The day of the defeat of Nazi troops by Soviet troops in the Battle of the Caucasus (1943)

From year to year, the events of the Great Patriotic War move further and further away from us, but its battles are imprinted on the pages of our history with the blood of the Soviet people She forever changed millions of destinies - she destroyed, maimed, trampled Soldiers died in fierce battles, and civilians died in the occupied territories German troops were advancing on several fronts, and one of the key goals of the enemy army was to capture the Caucasus Military operations took place here throughout the year At first, Soviet troops defended themselves, but after a turning point they went on the offensive and defeated the enemy October 9 is celebrated in Russia as the Day of the defeat of Nazi troops by Soviet troops in the battle for the Caucasus After this battle, more than 850,000 thousand participants in the battle were awarded medals “For the Defense of the Caucasus,” and Novorossiysk received the title of hero city Before the war, 95% of all USSR oil was produced in the Caucasus, and after the start of the German offensive, this region supplied our army with 75% of fuel The conquest of the Caucasus was one of Hitler's key goals At one of the meetings, the Fuhrer even stated that he would have to end the war if the Germans could not get the oil of Grozny and Maikop The Caucasus was also of great strategic importance - it opened the way for the enemy to Turkey, which could renounce its neutrality, and the Stavropol region and Kuban were valuable sources of resources to supply the army By gaining the Caucasus, the Germans could paralyze the bases of the Black Sea Fleet and open the way for future invasions of other countries The command of the German troops hoped to conduct a campaign to quickly capture the Caucasus This direction was a priority along with the Stalingrad one In 1942, a plan called "Edelweiss" was developed German troops were supposed to encircle Soviet military formations, destroy them and capture the North Caucasus After this significant victory, the Germans planned to bypass the Main Caucasus Ridge from the west and east One group of troops was supposed to capture Tuapse and Novorossiysk, and the second - Baku and Grozny In parallel with them, the enemy planned to send another group to advance through the center through the passes in order to gain access to Sukhumi, Kutaisi and Tbilisi The German command began to build up forces in this region To attack the Caucasus, groups of troops that had previously participated in the battles of Kharkov and Voronezh were transferred The success of this operation could turn the tide of the entire war and put the USSR at an extremely disadvantageous position Our country was deprived of a most valuable resource, lost the Kuban “breadbasket”, access to its bases in the Black Sea and gained an enemy in the person of its closest neighbor, who could easily join the game on the side of Germany The Battle of the Caucasus lasted from July 25, 1942 to October 9, 1943 This battle became one of the longest and bloodiest of the entire Great Patriotic War Conventionally, the battle is divided into two stages The first includes events that unfolded from the summer to autumn of 1942 German troops carried out a rapid offensive, pushed back the Soviet formations and forced them to go on the defensive For our command this moment was critical The enemy managed to occupy most of the North Caucasus and Kuban German soldiers planted their flag on Elbrus as a sign of their victory However, the offensive was short-lived and already in September the enemy was stopped, and then forced to retreat so as not to be surrounded Many military historians associate the transition from defense to offense in the Battle of the Caucasus with a radical turning point in the Great Patriotic War The beginning of the second stage of this battle came on January 1, 1943 Soviet troops methodically reconquered the occupied territories The final chord of the battle was the liberation of the Taman Peninsula on October 9, 1943, which put an end to the German military campaign in the region and finally destroyed the enemy’s plans to capture the Caucasus