This Date in History: October 7

 

In Stalingrad on October 7, 1942, the 24th Panzer Division defended at the northern part of the Barrikady Gun Factory Workers’ Settlement against the 308th Rifle Division in preparation for future attacks.  Nighttime enemy air attacks struck the division, which also repelled enemy reconnaissance probes.  The division suffered 19 NCOs/enlisted killed in action; one officer and 47 NCOs/enlisted were wounded in action.  To the north was the 389th Infantry Division; to the south was the 100th Jäger Division.  (Stalingrad: The Death of the German Sixth Army on the Volga, 1942-1943)

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Irma Ilsa Ida Grese, senior SS woman’s overseer, served at Ravensbrück, Auschwitz and Belsen concentration camps, born  October 7, 1923 in Wrecken, sentenced to death for crimes against humanity, nicknamed “The Beast of Belsen” and “The Blonde Bitch of Belsen”, executed by hanging on December 13, 1945 at Hameln, Germany, on her duty:  “It was our duty to exterminate anti-social elements, so that Germany’s future would be assured!”  (2,000 Quotes From Hitler’s 1,000-Year Reich)