Military History
For decades after it happened, Operation Mars would be taught in Soviet History books as a brilliant and effective diversion scheme that masterfully deceived the Germans. The official story claimed that Operation Uranus, the ambitious Soviet thrust to encircle Stalingrad, was the cornerstone of the Red Army’s offensive, while operation Mars was merely a secondary diversion assault aimed at keeping the Germans near Rzhev from reinforcing the embattled city. But as Operation Uranus unfolded, the Soviets launched a second pincer maneuver on a salient located in the northern town of Rzhev. The tumultuous assault kept the German 9th Army engaged, leading a desperate defensive effort and prohibiting the soldiers from reinforcing their comrades in Stalingrad as they were being besieged. Nevertheless, another version of the events would emerge five decades later, portraying Operation Mars not as a clever distraction that fooled the German armies but as a massive, botched assault aimed to be even more significant than Uranus. The operation was filled with reckless actions and appalling mistakes that would lead to one of the most ruinous Soviet defeats in the war, earning the name of “The Rzhev Meat Grinder”…
Credit Dark Docs
