Operation Winter Storm

Operation Uranus Part of Eastern Front (World War II) The Eastern Front at the time of Operation Winter Storm Date 12–23 December 1942 Location Result Decisive Soviet Victory Belligerents  Soviet Union  Germany Commanders Aleksandr Vasilevsky Erich von Manstein Hermann Hoth

v • d • e Eastern Front Barbarossa – Baltic Sea – Black Sea – Finland – Leningrad and Baltics – Crimea and Caucasus – Moscow – 1st Rzhev–Vyazma – 2nd Kharkov – Blue – Stalingrad – Velikiye Luki – 2nd Rzhev–Sychevka – Kursk – 2nd Smolensk – Dnieper – 2nd Kiev – Dniepr-Carpathian – Narva – Hube's Pocket – Bagration – Lvov–Sandomierz – Lublin–Brest – Romania (Iassy–Kishinev) – Baltic – Budapest – Vistula–Oder – East Prussia – East Pomerania – Silesia – Vienna – Berlin – Prague

v • d • e Case Blue to 3rd Kharkov Blue – Voronezh – Edelweiss – Stalingrad – Uranus – Winter Storm – Little Saturn – Tatsinskaya Raid – 3rd Kharkov

Operation Winter Storm (German: Unternehmen Wintergewitter), undertaken between 12–23 December 1942, was the German Fourth Panzer Army's attempt to relieve encircled Axis forces during the Battle of Stalingrad. In late November, the Red Army completed Operation Uranus, concluding in the encirclement of over 200,000 Axis personnel in and around the city of Stalingrad. German forces within the Stalingrad pocket and directly outside were reorganized under Army Group Don, positioned between Army Groups A (located in the Caucasus) and Army Group B (located in eastern Ukraine), under the command of Field Marshal Erich von Manstein. As the Red Army continued to build up strength, in an effort to allocate as many resources as possible to the eventual launch of planned Operation Saturn, which aimed to isolate Army Group A from the rest of the German Army, the Luftwaffe had begun an attempt to supply German forces in Stalingrad through an air bridge. However, as the Luftwaffe proved incapable of carrying out its mission with the limited resources at hand and it became more and more obvious that a successful breakout could only occur if it was launched as early as possible, Manstein decided to plan and launch a dedicated relief effort.

Originally Manstein had been promised the presence of four panzer divisions, four infantry divisions and three Luftwaffe field divisions. Ultimately, due to the reluctance to weaken certain sectors in order to redeploy certain units to Army Group Don and because several German formations, including the 48th Panzer Corps, had been tied down by continued Soviet pressure, the task of opening a corridor to the German Sixth Army, trapped in Stalingrad, fell exclusively on the shoulders of the Fourth Panzer Army. The German force would be pitted against a strengthened Soviet array of armies, which were preoccupied with beginning the destruction of the encircled forces and the progress of its southwards offensive around the lower Chir River.

The German offensive, which began on 12 December, caught the Red Army by surprise and made impressive headway on the first day. The spearhead forces enjoyed local air superiority and were able to defeat continued counter attacks by defending Soviet forces. By 13 December, however, continued Soviet resistance to the German effort slowed the advance considerably; the 6th Panzer Division, for example, was caught in a major armored battle for the village of Verkhiy-Kumskiy. Moreover, the 57th Panzer Corps was unable to make major gains against relentless Soviet counterattacks. Although ultimately German forces took the area surrounding Verkhiy-Kumskiy, the Red Army launched Operation Little Saturn on 16 December. Despite early setbacks, Operation Little Saturn succeeded in defeating the Italian Eighth Army on Army Group Don's left flank, thereby threatening the survival of Manstein's entire group of forces. In the face of increased resistance and casualties, Manstein appealed first to Hitler and then to the commander of the German Sixth Army, General Friedrich Paulus, to begin the Sixth Army's planned breakout operation; both categorically refused, despite the growing Soviet threat on Army Group Don's flanks. Fourth Panzer Army continued to attempt to open a corridor to the Sixth Army between 18–19 December, but were unable to without the aid of forces inside the Stalingrad encirclement. As a result, Manstein was forced to call off the assault on 23 December, and by Christmas Eve the Fourth Panzer Army began to withdraw to its starting position.

1 Background 2 Comparison of Forces 2.1 Participating German forces 2.2 Participating Soviet forces 3 German offensive 3.1 Soviet response: 13–18 December 3.2 Endgame: 19–23 December 4 Aftermath 5 References 6 Bibliography

On 22 November 1942, the Red Army closed its encirclement of Axis forces in Stalingrad; the product of Operation Uranus.^[1] Well over 200,000 German and Romanian soldiers were trapped in and around the city of Stalingrad,^[2] by roughly 1.1 million Soviet personnel.^[3] Amidst the impending disaster, German dictator Adolf Hitler appointed Field Marshall Erich von Manstein as commander of the newly created Army Group Don;^[4] the army group was composed of the German Fourth Panzer and Sixth Armies, as well as the Third and Fourth Romanian Armies, and was situated between German Army Groups A and B.^[5] Instead of attempting an immediate breakout, it was decided that the trapped forces would remain in Stalingrad in a bid to hold out.^[6] The encircled German forces would be resupplied by air, requiring roughly 680 metric tons (750 short tons) of supplies per day; the assembled fleet of 500 transport aircraft were insufficient for the task.^[7] Many of the aircraft were hardly serviceable in the rough weather of the Soviet winter; in early December, more German cargo planes were destroyed in accidents than by Soviet fighter aircraft.^[8] The German Sixth Army, for example, was getting less than 20% of its daily needs.^[9] Furthermore, sections of the Volga River's Western banks were still held by Soviet forces.^[10]

Given the unexpected size of the German contingent closed off in Stalingrad,^[11] on 23 November Stavka (Soviet Armed Forces High Command) decided that the immediate priority was to strengthen the outer encirclement, while preparing to destroy Axis forces in and around the city.^[12] On 24 November, several Soviet formations began to entrench themselves to defend against possible German incursions originating from the West.^[13] The Soviets also reinforced the encircling forces in order to prevent a successful breakout operation by the German 6th Army and other Axis units.^[14] However, this tied down over half of the Red Army's strength in the area.^[15] Planning for Operation Saturn began on 25 November;^[16] Saturn's goal was the destruction of Italian Eighth Army and the severing of communications between German forces West of the Don River and forces operating in the Caucasus.^[17] Meanwhile, planning also began for Operation Ring, which aimed at reducing German forces in the Stalingrad pocket.^[18]

As Operation Uranus concluded, German forces inside the encirclement were too weak to attempt a breakout on their own; half of their remaining armor, for example, had been lost during the defensive fighting, and there was a severe lack of fuel and ammunition for the surviving vehicles given that the Luftwaffe was not able to cope with the aerial resupply.^[19] Field Marshall von Manstein proposed a counterstroke to to break the Soviet encirclement of Stalingrad, codenamed Operation Winter Storm (German: Wintergewitter).^[20] Manstein believed that, due to the inability of the Luftwaffe to resupply the Axis in the Stalingrad pocket, it was becoming more important to relieve them "at the earliest possible date".^[21] On 28 November, Manstein sent Hitler a detailed report on Army Group Don's situation, including the strength of the German Sixth Army and an assessment on the available ammunition for German artillery inside the city.^[22] In fact, the German field marshal was doubtful on whether or not the relief operation could afford to wait to receive all units earmarked for the offensive.^[23]

Stavka postponed Operation Saturn until 16 December, as Soviet forces struggled to clear German defenders from the lower Chir River; the Red Army's offensive in the area commenced on 30 November, involving around 50,000 soldiers, and forcing Manstein to use the 48th Panzer Corps in an attempt to hold the area.^[24] In response, the Soviet 5th Tank Army was reinforced by the newly created 5th Shock Army, drawn from existing formations of the South-Western and Stalingrad Fronts; the 5th Tank Army totaled nearly 71,000 men, 252 tanks and 814 artillery guns.^[25] The Soviet offensive succeeded in tying down the 48th Panzer Corps, which had been originally chosen to lead one of the main attacks on the Soviet encirclement.^[26] The Soviets were forewarned of the impending German assault when they discovered the German 6th Panzer Division unloading at the town of Morozovsk and as a result held back several armies from the attack on the lower Chir River to prepare for a possible breakout attempt by German forces inside Stalingrad.^[27]

The relief operation was originally scheduled to include the 57th Panzer Corps of the Fourth Panzer Army, under the command of General Friedrich Kirchner, which included the 6th and 23rd Panzer Divisions, as well as Army Detachment Hollidt, consisting of three infantry divisions and two armored divisions (11th and 22nd Panzer Divisions).^[28] In total, it was expected that four panzer divisions, four infantry divisions and three Luftwaffe field divisions were to take part in Operation Winter Storm; they would be tasked with temporarily opening a passage to the Sixth Army.^[29] The Luftwaffe field divisions, formed of non-combat soldiers, headquarters staffs and unit-less Luftwaffe and Heer personnel, were poorly trained and lacked seasoned officers and enlisted soldiers, as well as sufficient anti-tank and artillery guns.^[30] Much of the personnel promised for the relief effort never arrived, party due to the poor transportation service to the front; some units originally chosen to be transferred under the command of Army Group Don were retained by their original commands.^[31] Some units in Army Group Don were in no shape to conduct offensive operations, due to losses sustained in the past month of combat, while many new formations which had been promised did not arrive on time.^[32]

On the other hand, the 11th Panzer Division was one of the most complete German armored divisions on the Eastern Front, at the time, since it had just been transferred out of the German Army's reserve. The 6th Panzer Division was also complete, given that it had been transferred to Manstein's control from Western Europe.^[33] However, the usefulness of the 11th Panzer Division was compromised when the Soviets launched their offensive against forces in the lower Chir River area, tying Army Detachment Hollidt down on the defensive.^[34] Because of this, and because Manstein believed that a thrust originating from the position of Army Detachment Hollidt would be too obvious, the German field marshal decided to use the Fourth Panzer Army and the 48th Panzer Corps as the main components of the relief operation.^[35] Despite attempts by the Germans to build up strength for the offensive, their position along the lower Chir River became tenuous.^[36] The Soviet breakthrough was only blunted by the arrival of the 11th Panzer Division, which was able to destroy the bulk of two Soviet tank brigades.^[37] In that sense, the 48th Panzer Corps became embroiled in the defensive battles for the Chir River, as the Soviet pushed in an attempt to overrun the airfield at Tatsinskaya (being used to resupply German forces in Stalingrad by air).^[38]

Although the 57th Panzer Corps was reluctantly released to Army Group Don, by Army Group A, the 17th Panzer division was ordered back to its original area of concentration, and did not prepare to go back to Army Group Don until ten days after it had been asked for.^[39] In light of the troubles in building up sufficient forces, and seeing that the Soviets were concentrating more mechanization on the Chir River, Manstein decided to launch Operation Winter Storm using the Fourth Panzer Army; Manstein was also hoping that the Sixth Army would launch an offensive of its own, from the opposite side, upon the receipt of the code signal Thunderclap.^[40] Manstein was gambling that Hitler would accept that the only plausible method to avoid the demise of the Sixth Army was to allow it to break out, and assumed that General Paulus would too agree to order his forces to escape the Stalingrad pocket.^[41] On 10 December, Manstein communicated to Paulus that the relief operation would commence in 24 hours.^[42]

For the purpose of Operation Uranus, Soviet marshal Georgy Zhukov deployed eleven Soviet armies.^[43] In an effort to bolster the offensive capabilities of the Stalingrad Front, for example, over 420 tanks, 111,000 soldiers and 556 artillery guns had been shipped over the Volga River in a period of three weeks.^[44] The Red Army and Red Air Force were able to amass over one million soldiers, 13,500 artillery guns, 890 tanks and 1,100 combat aircraft; these were organized into 66 Rifle Divisions, five tank corps, 14 tank brigades, a single mechanized brigade, a cavalry corps, and 127 artillery and mortar regiments.^[45] As the encirclement closed and the Soviets continued with secondary operations, the 51st Army was positioned on the edge of the outer encirclement with 34,000 men and 77 tanks; south of them was the 28th Army, with 44,000 solders, 40 tanks and 707 artillery guns and mortars.^[27] The Red Army had also been building its strength for Operation Saturn, in which it would aim to isolate and destroy German Army Group A in the Caucasus.^[46]

On 12 December 1942, Hoth's Fourth Panzer Army began its north-eastward drive towards German forces trapped in the Stalingrad pocket.^[47] The 6th and 23rd Panzer Divisions made large gains, as they surprised the Red Army, threatening the rear of the 57th Army; the German armor drive was led by a battalion of Tiger I heavy tanks.^[48] Some units were able to travel up to 50 kilometers (31 mi) in the first day.^[49] The Germans were aided by the element of surprise, as Stavka had not expected the German offensive to begin so soon, while General Vasilevsky was unable to detach the 2nd Guards Army to use it as a blocking force against Manstein's spearheads.^[50] The initial advance had been so quick that the German 6th Panzer Division was able to capture Soviet artillery equipment intact; Soviet resistance decreased noticeably after the 6th and 23rd Panzer Divisions had overrun the main body of Russian infantry.^[51] Although Soviet infantry quickly reinforced villages in the path of the German drive, the Red Army's cavalry in the area was exhausted from weeks of combat and was incapable of putting up serious resistance against the German drive on the first day of Winter Storm.^[52] The 57th Panzer Corps also launched its offensive on 12 December, but made inconsistent gains in the face of repeated Soviet counterattacks.^[53] There also reports, by the end of the day, of heavy pressure building against the 23rd Panzer Division, despite its heavy gains on the first day.^[54]

On 13 December, 6th Panzer Division made contact with the Soviet 5th Tank Army,^[55] which was engaged in the reduction of German defenses around the Chir River.^[25] German forces were able to engage and defeat Soviet armor, as the former forced the crossing of the Alksay River.^[56] At this point, a large number of tanks, on both sides, became involved in a major armored battle around the village of Verkhiy-Kumskiy.^[57] Although costly, Soviet forces were able to push German forces back to the banks of the Alksay River by the end of the day, although they could not retake the town; however, the heavy losses sustained by the Red Army in the vicinity of Verkhiy-Kumskiy allowed the 6th Panzer Division to enjoy a brief superiority in tank numbers thereafter.^[58] Fighting for Verkhiy-Kumskiy would continue for three days,^[50] as the Red Army launched a series of counterattacks against the German bridgeheads across the Alksay River and German defenders in the town.^[59] German defenders were able to pin Soviet tanks in Verkhiy-Kumskiy and destroy them using well emplaced anti-tank artillery guns.^[60] With heavy support from the Lufwaffe the Germans were able to achieve a local success and began to push towards the Myshkova river.^[61] Damage to the 6th Panzer Division was heavy, and the division took a brief respite after the battle to reconditioned; minor damage to surviving tanks was repaired and the majority of the tanks incapacitated during the fighting at Verkhiy-Kumskiy were brought back to serviceable conditions.^[62]

Fourth Panzer Army's offensive forced Stavka to recalculate its intentions for Operation Saturn, and on 13 December Stalin and Stavka authorized th redeployment of the 2nd Guards Army from the Don Front to the Stalingrad Front, where it would be ready to be used against German forces on 15 December.^[63] Operation Saturn was redesigned into Operation Little Saturn, which limited the scope of the attack to breaking through the Italian Eighth Army and then engaging Army Group Don in the rear.^[64][65] The offensive was also redirected from a southwards push to a drive in a southeastern direction, and the start date was pushed back to 16 December.^[66] In the meantime, the 4th Mechanized and 13th Tank Corps continued to counterattack against German forces in the vicinity of the Alksay River, bidding time for the arrival of the 2nd Guards Army.^[67]

The Soviet 1st and 3rd Guard Armies, in conjunction with the Soviet 6th Army, launched Operation Little Saturn on 16 December 1942.^[68] Despite early troubles, the Red Army was able to overrun the Italian Eighth Army by 18 December.^[69] The breakthrough proved a dire threat to the left flank of Army Group Don, while the city of Rostov was threatened by the 3rd Guards Army.^[70][71] This and heavy losses sustained by the German armor divisions forcing their way to the Myshkova river forced Manstein to reconsider continuing the offensive.^[72] The German field marshal decided that he could not defend his left flank while also sustaining the attempt to relieve the Sixth Army.^[73] Although the German 6th Panzer Division was able to cross the Myshkova River by the night of 19 December,^[74] the 57th Panzer Corps had still not made major advances against increased Soviet opposition, despite the arrival of the 17th Panzer Division; in fact, it seemed as if the Panzer Corps would have to go on the defensive.^[75] Furthermore, the Soviet raid on Tatsinskaya managed to destroy the airfield and several dozen aircraft being used by the Luftwaffe to resupply forces inside the Stalingrad pocket, forcing Manstein to order the 48th Panzer Corps on the defensive, instead of reserving it to bolster his forces directed towards the breakthrough to Stalingrad.^[76] On 18 December, Hitler refused to allow the German Sixth Army to begin a breakout operation towards the rest of Army Group Don, despite pleas from Manstein.^[77]

On 19 December, Manstein sent his chief intelligence officer, Major Eismann, into Stalingrad to give General Paulus an accurate image of the strategic situation which had befallen Army Group Don.^[78] Paulus was not impressed, although agreed that the best option continued to be an attempted breakout as early as possible.^[79] The Sixth Army's Chief of Staff, Major General Arthur Schmidt, argued that a breakout was unfeasible and instead suggested that Army Group Don take steps to better supply entrapped Axis forces by air.^[80] Despite agreeing with Eismann earlier, Paulus then decided that a breakout was out of the question given the Sixth Army's incapability to conduct it and Hitler's express orders against it.^[81] Although that day the 57th Panzer Corps managed to breakthrough the Alksay River and drive within 48 kilometers (30 mi) of the southern edge of the Sixth Army's front, the entrapped German forces made no attempt to link up with the relieving forces.^[82] Thereafter, the Sixth Army simply did not have the strength to attempt a breakout, regardless; it operated less than sixty serviceable tanks, with limited supplies, and the ground infantry were in no condition to attempt an attack in the blizzard which had developed over the past few days.^[83]

Manstein ordered the 6th Panzer Division to end its offensive and redeploy to the southern Chir River, to bolster German defenses there against the continuing Soviet offensive, on 23 December.^[84] By 24 December, the Fourth Panzer Army was in full retreat, returning to its starting position.^[85] The inability to breakthrough to the Sixth Army, and the latter formation's refusal to attempt a breakout attempt, caused Operation Winter Storm to collapse on 24 December, as Army Group Don returned to the defensive.^[86]

With the German relief effort defeated, Stavka again focused on its two original priorities; the destruction of Axis forces in the Stalingrad pocket and the westward expansion of the Winter offensive.^[87] The Red Army was able to bring to bear almost 150,000 personnel and 630 tanks against the retreating Fourth Panzer Army, and although Volsky's 4th Mechanized Corps (renamed 3rd Guard Mechanized Corps on 18 December 1942) was withdrawn to be refitted, the 51st Army, along with the 1st Guards Rifle and 7th Tank Corps struck at German units withdrawing between the Mushkova and Aksai Rivers.^[88] Within three days the attacking Soviet units were able to breakthrough the Romanian positions guarding the 57th Panzer Corp's flank and threatened the entirety of the Fourth Panzer Army from the south, forcing the Germans to continue withdrawing towards the southwest.^[89] All the while, the 48th Panzer Corps, led mainly by the 11th Panzer Division, strove to maintain its position along the Chir River.^[90] Despite successful efforts, the 48th Panzer Corps was rushed to the defense of Rostov as a Soviet breakthrough seemed imminent after the collapse of the Italian Eighth Army.^[91] As the Red Army chased after the retreating Fourth Panzer Army towards the Aksai River and broke through the German defense on the banks of the Chir River, it also began to prepare for Operation Ring—the reduction of encircled forces in Stalingrad.^[92]