Soviet Second Guards Army

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The Soviet Second Guards Army was a field army in the Red Army that fought in World War II, notably at Stalingrad.

By the time of the Battle of Stalingrad, the Second Guards Army had become the most powerful force in the Red Army. The Second Guards Army appeared on the scene after the Soviet Operation Uranus had successfully encircled the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad in November 1942. In December 1942, as preparations started for Operation Saturn, the Second Guards Army was ordered by an impatient Josef Stalin to get ready for the attack on Rostov. The assault and capture of Rostov was the ultimate goal of the Red Army for Operation Saturn.

In December 1942, plans for Operation Saturn had to be altered. The German Operation Wintergewitter, led by Field Marshal Erich von Manstein's Army Group Don, made an attack on the Stalingrad Front in an effort to relieve the Sixth Army in Stalingrad. Thus, Operation Saturn was changed to Operation Little Saturn, which was to be a counter-attack that would be launched as soon as Operation Wintergewitter subsides. The German forces, spearheaded by Army Group Hoth, made rapid initial advances but was stalled at the Myshkova River. Colonel-General Hermann Hoth's panzer divisions were at a standstill and were suffering heavy casualties, even before the bulk of the Second Guards Army had arrived. By this time, Manstein realized that the operation was doomed. The Second Guards Army, under General Rodion Malinovsky, had been transferred to Stalingrad Front to halt the offensive. Stalin had agreed on this decision.

After Operation Wintergewitter had petered out, Soviet forces in the South-West Front led by the First Guards Army successfully launched Operation Little Saturn on the Italian Eighth Army. After that, the Second Guards Army and the 51st Army launched another counter-offensive, this time against Army Group Hoth, right before Christmas 1942. Not only had Operation Wintergewitter been halted, the Red Army had made substantial gains against Army Group Hoth, Army Group Don, and also Army Group A in the Caucasus that month.

The Second Guards Army made a very significant contribution to the Soviet halt of Operation Wintergewitter and the successful counter-attacks that followed. The Second Guards Army remained a powerful force fighting on the Eastern Front until the war's end in 1945.

[edit] References

• Beevor, Antony. Stalingrad the Fateful Siege: 1942-43. London: Penguin Books, 1998.