Stalingrad became the place where the radical change of the Great Patriotic and World War II took place. And it began with a successful Red Army offensive, code-named "Uranus."
Background
The Soviet counteroffensive near Stalingrad began in November 1942, however, the preparation of a plan for this operation at the High Command Headquarters began in September. In autumn, the German march to the Volga was choked. For both sides, Stalingrad was important both in a strategic and in a propaganda sense. This city was named after the head of the Soviet state. Once Stalin led the defense of Tsaritsyn from the whites during the Civil War. To lose this city, from the point of view of Soviet ideology, was unthinkable. In addition, if the Germans had established control of the lower reaches of the Volga, they would have been able to stop the supply of food, fuel and other important resources.
For all of the above reasons, a counteroffensive near Stalingrad was planned with particular care. The process was favored by the situation at the front. The parties for some time switched to a positional war. Finally, on November 13, 1942, a counterattack plan codenamed "Uranus" was signed by Stalin and approved at Headquarters.
Initial plan
What did the Soviet leaders want to see the counterattack near Stalingrad? According to the plan, the South-Western Front, led by Nikolai Vatutin, was to strike in the area of the small town of Serafimovich, occupied by the Germans in the summer. This group was ordered to break through at least 120 kilometers. Another shock formation was the Stalingrad Front. Sarpinsky lakes were chosen as the place of its offensive. Having traveled 100 kilometers, the front armies were to meet with the South-Western Front near Kalach-Sovetsky. Thus, the German divisions in Stalingrad would have been surrounded.
It was planned that the counterattack near Stalingrad would be supported by auxiliary strikes of the Don Front in the area of Kachalinskaya and Kletskaya. In Stavka, they tried to determine the most vulnerable parts of enemy formations. In the end, the strategy of the operation began to consist in the fact that strikes of the Red Army were delivered to the rear and flank of the most combat-ready and dangerous formations. It was there that they were the worst protected. Thanks to its good organization, Operation Uranus remained a mystery to the Germans until the day it began. The surprise and coordinated actions of the Soviet units played into their hands.
Enemy environment
As planned, the counteroffensive of Soviet troops near Stalingrad began on November 19. It was preceded by a powerful artillery bombardment. Before dawn, the weather changed dramatically, which made adjustments to the plans of the command. Dense fog did not allow the aircraft to fly into the air, as visibility was extremely low. Therefore, the main emphasis was placed precisely on artillery preparation.
The first under attack was the 3rd Romanian army, whose defense was broken through by Soviet troops. In the rear of this formation stood the Germans. They tried to stop the Red Army, but failed. The defeat of the enemy was completed by the 1st Tank Corps led by Vasily Butkov and the 26th Tank Corps of Alexei Rodin. Having completed the task, these units began to advance towards Kalach.
The next day the offensive of the divisions of the Stalingrad Front began. For the first day, these units advanced 9 kilometers, breaking through the enemy defenses on the southern approaches to the city. After two days of fighting, three German infantry divisions were defeated. The success of the Red Army shocked and confused Hitler. The Wehrmacht decided that the strike could be smoothed out by regrouping forces. In the end, after considering several options for action, the Germans transferred two more tank divisions to Stalingrad, which had previously operated in the North Caucasus. Paulus, until the very day when the final encirclement took place, continued to send victorious reports to his homeland. He stubbornly repeated that he would not leave the Volga and would not allow the blockade of his 6th army.
On November 21, the 4th and 26th Panzer Corps of the Southwestern Front reached Manoilin Farm. Here they made an unexpected maneuver, turning sharply east. Now these units moved straight to Don and Kalach. The advance of the Red Army tried to detain the 24th tank division of the Wehrmacht, but all its attempts to no avail. At this time, the command post of the 6th army of Paulus was urgently relocated to the village of Nizhnechirskaya, fearing to be caught by the attack of Soviet soldiers.
Operation "Uranus" once again demonstrated the heroism of the Red Army. So, for example, the advanced detachment of the 26th Panzer Corps on tanks and vehicles crossed the bridge across the Don near Kalach. The Germans turned out to be too careless - they decided that a friendly unit, equipped with captured Soviet equipment, was moving towards them. Taking advantage of this connivance, the Red Army destroyed the relaxed guard and took up a circular defense, waiting for the arrival of the main forces. The detachment maintained its position despite numerous enemy counterattacks. Finally, the 19th tank brigade broke through to him. Together, these two formations ensured the crossing of the main Soviet forces in a hurry to force the Don in the Kalach area. For this feat, commanders Georgy Filippov and Nikolai Filippenko were deservedly awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
On November 23, Soviet units took control of Kalach, where 1,500 soldiers of the enemy army were captured. This meant the actual environment of the Germans and their allies, remaining in Stalingrad and the interfluve of the Volga and Don. Operation "Uranus" at its first stage was successful. Now 330 thousand people serving in the Wehrmacht had to break through the Soviet ring. Under the circumstances, the commander of the 6th Panzer Army, Paulus, asked Hitler for permission to break through to the southeast. The Führer refused. Together this Wehrmacht forces, located near Stalingrad, but not surrounded, were combined into a new army group "Don". This formation was supposed to help Paulus break through the environment and keep the city. The Germans who fell into the trap had no choice but to wait for the help of their compatriots from outside.
Unclear prospects
Although the beginning of the Soviet counteroffensive near Stalingrad led to the encirclement of a significant part of the German forces, this undoubted success did not at all mean that the operation was over. The Red Army continued to attack enemy positions. The Wehrmacht was extremely large, so the Headquarters hoped to break through the defense and divide it into at least two parts. However, due to the fact that the front was noticeably narrowed, the concentration of enemy forces became much higher. The counteroffensive of the Soviet troops near Stalingrad slowed down.
Meanwhile, the Wehrmacht prepared a plan of operation Wintergevitter (which translates as "Winter Thunderstorm"). Its purpose was to ensure the liquidation of the encirclement of the 6th Army under the leadership of Friedrich Paulus. Army block "Don" was to break through the blockade. The planning and conduct of Operation Wintergevitter was assigned to Field Marshal Erich von Manstein. The main striking force of the Germans this time was the 4th Panzer Army under the command of Hermann Goth.
Wintergevitter
At crucial moments of the war, the scales are tilted to one side or the other, and until the last moment it is completely unclear who will be the winner. So it was on the banks of the Volga at the end of 1942. The beginning of the counterattack of the Soviet troops near Stalingrad remained with the Red Army. However, on December 12, the Germans tried to take the initiative into their own hands. On this day, Manstein and Goth began to implement the Wintergevitter plan.
Due to the fact that the Germans delivered their main blow from the area of the village of Kotelnikovo, this operation was also called Kotelnikovskaya. The blow was unexpected. The Red Army understood that the Wehrmacht would try to break through the blockade from the outside, but the attack from Kotelnikovo was one of the least considered options for the development of the situation. On the way of the Germans, seeking to come to the rescue of the comrades, the first was the 302nd Infantry Division. She was completely scattered and disorganized. So Goth managed to create a gap in the positions occupied by the 51st Army.
On December 13, the 6th Wehrmacht Panzer Division attacked the positions occupied by the 234th Tank Regiment, which was supported by the 235th Separate Tank Brigade and the 20th Fighter Anti-Tank Artillery Brigade. These formations were commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Diasamidze. Also nearby was the 4th mechanized corps of Vasily Volsky. Soviet groups were located near the village of Verkhne-Kumsky. The fighting of the Soviet troops and units of the Wehrmacht for control over it lasted six days.
The confrontation, which came with varying success on both sides, almost ended on December 19. The German group was reinforced with fresh units coming from the rear. This event forced the Soviet commanders to retreat to the Myshkovo River. However, this five-day delay of the operation played into the hands of the Red Army. During the time that the soldiers fought for every street of Verkhne-Kumsky, the 2nd Guards Army was pulled into the area nearby.
Critical moment
On December 20, the army of Goth and Paulus was separated by only 40 kilometers. However, the Germans, who were trying to break through the blockade, had already lost half of the personnel. The offensive slowed down and finally stopped. Goth's forces are over. Now, to break through the Soviet ring, the help of surrounded Germans was needed. The Wintergevitter operation plan in theory included an additional Donnerschlag plan. It consisted in the fact that the blocked 6th army of Paulus was to meet the comrades who were trying to break the blockade.
However, this idea was never realized. It was all the same order of Hitler "never to leave the fortress of Stalingrad." If Paulus broke through the ring and connected with Goth, he would certainly have left the city behind him. The Fuhrer considered such a turn of events a complete defeat and shame. His ban was ultimatum. Surely, if Paulus made his way through the Soviet ranks with fights, he would have been tried in the homeland as a traitor. He understood this well and did not take the initiative at the most crucial moment.
Manstein's retreat
Meanwhile, on the left flank of the attack of the Germans and their allies, Soviet troops were able to give a powerful rebuff. The Italian and Romanian divisions, which fought on this sector of the front, arbitrarily retreated. The flight took on an avalanche-like character. People left their positions without looking back. Now the way to the Kamensk-Shakhtinsky on the banks of the North Donets River was opened for the Red Army. However, the main task of the Soviet units was occupied Rostov. In addition, strategically important airfields in Tatsinskaya and Morozovsk, which were necessary for the Wehrmacht for the rapid transfer of food and other resources, became naked.
In this regard, on December 23, the commander of the operation to break the blockade, Manstein ordered to retreat in order to protect the communications infrastructure located in the rear. The 2nd Guards Army of Rodion Malinovsky took advantage of the maneuver of the enemy. The German flanks were stretched and vulnerable. December 24, Soviet troops again entered Verkhne-Kumsky. On the same day, the Stalingrad Front went on the offensive towards Kotelnikovo. Goth and Paulus were never able to unite and provide a corridor for the retreat of the surrounded Germans. Operation Wintergevitter has been suspended.
Completion of Operation Uranus
On January 8, 1943, when the position of the surrounded Germans finally became hopeless, the command of the Red Army presented an ultimatum to the enemy. Paulus had to capitulate. However, he refused to do this, following the orders of Hitler, for whom the failure of Stalingrad would be a terrible blow. When at Headquarters they learned that Paulus was insisting on his own, the offensive of the Red Army resumed with even greater force.
On January 10, the Don Front began the final elimination of the enemy. According to various estimates, about 250 thousand Germans were trapped at that time. The Soviet counterattack at Stalingrad has been going on for two months, and now a final breakthrough was needed to complete it. January 26, the surrounded group of the Wehrmacht was divided into two parts. The southern half ended up in the center of Stalingrad, and the northern half in the vicinity of the Barricades factory and the tractor factory. On January 31, Paulus surrendered with his subordinates. On February 2, the resistance of the last German detachment was broken. On this day the counterattack of the Soviet troops near Stalingrad ended. The date, in addition, was the final for the entire battle on the banks of the Volga.
Summary
What were the reasons for the success of the Soviet counteroffensive near Stalingrad? By the end of 1942, the Wehrmacht ran out of fresh human resources. There was simply no one to throw into fights in the east. The remaining forces were exhausted. Stalingrad became the extreme point of the German offensive. In the former Tsaritsyn, it choked.
The key to the whole battle was precisely the beginning of the counterattack at Stalingrad. The Red Army through several fronts was able to first encircle, and then liquidate the enemy. 32 enemy divisions and 3 brigades were destroyed. In total, the Germans and their allies on the Axis lost about 800 thousand people. Soviet figures were also colossal. The Red Army lost 485 thousand people, of which 155 thousand were killed.
For two and a half months of encirclement, the Germans made no attempt to break out of the encirclement from within. They expected help from the "mainland," but the lifting of the blockade by Army Group Don failed outside. Nevertheless, for the time allotted, the Nazis established an air evacuation system, with the help of which about 50 thousand soldiers got out of the encirclement (mostly they were wounded). Those who remained inside the ring either died or were captured.
The counteroffensive plan near Stalingrad was successfully implemented. The Red Army turned the tide of the war. After this success, the gradual process of liberating the territory of the Soviet Union from Nazi occupation began. In general, the Battle of Stalingrad, for which the counteroffensive of the Soviet armed forces was the final chord, turned out to be one of the most ambitious and bloody battles in the history of mankind. Fights on burned, bombed, and ruined ruins were complicated by winter weather. From the cold climate and the diseases caused by it, many defenders of the homeland died. Nevertheless, the city (and beyond it the entire Soviet Union) was saved. The name of the counterattack near Stalingrad - “Uranus” - is forever inscribed in military history.
Reasons for the defeat of the Wehrmacht
Much later, after the end of World War II, Manstein published his memoirs, in which he described in detail his attitude to the Battle of Stalingrad and the Soviet counter-offensive under it. He blamed Hitler for the death of the surrounded 6th Army. The Fuhrer did not want to surrender Stalingrad and thus cast a shadow on his reputation. Because of this, the Germans were first in the boiler, and then completely surrounded.
The armed forces of the Third Reich had other complications. Transport aviation was clearly not enough to provide the surrounded divisions with the necessary ammunition, fuel and food. The air passage was never fully used. In addition, Manstein mentioned that Paulus refused to break through the Soviet ring towards Gotha precisely because of a lack of fuel and fear of a final defeat, while also disobeying the order of the Führer.