Battle of the Caucasus
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (April 2024) |
Battle of the Caucasus | |||||||
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Part of the Eastern Front of World War II | |||||||
German tanks in formation in a Caucasus valley with infantry in the foreground, September 1942 | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Soviet Union | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Wilhelm List Ewald von Kleist Richard Ruoff Petre Dumitrescu Hasan Israilov † Mairbek Sheripov † | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
July 1942: 170,000 men 1,130 tanks 4,500 guns and mortars ~1,000 aircraft January 1943: 764,000 men 700 tanks 5,290 guns and mortars 530 aircraft |
July 1942: 112,000 men 121 tanks 2,160 guns and mortars 230 aircraft January 1943: 1,000,000+ men ~1,300 tanks 11,300+ guns and mortars 900 aircraft | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
281,000 casualties | 344,000 casualties |
The Battle of the Caucasus was a series of Axis and Soviet operations in the Caucasus as part of the Eastern Front of World War II. On 25 July 1942, German troops captured Rostov-on-Don, opening the Caucasus region of the southern Soviet Union to the Germans and threatening the oil fields beyond at Maikop, Grozny, and ultimately Baku. Two days prior, Adolf Hitler had issued a directive to launch an operation into the Caucasus named Operation Edelweiß. German forces would read their high water mark in the Caucasus on 1 November 1942 at the towns of Alagir and Ordzhonikidze, some 610 km from their starting positions. Axis forces were compelled to withdraw from the area that winter as Operation Little Saturn threatened to cut them off.
Order of battle
Red Army
- North Caucasian Front (Marshal Semyon Budyonny) – until September 1942
- Transcaucasian Front (General of the Army Ivan Tyulenev)
- Black Sea Fleet (Vice Admiral Filipp Oktyabrsky)
- Azov Sea Flotilla (Rear Admiral Sergey Gorshkov)
Wehrmacht
- General Paul von Kleist
- Colonel-General (Generaloberst) Richard Ruoff
- 3rd Romanian Army – General Petre Dumitrescu
German operations
Operation Edelweiss, named after
Preparations
Several oil firms such as "German Oil on the Caucasus", "Ost-Öl" and "Karpaten-Öl" had been established in Germany. They were awarded an exclusive 99-year lease to exploit the Caucasian oil fields. For this purpose, a large number of pipes—which later proved useful to Soviet oil industry workers—were delivered. A special economic inspection "A", headed by Lieutenant-General Nidenfuhr was created. Bombing the oil fields was forbidden. To defend them from destruction by Soviet units under the command of
Events
After neutralizing the Soviet counter-attack in the Izyum-Barvenkovsk direction the German Army Group A rapidly attacked towards the Caucasus. When
Concurrently with the outflanking maneuvers, the Caucasian Mountain Range was supposed to be crossed through such passes as Sancharo, Klukhorskiy and Marukhskiy to reach
The starting point of the operation on the Krasnodar-Pyatigorsk-Maikop line was reached on 10 August 1942. On 16 August, the battalion commanded by von Hirschfeld made a feint and reached the Kadar Gorge. On 21 August, troops from the 1st Mountain Division planted the flag of Nazi Germany on the summit of Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in both the Caucasus and Europe.
By 1 November 1942, the German
- 3 August 1942 – German Army takes Stavropol
- 10 August 1942 – German Army takes Maykop
- 12 August 1942 – German Army takes Krasnodar
- 23 August 1942 – German Army takes Mozdok
- 11 September 1942 - German Army and Romanian Army take Novorossiysk[3]
- 1 November 1942 – German Army reaches the town of North Ossetia.
Soviet operations
1941
There were no military operations in the region in 1941. But the region was affected by warfare elsewhere in the Soviet Union.
In his memoirs, Soviet
1942
In 1942, the
Soviet military operations included
- Tikhoretsk-Stavropol Defensive Operation (25 July – 5 August 1942)
- Armavir-Maikop Defensive Operation (6–17 August 1942)
- Novorossiysk Defensive Operation (19 August – 26 September 1942)
- Mozdok-Malgobek Defensive Operation (1–28 September 1942)
- Tuapse Defensive Operation (25 September – 20 December 1942)
- Nalchik-Ordzhonikidze Defensive Operation (25 October – 12 November 1942)
1943
In early 1943, the Germans began to withdraw and consolidate their positions in the region due to setbacks elsewhere. They established a defensive line (Kuban bridgehead) in the Taman Peninsula from which they hoped to eventually launch new operations in the Caucasus. The fighting remained reasonably static until September 1943 when the Germans ordered fresh withdrawals which effectively ended the period of fighting in the Caucasus.
Soviet Operations in 1943 consisted of the following.
North Caucasus Strategic Offensive (Operation Don)
- Salsk-Rostov Offensive (1 January – 4 February 1943)
- Mozdok-Stavropol Offensive (1 January – 24 January 1943)
- Novorossiysk-Maikop Offensive (11 January – 4 February 1943)
- Tikhoretsk-Eisk Offensive (24 January – 4 February 1943)
- Rostov Offensive (5–18 February 1943)
- Krasnodar Offensive (9 February – 24 May 1943)
- Novorossiysk-Taman Operation (10 September – 9 October 1943)
The key military base of Novorossiysk was retaken in September, 1943.
- 3 January 1943 – Red Army retakes Mozdok
- 21 January 1943 – Red Army retakes Stavropol
- 23 January 1943 – Red Army retakes Armavir
- 29 January 1943 – Red Army retakes Maykop
- 4 February 1943 – Soviet marines repel a German attempt to land at Malaya Zemlya, an island fort that controlled access to the port at Novorossiysk. Soviets hold this island until relieved in September, denying the use of the port to the Germans.
- 12 February 1943 – Red Army retakes Krasnodar
- 16 February 1943 – Red Army retakes Rostov
- 9 September 1943 – the Germans begin to retreat from the Blue Line defensive positions
- 16 September 1943 – Red Army occupies Novorossiysk, relieving the sailors and marines at Malaya Zemlya.
- 9 October 1943 – Red Army controls the whole of the Taman Peninsula
1944
During the
Operations included:
- Kerch-Eltigen Amphibious Offensive Operation(31 October 1943 – 11 December 1944)
- Perekop–Sevastopol Offensive (8 April – 12 May 1944)
- Kerch–Sevastopol Offensive (11 April – 12 May 1944)
Anti-Soviet insurgency (1940–1944)
See also
References
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (October 2008) |
- Alexander Werth, The Battle of Stalingrad, Chapter 7, "Caucasus, there and back", pp. 648–651
- Ivan Tyulenev, "Cherez Tri Voyny" (Through Three Wars), Moscow, 1960, p. 176.
- ^ Neidel, Indiana. "167 - The Allies Break Through! - WW2 - November 6, 1942". Timeghost History. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
- ^ Neidel, Indiana. "168 - Axis and Allies Both Invade France - WW2 - November 13, 1942". Timeghost History. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
- ^ Robert Forczyk, The Caucasus 1942–43: Kleist's race for oil
Bibliography
- (in Russian) Иван Тюленев. Крах операции "Эдельвейс". Орджоникидзе, 1975.
- (in Russian) К.-М. Алиев. В зоне "Эдельвейса". М.-Ставрополь, 2005.
- Javrishvili K. Battle of Caucasus: Case for Georgian Alpinists, Translated by Michael P. Willis, 2017.
External links
- (in Russian) Ясен Дьяченко. История альпинизма. Война на Кавказе
- (in Russian) Великая Война – Кавказ
- (in Russian) Операция "Эдельвейс". Последняя тайна
- (in Russian) Товарищи под знаком Эдельвейса / Kameraden unterm Edelweiss