Донской фронт
In May 1942 he took command of the 8th Cavalry Corps of the Bryansk Front. In October 1942 he took command of the 66th Army of the Don Front, which he commanded to the end of the war. His army took part in the Battle of Stalingrad, during which on 25 November 1942 he changed his surname from "Zhidov" to "Zhadov" on Joseph Stalin's request, because the name sounded Jewish. Aleksey Zhadov was in reality ethnically Slav. Zhadov's 66th Army was renamed the 5th Guards Army for its bravery and tenacity displayed at Stalingrad.