Pavlov's House

The Pavlov's House or in Russian дом Павлова was a well-defended apartment building against Nazi Germany during World War II. The Pavlov's House was first featured in the computer game Call of Duty.

History
The Pavlov's House was attacked and was taken by German soldiers on the September of 1942. Soon a platoon of the Russian 13th Guards Rifle Division was ordered to take the building and defend it. The platoon was commanded by Sergeant Yakov Pavlov who was a junior commander replacing his wounded superior. In doing this mission the platoon was successful, but sadly only four men survived the combat and went on defending the Pavlov's House on their own.

After several days, reinforcements come to help equipping the defenders with machine guns, anti-tank guns and mortars though in the game reinforcements quickly came. Now a garrison of 25 troops surrounded the Pavlov's House with barbed wire and minefields. The Russians also put anti-tank and machine gun posts at the windows. For better internal communications and supplies they breached the walls in the basement and upper floors, and dug a communications trench to Soviet positions outside. Supplies were brought in via the trench or by boats crossing the river, defying German air raids and shelling.

Sadly food and water was short in supply, there weren't enough beds for all of the soldiers so the men tried to sleep on the insulation wool which was torn off pipes. With all this troble the Soviets also had to handle constant German machine gun fire. Soon the German troops attacked the building several times a day and each time the German infantry or tanks tried to cros the square to close in on the Pavlov's House the Russians put them under heavy fire from the basement, windows, and the roof top leaving the square covered with corpses and pieces of steel so the Germans had to retreat once again.

Eventually the defenders, as well as the Russian civilians who kept living in the basement all that time, held out during intensive fighting from 23 September until 25 November 1942, when they were relieved by the counter-attacking Soviet forces.

The Building
The Pavlov's House was a four story building (six stories in the game) in the city of Stalingrad and was built parallel to the embankment of the river Volga which also had a view of a large square called "9th January Square" named for Bloody Sunday.

After the Battle
Pavlov's House became a symbol of the stubborn resistance of the Soviet Union in the Battle of Stalingrad, and in the Great Patriotic War in general. It stands out prominently because the German armies had previously conquered cities and entire countries within weeks; yet they were unable to capture a single half-ruined house, defended most of the time by just over a dozen soldiers, in spite of trying for two months. It is reported that the building at the "9th January Square" was marked as a fortress in German maps.

Chuikov, the defender of Stalingrad, was later heard to comment that Pavlov's men killed more Germans than were lost in the liberation of Paris.

Pavlov's "House" was rebuilt after the battle and is still used as an apartment building today. There is an attached memorial constructed from bricks picked up after the battle on the East side facing the Volga.

Sgt. Pavlov was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for his actions.