1418
Illustration: Operation Uranus
LiberationTurning point

· Day 516 of 1418

Operation Uranus

North-west of Stalingrad

Soviet soldiers took part
≈ 1 million
Soviet soldiers took part

On the foggy morning of 19 November 1942 thousands of guns thundered: the counter-offensive at Stalingrad had begun. It had been prepared in the strictest secrecy. Blows from the north and the south were to meet behind the enemy’s back.

The blow fell where Romanian armies, Germany's allies, held the line: they had fewer tanks and anti-tank guns. Soviet troops massed huge forces so secretly that the enemy noticed almost nothing: they were moved at night, without lights.

The plan was drawn up by Georgy Zhukov and Alexander Vasilevsky. It was named after a planet: “Uranus”.

See it on the map

Chapter 18 · November 1942

The ring closes

On 19 November Operation Uranus began. Four days later Soviet tank crews met at Kalach, and about 300,000 enemy soldiers were trapped in the ring. It was the beginning of the great turning point of the war.