Third Battle of Kharkov
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| Third Battle of Kharkov | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of World War II | |||||||
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| Combatants | |||||||
| Soviet Union | Axis powers | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| Filipp Golikov Nikolay Vatutin |
Erich von Manstein †Theodor Eicke |
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| Strength | |||||||
| 300,000 men | 160,000 men | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| 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) |
Unknown; reported as "moderate" | ||||||
| Eastern Front |
|---|
| Barbarossa – Baltic Sea – Finland – Leningrad and Baltics – Crimea and Caucasus – Moscow – 1st Rzhev-Vyazma – 2nd Kharkov – Stalingrad – Velikiye Luki – 2nd Rzhev-Sychevka – Kursk – 2nd Smolensk – Dnieper – 2nd Kiev – Korsun – Hube's Pocket – Belorussia – Lvov-Sandomierz – Balkans – Hungary – Vistula-Oder – Königsberg – Berlin – Prague |
| Operation Blue to 3rd Kharkov |
|---|
| Blue – Voronezh – Edelweiss – Stalingrad – Uranus – Winter Storm – Saturn – Tatsinskaya Raid – 3rd Kharkov |
The Third Battle of Kharkov was the last major strategic German victory of World War II. Kharkov had originally been captured on October 25, 1941, but had fallen to the Soviets in February 1943, following the German defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad. Led by Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, the Germans counter-attacked and after destroying Soviet spearheads, retook the city in bitter street fighting.
The II SS Panzer Korps, equipped with heavy Tiger tanks, played a significant role. It was comprised of the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler and Das Reich divisions, which 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 checked the Soviet advance on Kharkov, despite odds of six to one, but, threatened with encirclement, Hausser withdrew against explicit orders from Hitler. The act so infuriated Hitler, he refused to award Hausser after the battle.
The II SS Panzer Korps (now reinforced with the Totenkopf division) was attached to Manstein's counter-thrust, which destroyed the Soviet spearheads and saved Army Group South. The Leibstandarte division then retook Kharkov, for which Hitler renamed the central square "Leibstandarteplatz". 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.
The city remained only temporarily in Axis hands. On August 22, 1943, in the aftermath of the Battle of Kursk, the Germans were driven out once again.
However, it must be noted that after the German disaster at Stalingrad, von Manstein's achievement in stabilizing the front must rank as one of the greatest (if not the greatest) achievements of World War II[citation needed]. He had executed a successful withdrawal, then launched a masterly counterattack that inflicted on the Russians immense losses in men and material. Most importantly, he re-established the front from Taganrog to Belgorod as a virtually straight defensive line and, at little cost, retook the fourth largest city in the Soviet Union, all this while his opponent possessed a considerable numerical advantage.
Despite its significance, the battle has been the subject of minimal post-war academic study.[1]
[edit] Notes
[1] Simulations Publications, Inc (SPI) published a boardgame called "Operation Star" (as part of its Army Group South quadrigame pack) in 1979. The game covers the Third Battle of Kharkov and gives the players a good feel for how the battle actually played out. (summitted by M.K. Capriola, Jr. who owns a copy of this game)
[edit] References
- The Battle of Kharkov, by Jean Restayn, J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing. ISBN 0-921991-48-7
- Platz der Leibstandarte: The SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Division "LSSAH" and the Battle of Kharkov January - March 1943, by George Nipe & Remy Spezzano, RZM Imports. ISBN 0-9657584-2-7
- Last Victory in Russia: The SS-Panzerkorps and Manstein's Kharkov Counteroffensive February - March 1943, by George M. Nipe, Jr., Schiffer Publishing. ISBN 0-7643-1186-7
