6th PzD - OOB Question - Stalingrad

[Richrd]

Major Koch and his 40 odd assault guns smack down the Russians outside of Kotelnikovo. The source for this is Raus, and, well, he oughta know. The 228th formed in Nov in WK III. I compared this to other StuG battalions. The 232nd formed in October and "completed it's formation" in december. The 236th formed in march 43 and "received it's baptism of fire" maybe sometime in June. They're all about the same. The commander of the 228th was Hauptmann Malachowski. Oak Leaves on 6 march 43, and replaced in command on the 9th of that month. I think the 228th is out of contention.
But here is an interesting note. The 232nd was originally issued tropical kit for deployment in Afrika. However it was alerted on Christmas eve, moved out at once and was delivered to the Kalmuck step. It was unloaded at "Sailz" which I've never heard of. I think they meant Salsk. ".....immmediately went into action. This rapid operation had the objective of relieving the 6th army and to support it's breakout." This is about New years, Little Saturn had already begun, Hoth was being pushed back and Paulus' fate was already sealed. I don't think there was a StuG battalion with Raus before Christmas. There must have been something, but I don't know what, yet. Since there are about a million S42 OOB details to flesh out yet, I'm going to forget about this one for awhile, and hope it turns up while I'm searching out something else.
Lastly, Lt colonel von Pannwitz of Cossack cavalry fame was in Kotelnikovo on the 27th of Novemeber. Witnessing the attack on Raus he gathered all runners he could find from a nearby workshop, swept around the Russian formation and attacked the artillery from the rear. Six tanks crewed by mechanics. Will that do?