Operation Blue

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Eastern Front
Barbarossa – Finland – Leningrad and Baltics – Crimea and Caucasus – Moscow – 1st Rzhev-Vyazma – 2nd Kharkov – Stalingrad – Velikiye Luki – 2nd Rzhev-Sychevka – Kursk – 2nd Smolensk – Dnieper – 2nd Kiev – Korsun – Hube's Pocket – Belorussia – Lvov-Sandomierz – Balkans – Hungary – Vistula-Oder – Königsberg – Berlin – Prague

Operation Blue to 3rd Kharkov
Blue – Voronezh – Edelweiss – Stalingrad – Uranus – Winter Storm – Saturn – Tatsinskaya Raid – 3rd Kharkov

Operation Blue (German: Fall Blau) was the German Wehrmacht's codename for the 1942 summer offensive. It led to the Battle of Voronezh, Battle of Stalingrad, and the Battle of the Caucasus.

The Red Army defeated the Wehrmacht at Stalingrad by conducting Operation Uranus and Operation Saturn.

1 Operation Blau
2 General situation before the German Offensive
3 Beginning of the German Offensive
4 Causes of initial success

[edit] Operation Blau

Army Group South was selected for a sprint forward through the southern Russian steppes into the Caucasus to capture vital Soviet oil fields. The summer offensive was code-named Fall Blau ("Case Blue"). It was to include the 6th and 17th Armies and the 4th and 1st Panzer Armies. In 1941, Army Group South had conquered Ukraine, and was positioned at the area of the planned offensive.

[edit] General situation before the German Offensive

On June 22, 1941, German troops advanced across the Russian boarder and buffer zones, commencing Operation Barbarossa. Barbarossa's objective was to take control of several key Russian areas, the main including the Ukraine, Caucasus area, Russian and free Baltic states, and the Moscow metropolitan area. By September 9, 1941, German troops had eliminated resistance in Kiev, taken a firm hold of the Ukraine (well over 60% of ethnic Ukraine population), secured several Balkan states, and advanced to within 300 km. of Moscow and 100 km. of Leningrad and Kharkov.

Strong communications, sufficient initial supply of basic resources (fuel, clothing, food), technological superiority and organized air superiority led to a powerful German surge during the initial months following June 1941. Factors that led to the formation of Operation Blau were:

1. The success of the Sixth Army and other advanced brigades across much of Southern Russia (Ukraine).

2. Control of Odessa and Kiev as auxiliary points for air and naval units.

3. Optimal geographic conditions for the several Panzer and motorized brigades in South (steppe conditions through Stalingrad deep into Asia).

4. Necessity to capture valuable crude oil fields near the Russian city of Baku to supply other motorized brigades throughout the entire German expedition.

5. Capture the final components of Industrialized West Russia, realistically defeating Russia (combined with other projected successes), and completing Operation Barbarossa.