RUSSTAL077
First Legion
During the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942, the Factory Worker Militia played a crucial role in the fierce struggle for control over the factory sections of the city. Comprised largely of civilian workers who had taken up arms to defend their homes and workplaces, this militia provided vital support to the Soviet Red Army. Their intimate knowledge of the factory layout and industrial infrastructure allowed them to engage in effective urban warfare and sabotage, disrupting German supply lines and fortifications.
Despite being less formally trained than regular troops, their determination and local expertise significantly bolstered Soviet defenses, contributing to the eventual Soviet victory in this pivotal battle.
Please note that these figures also work extremely well as Partisans.
Fought over a six month period of near constant fighting, the Battle of Stalingrad was certainly amongst the largest and fiercest battles of the entire war and served as a turning point and the end of the myth of invincibility of the German Wehrmacht. The Russian 62nd Army under General Chuikov fought as valiantly a defense as any army before or since in the history of warfare. For the beleaguered Soviet defenders, retreat wasn't option - only victory or death.
With their backs to the Volga, the Russian army stood fast, gripping tenaciously to smaller and smaller pockets of territory making the heroic sacrifice as the bait as part of a larger russian strategy that become known as Operation Uranus, the counterattack which would cut off the German 6th Army and seal their fate in the rubble of the gutted city.
As came to be seen, this was a task for which they were well suited. While the German Wehrmacht dominated their Soviet adversaries on the open steppes of mother Russia, in the rubble and debris of the shattered city, the battle became and infantryman's war and the Russians were the masters of this type of combat, giving rise to the "Stalingrad Academy of Streetfighting."
Defending by day and infiltrating and counterattacking by night, the Russians kept the Germans under constant pressure and eventually sapped the combat strength of the 6th Army which simply could not finish them off. The Russian defense of the city and subsequent counterattack and victory served to mark a turning point in the war and set the Soviets on the inevitable path to victory.