The Penetration of Rostov

With the German summer offensive of'42, " Operation Blue", Hitler hoped to force a decision on the southern front. In an attempt to form a large scale encirclement on the lower Don, the City of Rostov became the natural center …

1942-07-24

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With the German summer offensive of'42, " Operation Blue", Hitler hoped to force a decision on the southern front. In an attempt to form a large scale encirclement on the lower Don, the City of Rostov became the natural center of operations. The initial breach of the outer city defenses had been made by the Panzer troops of the Ill and L VII Corps, but the city's center was the battlefield for assault parties a and not armored formations. To make matters worse, the NK VD garrison was determined to defend Rostov to the last bullet. Functioning as the regime's guard against possible rebellion, the NK VD troops were very familiar with street fighting techniques. To defeat such an enemy the Germans had to formulate a definite plan of attack. The I st and 3rd Battalion, 421 st Infantry Regiment were divided into three assault companies each. Each company, fighting in line abreast, was to advance down its assigned sector and secure each block therein. In this way each company protected its neighbors from flank attacks

Rostov, Russia

Case Blue was the German Armed Forces' name for its plan for the 1942 strategic summer offensive in southern Russia between 28 June and 24 November 1942, during World War II. The operation was a continuation of the previous year's Operation Barbarossa, intended to knock the Soviet Union out of the war. It involved a two-pronged attack: one from the Axis right flank against the oil fields of Baku, known as Operation Edelweiss, and one from the left flank in the direction of Stalingrad along the Volga River, known as Operation Fischreiher.

Wikipedia: Case Blue

German

Russian