Video: '177- Food for Leningrad, Breaking the Siege! - WW2 - January 15th, 1943' (Operation Koltso at 0:57)

(Sunday, January 10, 1943, 8:05 a.m. local time; during the Battle of Stalingrad on the Eastern Front in the European theatre of World War II) — The Red Army today launched Operation Koltso under the command of General Konstantin Rokossovsky, the final annihilation of the tattered remnants of Germany’s Sixth Army, which was surrounded at Stalingrad and refused surrender terms on Jan. 8, 1943, by its commander, Friedrich “José” Paulus.

Paulus had asked German dictator Adolf Hitler for freedom of action, but Hitler said no way, José, as surrendering now would free up seven Soviet armies that could attack the Axis armies elsewhere.

Video: 'The World at War: Stalingrad: June 1942-February 1943 (9 of 26)' (Operation Koltso at 42:25)

On the city’s western side, the Soviet 65th Army advanced from the west, supported by the 21st Army and 24th Army from the left and right, respectively. The 66th Army advanced from the north. and the 64th from the east.

According to John Keegan, the 7,000-gun artillery barrage that day is the largest concentration of artillery in history.

By the end of the day, the Soviets have broken the western defenses on a 15km front and were making for the Rossoshka River. They’re also advancing from the south.