News and Events/PRESS RELEASE

New Delhi, July 6, 2007: A Lecture-cum-Presentation “Unbowed Stalingrad” and the Inauguration of Photo-Exhibition, dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the Beginning of Stalingrad Battle in Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), jointly organized by the Russian Centre of Science & Culture (RCSC) and Universities and Colleges of Delhi, is held at the RCSC, 24, Ferozeshah Road, New Delhi on Friday, July 6, 2007.

The Battle of Stalingrad occupies a key niche in world history. It symbolized the staunchness, bravery and unsurpassed heroism of the Soviet people and its Armed Forces in the fight for freedom of the USSR for liberating mankind from fascist enslavement. It fundamentally changed the course of war in favour of the USSR and the entire anti-Axis coalition. In the battle on the Volga, the Soviet Army not only withstood the pressure of crack Nazi troops, but also smashed the backbone of the Wehrmacht in the Volga steppes. One of the decisive factors in the successes achieved by the American and British troops in other World War II theatres, particularly in Northern Africa, the Mediterranean, and Italy, were the large-scale, intensive military operations on the Soviet-German Front in the second half of 1942 and in the beginning of 1943, during which the main Nazi forces had been tied down and all its strategic reserves exhausted.

On the approaches to Stalingrad in July 1942, work was stepped up to build defensive lines between the Volga and the Don. There was heavy deployment of troops on either side or fierce battle ensured. But he enemy was unable to break through to Stalingrad. The increased resistance of the Soviet Forces, which fought with exceptional heroism forced the fascist German command to narrow the zone of advance. As a result of the fighting, the enemy’s plan to take Stalingrad on the run was foiled by the stubborn defence of the Soviet Forces. In the process, the offensive of the fascist German forces along the Stalingrad axis was gradually brought to a halt. The German command planned to hold forth and renew the offensive. Hitler did not think that after heavy fighting, in the south of the country at Stalingrad and in the North Caucasus, the Soviet Forces would be able to mount a major offensive in these regions. During the Battle of Stalingrad, the Soviet Command was accumulating forces and means for the counter-offensive and in September the GHQ of the Supreme Command and the General Staff began working out the plan for it. In November-December, the forces of the Don and the Stalingrad fronts waged biter battles against the surrounded fascist German forces. Subsequently, the fascist German command’s attempt to break the blockade was foiled.

In early January 1943, the situation of the fascist German forces trapped in the circle sharply worsened. The Soviet Forces went over to the offensive. Bitter fighting developed. The enemy resisted stubbornly. But the forces of the Don Front advanced by the end of January had split the surrounded enemy grouping ultimately eliminating the southern group of the fascist German forces. The utter defeat of the enemy on the Volga marked the beginning of the turning point in the Great Patriot War and in World War II as a whole; the expulsion of enemy forces from the Soviet territory had begun. As a result of the Battle of Stalingrad, the Soviet Armed Forces gained the strategic initiative and retained it until fascist Germany was completely defeated.