Forth Act:
Small Saturn
On 11th of December of 1942 had begun the Operation Winter Storm, in order to save to the troops caught in the Stalingrad's Kessel. To offset the German offensive, the Soviet threw the Operation Small Saturn that had to threaten the German rear and its supplies route. The Soviet counter-offensive was the whole success and the German army had to move back from the Caucasus.
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After the success of the Operation Uranus, Zhukov and Stalin were prepared for the second operation: the Operation Saturn. The Operation Saturn was consisting of an offensive from the fronts of the Southwest and of Voronezh against the weak 8th Italian Army who was defending the Voronezh and Kursk's area. Once exceeded the Italians, the Soviet armies would advance towards the south and would take Rostov, isolating to the Don's Army Corp and to 1st Panzer Army and to 17th Army that were operating on in the Caucasus. The plan would be leading by the general Vasilevsky, and there was agreed that the operation began on 10th December.
Nevertheless, the operation would be postponed when it saw the threat that was representing Manstein's troops. To change, Vasilevsky and Zhukov, agreed to realize an operation to minor scale with the target to squash the rear and the left flank of the Manstein's Army, which would make that any advance to reach Stalingrad from the south was interrupted immediately.
On 11th December began the rescue's operation Winter Storm and Hoth's panzers broke the Soviet lines (Map, situation a). On the 13th, Stalin accepts the plan of the operation Small Saturn and orders the armies of the fronts of Voronezh and of the Southwest that should be prepared to attack the 8th Italian Army and the Manstein's rear.
On 16th December, the Soviet 1st and 3rd Guards Armies and 6th Army attacked to the Italians and they got defeat them in two days (Map, situation b). There were no troops for a German counterattack, because the 17th Panzer Division, which was defending the Italians rear, had been assigned to the operation Winter Storm.
The Soviet didn't have any obstacle in his advance and they reached without difficulties the German lines of provisioning. The T-34 reached Tatsinskaia's airport on 23rd of December. This airport was the principal for the provisioning of the troops in Stalingrad and its survival was very important. The T-34 arrived and found the airport full of planes, there was produced a curious battle in which the Junkers was trying to detach in the middle of the fire of the T-34. Approximately 108 Ju-56 and Ju-86 were saved but there got lost 72 planes that were representing 10 per 100 of the whole of the Luftwaffe's load fleet (Map, situation c).
The success of the operation Small Saturn, decided the luck the Winter Storm. The threat of the left flank of Manstein's Corp, and the certain possibility of an assault to Rostov decided to Manstein to leave the operation and began a retreat. To the general Hoth, who had found a strong opposition and was paralysed in the river Mishkova suffering serious loss, was ordered to stop the operation Winter Storm in the night of 23rd December. Manstein informed Paulus about the events that were happened, but this last one hadn't still understood that the VI Army didn't have salvation (Map, situations d and e). It was closed the end and the Operation Ring.
