Episode 6 - Voronezh slows the Wehrmacht as Operation Blue is split in two

This week the Germans launch Operation Blue where Army Group South is supposed to head towards the Caucuses to secure the all-important oil.

We heard last week how Adolf Hitler was under the false impression that seizing the oil would also damage Russia’s fighting capability – but little did he know that the Soviet Union had vast resources in other regions as I explained.

The Upper Volga and Kama area in the Urals and in the northern region of Ukhta also produced oil as well as a narrow belt east of the Caspian sea across the whole south of the Soviet Union. Hitler did not understand this – he was fixated on Baku.

In 1942 there were few oil pipelines in use. The main pipeline which ran 1200 miles from Baku to the Black Sea port of Batum had been in existence since the First World War, and other shorter lengths ran from Grozny to Tuapse on the Black Sea as well as Armavir to Rostov and Trudovuya.

Hitler had decided on three parallel thrusts to be made all West to East. The first and most northerly would be an armoured attack from the area near Kursk towards the Don River and Voronezh. The tanks would then turn south east after taking the city and move down the west bank of the Don rolling up the enemy.

Simultaneously, a second parallel thrust would be made from the area of Kharkov striking at the concentrated Soviet Army forces on the Don, and a third parallel thrust was to be made from lower Don region to join up with the other two German forces in the area of Stalingrad.

The city with Stalin’s name was mentioned at this point for the first time. The capture of the city was not part of the strategic aim, although it was important.

As we’ll see, both Halder and von Bock were to oppose Hitler later when he became obsessed by overrunning the city. By the Spring of 1942 it had already become apparent that German resources could not cope with a full-scale offensive on the whole length of the Russian front – from Leningrad in the north to Sebastopol in the South.

The campaign in the Caucuses had significant economic considerations. There were coal and iron in the Donetz Basin, oil in the Caucuses and the Volga. Hitler had many other things to worry about in Western Europe. The shock of his attacks in 1939 had worn off and by Autumn 1941 occupied peoples in Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg as well as France were beginning to recover.