Eastern FrontSOUTHERN SECTORElements of the 5th Tank Army encounter the 24th Panzer Division near the Don bridges behind the 6th Army. Fighting at Businovka results in serious German casualties and a hasty withdrawal. Paulus' plans to shore up his left wing fall apart. Heavy fighting continues at Raspopinskaya as Group Lascar fights off repeated Soviet attacks. The Soviet IV Tank Corps takes Golubinskaya as its advance into the German rear continues. Paulus and his headquarters staff have only just left town for Nizhne Chirskaya and evade capture by a matter of hours. By evening Vasilevsky is able to report to Stalin that the IV and XXVI Tank and III Guards Cavalry Corps are all heading for Kalach. The drive from the south accelerates as the IV Mechanized Corps reaches Zety. Inexplicably, Volskii orders a hald so he can regroup but is promptly ordered to resume the advance. Elements of Shapkin's IV Cavalry Corps, supporting Volskii, capture Abganerovo and cut the railway line to Kotelnikovo. |
| [ November 20th - Novemberr 22nd] |