January 1943

Eastern Front

At Stalingrad the German 6th Army is under intense pressure, fighting raging throughout the city as the Soviets press from west and east. The hard-pressed 297th Infantry Division, reduced to just 1,800 men from its original 10,000, surrenders to the 38th Guards Rifle Division. 65th Army links up with the 62nd Army betwen the Mamayev Kurgan and Red October factories, splitting the remnants of Paulus' force into two pockets. Later in the day elements of the 21st Army and 64th Army link up with 62nd Army. The Germans are reduced to a small pocket in the Tractor Factory, consisting of XI Corps with the 60th Motorized, 16th and 24th Panzer and 389th and 100th Infantry Divisions, while to the south are IV, VIII, LI and XIV Panzer Corps together with Paulus and his headquarters, grouped in the city center.

The Stavka widens the Voronezh Front's objectives to include the capture of the Kursk region. The 38th and 60th Armies are to attack along the Kursk axis while 40th, 69th and 3rd Tank Armies are to move along the Kharkov axis. Facing the Soviets on the Kharkov axis the Germans deploy Army Detachment Lanz from the Oskol River to Kupyansk, comprising 1 infantry and 3 Hungarian divisions and the SS Panzer Corps. Between Novy Oskol and Volokolonvka is Panzer Grenadier Division Grossdeutschland and opposite Valuyki a single regiment of the 2nd SS Panzer Grenadier Division Das Reich. At Kupyansk there are 2 infantry divisions.