History

In 1942 at the height of the World War Two, Hitler ordered an attack in the Soviet Unions oilfields of Caucasian region of Baku, Groznyy and maikop. The operation was nicknamed operation blue and it started in June 22nd 1942 shortly after winter ended in Russia. At the time, most of the Soviet Union regions of Byelorussia, Ukraine Latvia Lithuania were under the control of the Germans. This made the German front to be around a thousand miles from Lake Ladoga to Aazov Sea. Hitler then ordered his army to head to the oilfields in the southern side of the USSR. His major interest in attacking the oilfields was to gain control of the oilfields. Hitler argued that if his red army ran out of fuel, it would crumble and if it gained access to the oilfields, it would flourish. He ordered the south army group to provide the necessary military hardware needed for the attack on Groznyy and maikop. He was so obsessed with gaining control of the oil in the oilfields that he once told the high command at wehrmachts that he was all sighing towards capturing the oil at Groznyy and Maikop.

Hitler determination to capture the oilfields was due to a conviction he had that if the oilfields were captured, together with the rich farmland of Ukraine, the German empire he was trying so hard  to expand would become self-reliant inside its borders, hence more strong and invulnerable. Baku was the oilfield Hitler was most interested in because of his obsession with oil, and he was aware of the worth of the reserves of this world major oilfield at the time. The plan of operation for the attack on the Caucasus oilfields was nicknamed edelweiss. Initially, the German leader had no intention of bombing Baku because of this need of utilizing them. The quest of Hitler to capture Baku was almost being achieved by the late of July 1942, at the time the Germans had gained control of Rostov city and control of oil pipeline from Caucasian. Maikop city was captured in 9th of august 1942, but it was not producing enough oil for the Germans since its output was about a tenth to that of Baku. This was due to severe destruction that was done to the oilfields infrastructure and supplies by the Russians before they withdrew from the city. The destruction was so severe that by the end of January 1943, they could manage to get just seventy barrels in a day.

The lack of enough oil in Maikop intensified Germans resolve to capture the oilfields of Baku that they even fixed a final day for its takeover to be 25th of September 1942. So obsessed was Hitler with Baku that days before the affixed take over date, when he was presented with a cake bearing the shape of Caspian sea and Baku by his generals, he choose the part with shape of Baku. The determination and obsession didnt yield the success of capturing the oilfields since at this time, they were fighting in two fronts the Caucasian and the Stalingrad. This stretched German resources in the war but in the Germans leader mind, there was point of retreat until they accessed bakus oil or the war was lost. Hitler was preoccupied at the time with the German match to Iran and Iraq where they would have closed their defeat over England. Due to this miscalculation, the Germans were not able to capture this oilfield and Stalingrad became their first key loss in the war.