Operation Braunschweig
Maximilian Freiherr von Weichs ( Army Group B)
1941: Białystok -Minsk - Dubno - Lutsk - Rovno - Smolensk - Uman - Kiev - Odessa - Leningrad - Wjasma - Bryansk - Rostov - Moscow 1942: Rzhev - Kharkov - Operation Blue - Operation Braunschweig - Operation Edelweiss - Stalingrad - Operation Mars 1943: Voronezh - Kharkov - Operation Iskra - North Caucasus - Kharkov - Operation Citadel - Smolensk - Dnieper 1944 Dnepr -Carpathian operation - Leningrad - Novgorod - Crimea - Vyborg - Petrozavodsk - Belarus - Lviv - Sandomierz - Iasi - Chisinau - Belgrade - Petsamo - Kirkenes - Baltics - Carpathian - Budapest 1945: Vistula-Oder - East Prussia - West Carpathians - Lower Silesia - East Pomerania - Balaton - Upper Silesia - Vienna - Berlin - Prague
Brunswick was the code name for the started on June 28, 1942 German summer offensive in the Soviet Union. The original name of the operation was the case blue, but this was renamed on 30 June in company Braunschweig. The operation led to the German advance into the Caucasus and the lower Volga, and was thus the starting point of the subsequent Battle of Stalingrad.
Planning and Follow
The previously conducted as a case Blue overall operation was conducted from 30 June 1942, the codename Braunschweig, scheduling under the name Blue II and Blue III was given the code name companies Clausewitz and businesses steam hammer. Clausewitz includes shows, Army Group A in July 1942, steam hammer, the follow up operations in July 1942.
In Instruction No. 45 of July 23, 1942 Adolf Hitler changed the aims of the original case blue. The aim was now the simultaneous advance of the German troops in both the Caucasus ( company Edelweiss) and in the direction of Stalingrad ( company herons ).
Hitler had personally intervened in the planning of the operation and commanded a division of the Army Group South. This fragmentation of the forces had been warned several times by his generals in front of Hitler, is now generally regarded as a major cause of the downfall of the 6th Army in Stalingrad. Hitler argued for his insistence war economic reasons ( conquest and exploitation of the Caucasian oil wells, cutting off Soviet freight transport on the transport hub Stalingrad ).