The 16th Panzer Division had reached the outskirts of Stalingrad only to find that they had outdistanced the rest of the 6th Army. General Hube positioned his divisions into a hedgehog defense to wait for the lagging units to arrive. Not content to passively wait, the general ordered a limited assault of the town of Spartakova. Following an early morning bombardment Combat Group Krupen moved from their positions and attacked the Soviet trenches.