<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section does not cite any sources . Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (March 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> Although plans were made to attack Moscow again, on 28 June 1942, the offensive re-opened in a different direction . Army Group South took the initiative, anchoring the front with the Battle of Voronezh and then following the Don river southeastwards . The grand plan was to secure the Don and Volga first and then drive into the Caucasus towards the oil fields, but operational considerations and Hitler's vanity made him order both objectives to be attempted simultaneously . Rostov was recaptured on 24 July when the 1st Panzer Army joined in, and then that group drove south towards Maikop . As part of this, Operation Shamil was executed, a plan whereby a group of Brandenburger commandos dressed up as Soviet NKVD troops to destabilise Maikop's defences and allow the 1st Panzer Army to enter the oil town with little opposition . </P> <P> Meanwhile, the 6th Army was driving towards Stalingrad, for a long period unsupported by 4th Panzer Army, which had been diverted to help 1st Panzer Army cross the Don . By the time the 4th Panzer Army had rejoined the Stalingrad offensive Soviet resistance (comprising the 62nd Army under Vasily Chuikov) had stiffened . A leap across the Don brought German troops to the Volga on 23 August but for the next three months the Wehrmacht would be fighting the Battle of Stalingrad street - by - street . Towards the south, the 1st Panzer Army had reached the Caucasian foothills and the Malka River . At the end of August Romanian mountain troops joined the Caucasian spearhead, while the Romanian 3rd and 4th armies were redeployed from their successful task of clearing the Azov littoral . They took up position on either side of Stalingrad to free German troops for the main offensive . Mindful of the continuing antagonism between Axis allies Romania and Hungary over Transylvania, the Romanian army in the Don bend was separated from the Hungarian 2nd army by the Italian 8th Army . Thus, all of Hitler's allies were involved--including a Slovakian contingent with the 1st Panzer Army and a Croatian regiment attached to 6th Army . </P> <P> The advance into the Caucasus bogged down, with the Germans unable to fight their way past Malgobek and to the main prize of Grozny . Instead, they switched the direction of their advance to approach it from the south, crossing the Malka at the end of October and entering North Ossetia . In the first week of November, on the outskirts of Ordzhonikidze, the 13th Panzer Division's spearhead was snipped off and the panzer troops had to fall back . The offensive into Russia was over . </P>

Describe the course of ww2 in europe until 1940