# Operation Fischreiher

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Axis operational expansion of Case Blue

Operation Fischreiher Part of the Eastern Front of World War II A column of German Panzer III tanks travelling down an unpaved road near the Don River, July 1942 Date 22 July 1942 Location Russian SFSR, Soviet Union Result Axis operation failure Belligerents Germany Romania Hungary Italy Soviet Union Commanders and leaders Friedrich Paulus (6th Army) Hermann Hoth (4th Panzer Army) S. Timoshenko (Stalingrad Front) N.F. Vatutin (Southwest Front) A. Yeremenko (Southeast Front)

v t e Eastern Front Naval warfare Baltic Sea Black Sea Arctic Ocean 1941 Barbarossa Brest Białystok–Minsk 1st Baltic Brody Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina 1st Smolensk Uman Odessa 1st Kiev Tallinn Leningrad Sea of Azov 1st Kharkov 1st Crimea Sevastopol Rostov Gorky Moscow Finland Kerch Chechnya Air war 1941 1942 Lyuban Barvenkovo–Lozovaya Rzhev Toropets–Kholm Demyansk Kholm Bamberg 2nd Kharkov Case Blue Caucasus Rzhev–Sychyovka Sinyavino Stalingrad Velikiye Luki Mars Little Saturn 1943 Iskra Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh Voronezh–Kharkov Polar Star 3rd Kharkov Gorky Blitz Kursk 1st Donbas Belgorod-Kharkov 2nd Donbas 2nd Smolensk Lenino Dnieper Nevel 2nd Kiev 1944 Dnieper–Carpathian Leningrad–Novgorod Narva 2nd Crimea Romania 1st Jassy–Kishinev 2nd Jassy–Kishinev Turda Păuliș Carei Karelia Bagration Lvov–Sandomierz Doppelkopf Dukla Pass 2nd Baltic Belgrade Debrecen Petsamo–Kirkenes Courland Gumbinnen Budapest 1945 Budapest Vistula–Oder Western Carpathian East Prussia Silesia Breslau Solstice East Pomerania Lake Balaton Moravia–Ostrava Vienna Bratislava–Brno Berlin Prague Prague uprising

v t e Case Blue to 3rd Kharkov Blue Voronezh 2nd Rostov Caucasus Fischreiher Kalach Izbushensky Stalingrad Little Saturn Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh Voronezh-Kastornensk Gallop Star 3rd Kharkov

**Operation Fischreiher** (German for [heron](/source/Heron)) was an extension of [Case Blue](/source/Case_Blue), part of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II. General [Friedrich Paulus](/source/Friedrich_Paulus)' [6th Army](/source/6th_Army_(Wehrmacht)), and part of the [4th Panzer Army](/source/4th_Panzer_Army) under General [Hermann Hoth](/source/Hermann_Hoth), was to advance across the Don river towards the city of Stalingrad on the Western bend of the Volga river.[1]

The original operational plans had called for a defensive line on the Don river by [Army Group B](/source/Army_Group_B), while [Army Group A](/source/Army_Group_A) under General List was to advance south towards the oil fields in the [Caucasus](/source/Caucasus). The diversion of Operation Fischreiher became an offensive in its own right, to the detriment of the drive south by Army Group A.

The 6th Army came up against the first Soviet defensive lines on August 17, and were then locked in street fighting for the next three months until they reached their offensive limit on November 18. After this date, the 6th Army and the 4th Panzer Army were on the defensive after their lines of communication with Army Group B were cut by a Soviet pincer movement from General [Nikolai Vatutin](/source/Nikolai_Vatutin)'s [Southwestern Front](/source/Southwestern_Front_(Soviet_Union)) and General [Andrey Yeryomenko](/source/Andrey_Yeryomenko)'s [Stalingrad Front](/source/Stalingrad_Front), whose forces met in the German rear between [Kalach](/source/Kalach%2C_Kalacheyevsky_District%2C_Voronezh_Oblast) and Sovetskiy on November 23, 1942.

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** *"Fischreiher" entry*, [The encyclopedia of codenames of World War II](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_encyclopedia_of_codenames_of_World_War_II&action=edit&redlink=1), [Christopher Chant](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christopher_Chant&action=edit&redlink=1), [Routledge](/source/Routledge), 1986 [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-7102-0718-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-7102-0718-2)

## Bibliography

- Chant, Christopher. (1986) The encyclopedia of codenames of World War II. Routledge. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-7102-0718-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-7102-0718-2)

[Portals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contents/Portals):
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- [Soviet Union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Soviet_Union)
- [Politics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Politics)

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