THE MARCH of WAR the SOVIET FRONT (September 7 to December 7, 7942)

THE MARCH OF WAR THE SOVIET FRONT (September 7 to December 7, 7942) STALINGBAO bank there lies Krasnaya Sloboda, the ter. HE struggle for Stalingrad stands un minus of a railway leading towards the east, rivaled in the history of war. In where it connects up with the line Astrakhan/ T order to understand it, one must study Saratov. a map of this curiously shaped city. Origi A FORTRESS, NOT A CITY n&lly a sm&ll settlement on the Volga, Tsaritsyn-as the town was known before At the end of August and the beginning the Revolution-quickly developed into a of September 1942, the European armies tmde center during the nineteenth century moved into position to attack Stalingrad. bec&use of its posit.ion on the chief artery On August 31, German troops reached the <>f communications in the Russian Empire. Volga above the city near Dubovka, and 011 "Towards the end of that century it had a September 3 below Stnlingrad at Krasnoar popul&tion of 50,000. Since the town owed meisk, thereby cutting off the isthmus be· its existence to its position on the Volga, it tween the Don and the Volga from the north -extended in a very long, and from the south. Thus narrow strip along the Stalingrad'aonly remaining river. connection with the rest Under the Bolsheviks, of the USSR was acrOM the town, now called the Volga.. Then the .St&lingrad, W&8 developed semicircle around Stalin· into one of the most im· grad was systematically portant industrial centers tightened. It now became in the Soviet Union. To evident that the Red Army ~e north of the old center had surrounded the entire ·of the town, entirely new outskirts of the city as industrial cities arose with far as the Don and far their workel'B' settlements to the north and south around the four great with a gigantic and effec· p1&nts of the oil refineries, tive defense belt made the iron foundry "Red up of innumerable small October," the armament defense positions. Hence the .p1&nt "Red Barricade," battle for Stalingr&<1 broke and the tractor (.in war time, ta.nk) factory out many miles from the edge of the city, "Dzerjinsky." These p1&nts, too, were and the European armies succeeded only by erected along the Volga, in order to facilitate splendid co-operation among &ll the various the transport of raw materials and manu arms in working their way up to the city factured goods. In this way, the city with itself. Towards the end of the first week its suburbs reached a length of 65 kilometel'B of September, the suburbs were reached, and ·during the last few ye&l'B. the struggle for Stalingrad proper began. The city was connected with the railway Since all the Soviet cities captured by tho network of the country by three main lines: European armies, with the exception of towards the north to M08COW, towards the Sevastopol, had fallen within a few days, the 'west to the Don, and towards the southwest world at first expected the fall of Stalingr&<1 to the Black Sea. Ferries maintained the to be only a matter of days. However, the traffio across the Volga, which at this point very first attacks proved that in Stalingrad 'is nearly & mile wide and in which there are the European armies were confronted, not \large isiands. Ac1'088 the river on the east by an ordinary city like Kiev, Kharkov, or THE JIAROH OF WAR Roetov, but by the greateet Bingle fortreee her of troope employed on each aide; How· in the world. Probably the Boviet.. had ever, they were probably amaDer than.orig. realized the hopeleemeee of holding the west in&lly &88umed.) The Red Volga Flotilla bank of the Don 800n after the German took a hand in the battle from the river, thrust in June 1942 and had conoentrated and Red artillery partioipated from the east all their strength on the defenae of Stalingrad. bank. Day and night, the Bovietradio A large part of the Red artillery, whioh had appealed to the defendera of St&lingrad and been swept eastward during the rapid fired them to fanatical self·sacrifioe. Soviet German advanoe in the summer, was now newspapers oontinuously published short in St&lingrad. storiee, artiolee, sketohee, and poems about Stalingrad. The Red tI'Qops' power of re-. 'I'HB MOST DDTlOl1LT TA8X B:iatanoe was reinforced with every method The example of St&lingrad sh9W8 that a of propaganda and terror, in whie" the 1&rge city whioh ia determined to defend Bolsheviks have developed an &OOompliahed itself at all coeta repreeenta a far greater technique during the last twenty.five years. obstacle for an attacker than a river, a But just &8 St&lingrad repreeented the stmit, or a mountain range. The technical peak of RU88i&n defensive ability, it also and tactical superiority of the attacker can· became a peak of German power of attack. not be put into operation in street-fighting, where friend and foe are olosely interlocked. TIIB :FIRST 33 DAYS Bombers and heavy artillery C&D only help Faced by the greate8t and most difficult prepare the ground for attack; they cannot obstacle the German armies had met with participate in it" Moreover, the tank loees in this war, they worked themselves step much of ita effectiveness in narrow streets. by step, in olose oo-operation between ground Often the battle boils down to hand-to-hand and air formations, into the southern part fighting, which gives far less chance for the of the city. Whereas during the first weeks display of superior leadership than a of the summer campaign in the vast Doneta/ battle in the open field. Don plains the daily German advanoe had The entire Russian genius for aefensive been oounted in tens of kilometers. here in warfare, known to the world for many Stalingrad a whole day had sometimes to be centorlee, &8 well as the experience gained spent in advanoing 100 meters and capturing since June 22, 1941, were made usc of in a single block of houses. St&lingrad. Not ~the approaches to the The main German thrust was first directed city, even thecity i was mined every foot at a height to the west of the oil refineries, of the way. Every district, every block of whose possession meant a great aid in the hoU8C8, indeed, every honae, had been fiat surrounding country. Anothor thrust turned into a stronghold. The Red staffe had as its aim the main railway station, sat in deep cellars and directed the defense situated in the center of the old part of the with the aid of an intrioate system of sub· oity. The height W&8 stormed on September terranean pa888geB and telephone systems. 14, the station on September 15. From The Inerjinksy factory lD&Dufactured tanks here, the attackers ma.naged to break through in m&88 production and, in order to hasten to the river bank. The southern part of produotion, the tanks were taken out in a the city, whioh by thia means had been out half-finished condition without motors and off from the rest of Stalingrad, was then buried in the ground with only their firing systematically cleared of the enemy. turrets showing. The Soviets had con· centrated a large number of troops in Stalin· TIIJI TIIB!ll!l PLANTS grad even before the battle, and during its On the evening of October 6, the first coUl'8e new m&88e8 of troops, inoluding task, namely, to reach the main artery of Siberian regiments, were pumped into the communications of the Soviet Union on a city acl'088 the Volga. Night after night, a wide front, had been aocompJished. The stream of evacuating civilians moved east· Germans held the bank of the Volga from ward and a stream of reinforcements west· the oil refineries southward as far as Kraa· ward acl'088 the Volga, on ships, IlID&1l boats, noarmeiBk, while the Reds atilI occupied the and even on a bridge skillfully built half three 1&rge factory distriots in the north. under water so that it was not visible from On October 7, the German High Command above. All able-bodied oivilians were armed published a statement which announced a and thrown into the battle. (There are no radical change in the further battle for reliable figures available regarding the num· St&lingrad. It ~ THE XXth OBNTURY No Deed ia now .. oleendiog funher infantry portant attacks were taking place in the and ~ corpe for the reduction of tbat western and central Caucasus. pRt of the city remaining in Soviet bands. Heavy ~ which haft ~ placed in position can be In the western Caucasus, the object of the counted on to deetroy thie portion eyetematica1ly. European a.rmies was to occupy the Soviet It 11M ceued to be a matter of importance t~ coast of the Black Sea. The first two goals ua when the ren:~rtion of the Jarge in· duat.rial area in 8· will fall. were Novol'088yisk (after the fall of 8evaa topol the base of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet) From that day on, the number of German and Tuapse. troops employed W&8 reduced considerably, and the battle waa borne mainly by Stukaa The attack on Novoro88yisk began on and the artillery. On October 15, the September I from three sides: (I) through Dzerjinsky plant fell into German handa. the capture of Anapa by Rumanian troops Three days later, the "Red Barricade" plant and their advance towards the south, in waa stormed (on the following day, October which they were supported by German 19, the first mow fell at Stalingrad), and on troops who had come acl'088 the Strait of October 23 the "Red October" plant waa Kertch from the Crimea; (2) through the taken.

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