1077th Anti - Aircraft Regiment ( Soviet Union ) The 1077th Anti - aircraft Regiment under Colonel Raiynin , was a unit of the Stalingrad Corps Region of the Soviet Air Defence Forces which fought during the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942 . The Stalingrad Corps Region was part of the Stalingrad Military District and later subordinated to the Stalingrad Front during the battle for the city . The regiment , like many of the anti - aircraft units , was made up almost entirely of young women volunteers , barely out of high school . They are mostly known for their bravery in the defense of Stalingrad ( now Volgograd ) , when they engaged an advancing Panzer unit by setting their guns to the lowest elevation and firing them horizontally . Information about this unit seems sparse and contradictory . What seems clear is that , like most of the anti - aircraft units , they were poorly trained and under - supplied with ammunition . They probably did not have armour piercing rounds , but rather fragmentation ' flak ' rounds , and it is questionable how effective these would have been against armour . Their guns were M1939 guns which were 37mm copies of Bofors . On August 23 , 1942 the German 6th Army launched its offensive on Stalingrad . After extensive bombing which turned much of the city into an inferno , the 16th Panzer Division advanced unresisted , until Gumrak airport , 15 km northwest of the city , where they came under fire from anti - aircraft guns . The 16th Panzer Division recorded that " right until afternoon we had to fight ' shot for shot ' against 37 anti - aircraft positions manned by tenacious fighting women , until all were destroyed " . This passage is repeated in a number of places out on the net : The first combat with a German Panzer column occurred on the approaches to the Tractor Factory . The unit involved was the 1077th Anti - Aircraft Regiment . The crews of these AA Guns consisted of young girls who had volunteered for combat duty with the Army . The Artillery unit was positioned on the flat ground of the Steppe . We saw that they were all alone as there were no Soviet troops either to the left of them , or to the right . We fully understood that it was their duty to stand and defend this ground to the last person living . The young female gunners have stopped the German Panzer Column . We see in front of us that there are several ' Panzers ' and trucks ruined and burning . They had taken their time in planning this attack and used small battlegroups that tried to make a lightning attack to quickly take out our positions . The Germans attacked several times inflicting heavy losses to this unit and they kept attacking until all were killed . The dead will remain forever scattered in the steppe as a testimony of their heroic defence of our factory . Unfortunately there is no indication as to its source beyond " The Volgograd archives " . It is unclear whether this is at Gumrak ( as perhaps the mentions of the steppes indicates ) or closer into the city , where the factories would have been . The tractor factory ( which was then producing tanks ) was a major objective of the invading forces . The Soviet official history of the war also makes mention of this action : The anti - aircraft troops first engaged the Panzers on August 23rd on the northern outskirts of the city . An attack from this quarter by the enemy had been unexpected , and so there were no rifle units in position to assist the batteries of the 1077th Anti - Aircraft Regiment in their defense against the strong concentration of German tanks and motorized infantry . Under the command of Colonel W . S . German , for two days the regiment fought alone and repelled the assaults of German submachine - gunners . During the combat , the regiment destroyed or damaged 83 tanks and 15 other vehicles carrying infantry , destroyed or dispersed over three battalions of assault infantry , and shot down 14 aircraft . The 1077th Anti - Aircraft Regiment remained in service with the Soviet forces to the end of the war . In May 1945 , the regiment was part of the 86th Air Defense Forces Division , itself subordinated to the Southwestern Front . In 1945 , the 86th Division was charged with air defense support for the Kharkov and Odessa Military Regions , and also for the Independent Coastal Army .