1942 Russian Front

In the winter of 1941/42, the German Army in Russia had suffered not only from the bitter cold but also from a large Russian winter offensive which had mostly halted the German strategic offensive in its tracks. By summer, with the mud of the spring thaw finally behind them, the Germans decided to mount a major offensive in the south to regain the initiative and to capture the Caucasus oil fields and secure naval bases on the Black Sea. The name of this operation was Case Blue (Fall Blau). Even with German tank production increasing in not only quantity but in quality, all the panzer divisions on the Russian front were severely depleted in tank strength. To make Case Blue work, the panzer divisions involved would have to have more tanks. The Germans solved this problem by stripping whole panzer battalions from the divisions not involved in the offensive. These battalions were then added to the panzer and motorized infantry divisions in the south. Below is the distribution of the panzer and motorized infantry divisions on the Russian front at the start of Case Blue on June 28, 1942. Please click on the individual divisions to see their composition and number and type of tanks.