As early as the end of November, the Soviet High Command drew up an operational plan for the direction of the general assault to the south, with Mirerovo and Rostov as the general assault direction, and the plan was to be carried out by the Southwestern Front of the Soviet Army. The purpose of the operation was to push the encircled front of the enemy forces in the Stalingrad area 200 kilometers to the west, so as to completely isolate the German army's attempt to break through. Moreover, this operation also had to cut off the retreat of the German Army Group "A" far away in the direction of the Caucasus, so that it would be possible to completely destroy the German tank 1st Army and the 17th Army, and thus completely crush all German armies in the southern regions of the Soviet Union.

Unexpectedly, the German army took the lead in the offensive in the direction of Kotelnikovo, which disrupted the deployment of the Soviet troops. Therefore, the Soviet high command also adjusted the combat plan. The original battle plan was revised to advance the main forces of the Soviet Southwestern Front in a southeasterly direction, with the main purpose of destroying the remnants of the Italian 8th Army and the Romanian 3rd Army and encircling and annihilating the German army group in the Tormosin area. The combat operation was codenamed "Battle of Little Saturn".

In order to ensure the success of this campaign, Stalin drew a large number of troops from the base camp reserves to strengthen the Southwestern Front. The 1st Guards Army alone increased the number of tank armies of the 18th, 24th and 25th armies on the basis of the existing strength. On the basis of the original 17th Army of the Air Force, the 2nd Army of the Air Force was added.

On December 16, units of the Soviet 6th Army and the 1st Guards Army launched an attack on the Italian 8th Army stationed on the edge of the Don River. Faced with a tidal wave of hundreds of Soviet tanks, the Italian army was so frightened that it was unable to stop an effective defense. Without real resistance, the Soviets tore many breaches in the Italian line.

With the successive victories of the Southwestern Front, Manstein, who was bent on relieving Paulus, was worried, because he found that if he continued to fight like this, not only would Paulus not be able to save him, but even his own army group on the Don River would be in danger of being encircled. Therefore, he had to order Hort to stop the offensive and take a defensive approach in place to resist the counterattack of the Soviet Guards 2nd Army.

In the entire Battle of Little Saturn, the most eye-catching performance was the 24th Tank Army under the command of General Badanov. The general, who was not very tall, had two large beards, and liked to wear a gray fur top hat in winter, was a very adventurous commander.

Vatutin's assault target for the 24th Tank Army was the airfield at Tatsinskaya, the main base for the Luftwaffe to supply the 6th Army Corps encircled in Stalingrad. In five days, the tank corps braved the bitter cold to advance one hundred and fifty miles. On Christmas Eve, December 24, they stormed the airport from three directions. The airport may not have noticed that a Soviet tank unit had rushed to the airport, so the transport planes parked in the airport were still loading airdrops. It wasn't until Soviet tanks stormed the airfield that the enemy realized that something was wrong. The artillery and anti-aircraft guns deployed at the airfield immediately opened fire in an attempt to destroy the tanks that stormed the airfield. However, the German resistance was quickly crushed by Soviet tanks, and after inflicting heavy casualties on the Germans, the tank corps began to destroy the enemy planes parked in the airfield.

Since there were not many shells left in the tanks, the army commander Badanov decisively gave the order to the tank crews to use the tanks to crash the enemy planes. At the sound of an order, hundreds of tanks rushed to the transports, fighters and bombers parked at the airfield, causing the Germans to lose more than 300 aircraft, including 72 Ju52 transport planes. A tank battalion sent to a nearby railway station also destroyed the tanks that were parked on the train and had not had time to get off.

Although the German airfield was captured, Badanov soon found himself in a very bad situation, the tanks were without ammunition and fuel, and the troops could not move at all until they were resupplied from the rear.

Seeing that the Soviet tank troops occupied their airfields, Manstein immediately sent the German 24th Mechanized Brigade to attack from the north, and on the 26th, he cut off the rear route of the Soviet tank army. At the same time, he also transferred the 6th and 11th Panzer Divisions back to counterattack the Soviet forces that broke through the defensive line, cutting off the Soviet tank corps deep in the defense and the rear. To the north, a mixed armored unit blocked the road, preventing any attempts to provide support to the 4 Tank Army from advancing. In addition, the 306th Infantry Division was also put into battle, participating in the encirclement and annihilation of the Soviet tank corps that broke through into the depth of the defense.

Knowing that the 24th Tank Army was encircled by the Germans, Vatutin immediately sent a telegram to the commander of the 25th Tank Army, ordering him to immediately relieve the encircled friendly forces. However, it is regrettable that the 25th Tank Army suffered heavy casualties in the early battles, and its technical equipment was also lost, and it was simply unable to launch such a siege relief battle. Vatutin, in desperation, could only order Badanov to organize his own troops to break through.

And the new commander of the Stalingrad Front, Rokossovsky, also got news from Vasilevsky that Badanov's tank 24th Army was encircled by the Germans, and he decided to do something to attract the attention of the Germans and reduce the pressure on the tank army when breaking through.

As soon as he put down the phone, he instructed Malinin: "The chief of staff has called General Malinovsky, and tomorrow his troops must launch an attack on the German 57th Tank Army in front of them tomorrow, if not all of them, and inflict heavy losses on them." ”

Malinovsky, having received the order, hurriedly gathered several of his assistants and read to them the operational orders of the Front. Finally, he looked at his chief of staff, Byyutsov, and asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what do you think about this offensive order of the Front?" ”

Biluzov frowned and thought for a while, and replied: "Comrade commander, if you want to defeat the German 57th Tank Army in front, I don't think it's a big problem, but if you want to inflict heavy damage or even total annihilation on them, I don't think it's possible." ”

In response to Bilyutsov's concerns, Malinovsky waved his hand and said: "Since the superiors have given us the order to attack, then we can only carry it out unconditionally." As for what kind of results can be achieved in the future, it will depend on how well our troops perform. In any case, this attack of ours will completely crush the German army's attempt to break out. ”

Early the next morning, in an observation post less than 500 meters away from the front line, Bilyutsov stared at the heavy snow outside and said worriedly: "Comrade commander, if the snow does not stop, our plane will not be able to take off." ”

"We don't have the cover of planes, and the Germans don't either." Malinovsky said with his usual expression: "I believe that our troops, with the support of tanks and artillery, should be able to break through the German defenses." ”

A few minutes before the artillery preparation began, Bilyuzov unexpectedly noticed that the heavy snow outside had actually stopped, and he said excitedly: "Comrade commander, did you see it? The snow has stopped, which is a good sign, and it seems that our offensive today will definitely achieve the desired results. ”

When the time for shelling came, hundreds of artillery pieces of different calibers, at the same time fiercely shelled the German defensive operations. Because this was an area that the Germans had just occupied, and the weather was cold, they had not yet had time to build a complete fortification, and they were cried and cried by the Soviet army's artillery fire.

After the shelling, the Soviet infantry, under the cover of tanks, rushed towards the German positions, which were still smoking. In the face of the flood of tanks and infantry, the remnants of the German army, which had been blown up by the shells, retreated in disgrace after hastily firing the bullets in the chambers.

The artillery deployed in the distance, seeing that the infantry had already slipped away, was afraid that if it ran slowly, it would be crushed by the Soviet tanks, so they randomly released a few guns, hung the artillery on the towing truck, turned around and fled at a faster speed.

The Soviets easily occupied three trenches of the German first line of defense, and after a short break, continued to pursue the fleeing Germans.

However, at this moment, German planes appeared in the air, and they swooped down from a high altitude to drop bombs and strafe at the pursuing Soviet units to cover the retreat of their ground forces.

Seeing that the appearance of the German air force caused a lot of casualties to his own troops, Byyutsov couldn't help but be a little anxious, he hurriedly called the air force command and asked anxiously: "Hey, the air force?" When will your fighters be ready to be dispatched? German dive bombers were strafing and bombing our attacking forces, inflicting considerable casualties on us. ……”

He put down the phone and walked back to Malinovsky's side, only to find his commander standing in front of the lookout with a telescope in his hand, looking out in a daze. He couldn't help but ask curiously: "Comrade commander, what are you thinking?" ”

"Chief of Staff," hearing Bilyutsov's voice, Malinovsky hurriedly turned to him and said: "Did you find that when our troops broke through the first line of defense, no German tanks were found. ”

"No German tanks found?" Hearing what Malinovsky said, Bilyuzov hurriedly raised his binoculars and looked at the German positions that were still billowing black smoke. After taking a closer look, he put down his binoculars and said with a little puzzlement: "That's right, I didn't see the German tanks, where did their tanks go?" ”

Malinovsky slapped his hand on the log in front of him and said with annoyance: "Oops, I understand why Commander Rokossovsky gave us the order to inflict heavy damage or total annihilation of the German 57th Tank Army, it turns out that he has long known that the enemy's tanks are gone." If we also knew that the enemy did not have tanks, then I would send a force to make a detour to the enemy's rear, cutting off their retreat and leaving them with no way out. ”

After listening to Malinovsky, Bilyuzov was still confused, and he asked puzzled: "Comrade commander, you haven't said where the Germans' tanks went?" ”

"General Vatutin's Southwestern Front, launched an attack in the rear of the Germans. I estimate that Manstein may not be able to support it, so he transferred all the tanks of the 57th Tank Army, so in the face of our offensive, the Germans could not hold it at all. ”

"But even if the Germans didn't have tanks, we wouldn't be able to move forward." Pointing with his hand to the German planes that were still circling over the battlefield, dropping bombs and strafing, Biluzov said with a sad face: "Their planes have blocked our troops." ”

"What about our Air Force?" Malinovsky looked at him and asked, "When will they be able to get to the battlefield?" ”

Biluzov raised his hand and looked at his watch, then replied: "Our air force may have to wait about ten minutes before arriving at the battlefield, and I hope they will not be too late." ”

Ten minutes later, Soviet fighters finally arrived on the battlefield. However, the German planes had already completed the task of blocking the Soviet troops, and then turned around and returned to the airfield.

Seeing that his air force had regained air supremacy, Malinovsky ordered his troops to continue the pursuit of the fleeing Germans, destroying as many as they could. He secretly regretted in his heart that if he had thought more carefully, even if he did not send troops behind enemy lines, he could have sent a reconnaissance team to blow up the bridge over the Aksai River, then he could also effectively cut off the retreat of the German army.

During the retreat, the 57th Tank Army, with the help of the precious time gained by its air force to stop the Soviet troops, laid mines on the road leading to the Aksai River and planted explosives on the bridges over the river.

When the Soviet tanks and infantry finally broke out of the German minefield and came to the Aksai River exhausted, ready to rush across the river and continue to pursue the Germans, the explosives planted on the bridge were detonated. In the earth-shattering explosion, the bridge deck broke into several pieces and fell into the water, and the two tanks that had just driven to the bridge also fell into the water with the bridge deck.

When Malinovsky learned the news, he couldn't help but stomp his feet in anger. But fortunately, he was not completely out of order, and he hurriedly ordered the director of the engineering corps of the group army to lead the boat bridge battalion to the Aksai River to erect a pontoon bridge for tank traffic. At the same time, the infantry who stayed by the river, chose a section with ice cover, and quickly crossed the Aksai River to pursue the German army, which was still in retreat.

Hort, who was retreating with the troops, couldn't help but turn his head and look in the direction of Stalingrad, his heart full of melancholy. Although he tried his best and lost nearly 10,000 men, in the end he fell short, and at a distance of 35 kilometers from Paulus's troops, he could no longer advance. Now that the troops have been routed by the Soviet army, although they can still resist the Soviet attack, but at the same time, their own troops may also be surrounded by the Soviet army like Paulus's troops.