Special Sub-Topic: Operation Barbarossa Click Here To Play: Operation Barbarossa

Who was the Soviet ambassador to Berlin on the eve of 'Barbarossa'?

Vladimir Dekanozov & Dekanozov. Dekanozov was an ex-NKVD interrogator whose foreign experience was limited to interrogating foreign officials and purging officers.

On what date did Operation Barbarossa start?

June 22. Russians were so unprepared that they told units on the front line not to react to 'provocations' by the Germans, so many units didn't even fight.

In which city, across the Volga from Stalingrad, did Russian generals make a temporary headquarters and supply base?

Krasnaya Sloboda. One of the Generals in Stalingrad put his HQ under a supposedly empty oil tank. One time during a German shelling the tank was hit, and the Russians found out that it wasn't empty after all.

Who was the Commanding officer of the 62nd Russian Army, during the battle for Stalingrad?

Chuikov. Chuikov was the General who set up his headquarters underneath the oil tank, fortunately when it was hit, he was not in his HQ bunker.

What did Russian soldiers call the Pak 3.7 mm anti-tank gun used by Romanian divisions on the Stalingrad front?

the doorknocker. Many Romanian Divisions only had one of these guns. Russians called it 'the doorknocker' because it could not punch through T-34 armor.

How many kills did the Russian sniper only known as 'Zikan' have?

224. He beat Vasily Zaitsev by almost 100 kills, he was not noted, because he was a Ukrainian, and the Russians did not like the other ethnic groups.

What were pupils of another famed Russian sniper, Vasily Zaitsev, called?

zaichata & leverets & little hares. Zaitsev called his pupils this name because of his childhod in the Ural Mountains, where newborn hares were abundant.

Which Panzer Corps was sent to help Romanian General Bolshoy in repelling the Russian attack code-named 'Uranus'?

48th. This corps had little more than 100 operational vehicles.

What was the code name for the German attempt at breaking the Sixth's Army encirclement at Stalingrad?

Operation Winter Storm & Winter Storm & Operation Winterstorm & Winterstorm. Paulus actually requested the halt of this operation, because he feared that the rest of his comrades might suffer the same fate as his men.

What was the codename for the Soviet Operation to counteract Operation Winter Storm?

Operation Little Saturn & Little Saturn. This operation pushed the German Army back so far, that they could not fly supplies to their trapped comrades at Stalingrad.