Horst Scheibert - On to Stalingrad: Operation Winter Thunderstorm and the attempt to relieve Sixth Army, December 1942

Foreword

Stalingrad. The name of the industrial city on the Volga will be connected forever with the cataclysmic battle that was fought here between August 1942 and February 1943, and which led to the destruction of the German Sixth Army in the ruins of the city that bore Stalins name. The events of the battle within the pocket are well known and have been thoroughly studied, not least the gruesome details of human suffering on both sides. One episode in this struggle is, however, less known and understood; in fact, this chapter is often mentioned only in passing when the battle of Stalingrad is discussed. This is the German relief attempt, which saw a German Panzer Korps fight its way towards the encircled Sixth Army.

This operation, called Wintergewitter, or Winter Thunderstorm, was facing problems from the start. The Germans were not able to assemble the envisaged force of four divisions, and, in the end, the attack was launched on 12 December 1942 by only two divisions, the 6th and 23rd Panzer Divisions. During the operation, some reinforcements arrived, in particular the 17th Panzer Division, but the odds were against the Germans from the start. The Soviets realised the threat that this relief operation posed and threw large quantities of troops against the German LVII Panzer Korps. As a consequence, the German advance was slow and costly, but the German troops continued to fight their way towards the encircled troops in Stalingrad. However, by 24 December 1942, the troops were exhausted and Soviet counterattacks forced the Germans to abandon the offensive. This sealed the fate of the soldiers in Stalingrad. The encircled troops had been able to hear the fighting of the advancing relief forces and their clashes with the Soviets.