August 1942

Eastern Front

During the Rzhev-Sychevka Operation, the armies of the Kalinin and Western Fronts suffer 51,482 killed and missing and 142,201 wounded.

At 0430 hours Weitersheim XIV Panzer Corps, with 1 panzer and 2 motorized divisions, cross the Don at Vertyachi. After a brief battle, the 16th Panzer Division breaks through the 98th Rifle Division of the 62nd Army and forces the 214th Rifle Division on its right back to the north. By 0800 hours the Soviets had collapsed and the Germans rush across the narrow Don-Volga land bridge. The 16th Panzer Division pushes rapidly east, disregarding the threat to its open flanks. By 1815 hours its leading panzer grenadier regiment reaches the west bank of the Volga at Rynok and secures Spartakovka to the north of Stalingrad. The Germans then try to push additional forces across the Don, the 71st Infantry Division crossing at Kalach. The alerted Soviets put up fierce resistance, slowing the 71st Infantry while counterattacks by the 87th Rifle Division threaten to isolate the 16th Panzer Division. Bitter fighting rages as the panzers rush from one sector to another, repelling numerous Soviet attacks. The 2 motorized divisions of the XIV Panzer Corps struggle to close up to the 16th Panzer, being held up by continual Soviet counterattacks. By nightfall the 3rd Motorized is 12 miles behind the 16th Panzer and the 60th Motorized a further 10 miles behind the 3rd.

A massive Luftwaffe raid by 600 bombers strike the city during the day, killing over 40,000 civilians and wrecking many buildings. Oil tanks on the west bank of the Volga are set alight and the docks burned.