s captured and recaptured eight times. By early November, the German forces controlled 90 percent of the city and had cornered the Soviets into two narrow pockets, but they were unable to eliminate the last pockets of Soviet resistance in time. On November 19, Soviet forces launched a massive counterattack. This led to the encirclement of the German Sixth Army and other Axis units. On January 31, 1943 the Sixth Army's commander, Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrendered, and on February 2, with the elimination of straggling German troops, the Battle of Stalingrad was over.
Stalingrad was awarded the title Hero City for its heroism in 1945, and Great Britain's King George VI awarded the citizens of Stalingrad the jeweled "Sword of Stalingrad" in recognition of their bravery. Stalingrad was destroyed during the war, and in 1946, the construction of the modern city started. It included the memorial complex on the Mamayev Kurgan. A number of cities around the world (especially those which had suffered similar wartime devastation) established sister/friendship/twinning links (see list below) in the spirit of solidarity or reconciliation. One of the first "sister city" projects was that established between Stalingrad and England's Coventry during World War II (as both suffered extensive devastation from aerial bombardment).
Volgograd
In 1961, the name was changed from Stalingrad to Volgograd ("Volga City") as part of Nikita Khrushchev's programme of de-Stalinization. This was and remains somewhat contentious, given the fame of the name "Stalingrad" and its importance in wartime remembrance. There were serious proposals to revert the name to "Stalingrad" during Konstantin Chernenko's brief administration in 1985. There remains a strong degree of local support for a reversion but intermittent proposals have yet to be accepted by the Russian government.
Building of the Oblast Duma
On May 21, 2007, the Communist Party of the Russian
