German Bombing of Baku Oil Fields

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thaddeus_c
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Re: German Bombing of Baku Oil Fields

#16

Post by thaddeus_c » 04 Sep 2014, 17:15

Stugbit wrote:
thaddeus_c wrote:my scenario would have had a focus on Soviet Black Sea fleet from onset of Operation Barbarossa. had that been done supplies could have been sent via ship. no evacuation of troops from Odessa. etc.

AND a focus on Crimea, there was already a (fairly) sympathetic local population of Tatars (Tatarstan?) no Soviet fleet and the Romanian destroyers could have been brought to bear on Sevastopol, etc.

the point being convert Crimea from Soviet "aircraft carrier" to Axis "aircraft carrier."

Germany could then bomb the easier targets of Soviet pipelines and ships moving oil instead of striking oilfields. my assumption is that they could still drive to Maykop, in fact it probably would be sooner with no advance to Stalingrad.
Interesting point you have. I agree. But I would like to add a few things on it too.

I think it would be necessary making a "diversion force" coming from the northern part of the Pripet Marshes over the Mink-Smolensk road to keep busy the soviet forces defending Moscow. Doing so, the "main forces" -a bit stronger than the one of Von Bock's Army Group Center- should have been targeted directly into the Caucasus region. At some point, the distracting force in the north and the southern main forces could send a detachment each to encircle Kiev and trap the soviets located there, just as it was done in Barbarossa, but instead of the main forces coming from the north, they would come from the south.

There wouldn't have need to worry about Leningrad as a port since the seas around the city were almost with total German control and, by 41, the submarine campaign was in its finest moments. But it would be interesting investing a bit more on the advances over Murmansk in the extreme north, because this city was a very important port of Russian economy and the Western Allied sent all their equipment to the Soviet Union from there.

What do you think about it?
yes, skip Leningrad and focus on Murmansk, easier if they had kept the Bismarck in Norway, not wasted on failed commerce raiding mission.

north of the Pripet Marshes advance to line between Narva, Estonia and Borisov, Belarus. of course they could try probing advances on Moscow and the regime might have fled further east?

in the south my scenario would be advance to the Bug River, supply Crimea and any forces in the Kuban by sea (the rationale for eliminating the Soviet Black Sea fleet as first priority.)

historically the rainy season and Pripet hindered Germany, in my scenario they would use this to their advantage and focus on bombing Soviet bridges and dams east of the areas they control ( not sure if the Operation Eisenhammer plan to bomb Soviet hydroelectric plants would succeed? but that would be the goal.)

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