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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.
The operation 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 to protect the first attack, moving in the direction of Stalingrad along the Don River, known as Operation Fischreiher.
Edelweiss (1942) — advance through the Caucasus to the Baku oil fields and Black Sea coast; Kreml ("Kremlin") (1942) — deception operation to conceal southern offensive; BLAU ("BLUE") (1942) — Umbrella name for drive towards southern Soviet Union. Blücher ("after Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher") (1942) — campaign into the Caucasus
Prepared in 1942, never carried out.) [24] Operation Blau (strategic summer offensive in southern USSR. Carried out 28 June 1942.) Operation Fischreiher (plan to advance to the Volga river and capture the city of Stalingrad. Carried out 22 July 1942.) Operation Edelweiss (plan to capture the oil fields of Baku and gain control over the Caucasus ...
The Wehrmacht had been planning the capture of the oil field under the codename Operation Edelweiss. During the intense German air reconnaissance in May–October, 1942 the Army included the 8th Air Defence Fighter Corps , seven anti-aircraft regiments , one anti-aircraft machine-gun regiment, a searchlight regiment, a barrage balloon regiment ...
In the summer of 1942, Operation Edelweiss was drawn up in order to capture the Caucasus, in particular, Baku and Grozny. A similar plan called Velvet was also drawn up by the allies of the USSR – England and the United States. [4] In 1942–1943, 74 attempts of the German air forces to invade Baku were stopped. [3]
[citation needed] The division fought in the Second Battle of Kharkov in May 1942 and then participated in the offensive through southern Russia and into the Caucasus (Operation Edelweiss). In a symbolic propaganda move, the division sent a detachment to raise the German flag on Mount Elbrus on 21 August 1942.
In 1942 on the Eastern Front, the German army approached the South Caucasus. Hitler was eager to capture Azerbaijan, seeking oil to strengthen the German army and weaken the Soviet Union – whose economy relied heavily on oil and fossil fuels. [6] Operation Edelweiss was planned to commence on September 26, 1942. [7]