What you seem to be saying was that Operation Blue was a lousy strategic plan that had very little chance of succeeding. I agree with this view. That Blue was primarily Hitler's strategic thinking is certainly a black mark against him. If by a miracle they had captured the Caucasus all the way to Baku it still would have taken the Germans up to 2 years to get the oilfields into operation. A hopeless timetable for Germany in 1942.ljadw wrote:I disagree : the Stalingra disaster still would occur,even if the Germans had captured Stalingrad,because,the Wolga line could only be held if the SU had collapsed before the Germans were at the Wolga .
Even if the Germans were not going to the Wolga,they still would fail in the Caucasus (besides,the German economic experts had warned against the asumption that the SU would collaps without the oil of the Caucasus).
And,even if the Germans were not going to the Caucasus,they still would fail at the Wolga .
What most people are failing to understand (due to the post war German propaganda) is that defeat or victory in the East did not depend on what the Germans could/wouls/should do,but on what the Soviets could/would/should do;after all ,the Soviets were potentially the strongest party .
In my view the German strategic offensive in 1942 should have been another pincer attack aimed at surrounding Moscow. The Soviet rail system would have been brought into chaos had Moscow fallen and the Germans had a good chance of cutting off and destroying substantial Soviet forces.