Tony Halpin
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From The Times
November 10, 2007
Stalingrad, a bloody story
It's the city that saved the world, and the battle sites and graves of Stalingrad offer a journey into the modern Russian psyche
Strolling through the avenues and tree-lined squares of Volgograd, it is easy to forget that this is a city drenched in blood. The former Stalingrad, however, is filled with reminders of the battle that marked the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany.
Just the name Stalingrad evokes the horror of a clash that cost almost two million lives in the Russian winter of 1942-43. On the flat steppe beyond the city, Russians are still burying the dead almost 65 years later.
The Second World War is better known here as the Great Patriotic War. After a year of humiliating defeats by the Nazi invaders, Stalingrad was the turning point that led to the Soviet Union’s victory, which was won at the price of 26 million dead. In the year since I moved to Moscow, I have come to realise how heavily this sacrifice weighs on the psyche of Russians, who are sensitive to any perceived threats to their homeland.
I had reread Antony Beevor’s tremendous history of Stalingrad before my visit, but seeing the landmarks of the conflict brought home the scale of the struggle. Every stone could tell a story: Soviet authorities used prisoners of war as forced labour to rebuild the city.
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Volgograd is used to visitors from former Soviet republics, but international tourism is in its infancy. The sites I visited offered information only in Russian, so an English-speaking guide is essential. There is more than enough here to fill a good two days of sightseeing.
Renamed in 1961 under Khrushchev’s deStalinisation programme, Volgograd is enjoying the Russian consumer boom. The city of about one million has a vibrant air, and attractive cafés and restaurants line its central Avenue of Heroes, leading to the Volga River. People are welcoming, proud of their history and pleased that visitors want to learn about it. Volgograd may be shaped by its past, but there’s no sense that its inhabitants are trapped in it.
By August 1942, 15 months after Hitler’s surprise invasion in Operation Barbarossa, the German Sixth Army had fought to the outskirts of Stalingrad. The push into the city provoked some of the war’s most savage fighting as the Soviets, their backs to the Volga, fought the Nazis building by building. Stalingrad became a giant meat grinder.
Svetlana, my charming and insightful guide, began our tour at key battle points, from the grain silo in the south to the northern factory district of the Red October steelworks, the Barrikady armaments factory and the Dzerzhinsky tractor plant, where T34 tanks poured off the production line. A T34 stands outside the works, although its historical impact is diminished by a shopping centre next door.
Then it was on to Mamayev Hill, the commanding height that repeatedly changed hands as the Germans and the Soviet 62nd Army fought for control. This is the main memorial complex, topped by a giant statue of Mother Russia, sword in hand, urging her children westwards to defeat the invader. Monumental Soviet sculptures line the approach and sound systems play music from the period.
The Hall of Valour houses the eternal flame, a torch gripped by a concrete hand. An honour guard changes every hour, the soldiers’ stiff-legged march echoing like gunshots around a chamber containing 7,200 names of the fallen.
They, at least, are known. Mother Russia stands on a common grave of at least 34,500 soldiers whose names are lost to history. The graves of 35 Heroes of the Soviet Union are also here, including Marshall Vasily Chuikov, who commanded the 62nd Army and eventually led the Soviet capture of Berlin. It is this direct link with ultimate victory that makes Stalingrad so central to understanding the modern Russian mind.
Russians believe that they saved the world from Hitler almost single-handedly, at huge cost, and that this is now conveniently forgotten by neighbouring states in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Resentment at “antiRussian” moods in these countries feeds a sense of vulnerability and suspicion towards the West. Modern Russia wants to be loved, but constantly fears that it will be betrayed, as it was in 1941.
Back in the city, a red-brick mill scarred with bullet holes stands next to the Panorama state museum, whose 3,500 exhibits include the Sword of Stalingrad, presented to Stalin in December 1943 as a tribute from the British people. The museum gives pride of place to a giant panorama of the battle covering the upper section of the circular hall.
Tucked away in the basement of the Univermag department store is the final headquarters of Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus, the commander of the Sixth Army, before his capture on January 31, 1943. It is now a small private museum filled with personal possessions from soldiers on both sides. Displays reconstruct the headquarters, complete with an animated model of Paulus rising from his desk to receive the latest bad news. This bit of kitsch cannot detract from the thrill of standing in the gloomy basement where Hitler’s vision of global conquest met its ignoble end.
Hundreds of Stalingrad veterans still live in the city. Gennady Potapov, 83, was decorated with a Soviet Red Star for his role in the capture of Paulus, the first German field marshal to surrender. Paulus was the grand prize among 91,000 POWs, all that remained of the 350,000-strong Sixth Army when it surrendered on February 2. Its fate was sealed 80km (50 miles) west of Stalingrad, at Kalach, when Soviet armies encircled it. The location is commemorated by another statue.
Only it turns out not to be the real meeting point: the original was drowned under a reservoir during Soviet times and the statue of embracing soldiers was erected near by. But if that was disappointing, the military cemeteries at Rossoschka more than compensated. Facing each other across a patch of steppe, 40 minutes’ drive from Volgograd, the cemeteries of Soviet and German war dead offer a sobering account of the human cost.
At the Russian memorial, helmets laced with bullet holes mark rows of mass graves with signs showing how many people they contain. There are individual gravestones, too, the result of detective work by volunteers to identify remains found on the battlefield and trace soldiers’ relatives. Of almost 10,500 bodies buried since the cemetery was established in 1997, only 315 have been identified. Galina Oreshkina, a retired physics teacher, organises the search for the forgotten victims from her tiny Museum of Hope: plastic bags outside contain more human bones awaiting burial.
Across the road, 107 granite cubes are scattered like giant dice near a mass German grave. The names of 103,234 missing soldiers are inscribed on to their surfaces. About 48,000 Germans are buried in the mass grave, but the names of fewer than half are etched on a memorial wall around it. Of the others, a plaque declares: “God knows their names.”
Tony Halpin is the Times Moscow correspondent.
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Tony Halpin travelled with the Three Whales travel agency (www.threewhales.ru), which offers a four-day guided tour of Volgograd, from Moscow, for £756pp, based on two sharing. The price includes flights, accommodation at the Intourist Hotel, and full board. Regent Holidays (0845 2773317, www.regent-holidays.co.uk) offers three-night breaks to Volgograd from £525pp, including return flights from Gatwick via Kaliningrad and three nights’ B&B in the three-star Hotel Volgograd.
WW2 is ancient history for today's young European's. Rewritten 'history' taught in schools blame Hitler and Stalin equally! Former Eastern European countries (Baltic states, Hungary, Poland pose as Russia's victims ! Western Academia is heavily into Hollywood Fabrications - Russia is the enemy!
ton, paris, france
To Alex,NY. But it still were the Soviet troops that liberated Warsaw. And you don't forget about that.
Druzhishe, Moscow,
Neither one of you seem to know anything about on of your own. Stalin. After you learn about his methods and tactics then maybe your observations will have some sort of substance. Ask yourselves how betrayed the people in Warsaw felt. How dare you forget that. The two of you have spoken without remembering others. You are the most selfish nearsighted people I have ever read. It makes me sad to be from Russian blood.
Alex, New York, NY
Poor, poor... RUSSIA (((
Issak, Krasnodar,
Tony, thank you for quite unbiased article about Russia. Rarely meet positive information about my country in british mass media. Unfortunately, russiafobia has become the common trend (or left from the past) in western countries, specially among politicians and journalists. The history of WW 2 is being rerited in a way to lower the role of Soviet Union, to make people believe that it were US, who won the war. Besides, you were 100% right saying "...betrayed in 1941" - almost all the wars of Russia were the wars with western invaders: Russian-Sweden war, Napoleon, Crimean war, WW 1, Hitler and others - that are the roots of our suspicion towards the West.
Anton, Moscow, Russia
To Kenneth Wheatley
1. For ALL British and American supplies (5-10% of all USSR’s resources) USSR had generously paid with the “dirty communist†gold.
2. I love one well-known proverb in a slightly mended variant: “Treat people the way they treat youâ€, so you had what you asked for.
3. Stalin asked the allies for opening of the western front since the 1941, but it was opened in 1944, when the Germans were nearly home. If the western front would have been opened in 1941 there would be millions of European’s lives saved. Red Army had destroyed 606 of German divisions and the allies at the all other fronts had destroyed 176 divisions.
4. For the Englishmen it’s hard to understand, why the Russians had sacrificed their lives fighting for their homeland, as the Englishmen always sacrificed the lives of other folks for their own prosperity.
You don't have to be a historian to know that.
Svetlana, London, UK
Toni, THANK YOU.
Igor, Moscow, Russia
I like your article. Thank you. We proud of our grandparents who won this war. There are no family who didn't lose someone in this war in Russia. One of my grand-grandfathers was killed near the Stalingrad in 1943. Last time western people forget about our part in this war and I'm glad to see your truly article there.
Dilyara, Kazan, Russia
“Oh, and the use of WWI tactics - pitting millions of infantry in open ground against massed German machine guns, and the refusal to evacuate civilians from Leningrad and Stalingrad - were the main reason why it cost the Russians so many lives.â€
It cost USSR so many lives because USSR actually fought against Naizism. Among 26 million losses approximately only 30% are solders. All others – civilians. USSR population consisted of a “unremensch†and was treated as such. If you ever be in Belarus ask the old folks about time of Great Patriotic War. You will find many interesting facts. Every fourth Belarus citizen was killed during german occupation. But – hey! – this is not holocaust, it’s just a bunch of a commie scum? Who counts them.
“The gulag camp system was not diminished during WW2.â€
So?
Chekist, Moscow, Russia
"...betrayed in 1941" - is quite wrong. Betrayed by whom? Certainly not the Allies, by which supplied huge quantities of canned meat, tinned orange juice and thousands of US-made White trucks. Stalin trusted Hitler, not Churchill. That was the true 'betrayal'. Stalin sided with Hitler over the partition of Poland in 1939, and he simultaneously murdered most of the Red Army's officer and army engineer elite - that is why the Russians performed so pitifully in WW2's early years. Oh, and the use of WWI tactics - pitting millions of infantry in open ground against massed German machine guns, and the refusal to evacuate civilians from Leningrad and Stalingrad - were the main reason why it cost the Russians so many lives. The gulag camp system was not diminished during WW2.
MG, London, UK
I was suprized to read such an article. Thank you. Forget about Bivor. Try to learn Russian language and read Russian books. Then you'll understand us better.
And don't call The Motherland Calls statue - "Mother Russia"
Sera, Kaliningrad, Russia,
Should you study WWII hystory you could realise that Stalingrad battle was really a turning point of the war at the Eastern front. There are several issues which shall be taken into account:
- German objectives for the strategic offence in 1942 were not met as long as key oil supply lines on Volga were not interrupted and Germans had no strength to continue their way to Moscow
- German forces were to retreat back from the Northern Caucasia, therefore Baku and Maikop oil fields were not occupied.
- Since Stalingrad there was no German strategic blitzgrieg war operations therefore Germans lost their chances to win the War.
- Since Stalingrad the Germans were just retreating.
- The Red Army eventually understood how to fight with Germans, how to concentrate resourses when required
grove, Moscow, Russia
Tony, it's great that you've reminded others about it. I will not argue with people here, just stopped to say THANK YOU.
The Motherland Calls statue:
http://www.point.ru/gallery_photos/1577/images/full.jpg
Artem, Moscow, Russia
Stalingrad probably was not the turning point ofWW2. Several previous strategic blunders by Hitler were probably of greater significance. Two notable ones were 1. Hitler to press home the attack against Britain 18 months perviously, firstly at Dunkirk but also his lack of determination to pursue Operation 'Sea Lion', the planned invasion of the UK, 2. Hitler's meddling in the prosecution of Operation Barbarossa in 1941 probably led it fail since, had he not diverted a key armoured group south to assist in the elimination of Soviet forces encircled at Kiev, he may have been in with a chance of taking Moscow in 1941 and forcing the USSR to sue for peace. It is even argued that the elimination of 6th Army at Stalingrad tied up Russian forces, allowing the much larger German Army Group of 750,000 soldiers to be withdrawn from the Caucasus and saved. That said, Stalingrad was a huge and commendable victory by the USSR,
Andy Taggart, Letchworth, UK
Russia felt it was betrayed in 1941? I'm sure that all the merchant and Royal Navy seamen that died in the frozen waters taking supplies to Russia didn't feel they were betraying Russia!
American and British supplies sustained Russia during it's worst hours and the Russians treated them almost as badly as they treated the Germans.
Incidently they may think they defeated Germany but would they have prevailed if Germany wasn't aready fighting Britain, the Commonwealth, America and and many others? I think not. The Russians only prevailed because they were prepared to let the Germans slaughter the Russan soldiers and they were fighting an army already heavilly committed elsewhere. You don't have to be a historian to know what really occurred during the war.
Kenneth Wheatley, St Pée sur Nivelle, France
"every bit as evil as their nazi enemies."
I don't think that extermination on racial, religious or eugenic grounds was ever Soviet policy. There were very few women in the Soviet camps. Had the motive been extermination one would have expected them to be over-represented. I concede that Stalin did act on ethnic grounds in deporting (not liquidating) communities who had aided the German enemy.
And as far as the Gulags were concerned it is noteworthy that prisoners had sentences, served them and the majority came out. The camps had an economic purpose. It is difficult to imagine how Russia's natural resources could have been exploited without a camp system.
Read Solzhenitsyn if you're unsure. His view seems to be that NATO is closer to Hitler than Stalin was and his opinion can't be lightly dismissed.
John, London, SE, UK
Great article about a very important battle in,not ony Russian history,but also our history.The Soviet Union,let us not forget,was rule by a system every bit as evil as their nazi enemies.Millions died as the result of state imposed famines,forced labour(ie slavery) and reimposed serfdom on state collective farms.Millions also died at the hands of the secret police in hundreds of Gulag(Concentration camps).State terror went much deeper than in Nazi Germany.These people(Stalin and his gang) where both our enemy upto June 1941 and also our ally after that date.The Russian people have had to endure much suffering at the hands of cruel leaders and foreign invaders.In the end because of the fortitude of those people,they have always come out on top.I hope Putin realises this today.Stalingrad is a great testimony to the fortitude of the Russian people,not the Communist/Stalinist system and it was indeed a battle that did save the world from domination by the forces of the blackest evil.
Pat, Notts,
Stalingrad,the battle that saved the world? If anything it did the opposite. WW2 was the greatest disaster for the White Race. It has not recovered and may never recover.
Demonizing the Germans is popular but dead wrong. It takes at least two to tango.
You forget WW1 set the stage for WW2. A million Germans died after WW1of starvation at the directions of Britain,France and the U.S
My country had no business in WW1at all. If the treatment of the Germans had not been so cruel after WW1there would have been no Hitler and probably no WW2.We have met the enemy and he is us.
Tom Metzger, warsaw, Indiana