By the Spring of 1942 the Germans were deep inside Soviet territory, but a victory was
nowhere in sight.
Hitler had outlined his new plan to win the war in the East, codenamed Fall Blau.
In this video you're going to learn about the German Perspective on Fall Blau: from
the high command to the individual soldier on the ground.
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Germany invaded the USSR on 22 June 1941.
Although gaining much ground the German armies were worn down by the time the arrived at
Moscow and a ferocious Soviet counteroffensive drove them back, almost annihilating Army
Group Centre.
The Germans dug in for the winter.
“Will this winter never end?
Is a new glacial age in the offing?”
Goebbels asked himself in late March 1942.
Hitler came up with a new plan that had to bring Germany by the end of October in a good
position to wage a global war, as by now the Germans were in war with the US.
The US however had its hands full at the Japanese in South East Asia and wasn't a major threat
yet.
A second front on Europe wasn't there, YET.
Germany could no longer play the waiting game, if it ever could.
There were only two alternatives.
Ending the war politically, which Hitler refused or rapidly creating a possibility to fight
a long war.
And for that they needed the raw materials such as oil.
As Goebbels stated in an article in Nazi newspaper Das Reich: it was an ideological war but also
a war for raw materials.
Oil was the key, according to Hitler.
It would boost the German war effort and throw the Soviet war economy into crisis.
As Hitler stated that once the ‘business in the east’ was over:
‘[T]hen the war is practically won for us.
Then we will be in the position of conducting a large-scale pirate war against the Anglo-Saxon
powers, which in the long run they will not be able to withstand.’
In Führer Directive No. 41, which Hitler signed early April 1942 he declared the ultimate
goal: “to secure the Caucasian oil fields and the passes through the mountains themselves.”
[Ostkrieg 231] The aim was to seize Voronezh, destroy enemy forces west of the Don and march
to the Volga.
After having neutralized the industrial and communications center with the name Stalingrad
and gaining control over the Volga, the German troops could move into the Caucasus.
The command structure differed from what we saw before.
During the first Blitzkrieg Campaigns German generals were given orders and had the freedom
in how they carried them out.
Now this wasn't the case.
The command structure was more rigid.
It would eventually result in chaos.
“As with the blitzkrieg of the previous summer, it was an all-or-nothing gamble on
a short campaign, but, in the spring of 1942, the discrepancy between his [Hitler's] aims
and his military power was even greater than the year earlier.”
The Germans had to do more with less, as by now the Germans had already lost over one
million men.
In late April German commander Halder estimated that the infantry units of AG South were 50
per cent of their original strength; AG North and Centre only 35 per cent.
The Germans had to rely more on their allies: such as Italy, Romania and Hungary, some of
which didn't rely on one another such as the Romanians and the Hungarians.
Therefore the Italians had to be placed in between.
Also, these nations could marshal far fewer resources than those of the enemy coalition.
On top of all that Hitler believed the Soviets were on their last legs and with Blau he was
determined that encirclement actions would destroy the Red Army.
German analysts misjudged the extent of Soviet industrial production.
And moreover the Soviets could count on Lend-Lease aid from the US.
Hitler understood the risks but had no choice.
As German general Georg Thomas noted in May 1942:
“If it proved impossible in 1942 to defeat Russia definitively, or at least get as far
as the Caucasus and the Urals,” […] “Germany’s war situation must be judged as extremely
unfavorable, if not hopeless.”
Historian Stephen G. Fritz puts it like this:
“Hitler now placed his hopes on a similar throw of the dice, but with even less chance
of success.”
Yet, most German army officers weren't that gloomy, which had to do with their mentality.
American historian Robert Citino links this to Prussian-German military tradition:
“It was all a matter of will, they felt.
If you didn't think you were beaten, you weren't, and if you didn't think you were going to
be beaten, you wouldn't be.
The stronger will could vanquish even the larger battalions.”
Operation Blue started on 28 June 1942.
One German infantryman was stationed by the Mius River, one of the most south-easterly
points of the Eastern Front.
They were one of the last to hear about the upcoming Summer Offensive after Sevastopel
had fallen.
He was annoyed with the fact that they had spent so much time on training instead of
attacking.
When during time off they were watching a comedy movie he realized the following:
‘Laughter has become rare amongst us . . . If you think that pretty much every one of them
has at least ten Russians on his conscience, you do have to wonder a bit at this boisterousness.’
On 11 July the order came to move forward.
Wading across the Mius they arrived in village already abandoned by the Red Army.
A few hundred meters beyond however they ran into enemy fire and had to dig in.
By the end of the second day he hadn't eaten for 48 hours.
Just when they were about to be relieved an incoming shell tore the legs off of one of
his comrades.
Back in the rear there was no hot food and they had to do with bread, some butter and
coffee.
He was later sent further south, towards Rostov, and they marched only at night to avoid the
hot July sun.
It was around 50°C in the sun.
Another German soldier wrote on 18 July 1942:
“I believe our target for now is Stalingrad.
At least that's what I got from a soldier in the tank unit.
In our sector, the Russians are running so fast that we can't even keep up with them
with our vehicles.
And our daily marches don't lie (50 to 120 km).
When will we arrive in Iraq?”
It's interesting that this German soldier refers the possible capture of the Middle
East.
An idea Hitler did find intriguing but was rejected because the plans were far from realistic.
Speaking of lack of realism, the soldier continues:
“I just heard that Stalingrad had fallen.
That would be great.
Our tanks had been standing in front of the city for a few days and could not continue
due to lack of fuel.
[…] Everything already depends on the available fuel (which we will find in abundance in Baku).”
Once again, interesting.
Stalingrad hadn't fallen, that was for sure and Baku was over 1,000 km away.
But at least he's getting a little bit more realistic, considering the fact that he was
first aiming for Iraq.
All jokes aside here, what does this say?
First off that rumours are spreading which was all you've got in an era when your official
information source are propaganda newspapers.
Second, it does show the morale is high.
And of course, thirdly, the shortage of fuel that hindered the Germans a lot in this operation.
It caused great traffic jams as we've also seen during Barbarossa.
Back to the first mentioned German infantryman that was stationed at the Mius River at first.
On 26 July they reached Rostov-on-Don.
This city was taken by the Wehrmacht towards the end of Operation Barbarossa but then retaken
by the Soviets after a succesfull counter offensive.
Now in the Summer of 1942 the German took the city from the Soviets again.
They then crossed the Don River and marched across the steppe.
The rearguard Soviet Army troops they met surrendered inmediatly.
However the bulk of the Soviet forces wasn't captured as these retreated further east (among
historians there is a discussion whether or not this was a planned retreat or a spontaneous
rout).
Either way, it was a huge difference compared to Operation Barbarossa where the Germans
captured millions of Red Army soldiers.
Sure, during Fall Blau many were also POWed (in the tens of thousands) but not as much
as during Barbarossa (several million).
What did remain the same were the endless marches.
As the German infantryman wrote: ‘Completely exhausted and over-strained, eyes burning
for sleep, nerves totally overstrung.’
As Fall Blau was launched on 28 June 1942 it would originally take three stages: first
to capture Voronezh, then encircling the Soviet forces in the great bend of the don and then
advance towards Stalingrad and Astrakhan to protect the left flank.
Capturing the city of Stalingrad wasn't necessary as long as the German guns could prevent the
Soviets from using it as a base of communication and armaments.
Initially it went very well.
Voronezh was taken and Rostov fell.
Rostov was the gateway to the Caucasus and the oilfields of Grozny and Maikop.
Hitler claimed:
'If we don't take Maikop and Grozny' […] 'then I must put an end to the war'.
Hitler deviated from his plan by Führer Directive No. 45 on July 23, 1942: Army Group A would
move to the Caucasus and B would go for Stalingrad.
The city that bore Stalin's name.
Speaking of Stalin: on 28 July Stalin issued Order No. 227 'Not one step back' where panic
mongers and cowards were to be destroyed on the spot.
It's beyond the scope of this episode, but I did want to mention it.
Around that time Paulus Sixth Army that was moving towards Stalingrad comes to a standstill
because of their inmediate lack of supplies.
Apart from the fact that AG South was stripped of forces that were sent to AG North and aid
in the attack on Leningrad, AG A was prioritized.
It was not until 7 August Paulus could go on again.
At dawn on the 21 August German forces crossed the Don in assault boats and secured a bridgehead.
Soon pontoon bridges were built so armoured units could cross.
On 23 August Stalingrad underwent a massive bombardement.
As Stalingrad was burning in the distance and pillars of smoke emerged from the city
German soldiers took triumphant photographs of it.
In a short time they had managed to get from the Don to the Volga and considered this the
border of Asia.
Many believed the war was as good as over.
One commander was standing on top of his panzer and looked ahead.
‘We looked at the immense steppe towards Asia, and I was overwhelmed,’ [...] ‘But
then I could not think about it for very long because we had to make an attack against another
anti-aircraft battery that had started firing at us.’
The two battles that came as a result of Fall Blau where the Battle for the Caucasus and
the Battle of Stalingrad.
How the Germans experienced these battles will be covered in the future.
An Operation like Fall Blau is enormous and can impossible be fully covered in an episode
like this (details of the plans, the faillures, battle like Voronezh, Kalach, the road to
Stalingrad need more attention).
I hope to travel to these areas and cover history on location, so if you want to support
me to make that happen, please do so via PayPal or Patreon.