Battle of Stalingrad away from the oil-rich Caucasus, which had been Hitler's original grand-strategic objective. The Royal Romanian Air Force was also involved in the Axis air operations at Stalingrad. Starting 23 October 1942, Romanian pilots flew a total of 4,000 sorties, during which they destroyed 61 Soviet aircraft. The Romanian Air Force lost 79 aircraft, most of them captured on the ground along with their airfields. After three months of slow advance, the Germans finally reached the river banks, capturing 90% of the ruined city and splitting the remaining Soviet forces into two narrow pockets. Ice floes on the Volga now prevented
Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" the Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945". If worn in the presence of orders and medals of the Russian Federation, the latter have precedence. The Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" was a 36mm in diameter circular brass medal. On the obverse, over a background of fireworks in honour of the Soviet people's victory in World War 2, the relief image of Yevgeny Vuchetich's statue "The Motherland Calls", to the left of the statue, over descending and ascending laurel branches, a five pointed star and the dates "1945–1975".