Footsteps of WWII · Russia & Belarus
Rossoshka war cemeteries
Cemetery · Nov 1942 – Feb 1943 (cemeteries 1997 and 1999)
The story
Rossoshka lies in the steppe about 37 km north-west of central Volgograd, in the middle of the pocket where the German 6th Army was encircled from November 1942 until its surrender in early February 1943. The villages of Bolshaya and Malaya Rossoshka were destroyed in the fighting. Two cemeteries face each other across the road. The Soviet cemetery opened on 23 August 1997 and holds about 18,520 Red Army dead, mostly unknown. The German cemetery, built by the Volksbund and dedicated in 1999, holds over 61,000 German soldiers, and granite cubes dedicated in 2006 carry the names of nearly 120,000 missing. A Chapel of Peace opened in 2016.
What to look for
On the German side, a circular enclosure about 150 m across with a central cross, and beyond it rows of tall granite cubes covered in names. Across the road, the Soviet cemetery with Vysotsky's lines on the entrance walls and the 'Mother in Sorrow' holding a bell without a clapper.
Plan your visit
FCDO advises against all travel to Russia. Open-air cemeteries, free. No public transport: by car or taxi, past Volgograd airport then about 17 km on. Toilets on site. Check the Volksbund page before you go.
Things change, so check opening times before you travel.
Nearby sites
- Mamayev Kurgan and 'The Motherland Calls' · 29 km
- Pavlov's House, Volgograd · 29 km
- Panorama Museum & Gerhardt's Mill, Volgograd · 30 km
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Footsteps of WWII: Europe 1939–1945
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