Kalach-na-Donu

Kalach-na-Donu (Кала́ч-на-Дону́), or Kalach-on-the-Don, is a town and the administrative center of Kalachyovsky District in Volgograd Oblast, Russia, located on the Don River, 72 km west of Volgograd, the administrative center of the oblast. Population:

History
It was founded in 1708 as a Cossack sloboda and was originally called Kalach (Калач).

In World War II, the town lent its name to an armored clash between the German 6th Army and the Soviet 64th and 1st Tank Armies from July 25 to August 11, 1942. About three months later, during Operation Uranus, several Soviet tank corps encircled the besieging German 6th Army in Stalingrad by capturing Kalach, thus cutting off German supply routes.

It was granted town status on April 18, 1951. At the same time, its name was changed to Kalach-na-Donu, to distinguish it from an eponymous town in Voronezh Oblast. By Construction of Volga–Don Canal in 1952, The city become the end point of the canal.

In the 1990s, the population of Kalach-on-Don grew slightly due to thousands of Russian repatriates from the republics of the former USSR.

In the summer of 2006, forest fires burned in the suburbs of the town.

Since March 25, 2010, the town has the honorary title City of Military Glory (Decree of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev No. 342). The town has this title for its historical role in the events of the Battle of Stalingrad.

On July 9, 2024, six Ukrainian kamikaze drones attacked an oil storage facility near the town shipyard.

Administrative and municipal status
Within the framework of administrative divisions, Kalach-na-Donu serves as the administrative center of Kalachyovsky District. As an administrative division, it is, together with the settlement of Dom otdykha, incorporated within Kalachyovsky District as the town of district significance of Kalach-na-Donu. As a municipal division, the town of district significance of Kalach-na-Donu is incorporated within Kalachyovsky Municipal District as Kalachevskoye Urban Settlement.