By the time Graf returned to active duty at the end of July, III./JG 52 had re-equipped with the Bf 109G, and was back at Taganrog in the south. On the ground, the German Army's summer offensive, "Fall Blau", was underway, and the city of Rostov, gateway to the Caucasus, had fallen. In mid-August, III./JG 52 moved forward to provide air cover as the army tried to establish bridgeheads across the Kuban River to capture the Black Sea ports. "Geschwaderkommodore" Gordon Gollob, of nearby JG 77, was temporarily appointed to command JG 52, after "Major" Herbert Ihlefeld, was severely wounded in a take-off accident. Gollob rivalled Graf for highest scoring pilot on the Eastern Front. On 14 August, both pilots had 120 victories. Soon after, Graf led a detachment of experienced aces from III./JG 52 reassigned to JG 3 to cover the assault on Stalingrad. The detachment came under the command of "Hauptmann" Wolf-Dietrich Wilcke from JG 3.