Editing Case Blue (section)

{{Short description|1942 German war campaign against the USSR}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2023}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Case Blue
| partof            = the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] of [[World War II]]
| image             = Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-218-0503-19, Russland-Süd, zerstörter russischer Panzer.jpg
| image_size        = 300px
| caption           = German troops take cover behind a knocked out [[T-70]] light tank and beside a [[Sd.Kfz. 250]] halftrack, summer 1942
| date              = 28 June – 24 November 1942<br />({{Age in years, months, weeks and days|month1=06|day1=28|year1=1942|month2=11|day2=24|year2=1942}})
| place             = [[Voronezh]], [[Rostov-on-Don|Rostov]] to [[Stalingrad]], [[Kuban]], [[Caucasus]], and [[Southern Russia]], [[Soviet Union]]
| territory         = 
| result            = Axis strategic failure
| combatant1        = {{plainlist|
* '''{{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}'''
* {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}
* {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)}}
* {{flagcountry|Fascist Italy (1922–1943)}}
* {{flagcountry|Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|name=Slovakia}}{{sfn|Holt|2009|p=47}}
* {{flagcountry|Independent State of Croatia|name=Croatia}}{{efn|Around 6,000 men of the [[Croatian Home Guard (World War II)|Croatian Home Guard]] served in the [[6th Army (Wehrmacht)|German 6th Army]] as the [[369th Croatian Reinforced Infantry Regiment (Wehrmacht)|369th Infantry Regiment]] and in the [[Italian Army in Russia|Italian 8th Army]] as the [[Light Transport Brigade (Independent State of Croatia)|Light Transport Brigade]]}}
}}
| combatant2        = '''{{flag|Soviet Union|1936|name=Soviet Union}}'''
| commander1        = {{nowrap|{{flagdeco|Nazi Germany}} '''[[Adolf Hitler]]'''<br>{{flagdeco|Nazi Germany}} '''[[Fedor von Bock]]'''<br>{{flagdeco|Nazi Germany}} '''[[Maximilian von Weichs]]'''<br>{{flagdeco|Nazi Germany}} [[Hermann Hoth]]<br>{{flagdeco|Nazi Germany}} [[Hans von Salmuth]]<br>{{flagdeco|Nazi Germany}} [[Friedrich Paulus]]<br>{{flagdeco|Kingdom of Romania}} [[Constantin Constantinescu-Claps|C. Constantinescu-Claps]]<br>{{flagdeco|Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)}} [[Gusztáv Jány]]<br>{{flagdeco|Kingdom of Italy}} [[Italo Gariboldi]]<br>{{flagdeco|Nazi Germany}} [[Wolfram von Richthofen]]<br>{{flagdeco|Nazi Germany}} '''[[Wilhelm List]]'''<br>{{flagdeco|Nazi Germany}} [[Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist|Ewald von Kleist]]<br>{{flagdeco|Nazi Germany}} [[Richard Ruoff]]<br>{{flagdeco|Nazi Germany}} [[Erich von Manstein]]<br>{{flagdeco|Kingdom of Romania}} [[Petre Dumitrescu]]}}
| commander2        = {{nowrap|{{flagdeco|Soviet Union|1936}} '''[[Joseph Stalin]]'''<br>{{flagdeco|Soviet Union|1936}} '''[[Aleksandr Vasilevsky]]'''<br>{{flagdeco|Soviet Union|1936}} '''[[Filipp Golikov]]'''<br>{{flagdeco|Soviet Union|1936}} {{ill|Grigory Khalyuzin|ru|Халюзин, Григорий Алексеевич}}<br>{{flagdeco|Soviet Union|1936}} [[Nikolai Pukhov]]<br>{{flagdeco|Soviet Union|1936}} [[Alexander Lizyukov]]{{KIA}}<br>{{flagdeco|Soviet Union|1936}} {{ill|Pavel Korzun|ru|Корзун, Павел Петрович}}<br>{{flagdeco|Soviet Union|1936}} [[Mikhail Parsegov]]<br>{{flagdeco|Soviet Union|1936}} [[Sczyapan Krasoŭsky|Stepan Kraskovsky]]<br>{{flagdeco|Soviet Union|1936}} '''[[Semyon Timoshenko]]'''<br>{{flagdeco|Soviet Union|1936}} [[Dmitry Ryabyshev]]<br>{{flagdeco|Soviet Union|1936}} [[Kirill Moskalenko]]<br>{{flagdeco|Soviet Union|1936}} [[Feofan Parkhomenko]]<br>{{flagdeco|Soviet Union|1936}} {{ill|Alexei Danilov|ru|Данилов, Алексей Ильич (генерал)}}<br>{{flagdeco|Soviet Union|1936}} [[Timofei Khriukin]]}}
| strength1         = '''Initially:''' 1,570,287–1,805,000 (incl. [[Italian Army in Russia|Italian Eighth Army]] from early August)
{{unbulleted list
|{{flagicon|Nazi Germany}}: 1,210,861{{sfn|Liedtke|2016|p=228}}
|{{flagicon|Fascist Italy (1922–1943)}}: 235,000 [[Italian Army in Russia|Italian Eighth Army]]
|{{flagicon|Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)}}: 209,000 [[Hungarian Second Army]]
|{{flagicon|Kingdom of Romania}}: 159,426{{sfn|Liedtke|2016|p=228}}}}
|1,934 tanks/assault guns{{ref label|B|b|b}}<ref name=A2425/>{{sfn|Liedtke|2016|p=228}}|1,593–2,035 aircraft<ref name=H129/>{{sfn|Liedtke|2016|p=228}}
| strength2         = '''Initially''': 1,715,000{{sfn|Liedtke|2016|p=230}}<br />1,000,000 <small>(in reserve)</small><br />2,959–3,720 tanks<ref name=A29/>{{sfn|Liedtke|2016|p=230}}<br />1,671 aircraft{{sfn|Bergström|2007|pp=49–50}}<br />16,500 artillery pieces{{sfn|Liedtke|2016|p=230}}<br />'''Total''':<br />2,715,000
| casualties1       = {{flagicon|Nazi Germany}}:<br />200,000{{sfn|Mercatante|2012|p=151}}<br />700 tanks destroyed{{sfn|Mercatante|2012|p=151}}<br />{{flagicon|Kingdom of Romania|198000}}{{flagicon|Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)}}{{flagicon|Fascist Italy (1922–1943)}}{{flagicon|Slovak Republic (1939–1945)}}:<br /> ~150,000<br>'''Total:''' 350,000 (excluding 150,000 casualties in the first phase of the [[Battle of the Caucasus]])
| casualties2       = 1,200,000{{sfn|Mercatante|2012|p=151}}<br>4,862 tanks and SPG destroyed or damaged{{sfn|Mercatante|2012|p=151}}<br>(including casualties in the first phase of the [[Battle of the Caucasus]])
| notes             = 
| campaignbox       = {{Campaignbox Axis-Soviet War}}{{Campaignbox Operation Blue to 3rd Kharkov}}
}}
[[File:63 of 'The Earth and its Inhabitants. The European section of the Universal Geography by E. Reclus. Edited by E. G. Ravenstein. Illustrated by ... engravings and maps' (11123877223).jpg|thumb|19th-century map of the Caucasus; the oilfields (marked here as "[[naphtha]] regions") were the main target of Case Blue.]]
'''Case Blue''' (German: ''Fall Blau'') was the ''[[Wehrmacht]]''{{'s}} plan for the 1942 strategic summer offensive in [[southern Russia]] between 28&nbsp;June and 24 November 1942, during [[World War II]]. The objective was to capture the oil fields of [[Baku]] ([[Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic|Azerbaijan SSR]]), [[Grozny]] and [[Maykop|Maikop]] for two purposes: to enable the Germans to re-supply their low fuel stock and also to deny their use to the [[Soviet Union]], thereby bringing about the complete collapse of the Soviet war effort.

After [[Operation Barbarossa]] failed to destroy the Soviet Union as a political and military threat the previous year, [[Adolf Hitler]], the ''[[Führer]]'' of Nazi Germany, recognized that Germany was now locked in a [[Attrition warfare|war of attrition]], and he was also aware that Germany was running low on fuel supply and would not be able to continue attacking deeper into enemy territory without more stock. With this in mind, Hitler ordered for the preparation of offensive plans for summer 1942 to secure the Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus. The operation involved a two-pronged attack: one from the Axis right flank against the [[Petroleum industry in Azerbaijan#World War II|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]].<ref name=A40>{{harvnb|Antill|2007|p=40}}.</ref>

[[Army Group South]] (''Heeresgruppe Süd'') of the [[German Army (Wehrmacht)|German Army]] was divided into Army Groups [[Army Group A|A]] and [[Army Group B|B]] (''Heeresgruppe A'' and ''B''). Army Group A was tasked with fulfilling Operation Edelweiss by crossing the [[Caucasus Mountains]] to reach the Baku oil fields, while Army Group B protected its flanks along the [[Volga]] by fulfilling Operation Fischreiher. Supported by 2,035 [[Luftwaffe]] aircraft and 1,934 [[tank]]s and [[assault gun]]s,{{citation needed|date=January 2025}} the 1,570,287-man Army Group South began the offensive on 28 June, advancing 48 kilometers on the first day and easily brushing aside the 1,715,000 [[Red Army]] troops opposite, who [[Operation Kremlin|wrongly expected]] a German offensive on [[Moscow]] even after ''Blau'' commenced. The Soviet collapse in the south allowed the Germans to capture the western part of [[Voronezh]] on 6 July and reach and cross the [[Don River (Russia)|Don River]] near Stalingrad on 26 July. Army Group B's approach toward Stalingrad slowed in late July and early August owing to constant [[counterattack]]s by newly deployed Red Army reserves and overstretched German supply lines. The Germans defeated the Soviets in the [[Battle of Kalach]] and the combat [[Battle of Stalingrad|shifted]] to the city itself in late August. Nonstop Luftwaffe [[Bombing of Stalingrad|airstrikes]], [[artillery]] fire and street-to-street combat completely destroyed the city and inflicted heavy casualties on the opposing forces. After three months of battle, the Germans controlled 90% of Stalingrad on 19 November.

In the south, Army Group A captured [[Rostov-on-Don|Rostov]] on 23 July and swept south from the Don to the Caucasus, capturing the demolished oilfields at [[Maikop]] on 9 August and [[Elista]] on 13 August near the [[Caspian Sea]] coast. Heavy Soviet resistance and the long distances from Axis sources of supply reduced the Axis offensive to local advances only and prevented the Germans from completing their strategic objective of capturing the main Caucasus oilfield at Baku. Luftwaffe bombers destroyed the [[oilfields at Grozny]] but attacks on Baku were prevented by the insufficient range of the German fighters.

However, the Red Army defeated the Germans at Stalingrad, following Operations [[Operation Uranus|Uranus]] and [[Operation Little Saturn|Little Saturn]]. This defeat forced the [[Axis powers of World War II|Axis]] to retreat from the [[Battle of Caucasus|Caucasus]] in order to avoid getting cut off by the Red Army, which was now advancing from Stalingrad towards Rostov in order to achieve the cut-off. Only the [[Kuban]] region remained tentatively occupied by Axis troops.<ref name=Nipe33/><ref name=a878/>