"The forefront of the fighting of Stalingrad was here": these words on the memorial tablet of Lyudnikov’s Island memorial complex in the village of Nizhnie Barrikady (Lower Barricades) near Volgograd remind the future generations of the nightmare that happened there during the Battle of Stalingrad in the Second World War. Lyudnikov’s Island, a small area surrounded by the icy waters of the river and the German army, was really an island at that time. However, the commander of the 138th Division, I.I. Lyudnikov still managed to defend this piece of land from the enemy’s three divisions, and to change over to the offensive and drove the enemy from the Volga.
Now the memorial complex includes several mass graves, a shelled command post, an Orthodox cross and a T-34 tank turret dug into the earth. Based on the events taking place here, Colonel II Lyudnikov wrote the book "The Life-Long Road."