Romanian Troops At Stalingrad.
██ Operation Uranus ██
In Autumn the Soviet generals Aleksandr Vasilevsky and Georgy Zhukov, responsible for strategic planning in the Stalingrad area, concentrated massive Soviet forces in the steppes to the north and south of the city. The German northern flank was particularly vulnerable, since it was defended by Hungarian and Romanian units which suffered from inferior equipment and low morale. The plan was to keep pinning the Germans down in the city, and then to punch through the overstretched and weakly defended German flanks and to surround the Germans inside Stalingrad. During the preparations for the attack General Zhukov personally visited the front, which was rare for such a high ranking general[3]. The operation was code-named "Uranus" and launched in conjunction with Operation Mars, which was directed at Army Group Center.
On November 19, 1942 the Red Army unleashed Uranus. The attacking Soviet units under the command of General Nikolai Vatutin consisted of three complete armies, the 1st Guards Army, 5th Tank Army, and 21st Army, including a total of 18 infantry divisions, eight tank brigades, two motorized brigades, six cavalry divisions and one anti-tank brigade. The preparations for the attack could be heard by the Romanians, who continued to push for reinforcements, only to be refused again. Thinly spread, outnumbered and poorly equipped, the 3rd Romanian Army, which held the northern flank of the German 6th Army, was shattered after an almost miraculous one-day defense.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/Battle_of_Stalingrad.png/560px-Battle_of_Stalingrad.png -- Operation URANUS
