23 August 1942, the day of the beginning of fighting on the close approaches to Stalingrad, is infamous for its massive bombardment. It is considered the “blackest” day in Stalingrad’s history.

At 16:18 the inhabitants saw how the sky turned black from an armada of planes coming from three sides. The terrible bombardment began, turning the city into an inferno. Only for the first day about 400 enemy planes rose into the sky above Stalingrad. Bombers took off every 4-8 minutes. Bombing continued in the following days, up to 29 August. Bombardment of Stalingrad became the largest air raid on the Eastern Front.

The result of air raids on Stalingrad was heavy destruction in Yermansky, Voroshilovsky and Dzerzhinsky districts. In six days up to 60-90% of the buildings in the centre of Stalingrad were burnt out. The huge blooming city was turned into ruins. According to the most approximate calculations more than 42 thousand civilians were killed and another 50 thousand were wounded.