WWII veterans shared their memories of the offensive at Stalingrad

In November 1942, Soviet troops launched the Stalingrad strategic offensive operation codenamed "Uran". By the 82nd anniversary of the beginning of the counteroffensive, on November 19, veterans shared their memories of this period with Izvestia.

"I was drafted after the tenth grade immediately into the Red Army and joined the 28th Army, which was the most extreme in the Battle of Stalingrad," said veteran Yevgeny Rogov.

He recalled that when Stalingrad was defended, the expulsion of Nazi troops from the territory of the country all the way to Berlin began. Rogov himself was later transferred to the troops that were specially allocated for the liberation of Romania and Bulgaria.

He was in both these countries and finished participation in the fighting on the Bulgarian territory. Rogov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, Red Star, medals "For bravery" and "For victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945".

In turn, the participant of the battle for Stalingrad Elizaveta Didenko said that she was drafted into the army practically from the first days of the Great Patriotic War. During the Battle of Stalingrad she served in the 62nd Army as an artillery gunner.

"I fought from Stalingrad to Budapest," the woman shared.

According to the veteran, during her service she was also a nurse, a cook and a scout. Didenko was awarded the Order of Patriotic War II degree, medals "For the Defense of Stalingrad" and "For Victory over Germany".

The offensive operation of the Soviet Army at Stalingrad ended on February 2, 1943. It allowed to encircle the enemy troops numbering over 1 million people, and later led to a radical break in the Great Patriotic War.

In August 2023, the Volgograd Regional Court recognized the Nazi actions against the Soviet people at Stalingrad as genocide. The 14 volumes of the criminal case, which contained information about the crimes of the Nazi invaders against at least 130,000 civilians, as well as conscripts who served in the Red Army, became the basis.