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Operation Uranus

'LaGG-3-35 of Captain S. I. Lvov, 3rd GvIAP, Winter 1942' skin by _Tallahassee | download here

From 16.00 GMT on November 19th to 16.00 GMT on November 21th

take part in the event "Operation Uranus" in Realistic Battles

and get + 30% more Research Points and Silver Lions!

To many people living today, the historic Battle of Stalingrad is a well known chapter of World War II’s Eastern Front, as it was the major turning point in the conflict. With Field Marshal Paulus’ 6th Army yielding to Colonel-General Chuikov’s forces, the German Wehrmacht faced its first serious defeat, of which it would never fully recover.



Much less known, however, is the fact that not the battle within the city itself, but rather the successful Soviet counter-offensive around it was the key factor in deciding the outcome of this historic event. This counter-offensive was called ‘Operation Uranus’ and started as early as two months after the beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad on November 19th, 1942.



The Wehrmacht’s High Command, being certain that the Red Army was not capable of mounting any serious offensive due to a lack of reserves, ordered the attack on Stalingrad in full strength, while tasking the defense of the flanks to the ill-equipped Romanian 3rd and 4th Armies.



After half a day of artillery shelling and forceful attacks by the Soviets, the Romanian 3rd Army and the northern flank collapsed. The following day the southern flank was attacked, collapsing two days later after German reserve units, which were hasted to the front by a shocked Paulus, were unable to stabilize the situation. As early as November 23rd, 1942, only four days after ‘Operation Uranus’ was launched, the first Soviet mechanized spearheads united and closed what would later be known as the ‘pocket of Stalingrad’.



The decisive Soviet victory in ‘Operation Uranus’ not only sealed the outcome of the Battle of Stalingrad, but also paved the way for an offensive that ultimately led to the siege of Berlin and the end of the Third Reich in 1945.



The War Thunder Team