Talk:Operation Winter Storm/GA1

GA Review

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Two minor style issues:

• The infobox seems a bit empty. No location, strength of the opposing forces or casualties.
• The lead could use some wikification (names of armies, units, places, etc.)

Asides from that, this seems to me like an excellent, professional article, that certainly meets the GA criteria. Cheers, Nudve (talk) 20:19, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Based on the Good Article criteria:

Well-written

• 'In late November, the Red Army completed Operation Uranus, concluding in the encirclement of Axis personnel in and around the city of Stalingrad. - 'resulting' instead of 'concluding' sounds better I think
• 'As the Red Army continued to build up strength, in an effort to allocate as many resources as possible to the eventual launch of planned Operation Saturn' - 'the' planned Operation Saturn
• 'Ultimately, due to the reluctance to weaken certain sectors in order to redeploy certain units to Army Group Don' - repetition of certain
• ' The German force would be pitted against an array of Soviet armies, which were preoccupied with beginning the destruction of the encircled forces and the progress of its southwards offensive around the lower Chir River.

' - Not clear who the 'its' is referring to in terms of 'its southwards offensive', could this be clarified?

• 'The German offensive, beginning on 12 December, caught the Red Army by surprise and made large headway on the first day' - replace 'beginning' with 'began' 'cos it's one of those noun-plusing things.
• 'On 22 November 1942, the Red Army closed its encirclement of Axis forces in Stalingrad; the product of Operation Uranus' - result, not product, really
• 'The encircled German forces would be resupplied by air, requiring roughly 680 metric tons (750 short tons) of supplies per day; the assembled fleet of 500 transport aircraft were insufficient for the task' - I think a 'however' after the semi-colon would clarify things a little better
• 'Furthermore, sections of the Volga River's Western banks were still held by Soviet forces.[10]

' - This seems a little out of place directly following supply concerns - perhaps it should be moved to the start of the section.

• 'In fact, the German field marshal was doubtful on whether or not the relief operation could afford to wait to receive all units earmarked for the offensive' - This also seems a little out of place, but just the start - perhaps clarify as 'Manstein believed that the situation for 6th Army was so dire that he was doubtful as to whether or not the relief operation could afford to wait to receive all units earmarked for the offensive'
• 'the Red Army's offensive in the area commenced on 30 November, involving around 50,000 soldiers, and forcing Manstein to use the 48th Panzer Corps in an attempt to hold the area' - 'forcing' to 'forced'
• 'Much of the personnel promised for the relief effort never arrived, party due to the poor transportation service to the front; some units originally chosen to be transferred under the command of Army Group Don were retained by their original commands' - party to 'partly' and 'much' to 'many'
• 'Some units in Army Group Don were in no shape to conduct offensive operations, due to losses sustained in the past month of combat, while many new formations which had been promised did not arrive on time' - the last part of the sentence is repetitive given the sentence before it.
• 'In that sense, the 48th Panzer Corps became embroiled in the defensive battles for the Chir River, as the Soviet pushed in an attempt to overrun the airfield at Tatsinskaya (being used to resupply German forces in Stalingrad by air).[' - 'In that sense' seems out of place - perhaps replace with 'As a consequence'?
• 'Despite early gays, the 57th Panzer Corps was not able to achieve decisive results' - 'gays' to 'gains'
• 'Paulus was not impressed, although agreed that the best option continued to be an attempted breakout as early as possible' - although he agreed'
• 'As the Red Army chased after the retreating Fourth Panzer Army towards the Aksai River and broke through the German defense on the banks of the Chir River, it also began to prepare for Operation Ring—the reduction of encircled forces in Stalingrad.[92]

' - replace 'chased after' with 'pursued'

Factually accurate

• Infobox needs more details, as above
• Please wikilink various armies, places and individuals, particularly in the lead, as above

Broad in coverage

• Passes

Neutrality and Stability

• Passes in both areas

Illustrated

• Passes, all images check out

An excellent article and very informative; please go over the comments above. When they are solved I will pass the article. Skinny87 (talk) 11:24, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Alright, I've done everything except one. The infobox can't contain more information, because there's none to add. I don't have figures for specific Soviet strength prior to the German offensive; sources are more preoccupied with Operation Uranus (and describing that) than they are with Operation Winter Storm. Even von Manstein doesn't have any detailed numbers of the strength of his forces, so I can't even add German strengths. Nor are there figures for losses (even for Operation Uranus); the big thing for sources is the encirclement of the 6th Army, not German personnel losses for that small period of time. JonCatalán^(Talk) 15:52, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Well, everything else is solved so I'll pass the article, although I'd suggest that if you wish to take the article any further up the chain you would need to find casualty numbers. Skinny87 (talk) 16:07, 7 January 2009 (UTC)