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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Soviet cavalry during the Battle of Stalingrad, November 1942 |
| 2025-12-05 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. Text taken from a Vk post at The Great Patriotic War page These days we remember the feat of Soviet cavalrymen in the Don steppes in November - December 1942. "The cavalry corps played a role in the offensive phase of the Battle of Stalingrad that is difficult to overestimate. Any encirclement operation requires not only cutting off the retreat and supply lines of the encircled forces, but also securing the outer front of the encirclement. If a strong outer front of the encirclement is not created, then the enemy can relieve the encircled forces with attacks from the outside (usually an outer encirclement by mechanized units), and all our efforts will be in vain. Cavalry corps penetrate behind the encircled forces as deeply as possible into the enemy rear, seize key positions, and take up defensive positions. At Stalingrad in November 1942, this role was assigned to three cavalry corps. Cavalry was chosen because the Red Army at that time had few well-trained mechanized units. It must be said that the terrain in the Stalingrad area was not conducive to the use of cavalry. Large forests, which usually provided cover for horsemen, were absent. On the contrary, the open terrain allowed the enemy to attack the cavalry corps with aircraft. What were the formations that were to break through into the snowy steppe and then repel the attacks of German tanks? Northwest of Stalingrad were the 8th Cavalry Corps (21st, 55th, and 112th Cavalry Divisions) and the 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps (5th and 6th Guards Cavalry Divisions and the 32nd Cavalry Division). South of Stalingrad, the 4th Cavalry Corps (61st and 81st Cavalry Divisions) operated. The 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps was the best-equipped of all. The other two corps were severely short of horses (1,874 in the 8th and 1,172 in the 4th Corps), forcing them to maintain infantry squadrons within their regiments. ...It so happened that the 2nd Guards Army's heroism at the Myshkovo River has been celebrated in literature and on film. The actions of those who ensured the 2nd Guards Army's deployment, unfortunately, remained unknown. This was especially true of the cavalry, particularly the 4th Cavalry Corps. Therefore, for many years, the cavalry bore the stigma of being an outdated and unimpressive branch of the armed forces. Without it, the encirclement of Paulus's army at Stalingrad might have failed..." |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #2 |
| Posted by: Chantry 2025-12-05 18:40 |
| #1 |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2025-12-05 11:04 |