✦ History

Part of Battle of Stalingrad

Operation Little Saturn

December 12, 1942 – February 18, 1943

Result Soviet victory

Soviet forces attacked the Italian 8th Army on the Don River. The offensive destroyed much of the Italian army and blocked German efforts to relieve Stalingrad.

Contemporaries

Axis

Allies

Germany
Italy
Hungary
Kingdom of Romania
Soviet Union
Adolf Hitler belligerent leader Erich von Manstein military commander Erhard Raus military commander Italo Gariboldi military commander Petre Dumitrescu military commander Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist military commander
Joseph Stalin military commander Nikolai Vatutin military commander Filipp Golikov military commander Fyodor Kuznetsov military commander

Strength and losses

Italy Strength 130,000

Units

II Army Corps (Italy) 3rd Infantry Division "Ravenna" 7th Luftwaffe Field Division 8th Luftwaffe Field Division
Southwestern Front (Soviet Union) 2nd Guards Army 3rd Guards Army 1st Guards Mechanized Corps (Soviet Union) 2nd Guards Tank Corps 5th Mechanised Corps (Soviet Union) 14th Guards Rifle Division 159th Rifle Division (1942–1943) 160th Rifle Division (1940 formation) 195th Rifle Division 197th Rifle Division 1st Rifle Division (Soviet Union) 219th Rifle Division 266th Rifle Division 300th Rifle Division 315th Rifle Division 321st Rifle Division 333rd Rifle Division 346th Rifle Division 40th Guards Rifle Division 41st Guards Rifle Division 4th Guards Rifle Division 50th Guards Rifle Division 58th Guards Rifle Division 60th Guards Rifle Division 61st Guards Rifle Division 62nd Guards Rifle Division