Seventy-two years ago on Nov. 19, the Soviet Red Army began Operation Uranus, the counteroffensive that led to the encirclement of German forces at the Battle of Stalingrad.
Nazi Germany unleashed its massive invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 with Operation Barbarossa. Despite early successes and a deep advance into enemy territory, the operation failed as the Soviets repelled the assault against Moscow and as the campaign at Leningrad broke down into a two-year siege. Barbarossaâ??s failure in the autumn and winter of that year was disastrous for the Third Reich. With supply lines of 2,000 miles, it now faced an Eastern Front that stretched from Leningrad in the north to the Black Sea in the south. Hitler and his commanders had underestimated his enemy along with its critical ally, the Russian Winter, as well as Germanyâ??s ability to supply and reinforce its own troops.
In 1942, Axis forces directed their offensives south toward the industrial city of Stalingrad and the oil-rich Caucasus. Hitler decided to split the campaign into two groups: Army Group A would push toward the oil fields, while Army Group B would protect its flank along the Volga River and capture Stalingrad, whose name was a matter of pride to the feuding dictators and of propaganda value to both sides.
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