Kharkov offensive operation Totally Explained

Everything about Kharkov Offensive Operation totally explained

Kharkiv, USSR |result=German victory |combatant1= Red Army |combatant2= Germany |commander1=Filipp Golikov
Nikolay Vatutin |commander2=Erich von Manstein
Paul Hausser
|strength1=300,000 men |strength2=160,000 men |casualties1=Voronezh Front: Army of Popov:
3,000 KIA
11,000 WIA
Southwestern Front: 20,000 KIA
90,000 WIA
9,000 POWs
Final battles: 25,000 KIA
80,000 WIA
10,000 POWs
(total=48,000 KIA, 180,000 WIA
19,594 POWs) |casualties2=Unknown; reported as "moderate"|}}
The Kharkov offensive operation also known as the "3rd Battle of Kharkov" is the name given by the German historians to the fighting for the city of Kharkov and the area to the north as far as Belgorod as part of the Wehrmacht's counter-offensive which was part of Germany's last major strategic victory of the Second World War. Kharkov was retaken by the Red Army in February 1943 as part of the Kharkov offensive operation (Operation “Zvezda”), following the Wehrmacht retreats during the erlier Voronezh-Kharkov strategic offensive operation. Led by Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, the Germans counter-attacked and after halting the Red Army's break-through mobile groups, retook the city in bitter street fighting between 16 February 1943 and 15 March 1943.

Composition of opposing forces

Committed to the operation by the Red Army were the Bryansk, Voronezh and the South Western Fronts. These included the 40th, 69th, 3rd Tank, 2nd Air, 13th and the 6th Army.
   As part of the general counter-offensive against the Voronezh Front, the Fourth Panzer Army and Panzer Kampfgruppe Kempf counterattacked the Red Army's 3rd Tank Army flank via Kharkiv held by the 25th Guards Rifle Division (from the 69th Army). The II SS Panzer Korps comprising Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler and Das Reich divisions equipped with heavy Tiger tanks, played a significant role in taking of Kharkiv, assisted by the XLVIII Panzer Corps of General of Panzer troops von Knobelsdorff, by manoeuvering to the North of the city and encircling it, forcing the Soviet troops to recross the Donets. The frontal assault on the Red Army's Kharkiv defensive positions were carried out by the 106th Infantry division, and the 11th and 6th Panzer Divisions, while the 17th Panzer Division assaulted across the Donets to complete the encirclement.
   The SS divisions had been resting and refitting for a long period of time and were at full strength. Under the command of SS-Gruppenführer Paul Hausser, it halted the Soviet attempt to reinforce the Kharkov defence from the North, despite odds of six to one, but threatened with encirclement, Hausser soon withdrew against explicit orders from Hitler. The act so infuriated Hitler, he refused to award Hausser after the battle.
   The Leibstandarte division then retook central Kharkiv, with Hitler renaming the central square "Leibstandarteplatz" to commemorate this action. The city remained only temporarily in German hands. On August 22 1943, in the aftermath of the Belgorod-Kharkov strategic offensive operation (Operation “Rumyantsev”), the Wehrmacht troops were compelled to evacuate Kharkiv once again.
   The battle is often regarded as the last successful German offensive in the USSR and is still studied in military academies as a textbook example of mobile defence. Despite its significance, the battle has been the subject of minimal post-war academic study outside of the Soviet Union.

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