Case Blue (WW2)
Case Blue (Fall Blau in German) was a WW2 military operation launched by the Wehrmacht, with its main objective being the capture of the Soviet oil fields of Baku, in the Caucasus region, to keep the Third Reich well supplied with the so much needed fuel. Designed by Adolf Hitler himself, it began on June 28, 1942, but it would grind to a halt by December 1942. The Führer and the German High Command did not know that the plan of attack of this military campaign would lead to the vicious Battle of Stalingrad on the Volga River. After Operation Barbarossa, which had failed to capture Moscow in December 1941, it was the second largest military campaign of the war, and at the end of which, the tide of this armed conflict turned against Germany.
Case Blue was carried out through two different smaller operations: Operation Edelweiss and Operation Fischreiher. Thus, in order to execute Fall Blau, Adolf Hitler divided Army Group South into two army groups; Army Group A (AGA), which was assigned to strike south into the Caucasus (Operation Edelweiss), and Army Group B (AGB), which would push eastward towards the Volga, in the direction of Stalingrad (Operation Fischreiher), holding the front line and protecting the rear of the first one.
Under the command of Wilhelm List, Army Group A was composed of 1st Panzer Army, the 11th Army, and the 17th Army, reinforced by the Romanian 3rd Army. Led by Maximilian von Weichs, Army Group B was made up of the 4th Panzer Army, the 2nd Army, the 6th Army, the Hungarian 2nd Army, and the Italian 8th Army. They would get air support from the Luftwaffe's Luftflotte 4. In order to be able to successfully take Stalingrad, Army Group B needed another Panzer Army, a mechanized supply line, and more air support.
Summary
Case Blue was set in motion in the early hours of June 28, 1942, with the 4th Panzer Army (Hermann Hoth) being the spearhead of Army Group B, advancing eastward, crossing the bend of the Don River towards the Volga. Meanwhile, the AGB's 6th Army (led by Friedrich von Paulus) also advanced eastwards, in the direction of Stalingrad, being the left flank of this offensive.
The Army Group A's 1st Panzer Army would drive south in the following days. It was followed by the German 17th and the Romanian 3rd Army. The Wehrmacht advance was conducted with skills and determination.
Operation Edelweiss
By July 23, elements of Army Group A had taken the city of Rostov, crossing the Don on July 25. On their drive south, vanguard units of AGA captured the Soviet city of Salsk on July 31, and the town of Stavropol on August 5. By August 9, the 1st Panzer Army had reached the Caucasus mountains, planting the unit flag on the highest peak. However, Army Group A had overstretched its supply lines, and the offensive would eventually grind to a halt without taking permanently the Baku oil fields.
Operation Fischreiher
Army Group B would successfully advance eastward. By August 4, the Wehrmacht spearhead units were 60 miles away from Stalingrad, on the Volga. The 6th Army, under Friedrich von Paulus, was assigned to take this Russian city. However, it failed to encircle and crush the Russian 64th and 62nd armies, whose troops pulled back into Stalingrad. Although this city would be torn up to rubble by the German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka bombers, the Russian troops would put up a ferocious house-to-house fight in the greatest urban battle of WWII; the Battle of Stalingrad.
By December 1942, the men of the German 6th Army found themselves trapped in a Russian pincers movement, which the Red Army had launched through Operation Uranus. Finally, on February 2, 1943, Friedrich von Paulus would unconditionally surrender to the Soviets.
Below, map of Case Blue, with the armies and their directions of the advance being marked
Below, photo of German soldiers of a mechanized infantry unit (6th Army) approaching the Don River as they move towards Stalingrad
Below, an armored division unit of the 1st Panzer Army, AG A, advancing towards the Caucasus
