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What if Operation Blue had headed north and not east.

Discussion in 'What If - European Theater - Eastern Front & Balka' started by Croft, Sep 9, 2012.

  1. Croft

    Croft Member

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    What if after the fall of the cities of Voronezh and Rostov in 1942 the German offensive had regrouped to strike north towards Tula instead of east and south-east to the Volga and the Caucasus?
    Stalin feared the Germans would do exactly this so he attacked them heavily in the Voronezh area forcing Bock to fight there longer than planned and leading to his dismissal by Hitler. But what if the Germans had left 17th Army, the Axis satellite forces and a panzer corps covering the south and hit north with 1st and 4th panzer armies supported by 6th Army? Fighting northwards from Voronezh they would have drawn in the huge Soviet armoured reserves defending Moscow and fought them in open terrain and with concentrated Luftwaffe support. How much damage could they have done to Soviet armored strength fighting in the open field rather than being ground down in Stalingrad and exhausted by the distances in the Caucasus?
     

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