The Battle Of Rzhev-A Giant Battle On The Russian Front Larger Than Stalingrad

Profile photo for Robert Hansen Robert Hansen · Follow Freelance Writer, Amateur Chess EnthusiastAug 28 Would Russia (Soviet Union) still win World War II even if Germany doesn't lose at Stalingrad but loses somewhere else in Russia? This question gets at a simple but often-forgotten concept — you can only send more of your resources to this place by sending less to that place. If Germany had made a greater effort in the Caucasus and relied less on under-equipped Axis Allies there, it would have had to have been drawn away from the other great battle of 1942 — the Rzhev meatgrinder. While the Battle of Stalingrad is what everyone remembers for its decisive result, it was dwarfed by the Battles of Rzhev. After the Battle of Moscow, the Germans clung stubbornly to the Rzhev Salient in order to maintain a potential launching point for a future offensive against Moscow. This indirectly helped them in their Caucasus offensive of 1942, as the strongest Soviet forces were arrayed in front of Moscow rather than in the gates to the Caucasus. Throughout the year, the Battle of Rzhev got the majority of German manpower replacements and other assets, and the size of the forces engaged on both sides dwarfed that at Stalingrad. Losses were immense on both sides, with roughly 650,000 killed, wounded, and missing on the German side and 2.3 million killed, wounded, missing, and sick on the Soviet side. One of the Battles of Rzhev, Operation Mars, began shortly after the Soviet counteroffensive around Stalingrad. The battle was a costly, poorly executed failure, but containing it prevented the release of numerous strong divisions to aid the situation in the South. It’s conceivable that strengthening the German effort in the South would have required weakening the defense of Rzhev, resulting in victory in the South and a catastrophic defeat at Rzhev. However, losing at Stalingrad and losing the Caucasus would have been an economic disaster for the Soviet Union. The overwhelming majority of Soviet oil sources would be lost, as well as about half of the USSR’s arable land. The Red Army would lose much of its offensive capacity and the second-largest lend-lease route would be shut down. Shipments of trucks, communications equipment, industrial gear, etc. would need to be severely curtailed in favor of food and fuel to keep the Soviet Union from collapsing. Now, the USSR did have significant stockpiles of fuel, and the infrastructure for Germany to effectively exploit their captured oil wells did not exist. Unless the Red Army managed to use their extant fuel reserves to mount an offensive to the Black Sea and liberate the Caucasus, the war would probably dwindle into a stalemate. When talking about grand battles, people often get tunnel vision and forget there’s a whole war going on around it. A battle is just a snapshot of a campaign, and when talking about what could or should have been done, you need to know its context. 11.9K views View 170 upvotes View 3 shares 1 of 4 answers