Not Another WWII FPS: 10 Neglected Eastern Front Battles To Consider
7. Caucasus Campaign
Have you ever tried to do two things simultaneously, and then failed miserably at both? No? Hitler did, and it cost him the war. A generation of gamers the world over are now very familiar with the titanic struggle for the industrial city on the Volga river renamed from Tsaritsyn to honour Hitlers equally tyrannical nemesis. But some historians argue that, when the new summer offensive began around the first anniversary of Barbarossa, Stalingrad was not a major objective it could, they say, have simply been only partially surrounded with minimal forces to stop Soviet river traffic up to Moscow. (Why the Soviets would not think to exploit the 230-mile gap between Stalingrad and Astrakhan is anyones guess.) It only became personal when Hitler and Stalin made it so, and forced one of the largest and most decisive battles in history. The real primary objective of the German offensive that year was that most precious liquid necessary for the nourishment of mechanised war: oil. The plan envisioned the successful capture of the major oil production facilities at sites including Maykop, Grozny and Baku, cutting off the Soviet supply lines and theoretically putting their testicles in a vice and forcing them to the negotiating table. And, as is often the case, deals behind the scenes with influential oil companies provided added pressure and enticement: thousands of industry professionals rode alongside the tanks on the way. Thus, the Wehrmacht bridged the Don River and flooded south, seemingly chasing thin air as the Red Army was still badly mauled from the disasters of the previous year and was either fleeing or absent. By late August leading German divisions had penetrated into Georgia and a mountain division had planted the swastika on Mount Elbrus Europes highest peak. In a display of Nazi logic, this massive propaganda coup almost got the flag bearers shot for wasting time. As the weeks dragged on, the Germans preposterously overextended supply lines and dogged Soviet resistance reduced the situation to a stalemate in the western Caucasus. One standout tale involves the Refuge of the Eleven building, which the Germans fortified and defended from yet another disastrous Soviet attempt to reclaim it. Retreating Red Army and oil workers stripped or otherwise razed their fields, presenting the approaching Germans with massive columns of thick black smoke. Some production facilities were recovered, but by the time they came online around the New Year news of the disaster further north began reaching the commanders and they knew it was time to retreat or be trapped. In September 1942, high on the success of the campaign thus far, Hitler was allegedly presented with a cake in the outline of the Caspian Sea coast around Baku. But the sugary treat would be the closest he ever came to the grand prize of black gold: the exhausted, underequipped Wehrmacht were decisively repelled in skirmishes outside Vladikavkaz and Grozny, nearly 300 miles from the Caspian capital, and thereafter gave up on the Fuhrers unattainably lofty ambitions. The shamefully neglected and decisive confrontation in the mountains in the latter half of 1942 would make for intriguing action: destroying the oil production facilities at Maykop before the Germans reach them, grinding them to a halt in the mountain passes, repulsing them at their territorial zenith. If the producers are feeling particularly sadistic, we can watch our entire party get annihilated around Mount Elbrus. Stalingrad was only part of the story: lets hear the rest.