It was the first resistance the Germans encountered in what would become a failed five-month fight for control of Stalingrad.įor two days, the 1077th fought shot for shot against hundreds of enemy tanks, thousands of enemy troops and aerial attacks from the German air force, the Luftwaffe. The teenage defenders of Stalingrad had lowered the elevation of their anti-aircraft guns and pointed them right into the oncoming German offensive. When the 16th Panzer Division began to move in on the city from the north, it came face to face with the girls of the 1077th - and their 37mm flak rounds. 23, 1942, the German Blitzkrieg hit Stalingrad in full force, leveling much of the city from the air. Klavdiya Kalugina (right) began training as a sniper at age 17. "Lady Death" Lyudmila Pavlichenko (left) was the USSR's deadliest sniper. (Russian State Military Archive) Women in the Soviet Red Army were deadly. Women in the Soviet Red Army were deadly. After its assault on Moscow fell short the previous winter, it was forced to fall back, but Stalin fully expected another thrust for the Russian capital in the summer. It was so successful that the onset of winter was the only thing that prevented the complete collapse of the Soviet government.īy 1942, the German Army was well-rested and ready to retake the offensive. In June 1941, the Germans launched Operation Barbarossa, a massive invasion of the Soviet Union that captured huge swathes of territory and hundreds of thousands of Soviet prisoners. Lydia Litvyak, a Soviet fighter ace, was nicknamed "The White Rose of Stalingrad" for the lily she painted on her cockpit. (Russian State Military Archives) Women fought in every way at Stalingrad.
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