Sorry if this is too big of a "What If" question..... The counter-offensive in November, was that Uranus.? Anyway.........The Red Army put up that stiff defense that allowed all the men and equipment to be assembled that would defeat The Wehrmacht in Stalingrad. But what was the plan if The Red Army had retreated across The Volga.? Was Germany going to keep pursuing deeper into Russia.? Or would they have just held there and pursued the oil further south.? Thank You
The long term strategic goal of OP Barbarossa was the occupation of the USSR up to the Arkhangelsk - Astrakhan line including the oil deposits in the Caucasus About the historical reasons of the high symbolic value of Stalingrad: Battle of Tsaritsyn - Wikipedia
At the start of Operation Blue, Stalingrad was not seen as a major objective, it was the oilfields at Grozny and Maikop that had Hitler's Eye. Stalingrad gradually increased in importance as they reached it.