Battle of Nikolayevka

Alpini route toward Nikolaievka, from the Don river

Date	January 13–26, 1943 (including prelude)
Location	Nikolayevka, Belgorod Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Result	Axis breakout, Soviet victory

Belligerents

Italy

Germany

Hungary

Soviet Union

Commanders and leaders

Giulio Martinat †

Luigi Reverberi

Fyodor Isidorovich Kuznetsov

Dmitri Danilovich Lelyushenko

Strength

8-9,000

6,000 infantry (plus Soviet partisans)

Casualties and losses

3,000 dead, wounded, or captured

1,000 dead & wounded

The Battle of Nikolayevka refers to the breakout of the Italian forces in January 1943, as a small part of the larger Battle of Stalingrad. The breakout involved a corps of the Italian 8th Army's near the village of Nikolayevka (now Livenka, Belgorod Oblast in Russia).

On December 16, 1942, Soviet forces launched Operation Little Saturn aimed at the Italian 8th Army. The Soviet plan was to force the River Don, encircle and destroy the Italian 8th Army along the Don, then push towards Rostov-on-Don and thus cut off Army Group A fighting in the Caucasus. On December 16 General Fyodor Kuznetsov's 1st Guards Army and General Dmitri Lelyushenko's 3rd Guards Army attacked the units of the Italian 8th Army, which were quickly destroyed—in three days the Red Army had opened a gap in the Axis front 45 km (28 mi) deep and 150 km (93 mi) wide and destroyed two of the Italian Army's Corps (2nd and 35th). The Soviet armored columns now rapidly advanced south towards the Black Sea.

The Italian 8th Army's Alpini (Mountain) Corps, consisting of the 3rd Julia, 2nd Tridentina and 4th Cuneense divisions and the 156th Infantry Division to their rear, were at this point largely unaffected by the Soviet offensive on their right flank. On January 13, 1943, the Red Army launched the second stage of Operation Saturn. Four armies of General Filipp Golikov's Voronezh Front attacked, encircled, and destroyed the Hungarian Second Army near Svoboda on the Don to the northwest of the Italians and pushed back the remaining units of the German 24th Army Corps on the Alpini left flank, thus encircling the Italian Corps.

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Wikipedia