Behind Soviet Lines: Hitler’s Brandenburgers capture the Maikop Oilfields 1942

In the summer of 1942, following the invasion of Russia the previous year, Hitler’s ‘Brandenburger’ commando units undertook a daring operation deep inside Soviet-held territory.

Disguised as members of Stalin’s NKVD, the secret police dreaded by most Soviet citizens and soldiers, the Brandenburgers passed unsuspected past the Red Army’s checkpoints, before launching their surprise operation to seize the vital Soviet oil facilities around Maikop – delivering them intact into Nazi hands.

Featuring specially commissioned full-colour artwork, this expert assessment of the Maikop operation casts new light on German special-forces operations on the Eastern Front.