Going around, looking for opinions out of curiosity... so have a copy and paste.
Okay, first the background stuff most people reading this should know. If you don't know it, then please read. If you do know it, feel free to skip to the paragraph after the next one. If you aren't sure you know what I am talking about, then read a few sentences and if you get it, refer back too this.
Now following Operation Uranus, the encirclement of the Sixth Army at Stalingrad, the Soviets originally planned a even more follow-up operation which would completely cut off all German forces in the Caucuses. The idea was to crack through the Italian 8th Army on the Don and take Rostov, completely cutting off German Army Group B. However, a combination of Stalin's impatience, unexpected resistance within Stalingrad, and uncertainties amongst the STAVKA led to the Operation Saturn being drastically reduced. Its successor, Operation "Little" Saturn again geared itself towards hitting the Italian 8th, but with the far more modest goal of seizing airfields attempting to resupply the Sixth Army and forcing a German withdrawal through its simple threat.
But let us assume that Stalin decides it is better to simply contain the Sixth Army and let it starve while the Red Army encircles even more German forces. He lets the original Operation Saturn go ahead and adds up the additional forces by taking them from the Soviet perimeter around Stalingrad, particularly the Northern and Eastern perimeter. The Soviets being the Operation on its originally planned scale and goal: seize Rostov and encircle all German forces in the Caucuses.
My question is: how good is their chance of success? How good is their chance of complete success vs their chance of partial success? Will this disrupt the relief attempt for the Sixth even faster then IOTL? And if they do succeed in cutting the Germans off, can the Red Navy (which remained a force to be reckoned with in the Black Sea for the entire war) prevent them from withdrawing into the Crimea? What say you AH.com?
Okay, first the background stuff most people reading this should know. If you don't know it, then please read. If you do know it, feel free to skip to the paragraph after the next one. If you aren't sure you know what I am talking about, then read a few sentences and if you get it, refer back too this.
Now following Operation Uranus, the encirclement of the Sixth Army at Stalingrad, the Soviets originally planned a even more follow-up operation which would completely cut off all German forces in the Caucuses. The idea was to crack through the Italian 8th Army on the Don and take Rostov, completely cutting off German Army Group B. However, a combination of Stalin's impatience, unexpected resistance within Stalingrad, and uncertainties amongst the STAVKA led to the Operation Saturn being drastically reduced. Its successor, Operation "Little" Saturn again geared itself towards hitting the Italian 8th, but with the far more modest goal of seizing airfields attempting to resupply the Sixth Army and forcing a German withdrawal through its simple threat.
But let us assume that Stalin decides it is better to simply contain the Sixth Army and let it starve while the Red Army encircles even more German forces. He lets the original Operation Saturn go ahead and adds up the additional forces by taking them from the Soviet perimeter around Stalingrad, particularly the Northern and Eastern perimeter. The Soviets being the Operation on its originally planned scale and goal: seize Rostov and encircle all German forces in the Caucuses.
My question is: how good is their chance of success? How good is their chance of complete success vs their chance of partial success? Will this disrupt the relief attempt for the Sixth even faster then IOTL? And if they do succeed in cutting the Germans off, can the Red Navy (which remained a force to be reckoned with in the Black Sea for the entire war) prevent them from withdrawing into the Crimea? What say you AH.com?