In this situation, Stavka (Soviet High Command) decided to launch Operation Little Saturn, to encircle all of German Army Group A, by penetrating to the south and the coast of the Sea of Azov.

The raid was aimed at the German Luftwaffe's Tatsinskaya Airfield, from which a major part of the Stalingrad relief airlift was conducted.

An eyewitness account by a Soviet officer describes the scene: Our tank detachments unexpectedly broke into Tatsinski military airport.

After they destroyed patrol forces, Russian (sic) soldiers started shooting German pilots that rushed to their planes desperately hoping to save their lives.

Then "for five whole days the armoured corps held Tatsinskaya, putting up fierce resistance to encircling enemy reserves.

"[3]: 136 Already while the battle for the airfield and the town were going on, it became clear to Badanov that he had been cut off, when march columns of his 24th Motorized Brigade were followed from the north by German forces.

On 26 December, the last elements of the 24th Motorized Brigade managed to break through the encirclement to join the main body of the corps.

Towards the north, a mixed Kampfgruppe blocked the road against other Red Army formations that might come to the assistance of the 24th Tank Corps.

German forces engaged in the relief of Stalingrad had to be withdrawn to deal with the raiders, and many irreplaceable transport planes of the Luftwaffe had been destroyed, with their crews and ground personnel mostly killed.

[citation needed] Despite the loss of most of the tank corps' heavy equipment, the raid was a decisive operational success.

Previous Soviet raids had been by much weaker cavalry or airborne forces operating with partisans, and these had not been able to inflict as much damage.

[citation needed] Much was learned by the Soviet command from the raid, and it probably gave further impetus to create the new tank armies as independent formations capable of conducting sustained operations deep in the enemy rear.

The almost complete loss of the equipment and that of many of the personnel of the 24th Tank Corps also brought home the truth that operating so deep behind enemy lines carried exceptional risks.