The Stalingrad Academy of Street Fighting -
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Last Visited: 7/24/2008
General Vasili Ivanovich Chuikov arrives back in Moscow from his assignment in China (Chuikov, 1963).
May 1942
Chuikov was appointed as acting commander of a reserve army in the Tula region (Chuikov, 1963).
Early Jul 1942
Chuikov was in a car accident, suffered a back injury, and went to hospital (Chuikov, 1963).
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Chuikov arrived at Stalingrad Front HQ to check out the situation (Beevor, 1999).The 62nd Army was spread over the upper part of the Don's eastern loop north of the river Chir.Their front ran from Kletskaya, Yevstratovski, Hill 181.4, Krasny Rodnichok, Starikovski, Surovikino, Hill 117.4, State Farm No. 79, to Verkhne-Solonovksi (Chuikov, 1963).
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The second line of 62nd Army had the 192nd and 184th Rifle Divisions, three tank battalions, ten artillery regiments, one Katyusha regiment, and four regiments of students from military institutions (Chuikov, 1963).Army HQ was at Kamyshi Farm.
64th Army was to cover the lower portion of the Don loop south of the Chir, but the men were only just beginning to detrain (Beevor, 1999; Chuikov, 1963).112th Division at Kothluban, Kachalino and Filonovo Stations; 214th Division at Donskaya, Muzga and Rychkov; 29th Division at Zhutovo; the rest on the bank of the Volga.229th Rifle Division and Army HQ were particularly delayed, the last men detraining on 23 Jul.
Just above the river Chir the 44th (Austrian) Infantry Division was engaged in brutal, no quarter, fighting with three divisions of 62nd Army (Beevor, 1999).
19 Jul 1942
Stalingrad was put on an immediate war footing (Erickson, 1993).
The units of 64th Army were still marching west from the train depots, but Chuikov intended they deploy as follows:
Front line from Surovikino to the village of Suvorovskaya: 229th and 214th Rifle Divisions, 154th Naval Infantry Brigade, one armoured brigade Front from Potemkinskaya to Verkhne-Kurmoyarskaya: 29th Rifle Division Second line on the River Chir: 112th Rifle Division. Army HQ: Llmen-Chirski Farm.
In the evening Lieutenant-General Gordov (of 21st Army) replaced Chuikov in command of 64th Army (Chuikov, 1963).Chuikov became his deputy.
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Chuikov again took command of 64th Army.
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The Germans smashed into 62nd Army (Kolpakchi) with four infantry, two armoured, and two motorised divisions (Chuikov, 1963; Erickson, 1993).
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Chuikov failed to persuade Front HQ to recall them.
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In the centre the German 44th Division faced three inactive Soviet Divisions of 62nd Army (Chuikov, 1963).Elsewhere the Germans broke through the army and advanced on Manoylin.
64th Army (Chuikov) was still disorganised (Chuikov, 1963).Only the 214th Rifle Division (Biryukov) and the 154th Naval Infantry Brigade (Smirnov) were up to strength.At 1200 hours five battalions and two artillery batteries of 229th Rifle Division began to relieve elements of 62nd Army on the boundary of the two formations.Forward elements of 229th and 214th Rifle Divisions and 154th Naval Infantry Brigade reached the River Tsimla.112th crossed the Don and dug in on the lower reaches of the Chir.
The Germans attacked 66th Naval Infantry Brigade and 137th Armoured Brigade in the flank (Chuikov, 1963).Chuikov, however, managed to persuade Front HQ to recall them and by 1700 hours they were back at Nizhne-Chirskaya on the Don.137th Armoured Brigade deployed with 229th Rifle Division on the right flank of the army. [Chuikov seems to have the 137th in two places, so possibly the brigade had elements on both sides of the Don].
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The Germans encircled the 192nd and 184th Rifle Divisions and the 40th Armoured Brigade from 62nd Army (Chuikov, 1963). [Actually I thought the 40th was part of 64th.I also suspect this is Zhuravlev's Operational Group.]
In the early morning two German infantry divisions and one Panzer division attacked the right flank of 64th Army (Chuikov, 1963).
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Early on 26 Jul, the Soviet 1st Tank Army (Moskalenko) counter-attacked with its 13th and 28th Tank Corps north-west toward Colonel Zhuravlev's encircled 'operational group' west of Verkhne-Buzinovka (Chuikov, 1963; Erickson, 1993).The attacking formations were hammered by the Luftwaffe, the Soviets claiming the Germans conducted 1,000 sorties against 1st Tank Army alone.German Panzers forced frightened T-60 tanks crews to hide their vehicles in gullies (balkas), but could not affect the heavy KV tanks.As 13th Tank Corps clawed its way towards him, Zhuravlev began to fighting his way towards the tank.
At 0500 hours the Germans attacked 64th Army again (Chuikov, 1963).Artillery, aircraft, infantry and tanks (Chuikov counted 80) attacked elements of 783rd Infantry Regiment in a dairy farm.
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Chuikov subsequently countermanded this order, but the units were already on the march.
At 0600 hours 196th Rifle Division of 62nd Army counter-attacked (Chuikov, 1963).
Towards evening the Germans in the sector of 62nd Army reached the Don between Golubinski and Mostovski Farms (Chuikov, 1963)
26 Jul - 11 Aug 1942: 33rd Guards Rifle Division
The German advance trapped the 33rd Guards Rifle Division, 62nd Army, on the west bank of the Don (Beevor, 1999; Chuikov has the action starting on 21 Jul).
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During the afternoon 112th and 229th Rifle Divisions of 64th Army, in bitter fighting, pinched off the German salient to the Don (Chuikov, 1963).
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For some days from 28 Jul the German 51st Army Corps tried to break through 64th Army (Chuikov, 1963).German infantry and tanks attacked elements of 112th Rifle Division at Novomaksimovksi Farm, which had been abandoned the day before.Chuikov counted 100 Panzers in some attacks, but the Soviets had only 10 tanks in this sector.The 229th and 112th Rifle Divisions repulsed these attacks and counter-attacked.
About this time Lopatin replaced Kolpakchi in command of 62nd Army (Chuikov, 1963).
29 Jul 1942
When they had 100 tanks over the river 4th Tank Army attacked 14th Panzer Corps, but like their comrades to the south (left) they suffered under the Luftwaffe (Chuikov, 1963; Erickson, 1993).
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196th Rifle Division of 62nd Army went onto the defensive (Chuikov, 1963).
In the evening Shumilov took over 64th Army from Chuikov who was unemployed in Stalingrad for a few days (Chuikov, 1963).
31 Jul 1942
In the morning 229th and 112th Rifle Divisions of 64th Army, supported by 10 tanks and aircraft, pushed the Germans back across the River Chir (Chuikov, 1963).
Fourth Panzer Army hit 51st Army (Kolomiits) and pushed on toward Kotelnikovo (Erickson, 1993).The Soviets reorganised in response with 51st Army joining the Stalingrad Front.
2 Aug 1942
In 64th Army the 214th Rifle Division (Biryukov) was dug in along the Don from Nizhne-Chirskayato to the village of Gorodskoy with no sight of the enemy (Chuikov, 1963).29th Rifle Division was dug in along the River Aksay from Gorodskoy to Novoaksayski.There were no adjacent units to the south so Chuikov was ordered to form a Southern Group to protect this flank.He set out with a handful of men and three trucks.
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The fresh 208th (Siberian) Rifle Division (Voskoboynikov) detrained at Chilekov and Kotelnikovo Stations (Chuikov, 1963).
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Around this time 62nd Army absorbed the divisions of 1st Tank Army (Chuikov, 1963).
Chuikov began to round up 208th Rifle Division at Chilekov station and nearby (Chuikov, 1963).He ordered them back over the River Aksay that night, to dig in and send out patrols.He then encountered a cavalry regiment and got them patrolling the area.
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German planes hammered the unprotected 29th Rifle Division while it was on the march, inflicting heavy casualties (Chuikov, 1963).Chuikov ordered his cavalry regiment to occupy the zone abandoned by the 29th.
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Chuikov pre-empted the German assault on his forces along the Aksay with an early dawn attack of his own (Chuikov, 1963).Overnight the two Katyusha regiments moved into suitable firing positions.As soon as day broke the rockets, artillery and mortars of the Southern Group opened up on the German concentration areas on the north of the Aksay and drove many back across the river.The Soviet infantry then attacked the partially dug in enemy infantry and by evening had also pushed them back across the river.
Meanwhile 64th Army had moved to teh area of Abganerovo and Tinguta where the blocked the German advance (Chuikov, 1963).
7 Aug 1942
Sixth Army launched a pincer attack, led by 16th and 24th Panzer Divisions, against 62nd Army (Beevor, 1999; Erickson, 1993).
The German and Rumanian forces on the Aksay attacked again and carved a 4-6 km hole in the front of the Southern Group (Chuikov, 1963).Two hours before sunset the Southern Group counter-attacked.The counter-attack was timed so the German aircraft had limited day lig
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