Quote:
Originally Posted by U777
Looking at the map Stalingrad seems to be a bit more eastward than Moscow so tactically I think it would make more sense to go straight for Moscow but since the city held Stalin's name Hitler wanted to win there bad before hostilities were to end with Russia I guess. Thankfully the Russians knew how to fight in cold weather, that gave them a major advantage. I guess moral of the story is don't invade Russia if you can't finish the job by the end of fall, Napoleon learned the hard way too.
For those who want to read a German's perspective of the eastern front read "Tigers in the Mud" by Otto Carius. He was a Panzer commander who fought with Tiger tanks against the Russians.
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In June 1942, when the Germans renewed their offensive in Russia the two goals were the Baku oil fields in the Caucasus and the city of Stalingrad. The idea was to cut Moscow and the rest of Russia off from it's main oil supply (The main rail and river links to Baku run through Stalingrad). Ultimately, the Germans didn't have the strength or the logistical capability for both goals and stalled in the Caucasus Mountains well short of Baku and found themselves foundering in a frontal (and attritional) attack on Stalingrad. At the time the approaches to Moscow were well fortified and defended by the bulk of the ever-growing Red Army as Stalin expected Hitler would try for Moscow again. The Germans didn't have the strength to make a push along the entire front. As it was, due to heavy losses in the previous winter, they had to cannibalize those northern divisions that didn't take part in the Caucasus drive of their trucks and motorized vehicles to make the 1942 offensive possible at all. They also had to rely on their weaker Rumanian and Hugarian allies to cover their lengthening front which contributed to the Stalingrad disaster, as these troops with low morale and little anti-tank capability were easily overrun by Soviet tanks in the open steppes in winter.