 The plan was to punch through the overstretched and weakly defended German flanks and surround the German forces in the Stalingrad region.During the preparations for the attack, Marshal Zhukov personally visited the front and noticing the poor organisation, insisted on a one-week delay in the start date of the planned attack.The operation was code-named "Uranus" and launched in conjunction with Operation Mars, which was directed at Army Group Center.