Series of Axis and Soviet operations on the Eastern Front of WWII
This article is about the World War II military campaign. For the World War I military campaign, see Caucasus Campaign. For the 19th century Russian invasion, see Caucasian War.
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Battle of the Caucasus
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
German tanks in formation in a Caucasus valley with infantry in the foreground, September 1942
Date
25 July 1942 – 12 May 1944 (1942-07-25 – 1944-05-12)
Location
Greater Caucasus, Soviet Union
Result
Soviet victory
Territorial changes
Axis withdrawal to Kuban bridgehead in 1943 Axis forces expelled completely in 1944
Belligerents
Germany Romania Slovakia Chechnya-Ingushetia
Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Wilhelm List Ewald von Kleist Eberhard von Mackensen Richard Ruoff Petre Dumitrescu Hasan Israilov † Mairbek Sheripov †
Semyon Budyonny Ivan Tyulenev Ivan Petrov Ivan Maslennikov Rodion Malinovsky Filipp Oktyabrsky Lev Vladimirsky
Strength
July 1942: 170,000 men 1,130 tanks 4,500 guns and mortars ~1,000 aircraft January 1943: 764,000 men 700 tanks 5,290 guns and mortars 530 aircraft
July 1942: 112,000 men 121 tanks 2,160 guns and mortars 230 aircraft January 1943: 1,000,000+ men ~1,300 tanks 11,300+ guns and mortars 900 aircraft
Casualties and losses
281,000 casualties
344,000 casualties
v
t
e
Eastern Front
Naval warfare
Baltic Sea
Black Sea
Arctic Ocean
1941
Barbarossa
Brest
Białystok–Minsk
1st Baltic
Brody
Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina
1st Smolensk
Uman
Odessa
1st Kiev
Tallinn
Leningrad
Sea of Azov
1st Kharkov
1st Crimea
Sevastopol
Rostov
Gorky
Moscow
Finland
Kerch
Chechnya
Air war 1941
1942
Lyuban
Barvenkovo–Lozovaya
Rzhev
Toropets–Kholm
Demyansk
Kholm
2nd Kharkov
Case Blue
Caucasus
Rzhev–Sychyovka
Sinyavino
Stalingrad
Velikiye Luki
Mars
Little Saturn
1943
Iskra
Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh
Voronezh–Kharkov
Polar Star
3rd Kharkov
Gorky Blitz
Kursk
1st Donbas
Belgorod-Kharkov
2nd Donbas
2nd Smolensk
Lenino
Dnieper
Nevel
2nd Kiev
1944
Dnieper–Carpathian
Leningrad–Novgorod
Narva
2nd Crimea
1st Jassy–Kishinev
Karelia
Bagration
Lvov–Sandomierz
Doppelkopf
2nd Jassy–Kishinev
Dukla Pass
2nd Baltic
Belgrade
Debrecen
Petsamo–Kirkenes
Courland
Gumbinnen
Budapest
1945
Vistula–Oder
Western Carpathian
East Prussia
Silesia
Breslau
Solstice
East Pomerania
Lake Balaton
Moravia–Ostrava
Vienna
Bratislava–Brno
Berlin
Prague
Prague uprising
v
t
e
Case Blue to 3rd Kharkov
Blue
Voronezh
2nd Rostov
Caucasus
Fischreiher
Kalach
Izbushensky
Stalingrad
Little Saturn
Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh
Voronezh-Kastornensk
Gallop
Star
3rd Kharkov
v
t
e
Invasion of Crimea and Caucasus
1st Crimea
1st Rostov
Kerch Peninsula
Adzhimushkay Defense
Sevastopol
Caucasus
Kuban bridgehead
Kerch–Eltigen
2nd Crimea
v
t
e
Romanian military actions in World War II
Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina
Diosig
Treznea
As part of the Axis (1941–1944)
Bucharest
Constanța
München
Uman
Odessa
Azov
Sevastopol
Rostov
Kerch
Kharkov
Blue
Edelweiss
Stalingrad
Uranus
Winter Storm
Little Saturn
Western Allied Campaign in Romania (Tidal Wave, Bucharest)
Kerch-Eltigen
Dnieper
Dnieper–Carpathian
Uman–Botoșani
1st Jassy–Kishinev
Crimea
Lublin–Brest
2nd Jassy–Kishinev
As part of the Allies (1944–1945)
Turda
Păuliș
Debrecen
Budapest
Bratislava–Brno
Prague
The Battle of the Caucasus was a series of Axis and Soviet operations in the Caucasus as part of the Eastern Front of World War II. On 25 July 1942, German troops captured Rostov-on-Don, opening the Caucasus region of the southern Soviet Union to the Germans and threatening the oil fields beyond at Maikop, Grozny, and ultimately Baku. Two days prior, Adolf Hitler had issued a directive to launch an operation into the Caucasus named Operation Edelweiß. German units would reach their high water mark in the Caucasus in early November 1942, getting as far as the town of Alagir and city of Ordzhonikidze, some 610 km from their starting positions. Axis forces were compelled to withdraw from the area later that winter as Operation Little Saturn threatened to cut them off.
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