As part of Operation Uranus, an offensive designed to trap German forces in the Stalingrad area, the 4th Tank Corps was ordered to break through the 3rd Romanian Army. The 4th Tank Corps was committed into the breach by 1500 on the first day of the offensive and began advancing quickly toward Kalach on the Don. Driving southeast to meet with Yaremenko's Stalingrad Front, the 4th Tank Corps engaged the Romanian 15th Infantry and 1st Cavalry Divisions under cold, overcast skies.
Objectives: Your company will break through the infantry positions to the west, then move south to attack and eliminate any enemy presence in the villages west of the river. Your platoon will follow the road to the objectives to the west and south. The Red Army Artillery
will crush the first line of resistance, success is assured.
