Before reading the text, say what you know about Stalingrad.

2. Read the text and choose the statements that prove the following idea: Stalingrad by the end of the 1930s had turned into the largest industrial center of the Volga region.

Tsaritsyn was renamed Stalingrad after the Secretary General of All-Union Communist Party of the Central Committee Joseph Stalin on April 10, 1925. Under Stalin the city became a center of heavy industry and transshipment by rail and river. One of the main events of that period was the event of 1928 – construction of the first in Russia tractor plant and the large shipyard in the southern outskirts of the city which produced about 90 river barges a year and also diesel tugs.

By 1940 Stalingrad had already been the largest industrial and cultural center of the Volga region. On the eve of the Second World War it produced 40 percent of the country's tractors, over 30 percent of high-grade steel. It had 126 factories and plants, vast residential districts, many schools, libraries, theatres. In the city there were three institutes: Stalingrad Tractor institute (1930), Pedagogical institute (1931) and Medical institute (1935). By then the city's population had grown to about half a million.

The peaceful life of Stalingrad was interrupted by the war. In 1942, the city became the site of one of the most severe battles of the war. On July 12, 1942 the Stalingrad front was formed. On July 17, 1942 heroic defense of Stalingrad began. On August 23, 1942 Stalingrad suffered from the barbarous bombing which destroyed the most part of the city. By September, the fighting which was of unprecedented intensity reached the city center. The central railway station changed hands thirteen times and the famous Mamayev Hill (Height 102) was captured and recaptured eight times. But the defenders of the Volga stronghold fought to the last ditch and held out. On November 19, Soviet forces launched a massive counterattack. This led to the eventual encirclement of the German Sixth Army. On January 31, 1943 its commander, Field Marshal Paulus and his staff surrendered, and on February 2 the Battle of Stalingrad which lasted 5 months, 1 week, and 3 days was over.

The victory over the Nazis made the city world famous. The battle of Stalingrad largely determined the outcome of the war. Here on the banks of the Volga the defeat of fascism began. For the peoples of the world Stalingrad is a symbol of heroism and self-sacrifice, a monument to the struggle for peace and combat glory.

After the last shot of the battle had been fired and the gunpowder smoke dispersed, a chaos of destruction revealed itself. But in a short period of time a modern town was reborn from the ruins to appear in all its majestic beauty. By the end of 1944 7 schools, 13 kindergartens, 192 shops were restored and constructed in Stalingrad. In October 1950 the first post-war Stalingrad industrial and agricultural exhibition was opened. In May 1952 the Volga-Don ship canal connected waters of two great rivers and made the city a port of five seas: the Caspian, the Black, the Azov, the Baltic and the White. In 1954 the Railway station " Stalingrad I" met the first passengers. The same year the Stalingrad planetarium was opened. In 1957 the oil refinery was put into operation. In 1958 the Stalingrad hydroelectric power station, largest in Europe, was started up.

On November 10, 1961 Stalingrad was renamed into Volgograd.

3. Look through the text. Connect the date with the event and make up sentences. For example: The tractor plant was established in 1928.

1) 1930, 1943, 1961, 1928, 1942, 1952

2) the renaming of the city; the formation of the Stalingrad front; the construction of the Volga-Don ship canal; the opening of the tractor institute; the defeat of Hitler’s troops in Stalingrad; the establishing of the tractor plant.

Make up 10 questions using information from the text and discuss them with your partner. Give some extra information you have about Stalingrad.

Part II

SIGHTS OF VOLGOGRAD

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