二次世界大戰資料庫 (WW2DB)

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseOn 25 Jul 1942, German troops captured Rostov-on-Don, Russia, opening the Caucasus region of southern Soviet Union, and the oil fields beyond at Maikop, Grozny, and ultimately Baku, to the Germans. Two days prior, Adolf Hitler issued a directive to launch such an operation into the Caucasus region, to be named Operation Edelweiß. Field Marshal Wilhelm List was placed in charge of this operation as the commanding officer of Army Group A. Under him were General Paul von Kleist's German 1st Panzer Army, Colonel-General Hermann Hoth's German 4th Panzer Army, Colonel-General Richard Ruoff's German 17th Army, General Petre Dumitrescu's Romanian 3rd Army, and Field Marshal Wolfram von Richthofen's German Luftflotte 4. On 28 Jul, as the Germans began to advance into the region, Joseph Stalin formed the new North Caucasus Front and placed it under Marshal Semyon Budyonny. On 9 Aug, after the Germans had continuously pushed back Soviet defenses, the Germans captured Maikop, Russia, the Germans' first major objective. Further advances, however, proved to be more difficult for the Germans, and the momentum slowed. Black Sea port city Novorossiysk was not captured until 6 Sep. Displeased, Hitler took personal command of Army Group A on 10 Sep. Even the personal intervention by Hitler, however, did not resolve the logistical issues caused by the long supply lines, especially as Hitler was obsessed with the conquest of the city of Stalingrad. By 4 Nov, all offensives in the region were suspended, and some of Army Group A's units were transferred out of the region to join the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad. On 29 Nov, the Soviets took on the offensive; although this offensive was to halted, it clearly hinted at the turning of the tide, if it was not already clear. By the end of the 1942, Hitler would recognize that the situation in the region was becoming dangerous. In early Jan 1943, Hitler ordered Army Group A to withdraw toward the Taman Peninsula to the northwest, where he hoped a new offensive could be mounted in the future.

ww2dbaseOn 4 Apr 1943, the Soviet forces launched the Taman Offensive Operation in an attempt to push the Germans out of the Taman Peninsula, but the Germans generally stopped this effort. Meanwhile, limited attacks were launched out of Novorossiysk by the German 17th Army in mid-Apr 1943, but like the Soviet attacks they achieved little. Although fighting would persist for the subsequent months, the front lines remained generally the same until Sep.

ww2dbaseOn 7 Sep, the German 17th Army began to evacuate from the region. On 10 Sep 1943, Soviet forces launched Novorossiysk-Taman Strategic Offensive Operation and Novorossiysk Amphibious Operation (sometimes collectively called the Second Taman Offensive Operation). By 9 Oct, the Germans evacuated the Kuban region, thus ending the campaign in the Caucasus region.

Caucasus Campaign 互動地圖

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Caucasus Campaign Timeline

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