Stalingrad was a turning point of the Second World War. Adolph Hitler's attempt to capture the Russian city led to a 199-day battle that caused 1.9 million combined casualties and the destruction of a German army.
Among the obstacles faced by the Germans was Pavlov's House. It was named for Sgt. Yakov Pavlov, who led a small patrol that seized the building and then played a vital role defending it.
Located at 61 Penzenskaya Street, overlooking 9 January Square, Pavlov's House was one of the more upscale blocks in the city before the war. But for 58 days in 1942, it was a scene of vicious combat.
While the complex was in a strategic position, it was never held by more than a few dozen men. Yet it withstood repeated German attacks, which included armor, aerial bombardment and flamethrowers as well as infantry.
Pavlov's House was never retaken by the Germans, and its defense became a huge propaganda coup for the Soviets. A small group of men from different regions and ethnicities – Russians, Ukrainians, Georgians, etc. – had banded together to perform a minor military miracle.
Pavlov, a member of the 13th Guards Division, was declared a Hero of the Soviet Union – the highest honor for a Soviet soldier.
The Battle of Stalingrad
The fight for Stalingrad lasted from July 17, 1942, to February 2, 1943. Hitler felt that taking the city was critical, as whoever held it could control traffic on the Volga River. There was symbolic importance as well, since the city was named for Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
The Germans were initially successful, taking 90 percent of the city. The Soviets were pushed back into narrow strips along the Volga, fighting with their backs to the river. But the Red Army managed to get enough troops and supplies across the river to maintain the defense.
And eventually Russian military mastermind Georgy Zhukov organized a massive counteroffensive that caved in the flanks of the Axis lines. The German Sixth Army, as a result, was surrounded in Stalingrad and forced to surrender.
Pavlov's House was situated smack in the middle of the German line of advance, and its defense prevented a concentrated Nazi sweep through the central sector. It held out during what were dark days for the Soviets – when German attacks in the area were at their height in intensity.
Pavlov's House Becomes Mini Fortress
In late September of 1942, Pavlov was ordered to lead a four-man patrol to scout German positions near 9 January square. He discovered the block at 61 Penzenskaya Street to be lightly held, and he and his men managed to chase the Germans out.
While German attention was shifted to other parts of the city, Pavlov received reinforcements, and the complex was converted into a mini fortress. Firing holes were cut out of the walls, machine gun and anti-tank positions were set up, and mines were planted. Supplies trickled in through a narrow trench that led 200 meters back toward the command post.
The Germans began to realize the importance of the position and started assaulting it ferociously in early October. Infantry came up to probe the defenses, and tanks approached to blast away at the building.
Armor, Flamethrowers Fail to Dislodge Defenders
The German tanks could not elevate their guns high enough to hit the top floor of the buildings, and Pavlov and his men enjoyed success knocking out the armor with rocket launchers from the top of the complex.
Flamethrowers were a major threat, but the Soviets targeted them and picked them off as they approached.
The effectiveness of German aerial assaults was also limited. As was the case during much of the battle for Stalingrad, the opposing sides were so close, that Luftwaffe pilots had to hold back for fear of bombing their own men.
During lulls in the fighting, snipers would work with deadly efficiency from the upper floors of Pavlov's House. One of them was 19-year-old Anatoly Chekhov, whose feats of marksmanship would become legendary.
Pavlov's House Survives Final Assaults
German attacks in Stalingrad reached their height during the final two weeks of October, when Gen. Sixth Army commander Friedrich Paulus ordered all-out offensive. It failed, as did a last desperate assault on Nov. 11. Pavlov's House stood like a rock throughout.
The defenders of Pavlov's House were finally relieved on Nov. 25, after Zhukov's counterattack tore into the German flanks.
Sources disagree as to how many defenders there actually were at Pavlov's House. Accounts range from as few as 24 to as many as 100 during certain phases of the battle.
Casualties are among the defenders and the attackers around the building are also uncertain. But Lt. Gen. Vasily Chuikov, the commander of Stalingrad’s defenses, wrote that Sixth Army lost more men trying to take Pavlov's House than it did in taking Paris in 1940.
Was Pavlov Really in Command?
Soviet propaganda credited Pavlov as being in command throughout the defense of the building. But an article in Russia Today states that documents uncovered after the fall of the Soviet Union reveal that Lt. Ivan Aphanasiev took command shortly after Pavlov and his patrol captured the complex.
Still, it's not disputed that Pavlov was pivotal in the defense. He remained in the army until the end of the war, returned to his home region of Novgorod and became a Communist Party official. He died in 1981.
Pavlov's House still stands today, with a monument attached at one end of what is still an apartment complex. But Stalingrad is no longer Stalingrad. Its name was changed to Volgograd in 1961 as part of Nikita Kruschev's attempt to "de-Stalinize" the Soviet Union.
Sources
The Battle of Stalingrad 60 Years Later, Voice of Russia, 2003
Moynahan, Brian; Forgotten Soldiers, Quercus History, 2007
Russiapedia: Those Russians/Yakov Fedotovich Pavlov
 |
