Castello Fatato

The Italian 8th Army had been retreating since the prior morning in the face of the Russian winter offensive aimed at encircling and destroying Paulus’s 6th Army in Stalingrad. Charged with defending the flanks of the 6th Army, Germany’s brittle allies had been shattered by the mighty blow of …

1942-12-20

G38

BB08

The Italian 8th Army had been retreating since the prior morning in the face of the Russian winter offensive aimed at encircling and destroying Paulus’s 6th Army in Stalingrad. Charged with defending the flanks of the 6th Army, Germany’s brittle allies had been shattered by the mighty blow of the Russian counteroffensive, with many units swallowed up by the advancing Russian armies. Lt. Felice Bracci and the 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment were ordered to destroy all heavy weapons, save Bracci’s two anti-tank guns, and lead the Italians’ retreat to the town of Meshkov. Late in the afternoon of the 20th, Bracci saw a “fairy castle”, the cathedral in Meshkov, dominating the skyline. Forming a skirmish line, the Bersaglieri approached the town. Suddenly, mortar shells began to fall and Russian machineguns opened up on the advancing troops. The Russians had beaten them to the town and were using the cathedral as a strongpoint.

Meshkov, Russia

Operation Saturn, revised as Operation Little Saturn, was a Red Army operation on the Eastern Front of World War II that led to battles in the North Caucasus and Donets Basin regions of the Soviet Union from December 1942 to February 1943. The success of Operation Uranus, launched on 19 November 1942, had trapped 250,000–300,000 troops of General Friedrich Paulus' German 6th Army and parts of General Hoth’s 4th Panzer Army in Stalingrad. To exploit this victory, the Soviet general staff planned a winter campaign of continuous and highly ambitious offensive operations, codenamed "Saturn". Later Joseph Stalin reduced his ambitious plans to a relatively small campaign codenamed "Operation Little Saturn". The offensive succeeded in smashing Germany's Italian and Hungarian allies, applied pressure on the over stretched German forces in Eastern Ukraine and prevented further German advances to the relief of the entrapped forces at Stalingrad. Despite these victories, the Soviets themselves became over extended, setting up the stages for the German offensives of the Third Battle of Kharkov and the Battle of Kursk.

Italian

Russian

Scenario Type = Standard