To the 75th anniversary of the victory in the Battle of Stalingrad

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

One of the largest and most tragic battles in history lasted exactly 200 days: from July 17, 1942 to February 2, 1943. Pre-war Stalingrad, the secrets of the Motherland and the piercing memories of children about the Battle of Stalingrad.

What was Stalingrad like before the war?

The most beautiful and comfortable city in the USSR

Few people now remember, but the active pre-war construction of a tractor-tank cluster, state district power station and other enterprises, as well as the name in honor of the leader, prompted the local authorities to radically restructure the patriarchal Tsaritsyn, and we can say that by the beginning of the 40s, Stalingrad became almost - that the city was the dream of a Soviet man, whom in some places even Leningrad, Moscow and Kiev could partly envy. Clean, spacious, beautiful, on the banks of the great river, in which in summer you could swim no worse than the sea. The city is a fairy tale. Let's remember a little about that city gone forever.

Two videos about pre-war Stalingrad:

Secrets of "Motherland"

In Volgograd, on the Mamayev Kurgan, there is one of the most famous monuments in Russia and throughout the post-Soviet space - "Motherland". Everyone has probably seen him, well, at least in photographs. However, few people know that in fact the monument is called "The Motherland Calls!"

Monument "Motherland" on Mamayev Kurgan, Volgograd

In general, like any such creation, Motherland has its own non-public life. We will talk about it today. By the way, we will also tell you about where and whom this "Motherland" is calling.

The magic of numbers

• The monument dedicated to Soviet soldiers who died during the Second World War took longer to build than the war lasted. The construction of the monument began in May 1959, and the construction was completed only in October 1967.
• The height of the monument is 85 meters. At the time of construction, the Motherland was the tallest statue in the world. Today the Russian "Motherland" has outgrown: the Russian "Pope" Peter I, who has a "Moscow residence", the Japanese Buddha, the Burmese Buddha and the Victory Monument on Poklonnaya Gora. The height of the latter is almost 142 meters. Compared to this brainchild of Zurab Tsereteli, "Motherland" is just a baby. Although it is so difficult to name it. The total weight of the Motherland is 8000 tons.
• "Motherland" is installed on the top of the Mamayev Kurgan, in which 34,505 Soviet soldiers who died in the battles near Stalingrad are buried.
• A narrow winding path leads to the monument to the top of the mound, which includes exactly 200 steps. That is how many days the Battle of Stalingrad lasted.
• Along the path you can see 35 granite tombstones of the Heroes of the Soviet Union who participated in the defense of Stalingrad.
• The figure of the Motherland is hollow inside. Its walls are cast of concrete, their thickness is about 35 cm. The steps leading up to the monument have the same width. By the way, the sculpture was cast layer by layer using a special formwork.
• It is not easy to stand under the pressure of the wind! So over the years of its life, "Motherland" was somewhat worn out. It has already been restored twice. For example, in 1972 the sword was replaced. The sword had a length of 33 meters, weighed 14 tons and … thundered strongly, as it was assembled from stainless steel sheets. Well, since the thundering sword frightened the visitors, it was decided to change it. Now in the hands of the fighting mother is a one-piece 28-meter sword made of fluorinated steel with holes to reduce windage and dampers to damp vibrations from wind loads.

With ribbons on the red light

The sculptor Evgeny Vuchetich and engineer Nikolai Nikitin became the authors of the monument. And if Vuchetich created the composition of the monument, then Nikitin calculated its stability.

In his work, Vuchetich addressed the topic of the sword three times. The sword raises the "Motherland" on the Mamayev Kurgan, calling for the expulsion of the conquerors. Cuts the fascist swastika with a sword. The victorious warrior in Berlin's Treptower Park. The worker forges the sword to the plow in the composition “Let's beat the swords into plowshares”. The last sculpture was donated by Vucetich to the United Nations. It is now installed in front of the headquarters in New York.

The "Motherland" statue stands solely due to the force of gravity on a small foundation. From the inside, the structure is supported by 99 tension ropes. The Ostankino TV tower is based on the same principle, which, by the way, was developed by the same engineer Nikolai Nikitin. And both objects were commissioned almost simultaneously - in 1967.

The sword for Motherland was made in Magnitogorsk. This is symbolic. According to statistics, during the Second World War, every second Soviet tank and every third shell was made of metal produced in Magnitogorsk. The sword is 33 meters long and weighs 14 tons.

"Motherland" was cast from concrete. The technology needed to ensure its uninterrupted delivery. To this end, the trucks that transported the concrete were even allowed to drive on red lights. At the same time, the traffic police were forbidden to stop these cars. And in order not to get confused, special ribbons were tied to the concrete trucks.

For the Motherland … your mother

The sculptor Vuchetich told his friend, the famous physicist Andrei Sakharov, about what the Motherland screams: “Once they called me to the authorities and asked:“Why does a woman have an open mouth, isn't it beautiful?” And I answer them: "Because she shouts:" For the Motherland … your mother! " Well, they shut up."

A life-size model of the statue's head can be viewed in the sculptor's house-museum at his former dacha in the Timiryazevsky district of Moscow, where his workshop was once located.

About who became the prototype of "Motherland" is still debated. When preparing the model, several models posed for Vuchetich and his assistants at almost the same time. However, according to the established opinion, it is believed that the figure of the statue was made by Vuchetich from the famous discobolt Nina Dumbadze, and the face was created from his wife Vera. Subsequently, he affectionately called the Volgograd monument Verochka.

Stolen sun

The piercing memories of children of the Battle of Stalingrad

"… We ran to look at the Germans. The guys shout:" Look, a German! " I peer and can not see the “German.” They see, but I do not. I was looking for a large brown plague, which was painted on posters, and people in green military uniforms walk along the railway track. In my concept, the enemy - a fascist must have the appearance beast, but by no means a human. I left, I was not interested. For the first time I was deeply deceived by adults and could not understand why the "people" bombed us so brutally, why these "people" hated us so much that forced us to starve, turned us, namely us, the Stalingrad people, into some kind of hunted, frightened animals? … ".

“… I was amazed that people who fled from the burning city, as a rule, took the most valuable things with them, and Uncle Lenya preferred the double bass to everything.

I asked him: “Uncle Lenya, don't you have things more valuable than this one? "He smiled and replied:" My dear child, this is my greatest value. After all, war, no matter how terrible it may be, is a temporary phenomenon, and art is eternal … ".

The Volgograd First Drama Theater staged the play "The Stolen Sun" based on the memories of children who survived the Battle of Stalingrad. A performance that is impossible to watch without tears …

Initially, there was no play; there were recollections of those who were children in the fire of Stalingrad recorded on paper and a dictaphone. The artists read and listened to these memories, chose fragments and put together from them the chronicle of the Battle of Stalingrad with children's eyes. Many of the authors of these memoirs are alive, with some of them the artists met when they were preparing the production. Some of the "children of Stalingrad" of the play was also at the premiere.

- Before the war, in Stalingrad, a typical fountain was installed at the station square. The fountain was an allegory to the poem by Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky "The Stolen Sun". The people called him: "Barmaley", "Dancing children", "Children and a crocodile". The same typical fountains were installed in Voronezh, Dnepropetrovsk …

And on August 23, 42, the Stalingrad fountain was captured in photographs, against the backdrop of a blazing city. These photographs have become a symbol of the battle on the Volga. They have spread all over the world, they will be recognized even by sowing day. The image of the fountain is found in feature films and even computer games …

After the war, the fountain was restored, but in the 50s of the twentieth century it was decided to demolish it, as not representing any artistic value.

Below: the memories of those people whose childhood fell on those terrible years. Many of the children who survived the Battle of Stalingrad believe that the restoration of the fountain would be a better memory and embodiment of their Stalingrad childhood.

- The sun walked across the sky

And ran behind the cloud.

I glanced at the bunny out the window, It became dark for the hitchhiker

And magpies are white-sided

Rode through the fields

They shouted to the cranes:

- Woe! Woe! Crocodile -

Swallowed the sun in the sky!

- Early - early

Two rams

Knocked at the gate:

- Tra-ta-ta and tra-ta-ta!

Hey you, beasts, come out, Defeat the crocodile

To a greedy crocodile

He turned the sun into the sky!"

- And they run to the bear in the den:

- “Come out, bear, to help.

Full of your paw, you bummer, suck.

We must go help the sun out!"

And the bear got up

The bear roared

And on the evil enemy

A bear swooped in.

He crumpled it

And broke it:

Serve here

our sun!"

- The crocodile was frightened.

Screamed, screamed, And from the mouth

Of toothy

The sun fell out

It rolled into the sky!

I ran through the bushes

On birch leaves.

Happy bunnies and squirrels

Happy boys and girls

They hug and kiss the clubfoot:

"Well, thank you, grandfather, for the sun!"

On July 17, on the distant approaches to Stalingrad, the great Battle of Stalingrad began. The enemy has a numerical advantage of 4-5 times, in guns and mortars - 9-10 times, in tanks and aircraft - an absolute one.

Schools were given over to hospitals. We freed the classrooms from desks, and put bunks in their place, made them bedding. But the real work began when a train arrived one night with the wounded, and we helped carry them from the carriages to the building. This was not easy at all. After all, our strengths were not so hot. That is why four of us served each stretcher. Two took hold of the handles, and two more crawled under the stretcher and, slightly raised themselves, moved along with the main ones

23 August, Sunday

At 16 hours 18 minutes, a massive bombardment of Stalingrad began. During the day, 2,000 sorties were made. The city was destroyed, tens of thousands of residents were injured and killed.

“The morning of that day was cool, but sunny. The sky is clear. All the townspeople went about their usual business: went to work, stood in stores for bread. But suddenly the radio announced the beginning of an air raid, sirens howled. But it was somehow quiet, calm. Little by little, despite the fact that the alarm was not canceled, the residents left the shelters, dugouts, basements. My aunts began to hang the washed laundry in the yard, talk with neighbors about the latest news

And then we saw heavy German planes going in an endless wave at low altitude. There was a howl of falling bombs, explosions

Grandmother and aunt with a cry of horror and despair rushed into the house. It was not possible to reach the dugout. The whole house was shaking from the explosions. I was pushed under a heavy old table, made by my grandfather. My aunt and grandmother covered me from flying chips, pressed me to the floor. They whispered: "We lived, you should, you should live!"

We lived in the village of Second kilometer, next to the Mamayev Kurgan. When it got a little quieter, we went outside and saw that our neighbors Ustinovs, who had five children, were buried in the trench with earth, and only the long hair of one of the girls was sticking out

- Do you remember the film "Volga - Volga"? And the paddle steamer on which Lyubov Orlova sang? So, in the role of a steamer, in the funniest pre-war comedy, the steamer "Joseph Stalin" was filmed.

On August 27, the steamer Joseph Stalin sank. On it, about a thousand refugees tried to get out of the burning Stalingrad. Only 163 people were saved.

- The massive bombing of the city continued until August 29.

Mom's nerves began to fail. During another terrible bombing, she took us to the railway station, attaching paper plates with our names on our chests. She ran ahead so fast that we could hardly keep up with her. Not far from the station they saw that a bomb was falling on us from the sky. And time slowed down, as if to give us a glimpse of her deadly flight. She was black, "pot-bellied", with plumage. Mom raised her hands to the top and began to shout: “Children! Here it is, our bomb! Finally, this is our bomb!"

- On September 1, battles were already approaching the outskirts of the city. And civilians tried to hide in the basements of destroyed buildings, trenches, dugouts, cracks.

- On September 14, the storming of Stalingrad began. At the cost of heavy losses, Hitler's troops captured the height dominating over Stalingrad - Mamayev Kurgan, Stalingrad-1 station.

- On September 15, the station Stalingrad 1 changed hands four times. All ferries within the city were destroyed.

- On September 16, only one rifle division, under cover of night, crossed the Volga and drove the enemy out of the central part of the city, liberated the station and occupied the Mamayev Kurgan, but this did not lead to anything. The enemy threw seven of his elite divisions into battle, more than five hundred tanks.

We ran to look at the Germans. The guys shout: "Look, German!" I look closely and cannot see the "German" in any way. They see, but I do not. I was looking for a big "brown plague", which was painted on posters, and people in green military uniforms walk along the railway track. In my understanding, the enemy - the fascist should have the appearance of a beast, but not in any case not a man. I left, I was not interested. For the first time I was deeply deceived by adults and could not understand in any way why the “people” were bombing us so cruelly, why these “people” hated us so much that they made us starve, turned us, namely us, the Stalingrad people, into some kind of driven, scared animals?

We watched the fire from the crack. The crackle was terrible. So strong that we sometimes did not hear the bombs fall. I kept thinking about how today in the morning, when there was no fire yet and the planes had not arrived, I went into the house, saw a piece of cotton wool and made a dress out of it for my doll. It turned out so airy, and my doll looked like the Snow Maiden. For the new year it was oh, how far away, so I took off the dress in parts, blinded it again and hung it in the closet. There was nothing there - one dress for the Snow Maiden. Well, let it be far from winter. But I didn't have to fiddle with the doll outfit. Open the closet, please - get dressed

- On September 20, German aviation completely destroyed the Stalingrad 1 station.

- The only place where you could get hold of something was the elevator. He passed from hand to hand all the time, but this did not stop anyone.

We made our way there secretly. Most of it was burnt, but still it was grain, which means it was food. Mother soaked it, dried it, pounded it, did everything to somehow feed us. Going to the elevator became a permanent thing for me, but I was striving there not only for grain. On my way was a library, or rather what was left of it. A bomb hit her building and shattered everything. However, many books remained intact and were scattered everywhere. Having collected as much grain as I could, I poured it into my hiding places on the way, then went to the library, sat there and read. I read many fairy tales then, all of them by Jules Verne. The burnt grain protruding my pockets saved me from hunger, and the books read on the ashes healed my soul

“There was a field kitchen not far from us. Food was taken to the front line in thermoses. They were large, green in color, and white inside. Often the cook would bring food back and say: “Eat, kids! There is no one to feed there …"

On the territory of the city there were daily bloody battles, often turning into hand-to-hand combat. Of the seven districts of the city, the enemy managed to capture six. The Kirovsky district, surrounded on three sides, remained the only one where the enemy could not get through.

My wounds are already festering (I was wounded in the head, on the right side of my face, in the forearm of my left hand, and even at the level of the third rib on the left, a metal splinter crashed). My sister found a German medical unit in the basement. We quietly, so as not to be shot, crept up there, stood in indecision. My sister cried, kissed me and hid, and I went inside, thinking with horror about possible death and at the same time hoping for help. I was lucky: a German bandaged me, took me out of the basement and even cried himself. He probably had small children too

- On September 26, a group of scouts under the command of Sergeant Pavlov and a platoon of Lieutenant Zabolotny occupied two houses, which have an important strategic position on the 9 January square.

We lived on the front line with the soldiers. Water was taken from a well, which was in a ravine, on a no-man's land. I took care of my mother, I was afraid that if she was killed, then my sister and I would be lost. Therefore, I ran for water

I walked along the path of the slope of our ravine. Suddenly, at the level of my head, several fountains of earth shot up with a whistle. I was dumbfounded and instinctively looked - where they were shooting from. On the contrary, on a steep slope of a ravine, with their legs dangling, sat two young Germans with machine guns and literally "whinnied." Then they started yelling at me, continuing to laugh. I think they were yelling, asking me, "Have I kicked my pants?" They were having fun. I darted into the nearest cave. These young and healthy guys could shoot me like a mouse

The horse fell from illness. They buried it secretly, but we boys peeped and, when it got dark, we dug the grave. They scattered across the dugouts and huts with large pieces of meat. Mom cooked it, we, all the kids, are sitting, devouring an extraordinary yummy, and Mishka says contentedly: “Mom, when I grow up big, I will always feed you only such delicious meat.”

The Germans walked with long probes and checked where the ground was loose, started digging. Entering our yard, they first found a suitcase with cutlery, but they were not interested in it. Then they found a large chest buried near the barn. We were delighted. The grandmother began to swear to stop them, but they did not listen and said that soon they would send us to Germany and we would no longer need our things. My grandfather, in his ad in small print, read that it is impossible to rob the civilian population, and this will be punished. He ran to the commandant's office, and after a while the officers entered us, followed by the joyful grandfather. They drove the soldiers out. We put our things in the chest, but didn't think of hiding it. The next day, the same soldiers came to us and dug a chest. Grandpa threatened them with the commandant's office. To which one of the Germans replied: "The commandant's office is a day off." They carried away the chest

On October 5, the German command began the deportation of the civilian population from Stalingrad. People were driven to Belaya Kalitva through a number of transit points in inhuman conditions.

The Germans lifted us all up, began to sort, put them in cars with small children, and took teenagers and adults on foot. One woman had 2 babies. The Germans began to put women in cars. One German was holding children in both hands, he gave one child to his mother, and the other did not have time, and the car started. The child squeaked, and he stood for a while in thought, then threw it on the ground and trampled it underfoot

- On October 23, the distance from the front edge of the battle to the Volga was reduced to 300 m.

Once a rat saved me from hunger. I saw her suddenly, she flickered, but made out: in her teeth she was holding a piece of bread. I began to wait, maybe he could still run, but mines fell and I had to go into cover. On the second day, I came here again. I waited for a long time, it became dark, and suddenly I saw her. She emerged from the burnt out sheds. I began to examine the barn. The collapsed roof did not allow to search. I was about to give up this venture, sat down to rest, when in the gap I saw a burnt and smoked sack, but nevertheless it contained the remains of bread, pieces from the table. I lived with them for over a week

Mom got some grain somewhere. We sat near the stove, waiting for the cakes to be baked. But the Germans suddenly appeared. They, like kittens, threw us away from the stove, took out our cakes and, laughing in front of our eyes, began to eat them. For some reason I remember the face of a fat red-haired German. We remained hungry that day

On November 9, severe frosts set in. An abnormally cold winter came that year. The banks of the Volga were covered with an ice crust. This complicated communications, the delivery of ammunition and food, and the dispatch of the wounded.

The hungry winter forced all of us to look for everything that was in half good for food. To avoid death, they ate molasses and glue-dextrin. We followed them, or rather, crawled on our stomachs under the bullets to the tractor plant. There, in the iron foundries, in the wells, we collected molasses with a kerosene additive. The glue was found in the same place. The molasses brought in was digested for a long time. Cakes were baked from glue. They went to the ruins of the former leather factory and tore, or rather, cut salted and frozen skins out of the pits with an ax. Having chopped such a skin into pieces and singed it in the oven, cooked it, and then passed it through a meat grinder. The resulting gelatinous mass of spruce. It is thanks to this food that we four children managed to stay alive. But our eleven-month-old little sister, who did not take this food, died of exhaustion

On November 23, the Southwestern and Stalingrad fronts, with the active support of the Don Front, met and closed the circle of encirclement of Nazi troops at Stalingrad.

Swollen from hunger, half-naked (all clothes were changed for food, under artillery fire every day I went to the Volga to fetch water. The bank of the Volga there is steep, 12 meters high, and our soldiers made a ladder 5 meters wide from corpses. They covered it with snow. In winter it was very convenient to climb, but when the snow melted, the corpses decayed, and it became slippery. After those days I stopped be afraid of the dead

- The territory occupied by the surrounded enemy has more than halved.

The outcome of the Battle of Stalingrad is being decided.

Do the Germans also have stars in the sky?

Yes

I thought fascist signs …

Do the Fritzes have little Fritzats?

Yes, there are

And our Red Army, when it comes to Germany, will it beat all the Fritzats?

No, our Red Army is fighting not with German children, but with fascists. Soon the German children will get angry, they will take Hitler and shoot him

And I want to be a Soviet mine, I will fly from above and right into the heart of a Fritz, as I explode there, so Fritz will fly to pieces

Who started the war, Hitler?

Yes, Hitler

Eh, if Hitler were brought to us now, we would have hung him by the top of his head, and I would have approached him, chopped off his leg and said - Here's to you for my mother

- On January 8, the Soviet command presented the command of the German-fascist troops surrounded at Stalingrad with an ultimatum with a proposal to stop senseless resistance and surrender. Colonel-General F. Paulus in writing rejects the proposal of the Soviet command to surrender.

- On January 10, the troops of the Don Front launched an offensive operation "Ring" with the aim of eliminating the encircled Nazi group at Stalingrad.