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. General Liziukov would go missing during the 2nd Tank Corps attack, and the author discusses why the Briansk Front and Operational Group Chibisov command initially made little or no effort to find the general; Stalin’s suspicions surrounding General Liziukov’s disappearance; and the results of the official wartime investigation of the matter. Sdvizhkov also addresses the numerous controversies that later ensued due to erroneous and/or misleading recollections as well as the total inability to locate General Liziukov or his remains. Carefully examining the available evidence, Sdvizhkov offers a cogent and persuasive explanation of what happened.