Army Group Don
In November, after the Soviet counterattack which encircled Axis forces in Stalingrad (Operation Uranus), KG 51 was removed from supporting Army Group Don to assisting with the relief of the pocket by attacking Soviet bottlenecks, particularly the Don-Chir bridgeheads and the rapidly collapsing front around the city. On 8 January KG 51's commanding officer Oberst Heinrich Conrady was killed in action by ground fire over the Manychskaya bridgehead. The crews came under fire from areas they believed were German-held, such was the rapid Soviet advance. Conrady was one of three KG 51 crews lost.