In 1943 Novorossiysk, at the foothills of the Caucasus mountains, was the southernmost tip of the Soviet front. At the same time the Battle of Stalingrad was taking place, in the summer of 1942, the Battle for the Caucasus began. Hitler wanted to open a road to the Near East, to India, by way of the Caucasus. "That accomplished," he said, "I will bring the war to the continental United States." The fighting for the Caucasus lasted 13 and a half months. In the battle for Novorossiysk and the peninsula, the greatly outnumbered Russians defended the territory for seven months. Nazi planes made up to 2,000 raids a day on this area. German artillery barrages were followed by heavy infantry attacks. It was a long, fierce battle in which more than one explosive was fired by the Nazis for every Russian defender. The Soviet army's victory in the Caucasus smashed Hitler's plan for an overland route to the Near East and India.