Marshall Zhukov,
Enemy at the Gates
Control Eurasia, you control the world.
Take Stalingrad, and you Control Eurasia.
'Approaching this place, [Stalingrad], soldiers used to say: "We are entering hell." And after spending one or two days here, they say: "No, this isn't hell, this is ten times worse than hell."'
Vasily Chuikov
In another part of the city, a Soviet platoon under the command of Sergeant Yakov (Jakob) Pavlov fortified a four-story building that oversaw a square 300 yards from the river bank, later called Pavlov's House.
The soldiers surrounded it with minefields, set up machine-gun positions at the windows and breached the walls in the basement for better communications.
The soldiers found about ten Soviet civilians hiding in the basement.
They were not relieved, and not significantly reinforced, for two months.
The building was labeled Festung ("Fortress") on German maps.
Sgt. Pavlov was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union for his actions.
759,560 Soviet personnel were awarded this medal for the defence of Stalingrad from 22 December 1942.
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