The Soviet city of Taganrog, now part of the Rostov Oblast of the Russian Federation, had an eventful history during World War II, from 1941 to 1945.

In the spring of 1941, the State Aviation Factory no.31 began producing the brand-new fighters LAGG-3, later increasing the number of planes assembled to at least six airplanes per day following the opening of the Eastern Front.

On 15 September 1941, the Rostov Oblast Communist Party Committee gave instructions for the organization of defense and underground resistance in case of occupation.

The defense was held by 31st Rifle Division (Soviet Union) under command of Mikhail Ozimin and the 44th Home Guards detachment.

On June 27, 1941 the State Communist Party Committee and Sovnarkom ordered the evacuation of industrial enterprises, agricultural resources, material and cultural values from the areas in the proximity of the front-line.

On October 9, 1941 the State Aviation Factory no.31 started preparations for evacuation to relocate the production of LAGG-3 (including 3000 workers with families and over 50 nearly finished LAGG-3 "assembly kits") to Tbilisi.

It was due not only to strategic objects, such as seaport, aerodrome, train stations or developed industry, but also to the fact that the city was located on the Azov Sea with hospitals and a spa center that could provide comfortable staying conditions for personnel.

Ortskommendant Alberti explained this measure as necessary due to an alleged rise of antisemitism among the local population, and that the German police and Gestapo would better manage the question if the Jewish population were separated into a certain district of the city: In order to implement this measure, the Jews of both sexes and of all ages, including the persons born of marriages between Jews and not-Jews must be present on Wednesday, October 29, 1941 at 8 o'clock in the morning at Vladimirskaya Ploshad of Taganrog.

We highly recommend the Jews to take with them all valuables and cash...(excerpt)[4]On October 29, 1941 all Jews of Taganrog (around 2,500 people) were gathered on Vladimirskaya Plaza, promptly registered at the building of the school no.27 in front of Vladimirskaya Plaza and taken by trucks to the Gully of Petrushino near the Beriev Aircraft Factory, where they were shot to death by Schutzmannschaft collaborators under control of Otto Ohlendorf's Einsatzgruppe D. Of all the Jewish children who lived in Taganrog in 1941 only a 14-year-old boy Volodya Kobrin (Russian: Кобрин, Владимир Моисеевич) managed to escape certain death thanks to the help of various people in Taganrog, and especially Anna Mikhailovna Pokrovskaya, who was awarded the title of Righteous among the Nations by Professor Alisa Shenar, Ambassador of Israel in Russia on July 19, 1996.

Twenty-two children were found by mere chance by the military intelligence Guards Sergeant Vladimir Tsibulkin (formerly worker of the Taganrog Combine-Harvester factory) and were saved from poisoning planned by SS by an attack of the 301st Rifle Division (Soviet Union) on February 8, 1944.

The people were convoyed on foot by the police and military to Primorskoe village near Mariupol, and further taken by train to Stalino, where the central "distribution center" for OST-Arbeiters in the South was located.

[12] From October 22 to August 29, 1943 some 27,000 Zwangsarbeiters or OST-Arbeiters were forced to leave Taganrog and were displaced into Germany or other occupied territories, including concentration camps.

The "Russian auxiliary police" was directly involved in all punitive operations and formed part of the killing squads, including the Gully of Petrushino, and in arrests of young activists of the Taganrog underground resistance movement.

The defense lines "Mius-Front" along the Mius River had been created under command of General Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist back in October 1941.

On August 29, 1943 the 4th Guards Cavalry Corps of lieutenant-general Nikolai Kirichenko (Russian: Кириченко, Николай Яковлевич) breached the German defense line near Veselo-Voznesenovka village and reached the Azov Sea, cutting the retreat ways from Taganrog to Mariupol.

Only mine-layer parties were left in the city, and the Sambek Heights were held by the 111th Infantry Division (Nazy Germany) under command of General Hermann Recknagel.

On August 30, 1943 Generalissimo Marshal of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin gave the order to General Fyodor Tolbukhin to name the 130th Rifle Division and 416th Rifle Division after the city of Taganrog, and on August 30 at 7:30 pm to fire a salute of twenty salvoes in honor of the glorious troops who liberated the Rostov Oblast and Taganrog.

The Secretary of the Taganrog City Communist Party committee Alexander Zobov held a speech before the gathered citizens.