Operation Koltso

Operation Ring
Part of the Battle of Stalingrad during the Eastern Front of World War II
Date10 January – 2 February 1943
Location
Stalingrad
Result Soviet victory
Belligerents
 Soviet Union  Germany
 Romania
Commanders and leaders
Soviet Union Konstantin Rokossovsky Nazi Germany Friedrich Paulus Surrendered
Nazi Germany Hans von Arenstof [ru] Surrendered
Nazi Germany Heinrich Deboi [de] Surrendered
Strength
212,000 troops
6,860 guns and mortars
257 tanks
300 aircraft [1]
281,158 soldiers (Glantz)[2]		 250,000 soldiers
4,130 guns and mortars
300 tanks
100 aircraft [1]
212,000 soldiers (Glantz)[3]
Casualties and losses
48,000 (12,000 KIA, MIA)[4] 250,000
~100,000 KIA, MIA 107,800 captured

6,000 evacuated [3]

Operation Koltso (Operation Ring) was the last part of the Battle of Stalingrad. It resulted in the capitulation of the remaining Axis forces encircled in the city. The operation was likely the largest-scale economy-of-force offensive ever conducted in military history.[5]

  1. ^ a b The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, 1941-1945. A Brief History, pp. 198-199
  2. ^ David Glantz, Endgame at Stalingrad, The Stalingrad Trilogy Volume III: Book Two (2014), 582.
  3. ^ a b David Glantz, Endgame at Stalingrad, The Stalingrad Trilogy Volume III: Book Two (2014), 581.
  4. ^ David Glantz, Endgame at Stalingrad, The Stalingrad Trilogy Volume III: Book Two (2014), 599.
  5. ^ David Glantz, Endgame at Stalingrad, The Stalingrad Trilogy Volume III: December 1942–February 1943: Book Two (2014), 578.