She is called Motherland Calls.
The gigantic monument overlooks one of the eternal flames in Russia.
Honor Guard at the memorial complex with the eternal flame.
Hitler and Germany were obsessed with a number of things.
Did you know that the Naxis really
did try to find the 'lost Ark of the Covenent"?
In 1942, Hitler became obsessed with the city that bore the
name of his
arch Russian foe, Joseph Stalin. The city... was Stalingrad.
Hitler told General Friedrich Paulus,
"With your Sixth Army, you could storm the heavens themselves".
A couple of months later, the Germans referred to Stalingrad... as Hell on Earth.
The battle lasted for almost 200 days.
It was one of the most desperate and vicious battles
in the history of warfare.
For the Russians, there was no land on the other side of the Volga.
When the battle was over, Hitler and Germany knew the truth; they had lost the war.
About 400,000 German soldiers died in the battle and the prison camps.
It was never known for sure how many Russians died. But, in 1991, after a failed coup attempt in Moscow,
the KGB and government archives were opened. The truth of the Russian casualties were hidden by Stalin,
because it was feared that the price was too high.
We now know that at least.... one million Russians died in the battle.
Beginning in 1945, a ten year competition was held across the Soviet Union,
to find a fitting monument for the largest and most decisive battle of World War II... the Battle of Stalingrad.
The statue was completed in 1967.
Russian leader Leonid Brezhnev and former leader
Nikita Khrushchev attended the opening ceremonies.
Khrushchev was at the Battle of Stalingrad.
From the base to the top of her 40 foot stainless steel sword,
she stands 270 feet.
There are appertures in the sword to reduce wind resistance.