Author: Paul Karel
Translation: Little Xiaoice
On the night of September 17-18, 1942, Trikov had to evacuate the underground bunker near the Tsarica River.
At noon that day, grenadiers of the German 71st Infantry Division (this division from Lower Saxony, the tactical logo is a shamrock) suddenly appeared at the entrance to the bunker on Pushkin Street. Trikov's staff had to pick up their submachine guns. The underground bunkers were soon packed with the wounded and those separated from their own forces. The drivers, messengers and officers fled under various pretexts to the safety of the underground bunker "in order to discuss urgent matters". Since there was no ventilation system in the underground tunnels, it was quickly filled with smoke, heat and stench. There is only one way out: get out of here.
The guards of the command covered the retreat, and they entered the Tsaritsa Valley through the second exit. But here, you can already see the figure of Major Fred Boulder's 191st Infantry Regiment Commando. Carrying only the most important documents and the battle map, Trikov quietly slipped through the German line to the bank of the Volga River, and under the cover of night and fog, took a boat with Krylov to the east bank.
Trikov immediately boarded an armored speedboat and crossed the Volga again to a dock in the north of the city. He then established his headquarters on a cliff towering over the riverbank, just behind the Red Barricade arsenal— several caves exploded on the 650-foot-high cliff were blind spots for German artillery fire. On steep cliffs, several bunkers are connected by carefully camouflaged traffic trenches.
Glinka's field kitchen was placed in a checkpoint in the sewers of the "Red Barricade" arsenal. The waitress Tasha had to carry her pots and plates up the steel ladder of the well wall with real acrobatic skill, enter the open air, and then carefully enter the commander's bunker along a narrow path on the cliff.
Of course, the number of people in the command who need to be fed has been greatly reduced. Many senior officers, including Trikov's deputy directors of artillery, engineers, tanks and mechanized corps, slipped away as the headquarters shifted and remained on the left bank of the Volga. "We didn't shed tears for losing them." Trikov writes, "Without them, the air is fresher." ”
This shift of the commander of the stalingrad city defenses had a certain symbolic significance: the focus of the battle had shifted to the north. The Soviets no longer held on to the south of the city and the city center.
On September 22, south of Stalingrad, the final battle began. The commandos of the 29th Motor Infantry Division, along with the grenadiers of the 94th Infantry Division and the 14th Panzer Division, rushed into the smoke-blackened barn. After the sappers blew open the entrance, several Marines of a Soviet machine gun platoon, led by Sergeant Andrei Hozianov, staggered out and surrendered, thirsty and half-mad. These people are the last survivors.
(Above) (1) Tractor Factory; (2) "Red Barricade" Arsenal; (3) Bakery; (4) "Red October" Metallurgical Plant; (5) "Razur" Chemical Plant and its "Tennis Racket" Railway Line; (6) MamayevGang; (7) Central Railway Station; (8) Red Square and Department Store; (9) South Railway Station; (10) Barn; (11) Trikov's bunker in the Tsaritsa Valley.
Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion of the 35th Guards Infantry Division collapsed in the rubble of concrete buildings, suffocated, burned or blown to pieces. The door had been sealed with bricks: in this way the commanders and commissars eliminated all possibilities of retreat or escape.
The southern crossing of the Volga was also occupied by the Germans. Lieutenant General Pfayfer's 94th Infantry Division (which was from Saxony and whose tactical emblem was two crossed swords on Meissen porcelain) took over the task of providing cover along the banks of the Volga River on the southern edge of the city.
In the center of Stalingrad, the heart of the city, Soviet resistance also collapsed. Only a few stubborn positions, held by remnants of the Soviet Infantry Regiments 34th and 42nd, held in the ruins of the Central Railway Station and at the pier of the large steam ferry at the Central Ferry.
By the usual standards of street fighting, stalingrad could be said to have been conquered by the Germans by September 27. For example, the 71st Infantry Division had crossed the entire defense width of the division to the Volga: the 211st Infantry Regiment reached the southern Minina Valley, the 191st Infantry Regiment was located between the Mining Valley and the Tsaritsa Valley, and the 194th Infantry Regiment reached the northern part of the Tsarica Valley.
Fighting is now concentrated in factories and worker settlements in the northern part of the city. The following names are recorded not only in the history of the war, but also in the history of the world – the "Red Barricade" Arsenal, the "Red October" Metallurgical Factory, the "Dzerzhinsky" Tractor Factory, the "Razur" Chemical Plant and its infamous "Tennis Racket", which was named because the factory's railway line resembled a tennis racket. These are the "fortresses" of the industrial city of Stalingrad.
In the entire war, the battle for the northern part of Stalingrad was the most intense and costly. The determination, intensity of firepower, and intensity of troops fought in a small area were comparable only to the war of attrition during World War I, such as the Battle of Verdun, where German and French troops were killed more than 500,000 in six months in 1916. What broke out north of Stalingrad was a short battle. In any case, the Soviets fought better defensive battles than the Germans, thanks to their excellent camouflage and skillful use of local terrain. In addition, they were more experienced and better trained than German soldiers in street and barricade warfare. Finally, Trikov's every move was under Khrushchev's watch, so he inspired the resistance of soviet soldiers to a fiery state. Every company that crossed the Volga into Stalingrad was impressed by these three slogans:
Everyone is a fortress!
There is no way back after the Volga!
Fight or die!
This is an all-out war, an implementation of the slogan "Time is blood". Rolf Grimes, the author of the history of the German 14th Panzer Division, who was then the commander of the 64th Motorcycle Battalion, has an illuminating description in his book: "It was a terrible, soul-destroying battle, fighting everywhere in the ground, in the ruins, in the cellars, in the sewers of the city, and in the factories. Tanks climbed over hills of debris and rubble, rattled through chaotic, destroyed factories, and fired at close range at rubble-strewn streets and narrow factory areas... But it's all bearable. To make matters worse, deep river valleys of weathered sandstone plunged steeply into the Volga, from where the Soviets were ready to throw their cutting-edge troops into battle. On the other side of the river, in the dense forests downstream, on the east bank of the Volga, the enemy lurked, and there was no way to find their infantry and artillery. But nevertheless, they were there, and in addition to firing artillery, night after night, hundreds of boats crossed the river to send reinforcements into the ruins of the city. ”
(Above) Stills from the film "Soldiers Coming to the City"
Personnel and supplies were transported across the river to support the city's defenders, and through the Volga, an important artery, fresh blood was constantly injected into the city, which constituted an important problem in the battle. The most critical is the valley of the Weathered Sandstone on the banks of the Volga River. The steep cliffs, located outside the range of German artillery fire, included Soviet headquarters, field hospitals, and ammunition depots. It is an ideal assembly point for people and supplies that can be transported across the river at night. This is also the starting line for launching a counterattack. The sewers here were filled with industrial sewage that appeared on the surface – these empty underground tunnels now led to the rear of the German line. Soviet commandos would climb through these tunnels, carefully push open a manhole cover, and erect a machine gun. They would fire suddenly behind the advancing German troops, attacking the Germans' field kitchens and logistical supply units. Moments later, the manhole cover was covered again, and the Soviet commandos disappeared.
The German commandos, who had been ordered to deal with such an ambush, were helpless. The steep west bank of the Volga resembles a ballistic belt of deep ladders. The German troops in the battle zone were usually only a few hundred meters away from the Volga.
General Del was quite right in his short essay on the Battle of Stalingrad: "The last hundred yards before the Volga embodies the determination of the attacker and the defender." ”
In the north of Stalingrad, the road leading to this important river bank passes through fortified workers' settlements and industrial building areas. They form a barrier in front of the steep riverbank.
This article is excerpted from "Eastward Advance: The Soviet-German War of 1941-1943"