On September 9, 1942, Stalin appointed Trikov as commander of the 62nd Army of the Soviet Southeastern Front. On the morning of the 12th, at the headquarters of the Yame Front on the east bank of the Volga River, Khrushchev told Trikov: "The former commander of the 62nd Army, Ropatin, believes that his army group cannot hold Stalingrad, but we can no longer retreat." With the approval of the headquarters of the Supreme Command, the Military Committee of the Front has asked you to serve as commander of the 62nd Army. Do you understand your task? Trikov replied: "The surrender of Stalingrad will dampen the morale of the people, and I swear that I will never abandon the city!" We will either hold the city or die here! ”
That evening Trikov arrived at Mamayev Hill, the headquarters of the 62nd Army, and ten hours later, the attack of the 295th Infantry Division of the 51st Army in Sedlitz forced him to relocate his headquarters to the tunnel of the army headquarters built before the war in the Tsaritsin Valley in the south.
This did not last long, and on September 17 the German 71st Infantry Division attacked the entrance to the tunnel on Pushkin Street, where it was repulsed by Trikov's staff officers with guns to organize guards and miscellaneous personnel to counterattack. In the early morning of the 18th, with only the most important documents and the battle situation map, Trikov crossed the Volga River in the east and returned to the riverside cliff half a mile from the "Red October" factory. The transfer, including his deputy chief of artillery, engineers, tanks and mechanized corps, slipped away quietly. "We did not shed tears for the loss of them," Trikov wrote, "without them, the air is fresher!" ”
On 2 October, German artillery fire hit an oil tank above the headquarters, and the burning oil flowed down the slope through Trikov's headquarters and into the Volga. Except for the transmitter, all equipment stopped working. "Where are you?" The Stalingrad command repeatedly sent telegrams asking, "We are in the deepest recesses of thick smoke and flames. ”
On 17 October Trikov moved his headquarters to the banks of the Volga River on the same level as mamayev hill, a position that lasted until 25 November, when the Soviet counteroffensive began to improve.
No matter how urgent and critical the situation, Trikov fulfilled his original decision with the Military Committee of the Army Group: "Stalingrad is our last battlefield, and in order to defend the city, we can only advance and not retreat, and fight against the enemy!" The army group headquarters remained in the city of Stalingrad on the right bank and was not allowed to retreat to the left bank or to the island in any event. ”
At the beginning of September, the 62nd Army, with about 54,000 men, reinforced 8 infantry divisions, 4 naval special operations brigades and 1 tank brigade. After the battle, less than 13,000 men survived, including 320 men from the famous 13th Rodimtsev Division of the Guards Infantry.
During the Tehran Conference, Churchill presented Stalin with the "Sword of Stalingrad" and engraved in English and Russian "to the resolute citizens of Stalingrad—a gift from King George VI," conveying the great reverence of the people of England."