“Saturn” is almost invisible: general Krupennikov against field marshal Paulus

The paper is devoted to the analysis of the consequences of one of the episodes of the Battle of Stalingrad, connected with the capture of General I. P. Krupennikov, Chief of staff of the 3rd Guards Army. After being imprisoned, he gave detailed testimony regarding the composition and strength of his association, as well as the plans of the Soviet command, including a general idea of the concept of Operation Saturn. On the basis of German documents, the author demonstrates to what extent the data obtained during the interrogations of the Soviet general influenced the strategic decisions made by the enemy. In the course of the study, it has been revealed that the information obtained from captive I. P. Krupennikov, did not have a decisive influence on the development of events near Stalingrad. The capture of the high-ranking commander took place during the Soviet offensive, when the German troops suffered a heavy defeat. His testimony given during interrogations could have a significant impact on the development of the situation at Stalingrad. The German command, learning about the plans of the Soviet command, began to behave more cautiously, refused to take active measures, paying much attention to establishing defense in the Rostov direction. This did not allow him to withdraw the 6th Army from the encirclement in time. It took another month and a half to destroy it, which prevented the Soviet troops from breaking through to Rostov in time.