page_title: Case Blue
section_title: Battle for the oilfields
hierarchical_section_title: Case Blue / The offensive / Army Group A: Caucasus / Battle for the oilfields
caption_attribution_description: Information added by Wikimedia users.Français&#160;: Le 22 décembre 1942, des soldats allemands des troupes de montagne, dans la neige à l'occasion d'une pause, Caucase, Union soviétique. English: On 22 December 1942, German soldiers from the mountain troops, in the snow having a rest, Caucasus, Soviet Union.
context_page_description: Case Blue was the German Armed Forces' name for its plan for the 1942 strategic summer offensive in southern Russia between 28 June and 24 November 1942, during World War II.
  The operation was a continuation of the previous year's Operation Barbarossa, intended to knock the Soviet Union out of the war. It involved a two-pronged attack: one from the Axis right flank against the oil fields of Baku, known as Operation Edelweiss, and one from the left flank in the direction of Stalingrad along the Volga River, known as Operation Fischreiher.
  Army Group South of the German Army was divided into Army Groups A and B. Army Group A was tasked with crossing the Caucasus mountains to reach the Baku oil fields, while Army Group B protected its flanks along the Volga.
  Supported by 2,035 Luftwaffe aircraft and 1,934 tanks and assault guns, the 1,370,287-man Army Group South attacked on 28 June, advancing 48 kilometers on the first day and easily brushing aside the 1,715,000 Red Army troops opposite, who falsely expected a German offensive on Moscow even after Blau commenced.
context_section_description: In the south-east, the Wehrmacht headed in the direction of Grozny and Baku, the other important petroleum centres. More installations and industrial centres fell into German hands, many intact or only slightly damaged during the Russian retreat. From August–September, the Taman Peninsula and a part of the Novorossiysk naval base were captured. The Germans continued towards Tuapse on the Black Sea coast and in the east Elista was taken on 13 August. In the south, the German advance was stopped north of Grozny, after taking Mozdok on 25 August. German paratroopers assisted an insurgency in Chechnya, operating behind Soviet lines. German mountain troops failed to secure the Black Sea ports and the advance fell short of Grozny as supply difficulties arose once more. The Soviets dug in the 9th and 44th armies of the North Transcaucasian Front along the rocky Terek River bank in front (north) of the city. The Luftwaffe was unable to support the German army that far forward and Soviet aviation attacked bridges and supply routes virtually unopposed. The Germans crossed the river on 2 September but made only slow progress. At the beginning of September, Hitler had a major argument with the High Command and specifically List, as he perceived the advance of the German forces as too slow. As a result, Hitler dismissed List on 9 September and took direct command of Army Group A himself.
  Axis ships transported 30,605 men, 13,254 horses and 6,265 motor vehicles across the Black Sea from Romania, from 1–2 September. With the reinforcements, the Germans captured most of the Black Sea naval bases but were held up at Novorossiysk, where the Soviet 47th Army had prepared for a long siege. The port fell on 10 September, after a four-day battle, the final German victory in the Caucasus. It left the heights south of the port and several coast roads in the hands of 47th Soviet Army. Attempts to push out of Novorossiysk were costly failures and the Axis also failed to break the defences on the coastal plain from Novorossiysk to Tuapse, having only the strength to stabilise the line. Romanian Army losses were particularly high and the Romanian 3rd Mountain Division was nearly wiped out by a Soviet counter-attack from 25–26 September.
  Further east, the Axis enjoyed greater success and on 1 September, the Germans took Khulkhuta (Хулхута́), halfway between Elista and Astrakhan. During August and September, German patrols raided the railway between Kizlyar, north-east of Grozny, marking the farthest advance of the German forces towards the Caspian Sea. In the south, the First Panzer Army advance on Grozny was stopped by the Red Army and the 14th Air Army. By late September, supply failures and the resistance of the Red Army slowed the Axis advance.
  On 2 November 1942, Romanian mountain troops (Vânători de munte) under the command of Brigadier General Ioan Dumitrache took Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria and also the farthest point of Axis advance into the Caucasus. This victory earned the Romanian General the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Up to 10,000 prisoners were captured in two days, before the advance toward Grozny was stopped again west of the city at Vladikavkaz. On 5 November, Alagir was seized and the Alagir–Beslan–Malgobek line reached became the farthest German advance in the south. By this time, the gap between Army Groups A and B had left them vulnerable to a counter-offensive. Only the German 16th Motorized Infantry Division remained inside the gap, guarding the left flank of the First Panzer Army by securing the road towards Astrakhan. On 22 November, after several Soviet counter-attacks, Hitler appointed Kleist as Group commander with orders to hold his position and prepare to resume the offensive if Stalingrad could be taken.
caption: German Gebirgsjäger in the Caucasus
exif: {}