Operation Koltso was the last part of the Battle of Stalingrad. It resulted in the capitulation of the remaining Axis forces encircled in the city. The operation was likely the largest-scale economy-of-force offensive ever conducted in military history.

Nikolay Nikolayevich Voronov was a Soviet military leader, chief marshal of the artillery (1944), and Hero of the Soviet Union. He was commander of artillery forces of the Red Army from 1941 until 1950. Voronov commanded the Soviet artillery during the Battle of Stalingrad and was the Stavka representative to various fronts during the Siege of Leningrad and the Battle of Kursk. He also fought in the Russian Civil War, the Polish-Soviet War and the Battle of Khalkin Gol, as well as serving as an advisor to the Spanish Republican Army during the Spanish Civil War.