Kalach-Na-Donu

a city, the center of Kalachevski Raion, Volgograd Oblast, RSFSR. A port on the left bank of the Tsim-liansk Reservoir, 9 km above the entrance to the V. I. Lenin Volga-Don Ship Canal. The terminus (Don station) of a 30-km railroad branch from the Volgograd-Likhaia line. Population, 21,000 (1970). Kalach-na-Donu arose in 1716, based on a cossack sloboda (tax-exempt settlement), and became a city in 1951.

Kalach-na-Donu’s industries include ship repair, motor-vehicle repair, and fish processing; a creamery; a lumber mill; and a meat combine.

Fierce combat took place in August 1942 around Kalach-na-Donu during the battle of Stalingrad of 1942–43. On Aug. 26, 1942, the city was occupied by fascist German troops. During the counterattack of Soviet forces the city was liberated on Nov. 23, 1942, after intense fighting. Subsequently troops from the Southwestern and Stalingrad fronts joined forces southeast of Kalach-na-Donu (near the settlement of Sovetskii) to complete the encirclement of the fascist German troops at Stalingrad.