Happy Birthday, Operation Uranus

Anthony Beevor's book Stalingrad is a concise and fascinating look at the critical battle on the Eastern Front in World War II. The turning point of that battle was Operation Uranus, which celebrates its birthday today.

Sixty-one years ago today, the Red Army launched Operation Uranus, which might have been the single most important military operation of World War II. As winter approached, the Germans were on the verge of capturing Stalingrad and establishing a crucial stronghold on the strategic Volga River.

On November 19, 1942, with Soviet forces clinging to their last positions only meters from the river, the USSR launched a massive and brilliant offensive against the Axis flanks northwest and south of the city. With the relatively undermanned Germans concentrating on taking the city, the brunt of the offensive fell on the less effective troops of Axis partner Romania.

After softening the Romanian positions, Soviet forces broke through the Axis lines. On November 23, the two Soviet spearheads linked up west of Stalingrad, encircling Germany's accomplished 6th Army and threatening it with destruction. While the 6th Army initially still had time to break through to the West, Hitler forbade discussion of strategic withdrawal, exclaiming, "Where the German soldier sets his foot, he remains!" Good call, Adolf.

Red troops thwarted belated German efforts to relieve their surrounded comrades, who held out until February 2, 1943. Soviet heroism at Stalingrad inspired the world and prompted Time to name Stalin as its Man of the Year for 1942.

After experiencing Uranus, the Germans never regained the momentum. The Germans launched the Kursk Offensive in July of 1943, but suffered a devastating defeat in the largest tank battle in history. After Kursk, the Germans were almost entirely on the defensive until the bitter end.

Anthony Beevor wrote an outstanding and accessible book on this subject, in which he reports that Soviet KIAs at Stalingrad were approximately 485,000--for that one battle. German KIAs were approximately 110,000.

Good work, Tovarishchi.