№ 2344. Way to the Victory. The Battle of the Caucasus

The Battle of the Caucasus (25 July1942 – 9 October 1943) was a series of military operations of the Nazi German, Romanian and Slovakian troops against the USSR for control over the Caucasus during the Great Patriotic War. The battle had two stages: the German offensive (25 July – 31 December 1942), when the German and Romanian forces reached the foothills of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range and the Terek River, and captured the major part of Kuban and the North Caucasus by autumn 1942. The second stage was the Soviet counterattack (1 January – 9 October 1943) which resulted in the complete liberation of the Krasnodar Region, Kalmykia, Chechen-Ingushetia, North Ossetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Rostove Oblast, Stavropol Region, Karachay-Cherkessia and Adygeya, which gained back access to the Maykop oilfields and most import agricultural regions of the country.

Large-scale aerial fights of the Soviet aviation against the Luftwaffe in April – June 1943 over the lower Kuban River, the Taman Peninsula and Novorossiysk formed a most significant stage of the Battle for the Caucasus. The victory strengthened the southern flank of the Soviet-German front, and a close interaction between the Soviet land forces, aviation, sea fleet and partisans was established.

The postage stamp features a bas-relief with a group of Soviet soldiers fighting in the Caucasus Region during the Great Patriotic War.