July 1942

Eastern Front

The Soviets fight desperate battles in the Don Elbow as the 6th Army crashes into the flanks of the 62nd and 64th Armies. After a bloody struggle, the northern flank of the 62nd Army is pierced and elements are encircled. To the south, the 64th Army starts to crumble under the weight of the German attack.

Fighting at Rostov intensifies as the 13th Panzer and the 5th SS Wiking Motorized Divisions draw a ring around the city, pressing the Soviets back into the Caucasus. Heavy fighting rages between Rostov and Tsimlyansk as the 1st Panzer and 17th Armies attack, Novocherkassk falling to the 17th Army.

With Rostov on the verge of capture and the Soviet forces in the Don Elbow being crushed, Hitler issues Directive No. 45. This calls for the advance into the Caucasus by the 17th Army, while the 1st Panzer Army secures the Maikop oilfields and presses south to Grozny, where the oilfields will be secured. Army Group B is to destroy Soviet forces on the Stalingrad axis and capture the city. In the Crimea, the 11th Army is to march to the Leningrad sector, leaving the XLII Corps to carry on the offensive into the Caucasus. The 4th Panzer Army is again allocated to Army Group B, being instructed to push along the south bank of the Don from Kotelnikovo to the Volga and take Astrakhan. By ordering both objectives to be seized simultaneously, Hitler is sending his armies on very separate courses. As if this is not bad enough, the secondary objective of securing Stalingrad in order to protect the exposed rear of the forces advancing into the Caucasus has become a primary objective.

To oppose the Germans in the Caucasus, the Soviets have the South Front and the North Caucasus Front to the rear. Malinovsky's South Front is worn out, the 56th and 9th Armies fighting to save Rostov. The 18th and 37th Armies fight on the line of the Don and the 12th and 51st Armies are on the extreme right flank.

To the rear, Budenny's North Caucasus Front deploys the 47th Army near Tikhoretsk and the 44th Army in the Kuban. On the Russo-Turkish border there is the Trans Caucasus Front under Tyulenev.