The Decisive Battles of World History

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x Finally, the rainy season turned the terrin into a sea of mud, and the

German advance began to lose momentum and bog down. Worse

was yet to come, however, because the traditional ultimate weapon

of Russia was about to arrive—a powerful force that the Russians

referred to as “General Winter.” By December 1, temperatures

plummeted to –35° F.

x Hitler had considered it unnecessary to provide the soldiers with

winter clothing because he believed that the Russians would

be beaten before winter arrived. As a result, the German troops

suffered severe frostbite; the oil in guns jammed, and the guns

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metal parts became brittle and snapped in the cold. The German

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the Germans settled in for the winter.

The Battle

x By early summer of 1942, the Germans were ready to resume the

assault on Russia. Over the winter, Hitler had revised his goals, and

oil played a central role. In this era of mechanized warfare, it had

quickly become apparent that the machines required huge amounts

of fuel to keep running. Germany’s only reliable fuel came from

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motors of his planes and tanks.

x Most of Russia’s oil came from the Caucasus—80 percent from Baku

alone. Obsessed with both the need to obtain new sources of oil for

Germany and the idea of cutting Russia off from its own oil, Hitler

decided to concentrate his attack on the southern front, with the aim

of gaining control over the Russian oil wells in the Caucasus.

x The advances of 1942 would have two objectives: One group

would push toward Stalingrad on the Volga River, which contained

a number of large factories and sat astride the railways that brought

oil from the Caucasus. If the Germans could seize Stalingrad, in

theory, they could cut off these supplies. A second German army