Confronting Case Blue: Briansk Front's Attempt to Derail the German Drive to the

Confronting Case Blue: Briansk Front's Attempt to Derail the German Drive to the Caucasus July 1942

The author Igor Sdvizhkov takes a close look at the attempt by Briansk Front's Operational Group Chibisov to collapse the northern shoulder of the German drive to the Caucasus northwest of Voronezh in July 1942. Using both previously-classified Soviet documents and German documents, Sdvizhkov focuses in particular on General A.I. Liziukov's role in the counteroffensive as commander of the 2nd Tank Corps, after his 5th Tank Army was disbanded following failed counterattacks in early July. The Soviet attacks led to nine days of heavy, see-saw fighting involving tens of thousands of men and hundreds of tanks and guns on both sides, and threatened to isolate the German forces holding Voronezh. Sdvizhkov also describes the German reaction to the initial penetration made by Operational Group Chibisov's offensive: a counterattack primarily with the forces of the 9th Panzer Division, which at the time of the new Soviet offensive was in a reserve position, serving as a fire brigade. The German riposte blunted the Soviet attacks and encircled elements of Operational Group Chibisov, and ultimately stabilized the tottering German front northwest of Voronezh for the time being.