Operation Uranus

E9977

Operation Uranus was the major Soviet counteroffensive launched in November 1942 that encircled German forces at Stalingrad, marking a decisive turning point on the Eastern Front in World War II.


Statements (48)
Predicate Object
instanceOf Soviet strategic offensive
military operation
belligerent Hungary
Kingdom of Italy
Kingdom of Romania
Nazi Germany
Soviet Union
codename Operation Uranus
commander Aleksandr Vasilevsky
Georgy Zhukov
Konstantin Rokossovsky
Nikolai Vatutin
conflict Eastern Front of World War II
World War II
country Soviet Union
dateEnded 1942-11-23
dateStarted 1942-11-19
followedBy Operation Little Saturn
Operation Ring
forceStrength approximately 900 tanks and self-propelled guns
over one million Soviet troops
thousands of artillery pieces and mortars
frontInvolved Don Front
Southwestern Front
Stalingrad Front
historicalSignificance first large-scale successful Soviet strategic encirclement of German forces
key step in eventual Soviet advance toward Berlin
major psychological blow to Wehrmacht and Nazi leadership
location Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
Stalingrad
Volgograd Oblast
objective encirclement of German 6th Army at Stalingrad
opponentUnit German 4th Panzer Army elements
German 6th Army
Hungarian 2nd Army elements
Italian 8th Army elements
Romanian 3rd Army
Romanian 4th Army
partOf Battle of Stalingrad
plannedBy Soviet Stavka
precededBy German summer offensive Case Blue
result decisive Soviet victory
encirclement of Axis forces in Stalingrad pocket
turning point on the Eastern Front
strategicEffect forced German strategic defensive on Eastern Front
severed German supply lines to Stalingrad
tactic concentration of armor on weak Axis flanks
double envelopment


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