The Great Patriotic War became one of the most terrible events in the entire history of Russia. Infinite 4s more than a year, which claimed many millions of lives, will forever remain in the memory of people. Of course, without brave people, heroes, defenders of their homeland and their loved ones, the war would have been lost. During the first period of hostilities, the situation was very difficult for our country, but one day there was a radical turning point during the Great Patriotic War, which radically changed the situation.
Initial state of affairs
A radical turning point is the events during which the initiative finally passes to the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition.
Historians distinguish three stages of hostilities:
- defensive,
- turning point,
- liberating.
The Germans began their offensive on June 22, 1941. Three groups of the German army were deployed near the borders of the Soviet Union. Let's look at a table showing the ratio of forces of the Soviet and German armies:
Despite obvious advantage The USSR, by all criteria, at the beginning of the war, the initiative was clearly on the side of Germany.
The defensive period lasted from the beginning of the war until November 18, 1942. moved at a rapid pace across the territory of the Soviet Union. The enemy literally imposed his own pace of war; the Red Army was forced to retreat in all directions. The Nazis planned to destroy the USSR according to a plan called "".
The strategy was developed from December 18, 1940 and consisted of defeating the Soviet Union with one swift blow and defeating the enemy in the course of a short-term military campaign. The enemy advanced in three directions: in the north the main goal of the Nazis was Leningrad, in the south - Kyiv, and the central front of the offensive was moving towards Moscow. The forecasts of the German commanders-in-chief regarding the timing of victory were as follows: it is possible to defeat the USSR in 4-6 weeks. All ground forces, with the exception of those controlling the situation in Europe, were sent to Soviet Union.
Since the fascist army was better by all criteria, it quickly found itself on the outskirts of Leningrad and blocked the city.
Operation Typhoon
The process of carrying out this operation can be divided into two stages:
- the first began on September 30 and lasted exactly one month. All this time there was an attack on Moscow from the southern part of the world. The armies led by Colonel General Fermacht Guderian were able to capture the city of Orel, and then continued to move to Tula. By the end of October, the enemy was able to get close to Moscow; only 100 kilometers remained to be overcome;
- the second began on November 15 and continued until the end of the month. After a short rest, the Germans continued their attack on the capital, but this time from the north. Enemy tanks were able to break through the Russian front line and continued the offensive. To prevent the technology from getting even closer to the city, a detachment consisting of 33 brave fighters was sent to defend the position. They managed to complete the task, but every single one of them died. By the end of November, the distance to Moscow for the Germans was reduced to 25 kilometers. The enemy was already preparing to celebrate absolute victory.
The third stage of Operation Typhoon was being prepared, but German troops were unable to start it, since our army launched a counteroffensive on December 6. The Nazis held up well, but they did not have enough forces to repel the attack; the surprise of the Russian offensive and the harsh climatic conditions. It was then that the liberation of territories captured near Moscow began.
Liberation of territories The operation continued until the beginning of January; the Red Army managed to push the enemy back 200 kilometers from the capital.
The Barbarossa plan was thwarted; by that time, Germany still had Kyiv and Odessa in its hands. The enemy, even after the defeat near Moscow, had a significant advantage in technology and number of troops. Hitler chooses a southern direction for the offensive, the main target being the city of Stalingrad.
By deliberately spreading false information that Germany was preparing Operation Kremlin, Hitler managed to deceive the Russian government. Stalin gathered troops towards Moscow, but the Nazis unexpectedly moved south, captured Voronezh, Kharkov and approached the Volga. On July 17, 1942, units of the 62nd Soviet Army of Stalingrad entered into battle with the Germans.
It begins with this event. Its duration was 200 days and nights, ordinary citizens were not evacuated, and the key strategic point in this city was Mamayev Kurgan.
After the defense of Stalingrad, a radical change began in the course of the Great Patriotic War. Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive and recaptured the city. The period of radical change was from November 19, 1942 until the very end of 1943. From now on, the forces of our and the German army were equal.
The reason for this is the completed restructuring of the economy in the USSR. Thanks to this, factories began to operate capable of producing military equipment and other necessary products. The enemy army, on the contrary, after the failure at Stalingrad was exhausted, reserve stocks of necessary things were also spent. General Paulus concentrated the 6th Army near Stalingrad, then the Soviet command developed Operation Uranus.
Operation Uranus
What event refers to the radical turning point in the war. Historians call Operation Uranus, the main goal of which was to gather troops from three fronts to encircle and subsequently destroy the German troops located near Stalingrad.
- The offensive began on November 19. The troops of the 5th Tank Army managed to defeat the Romanian Third Army.
- On November 20, the strike force of the city of Stalingrad launched an offensive, and on November 23, units of the 26th Tank Corps were able to conquer the city of Kalach.
- A little later, in the area of the Sovetsky farm, the armies of the fourth tank block and the fourth mechanized block met. They closed the ring and surrounded 330 thousand people.
- On January 8, 1943, the government of the Soviet Union invited all surrounded fascists to surrender, but Hitler ordered not to do so.
- On January 10, the liquidation of the encircled army began; on January 31, the southern group was destroyed, and on February 2, the northern group.
IMPORTANT! This concludes Battle of Stalingrad, it was this event that marked the beginning of a radical turning point in the war.
After this very unexpected defeat, Hitler had the option of attacking on only one sector of the front, and he chose his target - the Kursk salient area. However, unfortunately for the Nazis, the command of the Soviet army predicted the enemy's actions, reconnaissance detachments reported on the upcoming operation. The Germans launched Operation Citadel, but they failed to break through the front line.
Just one week after the defense of Kursk began, the Soviet army went on the offensive. The famous and legendary “Battle of Prokhorovka,” in which over 1,100 tanks took part, ended in a convincing victory for our troops. It is this battle that is considered the official end of the period called the radical change. This is a truly significant event that turned the tide of the war.
The fundamental turning point in the course of the war is the interception of strategic initiative, the transition from defense to strategic offensive, and a change in the balance of forces.
Based on the definition, some historians include in the concept ʼʼradical fractureʼʼ Moscow, Stalingrad And Battle of Kursk.
Most researchers believe that the main events of the second stage of the war (the “radical turning point”) were: the defeat of German troops under Stalingrad(November 19, 1942 - February 2, 1943); Battle of Kursk(July 5 - August 23, 1943 ᴦ.); battle for the Dnieper(September–November 1943 ᴦ.); liberation of the Caucasus(January–February 1943 ᴦ.).
The main attack of the Germans was aimed at Don- in the area between Voronezh and Rostov. If the ambitious plan were implemented - if German troops achieved success along the entire front line, wedged deeply into Russian territory, - they would have a real opportunity to surround Moscow on both sides and take it in pincers. Nevertheless, the Soviet troops defending the northern sector of the Voronezh front fought to the death, and therefore the German offensive could only develop further in the southern and southeastern direction - in the Caucasus and in Lower Volga region.
This turn of events, in turn, posed other problems: in order to protect their western flank while advancing into the Caucasus, it was extremely important for the Germans to completely capture Crimea. After they completed this task, German troops invaded the North Caucasus and captured important oil fields there in the Maykop region. After this, they directed the main attack on another Russian fortress, a city on the Volga - Stalingrad.
By the beginning of the spring-summer campaign of 1942. The German army maintained an advantage in the number of personnel, guns and aircraft. The Germans continued their offensive in July and August, attacking simultaneously from the southwest and northwest. Von Paulus's Sixth Army reached the Volga from the north-west and could bombard Stalingrad.
Enemy offensive by November 1942 ᴦ. was stopped. The following factors contributed to this:
- 1) the Soviet command learned serious lessons from the defeats and failures of the initial period of the war, confidence in military personnel increased, which was manifested in the liquidation of the institution of military commissars in August 1942;
- 2) by mid-1942. managed to transfer the national economic complex to a military footing. As a result, from the end of 1942 ᴦ. The USSR produced more tanks, aircraft, guns and other military equipment than Germany. This became the material basis for victory;
- 3) during the first period of the war, at the cost of enormous sacrifices, a new officer corps was formed, capable senior and middle-level commanders were identified, and the troops learned to fight. The mood of soldiers and civilians changed. The war became truly Patriotic.
The main event of the war at the end of 1942 - beginning of 1943 ᴦ. was Battle of Stalingrad.
1st stage (July 17 - November 18, 1942ᴦ.) - defensive phase. Until September 12, there were battles for the Stalingrad region, and from September 12 - for the city itself. The city was defended by the 62nd and 64th armies. July 28, 1942 ᴦ. Order No. 227 “Not a step back!” was issued (not a single unit of the Red Army could retreat without an order from a higher command).
The defense of Stalingrad is one of the most incredible in military history battles in terms of the stamina of soldiers in the face of immeasurably superior enemy forces, bloodshed and casualties suffered (58 days the Germans stormed Pavlov's House).
2nd stage (November 19, 1942 - February 2, 1943) - encirclement of the enemy group and its surrender. According to plan "Uranus", developed G. K. Zhukov and involving the use of force South-Western (commander N.F. Vatutin), Stalingradsky (commander A.I. Eremenko) And Donskoy (commander K.K. Rokossovsky) fronts to encircle the Germans between the Volga and Don, on November 19, Soviet troops launched an offensive. On November 23, having broken through the Nazi positions, they surrounded the 6th part of the 4th Tank Army. We united near the Sovetsky farm and the city of Kalach on the Don. There were 330 thousand people in the cauldron. In December 1942 ᴦ. an attempt by the army group was repulsed Don Field Marshal General E. Manstein break through the outer ring of encirclement. From December 30 to February 2, 1943. The final operation “Ring” took place, during which Paulus’s army was cut up and capitulated on February 2. The Battle of Stalingrad was the beginning of a radical change and collapse of the Wehrmacht's offensive strategy.
The victory at Stalingrad was the beginning of a large offensive by Soviet troops, as a result of which Rostov, Voronezh, Kursk, Belgorod, Kharkov, and part of Donbass were returned. Troops Western Front approached Smolensk, with the liberation of Shlisselburg the blockade of Leningrad was broken.
In January–February 1943. during Voronezh-Kastornenskaya and Ostrogozhsko-Rossoshanskaya operations, Soviet troops liberated Kursk, forming the Kursk ledge. In the spring of 1943 ᴦ. A strategic pause was established on the Eastern Front, during which the command of the Red Army took into account the lessons of the summer of 1942. and, having received information about the offensive plan near Kursk (Operation Citadel), decided to organize a strategic defense in order to wear down the enemy in defensive battles and then go on the offensive.
From July 5 to August 23, 1943. passed Battle of Kursk. According to the German plan ʼʼCitadelʼʼ July 5, 1943 ᴦ. Army groups “Center” and “South” were supposed to strike the flanks of Soviet troops in the Kursk area and encircle them. For this purpose, 50 divisions, 2 thousand tanks, and 900 aircraft were concentrated. On the Soviet side, 3,600 tanks and 2,400 aircraft are concentrated. July 12, 1943 ᴦ. One of the largest tank battles of the Second World War took place - the battle of Prokhorovka, in which selected enemy armored forces were destroyed. On July 13, the Red Army went on the offensive in the Oryol and Belgorod directions. On August 5, Oryol and Belgorod were liberated, and on August 23, Kharkov. At the Battle of Kursk, the German offensive strategy finally collapsed. From August to November 1943 ᴦ. Soviet troops carried out more than 20 offensive operations on the front from Leningrad to the Black Sea. The general counteroffensive after the Battle of Kursk led to the liberation of Left Bank Ukraine, Donbass, and the southeastern regions of Belarus.
The radical change was completed in October–November 1943. during battle for the Dnieper- the entry of Soviet troops to the Dnieper line, its crossing north of Kyiv and the liberation of the capital of Ukraine. This was the collapse of the defensive strategy of the Wehrmacht, which relied on the creation of an “eastern rampart” along the Dnieper. The war has entered its final stage.
A radical turning point during the Great Patriotic War - concept and types. Classification and features of the category “A fundamental turning point during the Great Patriotic War” 2017, 2018.
Causes of the tragedies of the Red Army in 1941
In 1940, the “Barbarossa Plan” was developed - the preparation and conduct of a blitzkrieg (“lightning war”) against the Soviet Union. For the USSR it was a war of survival, for Germany - of destruction. By the beginning of the war, the USSR had... .
- A radical change during the Great Patriotic War
In the summer and autumn of 1941, the Red Army fought heavy defensive battles, preventing the advance of enemy hordes to Moscow, Leningrad, and Kyiv. The Smolensk battle, which lasted two months (August-September), prevented...
By the second half of November 1942, the situation on the Soviet-German front remained uncertain. A second front was not opened in Western Europe. The USSR continued to fight alone against the bloc of fascist states. Meanwhile, by November 1942, never before... .
- A ROAD TURN DURING THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR AND THE SECOND WORLD WAR.
The fundamental turning point in the course of the war is the interception of strategic initiative, the transition from defense to strategic offensive, and a change in the balance of forces. Based on the definition, some historians include the Moscow, Stalingrad and Kursk... in the concept of “radical change”. From November 1942 to November 1943, a radical change was made in the course of the Great Patriotic War, when the strategic initiative passed into the hands of the Soviet command, and the Armed Forces of the USSR moved from defense to strategic offensive.
The radical change began with the offensive Operation Uranus near Stalingrad (the second stage of the Battle of Stalingrad; the first - defensive - lasted from July 17 to November 18, 1942). The military-strategic plan of the operation, developed under the leadership of the generals... .
A radical turning point during the Great Patriotic War (WWII) and the Second World War
From November 1942 to November 1943, a radical change was made in the course of the Great Patriotic War, when the strategic initiative passed into the hands of the Soviet command, and the Armed Forces of the USSR moved from defense to strategic offensive.
After the Moscow defeat, the German command could no longer carry out an offensive along the entire Eastern Front. Determining the objectives of the summer campaign of 1942, it decided to deliver the main blow in the south, trying to capture the Caucasus and the Lower Volga region. The Soviet command expected a new attack on Moscow in the summer of 1942, so more than half of the armies, almost 80% of tanks, and 62% of aircraft were concentrated here. And in the south, only 5.4% of our divisions and 3% of tanks are against the main forces of Germany.
At the end of July 1942, German troops under the command of General von Paulus struck a powerful blow on the Stalingrad front, and in August they reached the Volga and intensified their offensive. On August 25, 1942, a state of siege was introduced in Stalingrad.
From the first days of September the heroic defense of Stalingrad began. The battles for the city, for every street, every house continued continuously for more than 2 months. Soviet troops under the command of V.I. Chuikov and M.S. Shumilov repelled up to 700 enemy attacks.
On November 19, 1942, Soviet troops of the Southwestern (N.F. Vatutin) and Don (K.K. Rokossovsky) fronts began the grandiose offensive Operation Uranus. A day later, the Stalingrad Front emerged (A.I. Eremenko). The offensive was unexpected for the Germans. It developed at lightning speed and successfully. On November 23, 1942, the Southwestern and Stalingrad fronts united, as a result of which the German group at Stalingrad (330 thousand soldiers and officers under the command of General von Paulus) was surrounded.
An attempt by the Nazi command to break through the encirclement front with the forces of Army Group Don (30 divisions) ended in another major defeat for German and Italian forces. On February 2, 1943, the remnants of von Paulus's army capitulated. Over the entire period of the battle of Stalingrad, the enemy lost 1.5 million people, 1/4 of all forces operating on the Eastern Front.
The victory in the Battle of Stalingrad led to a widespread offensive by the Red Army on all fronts: in January 1944 the blockade of Leningrad was broken, in February the North Caucasus was liberated, in February-March the front line in the Moscow direction moved back by 130-160 km.
The radical turning point during the Second World War, which began at Stalingrad, was completed during the Battle of Kursk (July 5 - August 23, 1943).
German leaders planned in the summer of 1943 to conduct a major offensive operation (codenamed "Citadel") in the Kursk region. To carry out the operation, the enemy concentrated up to 50 divisions (900 thousand people), 1.5 thousand tanks, and more than 2 thousand aircraft. On the Soviet side, more than 1 million people, 3,400 tanks, and about 3 thousand aircraft were involved. The Battle of Kursk was commanded by Marshals G.K. Zhukov, A.M. Vasilevsky, generals N.F. Vatutin, K.K. Rokossovsky. At the first stage, the German troops went on the offensive, which ended on July 12 with the largest tank battle in the Second World War in the area of the village of Prokhorovka. At the second stage of the battle, Soviet troops defeated the main enemy forces. On August 5, Belgorod and Orel were liberated. In honor of this victory, the first artillery salute during the war years was fired in Moscow. On August 23, Kharkov was liberated.
During the Battle of Kursk, 30 enemy divisions were defeated. The victory at Kursk accelerated the collapse of the fascist coalition.
The victory at Kursk ensured the further successful offensive of our troops. In September 1944, Left Bank Ukraine and Donbass were liberated, in October the Dnieper was crossed, and Kyiv was captured in November.
Municipal educational institution
gymnasium No. 8 named after. L.M. Marasinova
Development of a lesson on the topic:
“The beginning of a radical change in the Great Patriotic War.”
Voschenikina O.V.
history teachers category I
Lesson topic: " The beginning of a radical change in the Great Patriotic War" is studied in the history of Russia course in the 9th grade.
Lesson objectives:
Educational: studying the Battle of Stalingrad:
Stages of the battle
Hostilities
Heroism of the Soviet people
Home front during the Battle of Stalingrad
developing critical thinking through a variety of tasks;
teaching students to work in groups, analyze documents;
Educational:
Educational:
formation of patriotism and respect for WWII veterans among students.
Number of students: 3 groups of 6 people.
Equipment: a map on the board and cards on the students’ tables, documents on task blocks, an exhibition of books on the Battle of Stalingrad, photographic documents, a decorated board.
Board: quote (see below), lesson topic, cluster – Battle of Stalingrad, date and stages of the battle, table (closed)
Lesson plan:
Organizing time.
Teacher's opening speech.
The beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad.
The Battle of Stalingrad: a turning point.
The defeat of the Nazi troops at Stalingrad.
Results and consequences of the battle.
Summing up the lesson.
During the classes.
Organizing time ( greeting, checking readiness for lesson ).
Teacher's opening speech.
The entire globe is underfoot.
I live. I'm breathing. I sing.
But in memory it is always with me
Killed in battle.
Let me not name all the names,
There is no blood relative.
Isn't that why I live
Why did they die?
I know what I owe them.
And let not only verse,
My life will be worthy
Their soldier's death.
S. Shipachev
There are events in world history that are forever preserved in the memory of mankind and constitute the Golden Fund of the history of peoples and states. Such events include a brilliant victory Soviet people in the Battle of Stalingrad.
72 years ago, the word “Stalingrad” entered the vocabulary of all languages of the world and since then has been reminiscent of a battle that, in scope, intensity and consequences, surpassed all armed clashes of past times. This battle is rightfully called the battle of the twentieth century. Stalingrad has forever entered the annals of history as a symbol of the invincibility of the USSR.
The topic of our lesson “The beginning of a radical change in the Great Patriotic War,” § 25 (entry in a notebook).
The purpose of the lesson: Why exactly in the winter of 1942 - 1943? Has a radical change in WWII begun?
Question for students: How do you understand the meaning of the words “radical change”?
Question for students: What do you know about the Battle of Stalingrad? (each group writes its presentation on the board)
In this lesson we will look in more detail at the stages, course and significance of the Battle of Stalingrad and will return to the cluster at the end of the lesson, adding new information to it.
After the defeat of the Nazi troops near Moscow and the collapse of the blitzkrieg strategy, the German command decided to regain the strategic initiative on the Soviet-German front and complete the main goals of the Barbarossa plan. For the summer of 1942, the Wehrmacht developed a plan codenamed “Brunschweig”. The enemy was still strong. The Germans maintained the quantitative and qualitative superiority of their troops and the strategic initiative. The absence of a second front in Europe allowed the German command to field 237 divisions against Soviet troops by the summer. (teacher's work on the map) German troops under the command of General F.-W. Paulus was supposed to strike in the direction of Stalingrad, cut the isthmus between the Don and Volga and capture the city. It was assumed that tank and motorized troops would strike along the Volga with the task of reaching Astrakhan and paralyzing movement along the main waterway Russians. The success of such an operation, together with the exit of German troops to North Caucasus, would mean the separation of the center from sources of raw materials and food.
III. The beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad.
The Battle of Stalingrad took place from July 17, 1942 to February 2, 1943, and consisted of three periods:
Stage 1. 17.07 – 12.09. 1942 – defensive battles of Soviet troops on the approaches to Stalingrad (entry in a notebook).
In class we will describe each period by analyzing documents in groups.
Group 1 – analyzes documents on the balance of enemy forces (table).
Group 2 - analyzes German plan documents (directives).
Group 3 - analyzes documents of the USSR plans (order No. 227).
After analyzing the documents, fill out the table on the board:
The balance of forces between the USSR and Germany in the Battle of Stalingrad.
Side
Summer 1942
November 1942
Germany
Military superiority
USSR
Military lag
Stop the enemy's advance
The headquarters of the Supreme High Command, based on an analysis of the situation, determined the significance of Stalingrad, that it was here that the decisive struggle at this stage of the war would unfold. (teacher's work on the map) In July 1942, when the enemy broke through the Don bend, the Battle of Stalingrad began. The Nazis wanted to march straight to the Volga and capture the city, which had been preparing for defense for several months: defensive structures were built: external, middle, internal and urban, with a length of 3860 km. Anti-tank ditches were dug in key directions. 30 partisan detachments were formed. The appeals of that time spoke of assistance to the soldiers of the front; it was necessary to double and triple the production of tanks, artillery, and mortars. Trains with military equipment and ammunition came from all over the USSR, since, by order of the SVGK, scientists from September 1941 to mid-1942 improved the technical equipment of the armed forces.
On July 28, 1942, the People's Commissar of Defense issued order No. 227 “Not a step back,” which stated that it was necessary to defend every meter of Soviet land to the last drop of blood. A fight against cowards and alarmists was declared, and penal battalions were introduced.
(Teacher's work on the map) On September 12, 1942, the defensive battle of Soviet troops in the Big Bend of the Don ended. 62nd Army under the command of General V.I. Chuikov and the 64th Army of General Shumilov were cut off from the city. The enemy was located northeast and southwest of Stalingrad, 2–10 km from the city. The city went into a state of siege. The 2nd period of the Battle of Stalingrad began.
IV. The Battle of Stalingrad: a turning point.
Stage 2. 12.09 – 18.11. 1942 – battles in the city; the offensive of Soviet troops north-west and south of Stalingrad (entry in a notebook).
The fate of the country was decided on the banks of the Volga. Therefore, the whole world watched this battle. In Washington and London, in Paris and Belgrade, in Berlin and Rome - everywhere people felt and understood that the fate of the USSR was being decided here.
Group 1 – student application, letters from volunteers;
Group 2 – letters from Soviet soldiers from the front, inscriptions on the walls of Stalingrad;
Group 3 – table on the balance of forces.
After working as a group, the table takes on a finished form:
Side
Summer 1942
November 1942
Germany
Military superiority
Capture of Stalingrad, access to Astrakhan
Military lag
Fortify Stalingrad, cut the Volga
USSR
Military lag
Stop the enemy's advance
Military superiority
Destroy the enemy's Stalingrad group.
In September 1942, fighting began on the streets of the city. Soviet soldiers had to fight off up to twelve or more enemy attacks within a day. There were battles for every block, for every street, house, floor. At this time, the sniper movement is unfolding. There were more than 400 snipers in the 62nd Army alone. Sniper Vasily Zaitsev killed more than 300 fascists.
A place of honor in the heroic chronicle is occupied by the name of Sergeant Yakov Pavlov, under whose command a group of 20 people defended the house on January 9 Square for 58 days. "Pavlov's House" remained impregnable.
Fierce fighting deployed in the Mamayev Kurgan area. The height changed hands many times. After the liberation of the city on its slopes on each square meter lands were picked up from 500 to 1200 mines, pomegranate. In the spring of 1943, no green grass was visible on this mound: it was brown with metal.
On November 11, the Germans made another attempt to capture the city. At the Barricades plant, the Nazis managed to reach the Volga and cut off the 138th Division from the main forces of the Red Army. And it was last success enemy forces in Stalingrad. From mid-November 1942, the Germans went on the defensive. In September, the SVGK began preparing a counteroffensive in the winter campaign of 1942–1943. The Red Army was ready to move from defense to offensive, to open new stage Great Patriotic War. This operation went down in history as Operation Uranus. The third and final stage of the Battle of Stalingrad has begun.
V. The defeat of the Nazi troops at Stalingrad.
Stage 3. 11/19/42 – 02/02/43. Counter-offensive of the Red Army; encircling and destroying the enemy group (writing in a notebook).
(Teacher's work on the map) Troops of the Southwestern (N.F. Vatutin), Stalingrad (A.I. Eremenko) and Don (K.K. Rokossovsky) fronts took part in the counteroffensive. The counteroffensive began on November 19, 1942. Having broken through the enemy’s defenses, Soviet troops surrounded him from the south and south-west, and on November 23, in the area of Kalach-on-Don, the South-Western and Stalingrad fronts united, closing the encirclement ring.
Work in groups - document analysis:
Group 1 – letters from Germans who took part in the battle;
Group 3 – Hitler’s speech.
The participants in the battle were our fellow countrymen: 20-year-old tanker A. Naumov, T-34 driver mechanic N. Vodolazkin and many others.
22 enemy divisions and more than 160 units numbering up to 300 thousand people were surrounded. On December 29, the Germans tried to help the besieged from the Kotelnikovo area (General E. von Manstein), but to no avail. After the Germans refused to capitulate, the troops of the Don Front on January 10, 1943 began the liquidation of the encircled group, which ended on February 2, 1943. More than 90 thousand people were taken prisoner. In total, the Germans and their allies lost 1.5 million people in the battles of Stalingrad. After the surrender of Paulus's army, three days of state mourning were declared in Germany.
Work in groups - document analysis:
Group 2 – articles from the foreign press.
VI. Results and consequences of the battle.
Return to the cluster(add new information about the battle that you learned in class).
Battle of Stalingrad (for example).
Heroism of the Soviet people.
Destruction of Stalingrad.
Surrounded by Germans.
Medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad".
Question for students: So why exactly in the winter of 1942-43? Has a radical change begun in the Great Patriotic War?
VII. Summing up the lesson
Lesson summary:
From here, from the battlefields of the Battle of Stalingrad, a radical turning point in the Great Patriotic War began, which ended in victory at the Kursk Bulge. We will study this event in the next lesson.
Evaluating students for their work in class. Homework- §25
List of additional literature.
Heroes fiery years. Comp. Sidorov I.I., Rumyantsev B.P. Yaroslavl: Upper Volga Book Publishing House, 1985.
Zhukov G.K. Memories and reflections. T.2. M.: AP "News", 1988.
History of wars and military art. Ed. THEIR. Bagramyan. M.: Military Publishing House of the USSR Ministry of Defense, 1970.
Krylov N.I. Stalingrad line. M.: Military publishing house, 1984.
Generals. Ed. Rusakova E.V. M.: Roman-newspaper, 1995.
Teaching history at school. Scientific-theoretical and methodological journal. No. 6, 2005.
One Hundred Great Battles. Ed. Myachina A.N. M.: Veche, 1998.
Shtemenko S.M. General Staff during the war. M.: Military publishing house, 1989.
Yakovlev N.N. Marshal Zhukov. M.: Izvestia, 1995.
Applications
Stage 1. 17.07 – 12.09. 1942 – defensive battles of Soviet troops on the approaches to Stalingrad.
NO STEP BACK!
(From order No. 227 People's Commissar Defense of the USSR)
...It's time to end the retreat. No step back! This should now be our main call.
We must stubbornly, to the last drop of blood, defend every position, every meter of Soviet territory, cling to every piece of Soviet land and defend it to the last opportunity...
WE WILL DIE BUT WE WILL NOT RETURN!
(Statement by machine gunner A. Zykalin at the Red Army rally)
The Nazis want to shackle us. We, to whom the Communist Party gave freedom, new life. Blood is flowing like a river on Soviet soil. Today, fascist monsters are ruining and exterminating Ukrainians, Belarusians, Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians. Tomorrow, if allowed, they will plunge a bayonet into the heart of our Motherland - Moscow, break into the sunny Caucasus, penetrate Central Asia, trample the flowering fields of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Turkmenistan. No, the people will never forgive us if we let the enemy into the interior of the country. There is nowhere to retreat further. We will die, but we will not retreat!
When drawing up the plan for the 1942 campaign, we were guided by the following guidelines:
a) the troops of the eastern front are no longer able to advance
along the entire front, as it was in 1941;
b) the offensive should be limited to one area
front, namely the southern;
c) the goal of the offensive: to completely exclude Donbass from the military-economic balance of Russia, cut off the supply of oil along the Volga and capture the main oil supply bases, which, according to our assessment, were located in Maykop and Grozny. The exit to the Volga was not planned immediately over a wide area; it was planned to exit in one of the places in order to then capture the strategically important center - Stalingrad. In the future, it was planned, in case of success and isolation of Moscow from the south, to undertake a turn with large forces to the north (provided that our allies would take over the Don River). I find it difficult to name any time frame for this operation. The entire operation in the southern section of the valley ended in a major encirclement of the entire southwestern and southern groups of the Red Army, which were covered by our army groups “A” and “B”.
“If during... the operation (meaning the third of the successive operations that constituted the “main operation” of the Nazi troops on the eastern front), especially as a result of the capture of undestroyed bridges, the opportunity arises to create bridgeheads east or south of the river. Don, it must be used. In any case, it is necessary to try to reach Stalingrad or at least expose it to our heavy weapons so that it loses its importance as a center of military industry and a communications hub."
Balance of forces in the Stalingrad direction
in July 1942
Strengths and means
Red Army
Germany and its allies
People (thousand people)
Number of tanks
3300
3000
Number of aircraft
1200
Stage 2. 12.09 – 18.11. 1942 – battles in the city; advance of Soviet troops north-west and south of Stalingrad.
I ASK YOU TO SEND TO DEFEND YOUR HOMETOWN
(Application from schoolboy G. Mezhevalov to the Berezovsky District Committee of the Komsomol, Stalingrad Region)
Statement
I am 14 years old, but I really ask you to send me to protect our hometown. And enlist me in intelligence. I pledge to beat the enemy to the last drop of blood.
G. Mezhevalov
Mother agrees
CONSIDERING THE PATRIOTIC DESIRE...
(From the resolution of the Stalingrad Regional Committee of the Komsomol)
The regional committee bureau, taking into account the patriotic desire of Komsomol members and youth, decides:
To oblige the district and city committees of the Komsomol from November 7 to 15, 1942 to select 200 Komsomol members and youth who voluntarily want to go to defend the city. To this end, hold mass youth rallies and Komsomol meetings.
Pass all volunteers through the medical and credentials commission. Send those selected to the city of Kamyshin, providing them with warm clothes, food, organizing a friendly send-off for them...
THE ENEMY WILL BE DESTROYED.
(Letter from the commander of the 284th Infantry Division, Colonel N.F. Batyuk, to his wife and children)
Hello, dear wife Maria Efimovna! Hello, dear children! I send you warm fatherly fighting greetings and best regards. The children will study well, and the mother will not be bored and Raya will have fun. I write to you very often, but there are no letters from you yet. I'm having a bit of an anxious night today. I sit and read, but my thoughts are all about Ukraine. Therefore, I decided to write, and when I write, it seems to me that I am talking to you. Now the planes are bombing, the movement of the air is breathtaking, the enemy is shooting luminous bullets, throwing missiles. Like at a masquerade. From time to time I leave the dugout to look at this spectacle. There are fires all around, and behind is a large river, sung in Russian songs. Sometimes it’s insulting that we gave so much to the Russian land, it’s insulting to the point of tears, but still the enemy will be destroyed, there is no doubt about it, and this inspires strength and confidence in the future, in victory.
Today I was lucky - a shell fell at my feet one meter away, but did not explode. This is my third such case during the war.
Write, Musya, how you live, how your children live.
Greetings, your... friend and fighter Kolya.
WE SWEAR TO OUR MOTHER MOTHERLAND. GREAT PARTY.
(From the oath of volunteers, defenders of Stalingrad)
Stalingrad, 1942
The German barbarians destroyed Stalingrad - the city of our youth, our happiness. They turned the schools and institutes where we studied, the factories and laboratories where we worked, the palaces, theaters and parks where we rested into piles of ruins and ashes.
They destroyed what was created by the labor of our fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers, everything that we were proud of, that we protected and kept...
We are going into the fighting ranks of the Red Army to defend you, to defeat and drive back the German invaders under your walls, we are going into battle, raised by a sacred feeling of burning hatred for the enemy...
By volunteering to join the ranks of the defenders of our native Stalingrad, we take a solemn oath to our mother Motherland, our great Bolshevik party:
We swear to fight for every inch of Stalingrad land, not sparing our lives and blood... To stand before the enemy to the death. Hit the enemy everywhere. To take revenge on him for Stalingrad, for the destroyed factories, working-class neighborhoods, schools, for every burned house...
We swear to take revenge on the Nazi invaders for our desecrated land... for every destroyed ear of corn on a collective farm field, for every plundered collective farm yard... We swear courageously and steadfastly, as long as there is breath in our chests, while blood flows in our veins, to fight the enemy for holy land, for my native Stalingrad.
THEY STANDED TO THE DEATH...
(Inscriptions on the wall of a house on Lenin Square in Stalingrad)
No later than November 1942
“Mother is the Motherland!
Here Rodimtsev’s guards Alexey Anikin and Pavel Dovzhenko heroically fought the enemy.”
“This house was defended by Guard Sergeant Yakov Fedotovich Pavlov!”
Workers from one of the factories in Ufa wrote to General V.I. Chuikov:
“Dear comrade commander! We know that it’s hard for you: death is hovering over you, but we, the workers, assure you and your fighters that we will work with all our might, disregard time and fatigue, we will give you beyond the plan what we can squeeze out of you. our machines and muscles. We urge you: do not look back, behind you are your fathers and mothers, wives and children, who are waiting for victory from you. So be bold and beat the fascist bastards to death.”
The balance of forces in the Stalingrad direction in November 1942
Strengths and means
Red Army
Germany and its allies
People (thousand people)
1134,8
1011,5
Number of tanks
1560
Number of guns and mortars
14 934
10 290
Number of aircraft
1916
1219
Stage 3. 11/19/42 – 02/02/43. Counter-offensive of the Red Army; encirclement and destruction of the enemy group.
The Volkischer Beobachter newspaper published a speech Hitler gave on November 9, 1942 in Munich, in which he stated:
“Stalingrad is ours!.. There are still Russians in several houses. Well, let them sit. This is their own business. And our job is done. The city named after Stalin is in our hands. The greatest Russian artery - the Volga - is paralyzed. And there is no force in the world that can move us from this place.
I am telling you this - a man who has never deceived you, a man on whom Providence has placed the burden and responsibility for this greatest war in the history of mankind. I know you believe me, and you can be sure, I repeat, with all responsibility before God and history, we will never leave Stalingrad. Never. No matter how much the Bolsheviks wanted it.”
… One of the fascist thugs, Wilhelm Hoffmann, who served in the company and then in the battalion office of the 267th Infantry Regiment of the 94th Infantry Division, writes in his diary.
The diary began in May 1942. From the diary we see that at first the Hitlerite boasts:
“On July 29, the entry in the diary reads: the company says that the Russian troops are completely defeated and cannot hold out any longer. Going to the Volga and taking Stalingrad is not such a difficult task for our armies. The Fuhrer knows where the Russians are weak, victory is near...”
“Stalingrad is hell! Happy are those who only receive wounds; they will certainly be at home and celebrate the victory with their families.”
The Nazi still believes in victory. But every day this faith fell. Here are more entries:
“In Germany, everyone is convinced that Stalingrad is completely ours. How deeply they are mistaken! If only they could see what Stalingrad did to our army!..”
“The Russians went on the offensive along the entire front. Fierce fighting is taking place. Here it is, the Volga, here it is, victory, and a quick date with my family. Obviously, I’ll see you in the next world.”
“The horses have already been eaten. I am ready to eat a cat, they say its meat is very tasty. The soldiers began to look like dead people or like mad people looking for something to put in their mouths. They are no longer hiding from Russian shells; they no longer have the strength to walk, bend and hide. Damn this war!
Thus, the warlike arrogance of the Nazis at Stalingrad was knocked down by the fortitude of the Soviet soldier, who, not sparing his life, fought for native land, for the happiness of the Soviet people.
CONFESSIONS OF THE ENEMY.
(From the notes of the German lieutenant Hugo Weiner)
Autumn 1942
...We knew too well before the devilish tenacity of the Russians, which they show in battle... But we still did not expect such tenacity from them. This turned out to be too unpleasant a surprise for us. Our regiment is melting like a lump of sugar in boiling water. This go-
genus
some kind of hellish meat grinder in which
our parts are being ground... I can’t eat or sleep. This damn city makes me sick...
YES, THIS IS THE ENEMY!
(From a letter from a German soldier to his relatives)
Autumn 1942
...Now in Stalingrad there are battles the likes of which have never happened during the entire campaign in Russia. The worst thing is the street bonds, the fight for every house. The Russians here are downright amazing. I'll give you just one example so you can understand what's going on here. When we approached Stalingrad, we had 140 people, and by November 1 there were 16 left. Not a single officer remained. More than a thousand wounded are taken out of Stalingrad every day. Yes, this is the enemy!..
THE RING IS SHRINKING...
(From the diary of motorized squadron corporal Marsen Ludwig (field mail 18212)
21/X1. Surrounded.
30/XI. The diet consists exclusively of horse meat without any fat.
7/X II. They took 200 grams of bread from me.
12/X II. Food made from rotten potatoes.
I5/XII. I suffer a lot because of my thin boots.
19/X II. Kolya shrinks.
26/XII. First time I ate a cat
1.I. New Year. The Russians give no rest. Very bad mood.
A TURNING POINT IN THE FATES OF EUROPE AND THE WHOLE WORLD.
(From a review by journalist W. Steed, made on London radio)
...What place will future historians assign to the battle for Stalingrad? This great test of military strength is unparalleled and can lead to extremely significant consequences. It is impossible to find in history a single example of the encirclement and complete destruction of a besieging army and 330 thousand people... Historians can consider the battle of Stalingrad as a turning point in the fate of Europe and, perhaps, the whole world.
THE VALANT FEAT OF THE RUSSIAN ARMY WILL LIVE
IN CENTURIES.
(From the New York Herald Tribune)
The defeat at Stalingrad recalls the inevitable death of Hitler and his army, which experienced at Stalingrad the greatest disaster that has ever befallen the German army since Germany existed... The epic battle for Stalingrad is over. It means that the Nazis have already passed the peak of their power and from now on their fall begins, to which they are doomed. The valiant feat of the Russian army will live for centuries.
The former intelligence officer of Paulus's 6th Army, Joachim Wieder, speaks quite frankly about the disintegration of Hitler's army at Stalingrad in his memoirs:
“The army,” he says, “was falling apart with increasing speed; it no longer represented a military force, but was only a mass of exhausted people, to whom every new day brought even more terrible torment... Pathetic, emaciated figures, wrapped in overcoats, raincoats and rags. Leaning on sticks, they barely hobbled on frostbitten legs, wrapped in straw and scraps of blankets. This is what the remnants of that once mighty army looked like, stretching through the snowstorm, which in the summer, confident of victory, was rushing to the Volga... Yes, these were the same soldiers who had so recently marched as self-confident victors through many European countries, but now they were followed on their heels by the enemy and death awaited them everywhere...
We carried our total war to every corner of Europe, disastrously interfering with the fate of other peoples... We sowed grief and death, and now they have mercilessly turned against us. The steppe near the Don and Volga absorbed streams of precious human blood.”
Battle of Stalingrad (17.VII .42 – 2.II .43)
I period of defense
It began with the battles of the 62nd Army (commanded by General V.I. Chuikov) against the superior forces of the 6th Army of General Paulus at the crossings of the Chir and Tsimma rivers. In mid-August 1942, fighting was already taking place on the closest approaches to the city. The enemy 4th Tank Army was advancing from the south towards Stalingrad, whose attacks were repelled by the 64th Army (commanded by General M. S. Shumilov). August 23, 1942 enemy
broke through to the Volga and cut off the 62nd Army from the Stalingrad Front.
On August 25, 1942, a state of siege was introduced in Stalingrad. On August 28, 1942, Soviet troops stopped the enemy on the northwestern approaches to Stalingrad, but the next day the enemy broke through the defenses of the Soviet troops and reached the bypass canal, where they were stopped.
II period of defense
Fighting took place in the city itself, and not only for city districts and streets, but also for individual houses. Both sides suffered huge losses. On November 11, 1942, the Nazis launched their final assault on the city, but were able to capture only the southern part of the territory of the Barricades plant. From mid-November 1942, the invaders went on the defensive.
Counteroffensive period
The heroic defense of Stalin City created the conditions for the Soviet troops to launch a counteroffensive. The counteroffensive involved troops of the Southwestern (commander N.F. Vatutin), Stalingrad (commander General L.I. Eremenko) and Don (commander General K.K. Rokossovsky) fronts. The counteroffensive began on November 19, 1942. Having broken through the enemy’s defenses, Soviet troops surrounded him from the south and southwest, and on November 23, in the area of Kalach-on-Don, the advanced formations of the Southwestern and Stalingrad fronts united and closed the ring. 22 enemy divisions and more than 160 separate units numbering up to 3.40 thousand people were surrounded. On December 29, the enemy group that came out from the Kotelnikov area to the rescue of the besieged was defeated. Soviet aviation thwarted the attempt of the fascist command to create air bridge to supply the surrounded troops with food and ammunition. After the enemy refused to capitulate, the troops of the Don Front began on January 10, 1943 the liquidation of the encircled group, which ended on February 2 - 4, 1943.
Clustering is a teaching strategy that helps students think freely about a topic. The cluster method is used during the challenge and reflection phase before a topic is identified, and also to summarize the topic's learning in order to create new associations for students. This activity serves as a means of informing the student about connections that he did not even suspect existed.
The period of a radical change (Radical change) is a radical change in forces during the Great Patriotic War, characterized by the transfer of initiative into the hands of the USSR and the Soviet army, as well as sharp growth military-economic situation of the Soviet Union.
In the first period of the Great Patriotic War, the initiative belonged entirely to Hitler and Nazi Germany. This was facilitated by several factors: firstly, Germany had enormous military and industrial power, due to which its army was more numerous and its military equipment more modern; secondly, Hitler’s success was greatly facilitated by the factor of surprise - the attack on the USSR, although it was not completely unexpected for the Soviet command, it still caught Soviet army by surprise, which is why she was unable to thoroughly prepare and provide a worthy rebuff even on her own territories. Already in the first two years of the war, Hitler and his allies managed to capture Ukraine, Belarus, blockade Leningrad and come close to Moscow. During this period, the Soviet army suffered one defeat after another.
However, Hitler's superiority could not last long, and the great Battle of Stalingrad marked the beginning of a radical change in the course of the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War.
The strategic initiative passed from Germany to the USSR. The Germans lost their superiority in the war, the Red Army launched a counter-offensive, and Germany turned from an attacker into a defender, gradually retreating back to the borders;
The rise of the economy and military industry, the entire industry of the USSR, by order of Stalin, was aimed at meeting the needs of the front. This allowed short time completely re-equip the Soviet army, giving it an advantage over the enemy;
Qualitative changes on the world stage were also achieved thanks to the launched counter-offensive of the Soviet Union.
Progression of a radical fracture
In the winter of 1942, the Soviet command made several attempts to seize the initiative and launch a counteroffensive, however, both the winter and spring offensives were unsuccessful - the Germans were still in complete control of the situation, and Soviet troops were losing more and more territory. During the same period, Germany received serious reinforcements, which only strengthened its power.
At the end of June 1942, the Germans began to advance in the south from Stalingrad, where protracted and very brutal battles for the city unfolded. Stalin, seeing the situation, issued the famous order “Not a step back,” in which he said that the city should not be taken under any circumstances. It was necessary to organize a defense, which is what the Soviet command did, transferring all its forces to Stalingrad. The battle for the city lasted several months, but the Germans failed to take Stalingrad, despite huge losses from the Soviet army.
The beginning of a radical change was made in the second period of the Battle of Stalingrad along with Operation Uranus, according to which it was planned to unite several Soviet fronts and with their help encircle the German army, forcing it to capitulate, or simply destroy the enemy. The operation was led by generals G.K. Zhukov and A.M. Vasilevsky. On November 23, the Germans were completely surrounded and destroyed by February 2. The Battle of Stalingrad ended in a triumphant victory for the Soviet Union.
From that moment on, the strategic initiative passed to the USSR, new weapons and uniforms began to actively arrive at the front, which quickly ensured technical superiority. In the winter and spring of 1943, the USSR strengthened its position by recapturing Leningrad and launching an offensive in the Caucasus and the Don.
The final turning point occurred with the Battle of Kursk (July 5 – August 23, 1943). At the beginning of the year, the Germans managed to achieve some success in south direction, therefore, the command decided to launch an offensive operation on the Kursk salient in order to regain the initiative into their own hands. On July 12, a major tank battle took place, which ended in the complete defeat of the German army. The Soviet Union was able to recapture Belgorod, Orel and Kharkov, as well as inflict serious losses on Hitler's army.
The Battle of Kursk became the last stage radical fracture. From that moment until the end of the war, the initiative never again passed into German hands. The Soviet Union was able not only to recapture its own territories, but also to reach Berlin.
Results and significance of the radical fracture.
It is difficult to overestimate the significance of the radical turning point for the Great Patriotic War. The Soviet Union was able to regain its territories, free prisoners of war and forever seize the military initiative into its own hands, confidently destroying enemy armies.
The transition of the initiative in the war to the USSR was also reflected in the course of the Second World War. After the defeat at Stalingrad in Germany, for the first time during the war, three days of mourning were declared, which became a sign for the allied European troops, who were convinced that Hitler’s hegemony could be overthrown, and he himself could be destroyed.
Proof that a turning point had taken place was the Tehran conference, which brought together the heads of the USSR, USA and Great Britain in 1943. The conference discussed the opening of a second European front and the strategy to combat Hitler.
In fact, the period of radical change marked the beginning of the fall of the Hitler Empire.