Pavlov's House was an apartment building converted into a fortified position, which Red Army defenders held for around 60 days against the Wehrmacht offensive during the Battle of Stalingrad. The siege lasted from 27 September to 25 November 1942 and eventually the Red Army managed to relieve it from the siege.
Pavlov's House in 2006
Pavlov's House in 1943. Gergardt Mill is in the background to the left
Pavlov's House on a 1950 stamp
The Battle of Stalingrad occurred on the Eastern Front of World War II, beginning when Nazi Germany and its Axis allies attacked and became locked in a protracted struggle with the Soviet Union for control over the Soviet city of Stalingrad in what is now southern Russia. The battle was characterized by fierce close-quarters combat and direct assaults on civilians in aerial raids; the battle epitomized urban warfare and is recorded as the single largest and costliest urban battle in military history. It was the bloodiest and fiercest battle of the entirety of World War II—and arguably in all of human history—as both sides suffered tremendous casualties amidst ferocious fighting in and around the city. Today, the Battle of Stalingrad is commonly regarded as the turning point in the European theatre of World War II, as Germany's Oberkommando der Wehrmacht was forced to withdraw a considerable amount of military forces from other regions to replace losses on the Eastern Front. By the time the hostilities ended, the German 6th Army and 4th Panzer Army had been destroyed and Army Group B was routed. The Soviets' victory at Stalingrad shifted the Eastern Front's balance of power in their favour, while also boosting the morale of the Red Army.
German and Romanian command personnel consult in a field position near the Don River, August 1942.
German infantry and a supporting StuG III assault gun during the battle
Smoke over the city center after aerial bombing by the German Luftwaffe on the central station
German soldiers clearing the streets in Stalingrad