With the relief column under threat of encirclement, Manstein had no choice but to retreat back to Kotelnikovo on 29 December, leaving the encircled Germans at Stalingrad to their fate.
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General Fyodor Isidorovich Kuznetsov's 1st Guards Army and General Dmitri Danilovich Lelyushenko's 3rd Guards Army attacked from the north, encircling 130,000 soldiers of the Italian 8th Army on the Don and advancing to Millerovo.
Saturn | Operation Overlord | Operation Enduring Freedom | Operation Barbarossa | Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe | Sega Saturn | Operation Market Garden | Saturn V | Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development | Operation Torch | Saturn Girl | Operation Vistula | Saturn Corporation | operation | Operation Provide Comfort | Operation Anaconda | Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters | Operation Weserübung | Operation Shingle | Operation Ivy | Operation Highjump | Operation Blue Star | Operation Anthropoid | Operation Paperclip | Operation Downfall | Operation Deny Flight | Operation Thunderbolt | Operation Southern Watch | Operation Michael | Operation Entebbe |
On 16 December, the Soviet Third Guards Army started Operation Little Saturn and attacked Army Group Hollidt to which was subordinated the Third Romanian Army, along the river Chir.