morozov farm. Three medium T-34 tanks and two light T-60 tanks of the 645th tank battalion, conducting reconnaissance, encountered German anti-tank guns. The advance detachment retreated safely, but at 20:00 it was itself attacked by German tanks. After a short firefight, both sides retreated to the main forces. The battles of other advanced detachments of the Stalingrad Front were less successful: the experienced Germans, who had an overwhelming advantage in numbers, were confident in the support of the main forces advancing behind them, and actively used aerial reconnaissance and radio communications, pinned them down in battle, simultaneously outflanking them and cutting them off from the main forces.

On July 23, the enemy began active operations against the Stalingrad Front. The front faced German attacks in unfavorable conditions, lacking the strength to create its own strike group capable of, if not seizing the initiative, then at least timely intervention in the battles at the right time in the right place. The front was forced to stretch its few forces over and over again, hopelessly trying to guess where the Germans would strike, who were not prevented from calmly choosing the time and place of action. The only thing that the front command could then count on was its tank reserves, which consisted of brigades of the 13th Tank Corps and two tank armies being formed in the near rear. However, for the rest of July and all of August 1942, the action of the well-functioning German military machine inexorably repeated in the Don steppes: in the area chosen for the attack, Luftwaffe bombers with massive air strikes destroyed or suppressed the positions of Soviet artillery, and then German tanks, artillery and infantry broke into the defenses of Soviet rifle divisions , left without fire support. The rifle divisions that came under attack were dismembered by tank wedges and blocked in parts. The infantry, sappers and artillerymen of the German infantry divisions were engaged in eliminating the blocked pockets of resistance, and the tank and mechanized columns of the Germans without delay rushed further to the objects planned for capture that were critical for the success of the operation. Soviet tank brigades and corps were immediately sent to meet them, upon meeting which the German tank crews immediately went on the defensive, knocking out the attacking Soviet tanks with the fire of the anti-tank artillery that accompanied them and with attacks from attack aircraft. During this time, the Soviet rifle units surrounded in their rear either tried, with varying degrees of success, to break out of the encirclement, or...

Soviet heavy tank KV-1

Having dealt with the encirclement, the German infantry units approached the lines captured by their tankers and motorized infantry and quickly built a strong defense there. The German motorized or tank corps they replaced quickly withdrew from the front line to launch a new surprise attack elsewhere. In the summer of 1942, their results were almost always the same. In such battles, not only did a large number of soldiers and junior commanders of the Red Army die, but also the headquarters of regiments and divisions, which did not have time to accumulate, comprehend and transfer to others, invaluable combat experience and combat management skills, were burned down.

Yes, these battles were not easy for the Germans either. Paulus's army constantly suffered combat losses in people and equipment. But she lost only privates and junior command staff, who were easy to replace. The brain and nervous system of their war machine remained intact, preserving and honing the accumulated experience and skills.

In the Don steppe

In a couple of years, the time will come when the German command will throw half-trained cadets of officer schools and hastily put together formations towards the ruthless and skillful Soviet tank armies, which will be given beautiful names instead of qualified middle and senior commanders. But the army of the Third Reich had yet to be brought to such a state...

Cemetery of German soldiers near Stalingrad

But in the summer of 1942, the series of defeats at Stalingrad was taken so seriously by the Soviet Supreme High Command that on August 25, J.V. Stalin authorized the withdrawal of troops within the city limits, so as not to lose the remnants of the 62nd and 64th armies in new large and small encirclements . On September 1, 1942, the troops of the 62nd and 64th armies of the Stalingrad Front received an order to withdraw to fortify the outer perimeter of Stalingrad.

Now it is no longer possible to find out how conscious the calculation was to transfer the fighting to a large city with numerous thick-walled buildings of factories and factories. But it was from this moment that the nature of the Battle of Stalingrad began to slowly change.

The German 6th Field and 4th Tank Armies continued to rush towards Stalingrad. By the end of August, a kind of “specialization” had already developed - the army of Paulus was opposed by the Stalingrad Front, and the troops of the Southwestern Front fought with the tank army of Hoth, which was advancing to the south. Both Soviet fronts experienced alternating pressure from the enemy, so the Soviet Supreme High Command constantly revised plans to reinforce one direction or another. At this time, Paulus believed that he had to overcome the last line of Soviet defense. To do this, the main forces of his army had to break through the Don, reach the Volga north of Stalingrad and intercept the railway line. Paulus considered the capture of the city itself, although necessary, but less important.

On August 21, Paulus’ strike force crossed the Don in battle and created a bridgehead on its eastern bank, quickly building two temporary bridges there. By the morning of August 23, nine infantry, motorized and tank divisions quickly crossed the Don along them.

German motorized units cross the Don River

This mass of troops easily tore to shreds the defenses of the 98th Infantry Division, which alone tried to block the German bridgehead. On the same day, the rapidly advancing Germans cut the railway to Stalingrad, reached the Volga north of the city and launched a powerful aerial bombardment of its industrial and residential areas. It was absolutely unrealistic to evacuate the 400 thousand population of Stalingrad, supplemented by tens of thousands of refugees, under those conditions. The city and its people were calculatedly and spectacularly destroyed by massive air strikes. Even after going through the entire war, eyewitnesses of that bombing recalled it as a severe nightmare, consisting of tens of thousands of killed and maimed women, children and old people, gigantic fires and streams of burning oil that continued to burn on the water surface of the Volga along with river ships trying to take people to the other side of the river.

Luftwaffe planes in the sky over Stalingrad

The German breakthrough to the Volga north of Stalingrad threatened the troops defending the city with a new encirclement. The seriousness of the then situation is well illustrated by the fact that on August 25, the Headquarters sent the Chief of the General Staff A.M. Vasilevsky directly to the Stalingrad Front. One of the best operational minds of the Red Army was to organize counterattacks by four tank corps against Paulus's breakthrough troops, which the front began to launch on August 24th. These hasty, but unexpected tank attacks for the Germans prevented their entry into the city, although they could not cut off and destroy the enemy, as the command ordered. The Germans defended with all their might this corridor leading to the Volga, the width of which did not exceed several kilometers. Paulus hoped to connect with the troops of Goth through him. Intense fighting here continued until August 31, and, taking advantage of them, the 62nd and 64th armies were able to retreat to the urban areas of Stalingrad in relative order.

When Paulus's troops calmed down briefly north of Stalingrad by August 31, Hoth's tank army attacked south of the city until September 10. The Germans were getting closer and closer to neighborhoods and factories, the capture of which was considered a winning point in the operation.

German tanks in the suburbs of Stalingrad

To imagine how difficult the trials befell the defenders of Stalingrad, one must remember that the Germans themselves, quite “spoiled” by artillery and air support, described it in these battles as “fire preparation of unprecedented force.”

German tank set on fire on the streets of Stalingrad

Soviet infantrymen and tankmen in Stalingrad could not yet boast of such “arguments,” but their opponents increasingly mentioned in their reports that “the enemy is becoming more stubborn, and the effectiveness of its defense is growing.” The spring of resistance was compressed, but then no one knew how it would end...

Tsaritsyn (1589-1925)

It is believed that Volgograd was founded in 1589. Then it had a different name - Tsaritsyn. Initially, Tsaritsyn was born as a fortress for the defense of the southern borders of Russian lands. The first stone structure appeared in 1664. Many times the fortress was attacked by rebellious peasants. In 1608, the first stone church was founded in the city - St. John the Baptist, which was destroyed in the late 30s of the 20th century and restored in the 90s of the same century in its original place.

Another interesting historical fact from the history of the city: Peter the Great visited here three times. According to one of the historical versions, Peter I himself composed the project for the Tsaritsyn fortress. The tsar gave the townspeople his cane and his cap, which are kept to this day in the regional museum of local lore.

As a result of the efforts of Catherine II in 1765, foreign colonists appeared in Tsaritsyn and Tsaritsyn district, who were granted a number of benefits. Thirty kilometers south of Tsaritsyn, at the mouth of the Sarpa River, Sarepta-on-Volga was founded by Herrnhuter Germans. In a short time, it turned into a rich colony, in which mustard production, manufacturing and other crafts were developed.

The construction of a railway line in the direction of Kalach-on-Don in 1862 and Gryazi in 1872 led to an economic boom and made Tsaritsyn a hub for transport links in areas near the Caspian and Black Seas, as well as the Caucasus and Central Russia.

By 1913, the district Tsaritsyn in terms of the number of inhabitants - 137 thousand, overtook many provincial cities. This was a period of explosive growth in the construction of residential, industrial, public and entertainment buildings, hospitals, schools, and hotels.

Stalingrad (1925-1961)

In the 30s of the 20th century, Stalingrad was one of the fastest growing cities in the country, with a population of about 480 thousand people. As a result of the implementation of the industrialization program of the USSR during the pre-war five-year plans, Stalingrad became a powerful industrial center of the country. In terms of total production volume, the city ranked second in the Volga region and fourth in the RSFSR. The city played a major role in the country's economy, and the prospects for its further development were also significant.

But everything was interrupted by the war. The Battle of Stalingrad was destined to become one of the most difficult pages in the history of the Great Patriotic War and one of the most significant. During the fighting, all areas of the city were completely destroyed, more than 90% of the entire housing stock was burned and destroyed. After the battle, the city looked like ruins, but despite everything, Stalingrad rose from the ruins.

After the end of the battle, at a meeting of the USSR Government, the question was raised about the inappropriateness of restoring the city. It was calculated that it was cheaper to build a new city than to try to rebuild a destroyed one. They proposed building Stalingrad 10 kilometers up the Volga, and making an open-air museum on the site of the former city. But Stalin ordered the restoration of the city at any cost. And already in March 1943, restoration work began in the city.

The architects sought to reflect the heroism of Stalingrad in the appearance of the buildings. Hence the monumentality and complexity of even ordinary residential buildings built in the fifties. The style, which flourished during the years of post-war construction, went down in history as Stalinist neoclassicism. The abundance and variety of architectural details and decorative elements creates a rich emotional background in perception.

On November 10, 1961, a Decree was adopted to rename the Stalingrad region into Volgograd and the city of Stalingrad into Volgograd. It is interesting that the renaming options were different - Heroysk, Boygorodsk, Leningrad-on-Volga and even Khrushchevsk. In “Volgograd Pravda” dated November 15, 1961, an explanation is given for the new name: “The name of the city located near the mighty river and the name of the river near which the hero city stands must merge together.”

Volgograd today

Volgograd is a hero city with a rich historical past, and at the same time a developing industrial center of the region. It is an attractive tourist destination with unique historical monuments, nature, and architectural attractions. The population of the city is more than 1 million. The indigenous population is Russians; Armenians, Ukrainians, Tatars, Azerbaijanis and other national minorities also live here.

Eight administrative districts of the city stretch from north to south along the Volga: Traktorozavodsky, Krasnooktyabrsky, Central, Dzerzhinsky, Voroshilovsky, Sovetsky, Kirovsky, Krasnoarmeysky, the construction of which began in the form of worker settlements near industrial facilities.

The economy and industrial potential of the city plays an important role for the region and the country as a whole. The most developed industries are oil and metal refining, chemical and food industries, mechanical engineering and shipbuilding.

Volgograd is also a large educational center, with six universities and several specialized universities operating successfully. Students play a huge role in the development of the city. Every year, Volgograd students take part in various large-scale educational forums, for example, “Student Spring”, work as volunteers at socially significant events (including the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014), and form youth policy within the Youth Parliament.