October 1942

Eastern Front

As the first winter snows fall at Stalingrad, Shumilov's 64th Army attacks from the Beketovka salient to link up with the southern wing of Chuikov's force. The attack, however, is disrupted by massed German counter artillery fire, the 64th suffering heavy casualties under the protracted bombardment.

The Stavka activates the Southwest Front, Vatutin taking command. The front deploys the 63rd and 21st Armies, Romanenko's 5th Tank Army, the latter formation having the I and XXVI Tank Corps, 6 rifle divisions, 1 tank brigade and 1 cavalry corps and Krasovsky's 17th Air Army. The 63rd Army, with 6 rifle divisions, is in the process of re-forming, shortly being redesignated the 1st Guards Army under Lelyushenko. Chistyakov's 21st Army deploys 6 rifle divisions, the IV Tank and the III Guards Cavalry Corps.

As the date for the planned counteroffensive grows close, the Southwest Front is also allocated the 2nd Air Army to overwhelm the thinly stretched German air forces and gain air superiority over the battlefield. The 4th Tank Army, recently disbanded, is taken over by Gen Batov and renamed the 65th Army (9 rifle divisions and the 91st and 121st Tank Brigades). It is allocated to Rokossovsky's Don Front. Galanin's 24th (9 rifle divisions and the XVI Tank Corps) and Zhadov's 66th (6 rifle divisons) Armies are already with the Don Front, involved in fighting between the Volga and the Don.

To the rear, the Stavka raises the 2nd Guards Army, this unit later being used in the offensive against the Rumanian 4th Army, shortly to deploy south of the 6th Army.