First, a bit of background...[1]
On the banks of the Volga River sat a bustling factory town
called Stalingrad. It was 14 September 1942 and the Nazis were beginning to
force their way into the city. The commander in charge of the defense of the
city was Lieutenant General Vasiliy Chuikov, who had only received this charge
(command of the 62nd Army) two days prior.
By 1PM (1300) the Germans had taken the Mamaev Kurgan, the
large hill on the edge of the city center that overlooked the entirety of
Stalingrad, and had begun their increasingly brutal attack on the city. With
their improved vantage point, the German forces were able to correct their
artillery targeting and aerial bombardment to devastating effect.
Before the taking of the Kurgan was complete, an order went
out that the 13th Guards Rifle Division, led by General Alexander
Rodimtsev, was to cross the Volga and aid in the counter-attack against the
Kurgan and that Rodimtsev, himself, was to report directly to Chuikov at 2PM
(1400). Rodimtsev crossed the Volga with only a handful of subordinates in
broad daylight, multiple times having to dive into trenches and bomb craters to
avoid the shelling, hours before any of his Guards RD were able to cross and
join the fight.
Alexander Rodimtsev arrived, covered from head to toe in
every manner of dirt, mud, and grime, to General Chuikov’s command center
shortly before 2PM prompting this exchange:
Gen. Chuikov began, half jokingly, “Comrade
General, do you normally present yourself for duty in such condition?”
To which Gen. Rodimtsev replied, “Fuck
your mother, comrade commander!”
This is easily my favorite war-time quote of all time and I
hope you all enjoy it as much as I do. We, in America, do not often get to hear
these eastern front anecdotes, and, in fact, this was not written in English until
2007. I, as a history lover, am glad that the whole world is starting to get on
the same page about recording and studying the histories of all nations from a
non-jingoistic point of view so that we can truly understand what has brought us to where we are.
Всего хорошего.
[1]
David M. Glantz, Armageddon in Stalingrad: September- November 1942,
(Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2009), 112-120.
Michael K. Jones, Stalingrad: How the Red Army
Survived the German Onslaught, (Drexel Hill: Casemate, 2007), 103-107.
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