peashooter85:Welcome to Pavlov’s House,In the midst of the Battle of Stalingrad during World War II,
peashooter85:Welcome to Pavlov’s House,In the midst of the Battle of Stalingrad during World War II, the Russian soldier Sgt. Yakov Pavlov was given orders to hold a four story apartment building along the Volga River. The building was of great strategic importance, as it overlooked a large open square which dominated a large portion of the city. Sgt. Pavlov was the acting commander of an understrength 25 man platoon. On the 27th of September, 1942 Pavlov was ordered to fortify the building, and hold it to the last man and the last bullet.Nicknamed “Pavlov’s House”, Sgt. Pavlov had double lines of barbed wire and trenches constructed around the building. Every window was outfitted with a machine gun and PTSR-41 Anti-Tank rifles were placed on the roof. Several times a day for the next two months the Germans would attack Pavlov’s house while the Soviets fired from the windows, basement and roof. Hundreds upon hundreds of German soldiers were mowed down. The anti-tank rifles were useless against the German tanks head on, however Pavlov and his men found that if they let the tanks come to within 25 meters, from the 4th floor the rifles could get a shot at the tanks thin top armor. After several days of constant siege, Pavlov and his men found that they would have to take time during lulls of the battle, they would have to clean up the square, as the Germans would use blown up tanks and piles of bodies for cover.Day after day the Germans attacked, and day after day Pavlov and his men held out. They even survived artillery bombardments and air strikes. At one point, the Germans even managed to enter the building, with both sides fighting over levels of the building and even individual rooms over several days. Regardless, Pavlov and his men held.By the time Pavlov and his men were relieved on the 25th of November, Pavlov’s house was nothing more than a smoking ruin and Pavlov’s platoon was reduced to only 12 men. Pavlov himself was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union, Order of Lenin, Order of the October Revolution, and Two Orders of the Red Star. Pavlov’s house came to came to symbolize the overall resistance of the Soviet people, who continued to fight no matter how bad things got, and who would take a hard punch only to return with an even harder blow. Welcome to Pavlov’s house, and fuck you. -- source link