Nizhni Novgorod - Volgograd
Nizhni Novgorod was until quite recently a closed city, best known to westerners as the exilic home of Andrei Sakharov after he denounced the war in Afghanistan. Nizhni is Russia"s third largest city and a major industrial center. Although it dates back to the 13th century, the majority of its most interesting sights are from later periods. Foremost among these is the city"s great, brooding Kremlin, built during the 16th century.Volgograd
Formerly and most famously known as Stalingrad, this historic city was founded in the late 16th century to defend the land that Ivan the Terrible had wrested from the Tatars. Then known as Tsaritsyn, the city was for the first several centuries of its existence primarily a military stronghold. In fact, the bulk of its history is one of military conflict. Late in the 17th century, and again in the late 18th century it was captured by Cossack rebels. During the civil war that followed the October Revolution, the city was defended by Stalin and other Bolshevik commanders. In 1918, it fell to the White Russian army, but was retaken two years later. In 1925, as Stalin rose to power in the Soviet government, the city was renamed Stalingrad.
By World War II, Stalingrad had become a major commercial, industrial, and transportation center. It was also the regional center for the rich Caucasus oil fields. All of which, of course, made it quite attractive to Nazi Germany. In the summer of 1942, just as the Soviet Union was turning back the German offensive against Moscow, Hitler launched a major drive toward Stalingrad. The German force numbered over half a million men, including units from a number of different Axis countries. Stalin ordered that the city be held at all costs, and Hitler ordered that it be taken at all costs. The Soviets, vastly outnumbered and outgunned, resisted with a tenacity that is scarcely credible. The Germans were forced to fight house-to-house, slowly working their way through the city by reducing it to rubble. By November, the Germans had still not been able to extricate or overwhelm the small remaining Soviet garrison. General Freidrich von Paulus, their commander, thought it time to withdraw--Hitler refused. Within weeks, two Soviet forces had encircled and captured all of the remaining German forces. The city had been relieved, though there wasn"t really any city left.
ruvolg01.jpg (21024 bytes) The battle of Stalingrad has long been considered the critical turning point of World War II. Had Hitler succeeded in his attack and taken control of the Caucasus oil fields, he would have had enormously greater resources with which to fuel his armies. Having failed to do so, and having lost an enormous and experienced army in the process, was disastrous. After Stalingrad the Russians advanced almost continuously all the way to Berlin.
The reconstruction of the city began immediately. Its heroic defense is commemorated by the remarkable 170-foot statue of Mother Russia wielding a great sword of victory. The statue stands atop Mamai Hill, the site of the battle"s most intense fighting. Although nothing survives of the old city, Volgograd is once more a prosperous commercial and industrial center.