14. The “greatest defeat of Marshal Zhukov”, subsequently portrayed as a deliberate failure to offer relief to Stalingrad, the Soviet offensive under Operation Mars was one of the bloodiest months of the Second World War
Planned to commence in October 1942, under the direction of Georgy Zhukov, soldiers from the Kalinin and Western Fronts would attempt to encircle and destroy the German Ninth Army. Delayed, the offensive did not launch until the early hours of November 25, by which time snowy weather grounded intended air support and reduced the efficacy of preceding artillery. Proceeding slowly, the opposing German lines stubbornly held positions even after being outflanked by Soviet forces, impeding any momentum for the attackers. Suffering terrible losses, the Soviet assault faltered and permitted the Germans to initiate a counter-offensive.
Reclaiming their original lines by mid-December, several thousand Soviets would be trapped behind enemy lines with few, after weeks of fighting, surviving to return to their comrades. Despite being a strategic and military failure, with the Soviets suffering more than five hundred thousand casualties to the German’s forty thousand, Operation Mars would inadvertently play an important role in the outcome of the Second World War. Demonstrating, in Hitler’s mind, he had been right to overrule his commanders and not withdraw during the winter of 1941-1942, the Führer adopted a more controlling posture thereafter resulting in several major tactical failures on his part.