Battle of Kharkov (1943)

Battle of Kharkov

Part of: Second World War

date	February and March 1943
place	Kharkov and surroundings
output	Successful defensive and counter-offensive by the Wehrmacht
consequences	A temporary stabilization of the German front prevented the encirclement of large parts of Army Groups A and Don

Parties to the conflict
Soviet Union	German Empire and allies
Commander
Alexander Wassilewski , Filipp Golikow , Nikolai Watutin	Erich von Manstein , Hubert Lanz , Werner Kempf , Hermann Hoth Eberhard von Mackensen Paul Hausser

The third battle for Kharkov took place during the German-Soviet War in February and March 1943. After the defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad , the entire southern German eastern front threatened to collapse. In the course of the Voronezh-Kharkov operation , the Red Army was able to temporarily take the city of Kharkov (Charkiw) in early 1943. Field Marshal General Erich von Manstein , however, succeeded in stabilizing the southern flank and recapturing the city with a strategic maneuver, which is often compared to castling . This was the last significant success of the Wehrmacht in the war against the Soviet Union; the victory delayed the collapse of the German eastern front for more than a year .

background

The situation on the middle Don

Operation Wintergewitter , which was carried out to relieve the 6th Army trapped in Stalingrad , had to be broken off on December 23, 1942 because three Soviet fronts had broken through on the central Don and were advancing south (→  Central Don Operation ). The Soviet high command planned to encircle and smash several large Wehrmacht units through this and the following operations :

• Army Group B under Maximilian von Weichs on the upper and middle Don
• Army Group Don under Erich von Manstein near Stalingrad
• Army Group A under Ewald von Kleist in the Caucasus

This would have meant the loss of over a million soldiers for the German Reich . The Red Army was initially successful, as only the Italian 8th Army faced it on the central Don . Thus the XXIV Panzer Corps under General Vasily Badanov managed to advance 240 km in five days. On December 24, 1942, the corps captured Tazinskaya , which, with its field airport and storage facilities there, was important for supplying the German soldiers trapped in Stalingrad . The units of the Hollidt Army Detachment fighting on the Tschir were threatened with containment because Badanov's corps was only 130 km away from Rostov . Generals Hoth and Hollidt had to surrender their most powerful divisions, as Manstein needed them to stop Badanow's units. The Soviet commanders no longer counted on resistance and were therefore surprised when the 11th Panzer Division , the 6th Panzer Division and the 306th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht encircled and destroyed the Soviet corps. The Soviet XXV lost on the Bistraja . Panzer Corps 90 T-34 shortly afterwards , so that it had to stop its attack as well. When the 1st and 6th  Guards Army were stopped by the Army Detachment Fretter-Pico , the northern attack tips were cut off.

The situation on the south wing of the Eastern Front

Situation on the Eastern Front in early 1943

The situation further south was no less threatening for the German units: The 51st Army and the 2nd Guard Army had discovered a gap between Hoth's 4th Panzer Army and Hollidt's Army Detachment and had pushed through it. The aim was to cut off the retreat from the Caucasus by capturing Rostov 's 1st Panzer Army and to include Hoth's army. The withdrawal from the Caucasus had already been initiated at this point, but the 1st Panzer Army was still more than 600 km from Rostov. By contrast, the Soviet spearheads were already 30 km from Rostov on January 20. Due to exhaustion and lack of fuel, however, the operations of the Red Army slowed down, so that the Germans managed to bring in reinforcements and thus keep a "bottleneck" open for the 1st Panzer Army.

The Red Army conquers Kharkov

After the successful breakthrough in the section of the German Army Group B in the course of operations Ostrogoschsk-Rossosch and Voronezh-Kastornoje , the Voronezh Front under Filipp Ivanovich Golikov initiated Operation Stern ( "Звезда" ) on February 2 . While two armies of the front were supposed to support the advance of the Bryansk Front on Kursk , the 40th Army (Lieutenant General Kirill Moskalenko ), the newly established 69th Army (Lieutenant General Michail Kazakow ) and the 3rd Panzer Army (Lieutenant General Pavel Rybalko ) attacked in the direction of Kharkov on. The 40th Army was supposed to bypass the city to the north and the 69th Army to attack Kharkov directly via Volchansk , while the 3rd Panzer Army was to bypass the city to the south. General Alexander Wassilewski was responsible for coordinating the three armies .

On February 4, the 3rd Panzer Army was the first to reach the Donets about 20 km east of Kharkov near Chugujew , but was unable to advance across the frozen river against the SS Panzer Grenadier Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler on the opposite bank of the river. A relief attack to the north against Belij Kolodez fails in front of Prikolodnoye when the 15th Panzer Corps of the 3rd Panzer Army encountered defensive positions of the SS Panzer Grenadier Division "Das Reich" . On February 9, the 40th Army reached Belgorod against the resistance of the 168th Infantry Division and formed a bridgehead over the Donets. The 69th Army reached Greater Germany Wolchansk, which was fighting the delayed fighting division . To the south of it, the 6th Guards Cavalry Corps of the 3rd Panzer Army had bypassed the enemy via Andreevka and was advancing towards Merefa shortly before Kharkov . As a result, General of the Mountain Troops Hubert Lanz , to whom on February 6th, as leader of the Lanz Army Division, the remnants of Army Group B troops retreating between Don and Donets, and the SS Panzer Corps brought up from France, was subordinate to the German divisions on the eastern Donezer to take back to Kharkov. You should now defend Kharkov from the immediate area around the city, while the 168th Infantry Division tried to cover the open flank of the 2nd Army .

German tank destroyer near Kharkov in February 1943

When he took over the command, Lanz had already been expressly ordered by the Fuehrer's headquarters not only to defend Kharkov, which had been declared a fortress, at all costs, but also to attack southwards with the subordinate SS Panzer Corps in support of Army Group Don. Although Lanz was convinced that it was impossible to fulfill both tasks, he finally gave the order to attack the SS troops on February 10th, urged by their commander Generalfeldmarschall von Manstein. Thus, the SS Panzergrenadier Division LSSAH attacked near Merefa south of Kharkov (the division left a reinforced Panzergrenadier regiment behind, but received a Panzergrenadier regiment from the SS Panzergrenadier Division "Das Reich"). Despite the obstruction by heavy snow, it was possible to advance about 30 km by February 15, smashing strong forces of the 6th Guards Cavalry Corps. After the army division Lanz was placed under the newly established Army Group South by Manstein , the order was changed. The army division should now concentrate entirely on the defense of Kharkov.

Meanwhile the attacking units of the Red Army continued their advance. The 69th Army advanced across the Donets on February 10, but was stopped 15 km from the city by troops of the SS Panzer Grenadier Division "Das Reich". In the following days she was only able to achieve minor attack successes. The 3rd Panzer Army managed to cross the Donets at Pechenegi and Chuguev only on the night of February 10th. Until February 11th, however, the army was stopped at Rogan - 10 km from Charkow - also by forces of the SS Panzer Grenadier Division "Das Reich" and was only able to advance slowly on February 12th. On February 14th, the 12th and 15th Panzer Corps as well as the 160th Rifle Divisions and the 48th Guards Rifle Divisions of the 3rd Panzer Army succeeded in penetrating the eastern suburbs of the city.

The advance of the 40th Army was faster than in the south, forcing the 168th Infantry Division and the Greater Germany Division to retreat on February 10, followed by four rifle divisions and the 5th Guard Panzer Corps (formerly 4th Panzer Corps) from the north happened to Kharkov. On February 13, the 340th Rifle Division with tank support reached the inner line of defense of Kharkov. She continued to advance the following day and enter the northwestern suburbs. On the same day, the 183rd Rifle Division reached Sokolniki on the northern outskirts and advanced towards the city center towards evening. The main forces of the 40th Army, consisting of the 6th Guards Panzer Corps, the 305th Rifle Division and the 6th Motorized Guards Rifle Brigade, bypassed the city and occupied the main arterial route of the German defenders to the west at Ljubotin. At the same time, forces of the 3rd Panzer Army advanced on Osnovo from the south and threatened the German forces fighting in Kharkov, consisting of the Greater Germany Division (in the western part of the city) and the SS Panzer Grenadier Division “Das Reich” (in the north) Include the Panzergrenadierregiment of the Leibstandarte (in the western part) and the 320th Infantry Division (in the southeast).

In this distressed situation and in the face of reports of uprisings by armed civilians in Kharkov, the leader of the SS Panzer Corps, Paul Hausser, threatened his commander, General Lanz, to withdraw from Kharkov by 4:30 p.m. if he did not give an order. Only after Lanz's and Manstein's express orders were repeated twice to defend the Fuehrer's order according to Kharkov, Hausser agreed to hold the positions in Kharkov at 9:30 p.m. But that in no way resolved the leadership crisis in Kharkov. While the Red Army was tightening the emergency corridor from Kharkov, units of the SS Panzer Grenadier Division "Das Reich" left their positions on the northern edge of the city on the morning of February 15, which was then immediately occupied by forces of the Soviet 69th Army were. The 15th Panzer Corps, supported by the 160th Rifle Division, also managed to advance on the eastern edge of the city. In this situation, Hausser again gave the order to withdraw from Kharkov. The German defense collapsed and by noon on February 16, the city was firmly in the hands of the Red Army. Although he had obviously violated a Führer order, it was not Hausser who was ultimately held responsible for the loss of the prestigious Kharkov property, but General Lanz, who was replaced by General Werner Kempf , although he had insisted that Hausser's SS Panzer Corps take the fight continued around the city.

New conquest by the Wehrmacht

German strategy

Map of the Battle of Kharkov

The strategy with which Manstein intended to carry out the counterstrike was called by him "strike from the hindquarters". This provided for the following: The enemy should first advance far, feel safe and then (taking advantage of the supply problems that usually arise with such a rapid advance) be defeated from the flanks. Hitler, furious at Hausser's insubordination , flew to Manstein's headquarters on February 17th, where the Field Marshal explained his strategy to the Commander-in-Chief . Hitler initially insisted that Kharkov be conquered again soon, but he did not succeed in asserting himself.

Due to the more than 150 kilometers wide gap between the Army Detachment Kempf and the 1st Panzer Army, troops of the Soviet Southwest Front (1st Guard Army, 6th Army and the "Popow Group") broke far into the hinterland of Army Group South and had the railway line east of Dnepropetrovsk interrupted. Since the Soviet troops were only 60 km away from the Dnieper at that time, Manstein decided - much to Hitler's annoyance - to withdraw the tank formations stationed on the Mius and use them against Markian Popov's butt wedges. In addition, the Soviet armored spearheads were only 60 km from Zaporozhye , where Manstein's headquarters were. When Hitler found out, he flew back and Manstein had the opportunity to implement his plan.

The German counterstrike

Soldiers of the Waffen-SS Division Das Reich near Kharkov on March 1, 1943

The German soldiers were ordered to stabbed Popov's units in the rear and cut off their supply routes. For this purpose, Panzer Army High Command 4 (General Hoth) had withdrawn from the Mius front and - reinforced by the SS Panzer Corps and two other tank corps - relocated to Dnepropetrovsk. His job was to clean up the deep Soviet incursion by attacking both flanks. Since exhaustion and supply problems were already making themselves felt on the Soviet side, General Popov asked on February 20 to be allowed to withdraw his tank group, but this was refused by the commander of the Southwest Front, Nikolai Watutin , whose optimism was still unbroken. At that point, Soviet headquarters still assumed the Germans were planning to retreat to the Dnieper and misjudged German intentions.

On February 22nd, the Wehrmacht began to attack the Soviet Voronezh and Southwest Front. Since Manstein had ordered his armored divisions into the staging area only a short time before, he succeeded in deceiving the enemy; Until then, the Soviets believed that the Wehrmacht would limit itself to delaying resistance. The Popow Panzer Group and the Soviet 6th Army were therefore completely surprised, encircled and wiped out by the German attack. The Wehrmacht was back on the Donets on February 28th. Now there was a 200 km wide gap in the Soviet front, so that the Stawka had to stop the attack operations at Voroshilovgrad . On March 2, the Germans captured Slavyansk and Bogoroditschno and formed a bridgehead over the Donets at Balakleja .

The SS Panzer Corps invades Kharkov

During a visit to the front in Zaporozhye on March 10, Hitler congratulates Manstein on his successful offensive

Protected by an armored personnel carrier , the regimental commander of an SS Panzer Grenadier Division, Fritz Witt, advanced with soldiers on Sumskaya Street in Kharkov , March 1, 1943.

On March 6, the German 4th Panzer Army (to which Hausser's SS Panzer Corps belonged) and the Kempf Army Detachment went on the offensive against the Soviet 3rd Panzer and 69th Army. On March 11, 1943, the attack of the SS Panzer Corps on Kharkov began. At first the Soviet positions were overrun, but the Germans soon ran into danger of being trapped themselves. Instead of canceling the attack, it was decided to bypass the city to the north. In the morning hours of March 12, 1943, the German advance threatened to fail as a result of a tank attack by the Red Army on the open flank. The Soviets wanted to drive a wedge between advance troops and the bulk of the SS unit. The attempt to prevent the renewed loss of the fourth largest city in the country with all available forces, however, failed due to the stubborn German resistance. On March 15, Kharkov was occupied by the SS divisions Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler and Das Reich under the command of Josef Dietrich , on March 18 Belgorod fell back into German hands. The counter-attack devised by Manstein had wiped out four Soviet armies.

consequences

Front arch at Kursk as a result of the Battle of Kharkov

The Red Army lost from 4 to 25 March 1943 in the Kharkov Defense Operation 86,496 men (including 45,219 dead and missing) after the previous attack operations under the Voronezh-Kharkov operation already has a death toll of 153,561 soldiers (including 55,475 dead and missing ) had requested.

This counter-offensive enabled the Wehrmacht to stabilize the southern section of the front and prevent an impending collapse that would have dwarfed even the defeat of Stalingrad.

With the renewed conquest of Belgorod, the German leadership had the opportunity to cut off and smash the Soviet forces standing in the front arc near Kursk . Field Marshal von Manstein wanted to take advantage of the success immediately afterwards and immediately include the Red Army units near Kursk. The attack on Kursk, however, was postponed several times by Hitler and ultimately only took place in July 1943 under the code name Enterprise Citadel , which gave the Red Army enough time to reinforce the front arch and expand its positions. As a result, the German plan of attack failed. In their counteroffensive, the Belgorod-Kharkov Operation , the Red Army was able to take Kharkov again on August 23 - this time for good.

literature

• Facsimile edition Second World War. Episode 21. ( Weltbild publishing group )
• David M. Glantz , Jonathan House: When Titans Clashed. How the Red Army Stopped Hitler. Lawrence, 1995.
• Karel Margry: The Four Battles for Kharkov. (After the Battle 112). London 2001.
• George M. Nipe: Last Victory in Russia: The SS Panzer Corps and Manstein's Kharkov Counteroffensive, February – March 1943. Schiffer Publ., 2000. ISBN 0-7643-1186-7 .
• Janusz Piekałkiewicz : The Second World War. P. 758 ff.
• Ludger Tewes : The Panzergrenadierdivision Grossdeutschland in the campaign against the Soviet Union 1942 to 1945 , Klartext Verlag Essen 2020, p. 255 to 310, map p. 1275, ISBN 978-3-8375-2089-7 .
• Earl F. Ziemke: Stalingrad to Berlin: The German Defeat in the East (Army Historical Series). US Army Center of Military History, Washington DC 1987.

Web links

Commons : Battle of Kharkov (1943)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fate intervened: the legends and repressions of General Hans Speidel ( Der Spiegel , 5/1978, accessed on August 25, 2014).
2. ↑ Ziemke, p. 90 ff.
3. ↑ Ziemke, p. 92.
4. ↑ Россия и СССР в войнах XX века - Потери вооруженных сил . Soldat.ru. Archived from the original on March 30, 2010. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
5. ↑ GF Krivosheyev: Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses in the twentieth century. London, 1997.