To the Issue of the Fighting of Soviet and German Troops on the Kuban River (August 3-7, 1942)

This article examines the fighting of Soviet and German troops on the Kuban River in the period from 3 to 7 August 1942 on three bridgeheads: Kropotkin -Temizhbekskaya, Novo-Mikhailovskoye -Grigoripolisskaya and Krasnaya Polyana -Prokhnookopskaya.The documents of the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (Podolsk, Russian Federation), posted on the portal "Memory of the People", as well as materials published in collections of documents, were used as sources.In addition, research by Soviet, Russian and foreign authors was used.In conclusion, the author comes to the conclusion that the command of the North Caucasian Front could not cope with the task set by the Supreme Command Headquarters.Despite the resistance of the Soviet troops, the Wehrmacht troops crossed the Kuban River, created two bridgeheads on the left bank of the Kuban River in the area of Novo-Mikhailovsky and Krasnaya Polyana, as well as a bridgehead in the Kropotkin -Temizhbekskaya area, which was auxiliary.During the fighting from August 3-7, 1942, the Soviet troops of the North Caucasian Front unsuccessfully tried to destroy the Wehrmacht troops on these bridgeheads, which on August 5 broke through the defenses of the 1st Separate Rifle Corps from Krasnaya Polyana and launched an offensive in a westerly direction in order to encircle and destroy the troops of the North Caucasian Front.