Dangerous Territory.. . .

(Dangerous Territory.. . .)

In the spring of 1942, German forces in the East (Ostheer), specifically Army Group South, had composed of four Army level Headquarters: Seventeenth Army that was mostly infantry but also had tanks, First Panzer Army, that was mostly tanks but also had infantry. For the up-coming Campaign. these two formations comprised Army Group A. There was also Army Group B, that comprised Sixth Army, that like Seventeenth was infantry with some armor and then Fourth Panzer, that was also armor heavy with its own allotment of foot soldiers.

The German strategic objective in 1942 was a march into the Caucuses Mountains and its petroleum resources. Hungarian, Italian, and Romanian armies were also on the march. It was here, however, that Hitler began to intervene. First, he ordered Fourth Panzer south to assist First Panzer. Moving flags on a map might be one thing but transferring thousands of men and hundreds of tanks over Russia's poor road network delayed the campaign and momentum was lost. When Hitler began to look longingly at a city on the Volga called Stalingrad, the opportunity to secure it rapidly was lost. Nevertheless, Hitler ordered the German Sixth Army to invest the city where it was gradually entombed and by mid-November, Sixth Army was surrounded and ultimately destroyed.

If Hitler had been less emotional, realizing that Stalingrad had no significance other than symbolic as Stalin's namesake, Sixth Army could have remained within the Bend in the Don River, protecting the rear flank of Seventeenth and First Panzer as that advance sought to reduce the Caucuses. In the end, both attacks failed. Sixth Army was destroyed and Seventeenth and First Panzer were able to withdraw to Rostov before they themselves were encircled.

Like the foray against Stalingrad, the current Ukraine War is a vanity project of President Biden. The Afghan exit, and the loss of thirteen service people, itself can be on the President's responsibility, and, with Ukraine in essence losing and in the closing months of an election year, the Biden is beginning to authorize an increase in aid to Kiev, namely direct support missiles that could be fired into Russian territory.

That promise has drawn a response from Russian President Vladimir Putin. If the ban on such missiles is removed and they do get to Ukraine and are so deployed, that is called escalation. The Administration has spent almost the last eleven months trying to end the Israel-Hamas War. Now with no strategic objective, other than keeping Ukraine in the fight, the risk is now for a broader conflict with the potential for more serious outcomes.

Before or after Election Day.