The Battle of the Caucasus: One of the Key Battles of the Great Patriotic War

The Battle of the Caucasus, which unfolded in 1942, became one of the key campaigns of the Great Patriotic War, during which the Wehrmacht tried to seize strategic resources, thereby strengthening its positions in the southern direction. The German command, seeking to gain control over the Caucasian oil fields, planned to provide its troops with fuel and deprive the Soviet Union of it. The campaign took place in two stages: the offensive of the fascist troops in the summer of 1942 and the counteroffensive of the Soviet army in early 1943.

In the summer of 1942, the Wehrmacht launched an offensive in the southern direction, seeking to break through to the rich oil regions of the Caucasus. Hitler personally approved the plan for the operation, codenamed "Edelweiss", which envisaged the capture of Grozny, Baku and other major oil-producing regions.

Field Marshal Wilhelm List was appointed commander of the German forces in this direction. The operation began with a rapid advance by the Wehrmacht, which in early August was able to advance to the Terek River, breaking through to the central regions of the Caucasus.

At the same time, battles began for Novorossiysk, a strategically important port on the Black Sea, which was defended by the Red Army and the Black Sea Fleet. fleet. Soviet soldiers here put up fierce resistance to the fascists, which made it difficult for the enemy to advance.
In September 1942, the Wehrmacht attempted to capture the passes of the main Caucasian ridge, planning to use them as transport routes to the oil fields of Baku and Grozny.

Fresh units of the Red Army were transferred to help the defenders of the Caucasus. In difficult mountainous terrain, at an altitude of over 4000 meters, Soviet soldiers and volunteer partisans fought fierce battles with elite German mountain units. It was in these battles that Soviet troops demonstrated exceptional courage, skillfully using the natural barriers of the Caucasus, which significantly slowed down the enemy's advance.

One of the most important episodes of the Battle of the Caucasus was the battle for Elbrus. German mountain units managed to climb this peak and raise the flag of the Third Reich on it. However, this symbolic gesture did not bring any military success to the fascist invaders.

By the autumn of 1942, it became obvious that the Wehrmacht was unable to overcome the resistance of the Soviet troops, capture the oil regions and achieve a strategic victory. In November, the German units were forced to stop the offensive, and in the winter the Red Army launched a counteroffensive.

At the end of 1942, after the defeat of the fascist troops at Stalingrad, the situation for the German invaders in the Caucasus deteriorated sharply.

Soviet troops under the command of Generals Ivan Petrov and Konstantin Rokossovsky launched a large-scale offensive, seeking to dislodge the enemy from strategically important areas. In January 1943, the Red Army liberated Nalchik, then Mozdok, and by February, Krasnodar and other cities. By March 1943, Wehrmacht units had already left most of the Caucasus.

The results of the Battle of the Caucasus became an important stage on the way to the victory of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War. Operation Edelweiss suffered a complete defeat, and Germany was unable to gain access to the Caucasian resources, which dealt a serious blow to its military potential.

The Battle of the Caucasus, in turn, demonstrated the heroism of the Red Army soldiers, as well as their ability to fight in the most difficult natural conditions and their ability to protect the most important strategic objects.

Comments

[Amateur]

Russia is a country with an unpredictable past
(M.Zadornov)

Rokossovsky is mentioned (who has so many outstanding victories and achievements of his own that he would need to add to those of others), but there is not a word about the fact that the Caucasus was defended by the NKVD troops led by L.P. Beria.
If you doubt it, read the diaries of I.A. Serov (the future 1st Chairman of the KGB), who also personally participated in the defense of the Caucasus passes.
http://loveread.ec/read_book.php?id=69872&p=1

[vovochkarzhevsky]

Just a good song.

[saigon]

What battle for Elbrus? German climbers climbed there, not just mountain corps rangers. Afterwards, our climbers (masters, instructors) dropped the flag.

[shikin]

There were battles on the slopes of Elbrus, for the same Shelter 11. The rangers were able to deliver mortars and mountain guns to Shelter-11 through the passes from the west, and kept the Baksan Valley under fire. More details here (Gusev's memoirs): https://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/gusev_am/03.html

[saigon]

It follows from the article that the flag was raised by the Germans in battle, which is not true. The battles with the rangers were mainly fought by simple infantry units, since we did not have mountain rifle units there. The shelter of the eleven is somewhere around 4000 meters, climbing to fight even higher is already very difficult, there is little oxygen, it is cold and other delights and the snow blinds from the sun. Participants of those battles were brought to the unit, and specifically from special detachments. And the flag was raised not by simple rangers, but by famous German mountaineers.

[shikin]

I was on the top of Elbrus both in summer and in winter. Above 3000 meters, especially in winter, only trained fighters with special equipment can fight. And above Shelter 11, of course, you can't fight there, And at the top... In the early 2000s, there was a "fashion" - to celebrate the New Year on the top of Elbrus. Cognac from the bottle is like thick syrup.
Yes, already in the fall they began to collect mountain climbers from all active Red Army. At first they were engaged almost exclusively in training the selected fighters of regular units.
And there were repeated battles on the slopes of Elbrus from the Khotyutau Pass (this is a bridge with the Main Caucasian Range) to Shelter 11. In Gusev's memoirs, everything is "combed over", but our losses there were quite a few. In the early 2000s, there was hot weather, on the thawed slope just below Shelter 11 there were many different cartridges, remains of uniforms and equipment.

[shikin]

And yes, when our first group climbed the Western summit of Elbrus, two frozen rangers were found on the saddle (5300 meters).

[saigon]

So it's a crap fight there, you have to carry everything on yourself, and if there's a mortar and a mortar squad to help, you can hang yourself completely and it's really hard to drag the mines. ZakVo, however. Under the USSR, conscription in the mountains (which didn't exist)

[shikin]

Several years ago, the book "Battle for the Passes. Another View" was published, which uses declassified documents from German archives. There are many photos that show the use of our prisoners of war to deliver supplies in the mountains and to build various fortifications. They were not spared there. There were many difficulties for both us and the Germans, they also complained about poor uniforms, supplies, weapons, training, etc.

[Frank Muller]

With the Red Army mountain rifle divisions (of which there were almost two dozen across the Soviet territory from Kamchatka to the Carpathians before the war), things were initially very simple and pragmatic. Due to the lack of infantry and the absence of mountains in the theater of military operations (the Carpathians were quickly surrendered), they were, for the most part, transferred to the category of ordinary rifle divisions. And the Red Army command did not intend to retreat to the Caucasus ridge, in which they seriously miscalculated. Because of this, using Soviet units unprepared for the mountains, they had to pay for the defense and offensive in the Caucasus theater of military operations with an exorbitant amount of blood.

[shikin]

Unfortunately, this story was constantly repeated. The same thing (lack of units and divisions specially trained for action in the mountains) was encountered later in Afghanistan. Then in Chechnya. Now it is a little different - they began to address this issue in the late 2000s and began to conduct serious mountaineering training for military personnel of individual units with the involvement of experienced mountaineering instructors (civilians). Now there are many military instructors.

[saigon]

In 1943, one of the companies of the 897th Mountain Rifle Regiment fought there (unsuccessfully). And there, in the shelter of the Germans, there were mortars and machine guns. And it is problematic to fire from there from a mountain gun into the valley, the firing range is however.

[Winger]

Yes, the author described the battle for the Caucasus somewhat modestly. The mountain passes, despite our resistance, were captured by the Germans. But they did not dare to go down the other side of the ridge. And they left the Caucasus safely, since in the Stalingrad-Rostov area, encirclement was slogging. They abandoned a huge amount of equipment, including "Tigers". There was no time to seize oil, there was simply no fuel. But Hitler awarded Meinstein (I'm not sure if it was him) for withdrawing his troops, for withdrawing the group from the Caucasus. Everything was written correctly about Beria... And even in Soviet times they said that "Small Land" was exalted because the General Secretary fought there. But the battles were truly terrible. Listen to what the historian Isaev says.

[dmi.pris1]

You have noticed everything correctly. The Nazis managed to hold a bridgehead in Kuban until the autumn of 1943. And only the victory at Kursk and the beginning of the liberation of Ukraine forced them to evacuate to Crimea.

[expert]

The author "wrote modestly."
And who is the author? The article is unsigned. And after reading it, there is a feeling that it was written "for show", formally and superficially.
But the period of battles for the Caucasus was full of heroism of the Red Army soldiers, interesting and dramatic events.