Word: baku
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Russians, too, showed confidence. The Grozny fields had not yet been scorched. Here, midway between the Caspian and Black Sea, they were making a stand not only to protect Grozny's oil, but also to guard the main routes into the heart of the Caucasus and the richer Baku oilfields. Southwest of Grozny lies industrial Ordzhonikidze, terminus of the only two highways scaling the lofty range near its center. Both highways, the Georgian and Ossetian military roads, are tortuous, treacherous routes that mount 10,000 feet through gorges giving every advantage to the defender...
...Stalingrad falls, most of the German weight will be directed against the Caucasus. There are five ways through the Caucasus: one route on the Caspian Sea, one on the Black Sea, three passes across terrible mountains. They all come out into the southern Caucasus valley, stretching from Batum to Baku. It is most probable that, if Stalingrad falls, the German drive will be directed on Baku...
London heard that, if Stalingrad fell, Hitler intended to stabilize the Russian front behind strong fortifications (except perhaps for a push toward the Baku oilfields along the Caspian shore rather than through the freezing Caucasian passes). Such stability would allow Hitler to turn perhaps 70 of his 215 Russian divisions into the Middle East, reinforce his western front, and return skilled workers to the factories from the army. A push toward Suez and the Indian Ocean would pull the United Nations' attention away from the Continent and, if successful, would be a disaster doubtless prolonging the war for years...
...press them far enough. It was the face of the German in the North Caucasus; in the streets of Novorossiisk (the Red Fleet's fallen base on the Black Sea); in the oilfields of Grozny; halfway from Rostov to the great oil prize of Baku...
...them of their summer gains. (After one bitter winter in Russia the German armies came back to strike at Stalingrad and the Caucasus.) The snows which soon will block the high Caucasian passes will not block the low roads along the Black and Caspian Seas to Batum, Baku and the Middle East. Only the Red Armies in the Caucasus-so far unable to block the approaches, and soon likely to be cut off from the body of Russia-can block the roads. Winter will not sink the Germans' motor barges, skirting the Russian strong points on the Caspian...