[4] Hitler had personally intervened in the plans for this operation, and ordered a split in Army Group South.
Later studies confirmed this split to be one of the main causes for the eventual demise of the German 6th Army in Stalingrad.
Hitler persisted in this division of Army Group South for strategic reasons: acquiring the oilfields in the Caucasus region and cutting Soviet supply transports along the Volga through Stalingrad.
On July 23, 1942 Hitler met with Chief of staff Lutze and SA Obergruppenführer Jüttner at the Werwolf headquarters.
In this meeting Hitler stated several directives that, “Army Group A take the Caucasus and Baku (Operation Edelweiss), while Army Group B was supposed to conquer Stalingrad and, if possible, Astrakhan (Operation Heron – Fischreiher because of the fish in the Volga River).