The Tatsinskaya Raid - Soviet raid against the Stalingrad airlift - 24th December 1942

The Tatsinskaya Raid was a ‘deep penetration’ raid on the airfield and town of Tatsinskaya by Soviet forces as part of Operation Little Saturn in late 1942. From 16th to 23rd December 1942, the Soviet 24th Tank Corps under the command of Major General Vasily Badanov broke out past the Italian and German lines to the North-West of Stalingrad and drove deep into the rear of the enemy’s territory. An epic journey of endurance took place as Badanov’s roughly 500 vehicles crossed over 200km of snow-covered Russian country while encountering light enemy resistance, bombing attack, and poor radio communication. On the morning of 24th December 1942, 24th Tank Corps launched an attack on Tatsinskaya, reaching the airfield while air operations were taking place and subsequently destroying 46 German transports as they attempted to evacuate. This operation singlehandedly destroyed a significant part of the Luftwaffe transport fleet and seriously disrupted the Stalingrad airlift. However, the remnants of 24th Tank Corps were surrounded and almost completely destroyed by 28th December before a small force including Badanov managed to escape to Soviet lines. My Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=60384096 Patreon members: Ethan Esgro Visuals: IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles https://il2sturmovik.com/ and IL-2 Tank Crew Sources: Red Christmas: The Tatsinskaya Airfield Raid 1942 by Robert Forsyth https://web.archive.org/web/200504210... https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2017/03... https://en.topwar.ru/84172-tacinskiy-... Music: ‘Ascension’ and ‘Inbound’ by Scott Buckley – released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au #sotocinematics #history #il2