The Women Who Defended The Stalingrad Tractor Factory Against German Panzers

chapter 2 women at stalingrad [Music] the most emblematic women who participated in the battle of stalingrad were also the first those of the 1077th anti-aircraft regiment chapter 2a the 1077th anti-aircraft regiment like many anti-aircraft units this one included young women volunteers with an average age of only 18 but was not entirely made up of women as some stories tell it remained primarily a male unit how many girls were actually there is difficult to tell it's only possible to guess using authorized strength data according to soviet archival data the 1077th anti-aircraft regiment consisted of five battalions each having three batteries of four guns 60 guns in total each battery contained up to 30 girls serving as rangefinders telephone operators and orderlies the total composition of a battery was approximately 100 personnel so that in fact the unit was only 30 female why german accounts speak of a whole female unit would be deduced from the analysis that follows the regiment was deployed in the stalingrad air defense region it was armed with 37 millimeter and 85 millimeter anti-aircraft guns capable not only of shooting down aircraft but also successfully fighting enemy tanks the regiment was initially tasked with covering the factory area of stalingrad from air raids [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] on august 23 1942 whilst the luftwaffe bombed the city to ruins creating thousands of victims 14th panzer corps 16th panzer division reached the volga river and the northern suburbs of stalingrad in a bold and unexpected move the tractor factory was in sight of the german tanks it was protected only by the guns of the 1077th ia regiment according to some sources two tanks and a battalion of workers militia were sent in support there were absolutely no other troops in the vicinity the bulk of 62nd army was tens of kilometers away from the city fighting on the don river the german tanks were the first to open fire on the soviet a.a guns whilst dive bombers and fighters harassed them from the sky the anti-aircraft gunners were ordered to retaliate by firing directly at the tanks and to ignore as much as possible the me109 and ju-87s that circled right above them [Music] and as if it were not enough the soviet positions were also subjected to german artillery and mortar fire there is also no information yet from the archives whether the regiment had armor-piercing shells to fight tanks according to the memoirs of veterans there were none and they had to fight with anti-aircraft shells the fighting continued until darkness and went on to the next day when the 1077th regiment was finally [Music] decimated [Music] from sixth army war diary on 23rd august 1942 advancing in a narrow wedge the mobile formations of 14th panzer corps with tanks in the vanguard broke through the heights 33 kilometers northwest of stalingrad and reached the railway to kotliban station while part of the force is set up outpost south and east of the station 16th panzer division continued its breakthrough due east by 1700 hours the vulgar was reached separate enemy groups still remained in the occupied territories nests of resistance north of stalingrad with anti-aircraft guns in the area between orlovka and the tractor factory 16th panzer division met strong resistance from anti-aircraft artillery which could not be suppressed before dark from 16th panzer division war diary in accordance with tank tactics the route ran along a ridge of heights not paying attention to the enemy on the flanks in the valleys of streams and ravines the 16th rolled east the stukas carried their bombs to stalingrad in dense waves and when flying over the tank columns on the way back they activated their deafening screams of their sirens in a fierce fight the tata wall was overcome and the railway line to stalingrad was crossed south of kotliban trains and carriages burned with hot flames the enemy fled the offensive continued in the afternoon the tank commanders saw on the horizon the majestic silhouette of the city of stalingrad stretching 40 kilometers along the volga tall towers and chimneys high-rise buildings and columns peeped through the smoke from the fires in the distance to the north the outline of a cathedral appeared at 1500 hours enemy shelling began in the northern suburbs there were russian anti-aircraft guns served by women they met the advancing tanks with their shells gun after gun 37 firing positions were silenced by structures second 64th tank battalion then the foremost vehicle reached the high cliff on the volga bank the river flowed calmly and majestically barges floated along the dark waves the endless asian steps stretched out on the other side pride and joy were on the faces of the soldiers by nightfall the division took up defensive perimeter forming a hedgehog formation on the northern outskirts of the city directly by the river there was feverish preparation for the fighting that was to come the next day russian tanks and anti-aircraft guns had already begun to fire so why did they mention the girls serving the artillery guns the answer can be found in the accounts of the few courageous defenders that survived the fighting and managed to escape as everything was lost the girls had actually replaced the men who fell in battle or who were wounded and evacuated they were the last servants of the guns from the account of mikhail sokolov 1077th a a regiment august 23 1942 a day that was imprinted for life on fellow soldiers from the 1077th anti-aircraft regiment in those tense moments the regimental commander lieutenant colonel gurman gave the order to roll out the guns and fire directly at enemy tanks and motorised infantry the rest of the crews were to fire on enemy aircraft he knew perfectly well that the guns were handled by very young fellows and even girls yesterday's 10th graders who had just completed short-term training the fight was merciless the long barrels of anti-aircraft guns resembling well cranes rapidly took a horizontal position volleys of guns the clash of tanks the roar of aircraft and the groans and shouts of the wounded but the anti-aircraft gunners did not flinch many fighters showed exceptional bravery when enemy tanks reached the fifth battery of our second battalion and the spider-like outlines of crosses could be discerned on their armor battery commander cherny gave the order to open fire the fighters of the fourth and six batteries commanded by skugen and roshin fought bravely too the six battery destroyed 24 tanks shot down three aircraft and destroyed a lot of enemy manpower on 23rd and 24th of august the seventh battery commanded by shurin fought to the last shell and cartridge almost all of its fighters fell along with their commander on the morning of august 24th when the enemy reached the eighth battery its commander savchenko ordered all the girls to be urgently ferried across the volga your life will still be useful for future battles he said in parting as he continued fighting himself [Music] 1077th anti-aircraft regiment on the same day we assigned to our battery the raids on styling rod began there were raids every evening at night we fired barrages that is without having a specific target on august the 23rd 1942 there was a major raid on stalingrad there were so many planes that the sky seemed black on that day we didn't leave the instruments enemy plane circled above every now and then sounded the command to fire our battery is shot down one of the german aircraft a gu88 which fell not far from us at noon silence fell we were instructed to eat right there at the guns together with rajki berteva and zinestrigorski we began cooking battery commanders cocoon stood on the breastwork of the trench near the tractor plant where they produced and repaired our tanks we defended [Music] [Music] [Music] after the air strikes at 11 o'clock german tanks appeared it was scary when the tanks went straight for us as i remember now our platoon commander stood on the bridge and reported on radio lieutenant camarov speaking german tanks have appeared what do we do we're supposed to find at aircraft only there were no armor-piecing shells and yet we had to shoot back platoon commander kamarov gathered all the soldiers and said we'll fire at tanks directly all took their stations at the gulf ska the order to open fire we saw that an enemy tank caught fire then another we also had killed and wounded in our ranks through the roar the commander's voice went on shouting fire fire five batteries and four guns each only 20 guns and the german tanks seems innumerable it was swarming with black over there it was in an equal bottle there was many wounded i helped our medical instructor ragi peritaba to carry them there was a column of dust above the battery it were all duff from the shorts raya ran from one wounded to another she shouted to me luba follow me together we bandaged the fighters and took them to the shelter i was about to fetch a bag of medicines from the dugout when it was hit by a shell the earth collapsed i wanted to scream with resentment we needed bandages cottonwool eodine the barrel of water broke out there was nothing to drink for the wounded the battery continued to fight off attack after attack we only had two guns left kamisarki set off showing up at each position encouraged the fighters the girls were carrying the shells they also carried the wounded away from the guns and now only one gun was shooting and then it was smashed by a direct hit damaged german tongues were burning in front of our positions the commander was wounded many people were killed there is no one left to load the guns and nothing to shoot with the battery commander ordered to take the battle seats flammables and throw them under the tanks korov took a bottle wanted to throw it on a tank but it exploded in his arms it caught fire and we had to put it out while defending the positions i that ciana supernova and kisilov ran in search for a dressing bandage as we were standing by the dugout a shell fell near us and didn't explode we stood frozen with fright didn't know what to do in a which direction to run surely it will explode now then the konis are quickly realized pushed me and tied her straight into the trench and then he jumped as well and we left along the trenches but the shell didn't explode he was so lucky it was a miracle we survived but all our shells ran out and the order was given to leave the battery the tanks couldn't approach as there were a large ditch in front of us by the infantry crossed it reached right up to the battery and we were ordered to leave it as we retreated we ran into a watermelon field crushed this wonderful fruit and watered the wounded with juice after that we spent a whole month in the wilderness the regiment had already written us off the command thought we were dead but we survived went to look for the regiment and a month later they found us it was about time the starving there was nothing to eat but the important thing was we had fought them off we didn't let the children throw the tanks didn't reach the tractor plant that wonderful girls fought there with me ani bilakon i always remember the wall it is impossible to forget it german losses are also difficult to assess according to various soviet and russian sources over 80 tanks were hit by the gunners of the 10th 77th regiment of which 33 were destroyed and over 10 aircraft were shut down this official version seems exaggerated even if we can't armored vehicles such as apcs as tanks there is no exact data on these losses the diary of 16 sponsor division doesn't detail this particular day but states that on august 23rd there were 83 tanks of all types in service whereas on august 27 there were 68 in addition the division had about 100 apcs and their losses are unknown but there definitely were some and this could have been recorded as the mage tanks in soviet accounts in any case whatever the figures the feet of the 10th 77th aa regiment gave the germans a glimpse of what a battle for stalingrad would be like and the fact that it was not an entirely female unit does not change anything since a brave young woman serving it selflessly sacrificed themselves after men were killed this was the kind of war the red army men and women were waging [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Armageddon

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Keywords: Stalingrad, Eastern Front, WW2, WWII, World War 2, World War II, 1942, Red Army, 1077th Anti-Aircraft Regiment, 1077th AA Regiment, 1077 Regiment, Women 1077th Regiment, TIK, die deutsche wochenschau, Secret WW2, women at war, women ww2, women red army

Id: PK4RzpUrv80

Length: 18min 43sec (1123 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 21 2020