Operation Uranus

In this week in military history, we explore Operation Uranus, the Soviet counteroffensive that changed the course of the Battle of Stalingrad during World War II. Despite having sign of 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact, in June of 1941 Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. After the brutal Soviet winter gave some pause to the Soviet forces defending against Adolf Hitler’s forces, Hitler ordered his Sixth Army to head south to take Stalingrad in the summer of 1942. By September, General Friedrich von Paulus ordered the offensive on the city itself, estimating it would take his powerful Sixth Army only 10 days to capture the city. They faced a determined Red Army, led by General Vasily Zhukov, who used the rubble of the city to his advantage. Street fighting, or Rattenkrieg (“Rat’s War”), became the norm, as the armies broke into small groups to fight for every yard and every building. Each side saw a heavy toll. On November 19, 1942, General Zhukov launched Operation Uranus, catching the Germans by surprise. The massive Soviet reinforcements featured half a million new Soviet troops, 900 tanks, and nearly 2,000 aircraft. Three days later, they had successfully completely encircled the German Sixth Army, and the remanence of the Fourth and Third Romanian armies, and portions of the German Fourth Panzer Army within the city of Stalingrad. The operation showcased the Soviet Red Army’s growing ability to fight and match the Germans. Ultimately, the German’s surrendered against Adolf Hitler’s wishes who ordered them to fight to the last man and the last bullet. With the battle of Stalingrad, the tide of the war had began to turn. Join us next time for another segment of This Week in Military History with the Pritzker Military Museum & Library!