Were there any battles on the far left?
This is my timeline for the Battle of Stalingrad. The maps are largely from: RKKA in WW2: Maps 1942 South-Western Direction. Ideas for Wargaming scenarios are highlighted. 22 Jun 1941 At 0315 hours the Germans launched Operation ‘Barbarosa’ – the attack on the Soviet Union (Erickson, 1993)...
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23 Aug 1942
Despite Soviet bombing raids and Katyusha strikes overnight, at 0415 or 0430 hours 16th Panzer Division headed east (Beevor, 1999; Erickson, 1993). The first real resistance was at Gumrak with anti-aircraft (AA) guns firing at the Panzers from the north-west corner of Stalingrad. German tanks attacked the AA batteries, which were largely crewed by partially trained young women. In an unequal battle the young women fired their 37mm guns directly at the advancing Germans. Eventually the Panzers, with Stuka help, knocked out the batteries. At 1600 hours 16th Panzer Division, reached Rynok and the Volga north of Stalingrad. German tanks and artillery began to fire on river traffic, although they also had to continue to suppress newly discovered AA positions. The German division reported destroying 37 separate AA posts during the day. LI Corps followed the Panzers into the breach.
At 1800 hours the Luftwaffe commenced its bombing campaign of Stalingrad (Fowler, 2005). This was the heaviest raid the Luftwaffe had conducted since 22 Jun 1941, and included the all 1,200 available planes (Beevor, 1999; Clark, 1965). Over 40,000 people were killed in the first week of bombing. Most of the wooden buildings on the outskirts of Stalingrad burned during the night. Subsequent fighting in those areas took place in the charred remains of the bungalows and workers settlements, where there was little cover except for the forest of brick chimneys that remained.
The motorcycle battalion of 16th Panzer Division probed the northern suburbs and captured a train of weapons and supply vehicles (Beevor, 1999).
At 2310 hours 79th Panzer Grenadier Regiment was in Spartanovka, the northern most suburb of Stalingrad on the banks of the Volga.
Those workers not directly involved in weapons production were drafted into ‘Special Brigades’ (Beevor, 1999). Most, but not all, were issued weapons and ammunition, before being sent to the front. Some of these untrained and badly equipped battalions were mauled when sent against the 16th Panzer Division in the northern suburb of Spartakovka.
Meanwhile tank manufacture continued, and unpainted T-34s rolled off the production line directly into battle (Beevor, 1999)