stupid strategic question

[Andy Fletcher]

Hi Juha,

I agree the Crimea and Kuban are very close together but the Kuban offered a bridgehead for possible expansion by the Germans which may have enabled them to operate bombers from bases nearer to Baku (even 200 km closer would significantly reduce flying time), this I believe is what the Soviets were worried about.

Best Regards

Andy Fletcher

[Shikhov]

Hello Gentlements!
Prepared some figures not directly about thred theme but hoped may be interesting enough.
USSR oil production in 1940-1945
1940 whole year 31,1 mil. ton
1941 1-st half 17,3 mil. ton
1941 2-nd half 15,7 mil. ton
1942 1-st half 11,7 mil. ton
1942 2-nd half 10,3 mil. ton
1943 1-nd half 8,8 mil. ton
1943 2-nd half 9,2 mil. ton
1944 1-st half 8,9 mil. ton
1944 2-nd half 9,4 mil. ton
1945 1-st half 9,3 mil. ton
1945 2-nd half 10,1 mil. ton

Above figures well shown USSR oil production reduced after Caucasus Battle to little above 50% of prewar level (1-st half of 1941) and not restored until war end. Nevertheless Soviet Army never suffered from lack of fuel oil even tank and airplane numbers grown in times compare to 1941.
The reason were in refinery effectiveness grown generally in 1,5 times: all grades of gasoline production extracted from crude oil was 5,76 % in 1940 then increased to 8,36 % in 1944 and even more for aviation gasoline – from 2,56 % in 1940 to 6,15 % in 1944.
Soviets starts to partly restore oil industry in Maicop - Grozny region since spring of 1943, but without serious result. Much more notable point was four Lend-Leased modern refinery plants built in Orsk, Guriyev, Krasnovodsk and Kuibyshev according to GKO directive from April 1943. Its annual capacity were 240 000 tons of B-78 aviation gasoline, 35 000 tons of aviation lubricating oil, 600 000 tons of another grades of gasoline. This is 22,2% of whole USSR gasoline production in 1944 (3 773 400 tons – highest war production level).

Most vulnerable points of Soviet oil industry – 4 Lend-Leased refinery plants seems never recognized by Germans. In mid of 1943 Luftwaffe tried to strike another one – oil shipment but failed due to absolutely insufficient attack scale.
In 1942 Soviet fleet shipped by sea (mainly Caspian Sea) 8,8 mil. tons of oil, but in 1943 figures increased up to 13,1 mil. tons. Shipment by rivers also increased in 1,5 times - from 5,3 mil tons to 7,5 mil tons.

Regards.