Last Saturday saw Volgograd inhabitants celebrate the 69th anniversary of the Soviet counter-offensive near Stalingrad.
Last Saturday saw Volgograd inhabitants celebrate the 69th anniversary of the Soviet counter-offensive near Stalingrad.
The largest and most spectacular commemorative event took place on Sunday.
An episode from the Soviet counter-offensive was reenacted near the river of Tsaritsa.
The pageant was staged by members of military history societies from Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Moscow, Kaluga, St. Petersburg, Astrakhan, Odessa, Pyatigorsk and Voronezh.
The mock battle involved a total of 200 participants.
Participants operated German T-2 and T-3 tanks, a BM-12 armored vehicle, a legendary T-34 tank (photo), and Soviet 1942 ZIS-3 guns.
The organizers and participants did their best to recreate the atmosphere of the Battle of Stalingrad.
Sixty-nine years ago, on November 19, 1942, forces of the Southwestern and Don Fronts that had been defending Stalingrad launched a counter-offensive that was preceded by 80 minutes of artillery bombardment. Starting at 7:30 in the morning, the barrage was sustained by Russia’s novel multiple rocket launchers, or Katyushas.
The Soviet forces delivered a massed counterattack against German armies and broke through enemy defenses. The Stalingrad Front under Gen. Andrei Yeremenko attacked on November 20 and, performing an envelopment movement, met with the Southwestern Front on November 23 within 70 kilometers from Stalingrad. A German force numbering 330,000 found itself encircled.
The last encircled German units surrendered on February 2, 1943. This day is commonly regarded as ending the Battle of Stalingrad that proved a turning point in the Great Patriotic War.
