>>514649713
>The Soviet Union did not need Moscow to direct their military
Of course it did. Again, the USSR was highly centralized. Not just its bureaucracy, but also its infrastructure, as can be seen for railways on the map I posted
>needed oil from the Caucasus. As did Germany
Exactly. That's why Heeresgruppe Sud had the Caucasus as its primary objective, and included thousands of petroleum engineers and hundreds of kilometers of pipelines
And what did Hitler do THE VERY DAY that HGS captured Rostow-on-Don, the gateway to the Caucasus? He issued Directive 45, splitting up the army group (classic mistake nr 1) sending its best forces hundreds of kilometers to the east to attack an extremely fortified position (classic mistake nr 2) extending supply lines to breaking point instantly (classic mistake nr 3) while leaving the capture of the Baku oil fields to its least mobile forces (classic mistake nr 4)
Biggest blunder in all of military history, and all his competent generals at the time knew it, and were horrified
And again, Hitler when he issued this bizarre order was high as a fucking kite due to the injections of his personal physician the half-jewish quack Dr Morell >>514649489, a likely soviet asset and mind control expert