By the end of the day, the entire city was declared to be back in German hands. The Fourth Air Fleet, under the command of Field Marshal Wolfram von Richthofen, was able to regroup and increase the amount of daily sorties from an average of 250 in January to 1,000 in February, providing German forces strategic air superiority. The day was spent with the LSSAH clearing the remnants of Soviet resistance, pushing east along a broad front. Though the battle largely concluded on March 14, some fighting continued on the 15th and 16th as German forces expelled Soviet defenders from a factory complex in the south. Third Battle of Kharkov takes place on WWII Eastern Front in 1943. Despite attempts by the Stavka to curtail the German advance by throwing in the freshly released 19th Rifle Division and 186th Tank Brigade, the German drive continued. [66] By 5 March, the attacking 3rd Tank Army had been badly mauled, with only a small amount of men able to escape northwards, and was forced to erect a new defensive line. Dubbed the Donets Campaign by the Germans, the Third Battle of Kharkov saw them shatter fifty-two Soviet divisions while inflicting approximately 45,300 killed/missing and 41,200 wounded. The SS Panzer Corps was commanded by General Paul Hausser, who also had the 3rd SS Panzer (Totenkopf) Division under his command. [9] At the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, the Wehrmacht was equipped with around 3,300 tanks;[10] by 23 January only 495 tanks, mostly of older types, remained operational along the entire length of the Soviet–German front. [17], On 19 February Soviet armored units broke through the German lines and approached the city. The German forces cut off the Soviet mobile spearheads and continued the drive north, retaking Kharkov on 15 March and Belgorod on 18 March. The second stage included the [22] Known to the Soviets as the Kharkov[3] and Donbas operations,[23] the offensive sought to surround and destroy German forces in the Orel salient, cross the Desna River and surround and destroy German Army Group Center. [5][6] Total German losses at the Battle of Stalingrad, excluding prisoners, were between 120,000[7] and 150,000. The operation was hastily prepared and did not receive a name. With his men exhausted and the weather turning against him, von Manstein was compelled to call a halt to offensive operations. The Third Battle of Kharkov was fought between Feb. 19 and March 15, 1943, during World War II. When Hitler departed, the Soviets were only some 30 kilometers (19 mi) away from the airfield. [77], Early morning 11 March, the LSSAH launched a two-prong attack into northern Kharkov. [65] The 3rd Tank Army's 12th Tank Corps was also forced on the defensive immediately, after the 1st and 2nd SS Panzer Divisions threatened to cut off the 3rd Tank Army's supply route. [34] These were under the command of Generals M. A. Reiter,[48] Filipp Golikov[43] and Nikolai Vatutin,[49] respectively. Glantz, D. From the Don to the Dnepr: Soviet Offensive Operations December 1942 to August 1943, Frank Cass, London, 1991. [12], On 2 February, the Red Army launched Operation Star, threatening to recapture the cities of Belgorod, Kharkov and Kursk. The Third Battle of Kharkov occurred from 19 February to 13 March 1943 when the German 4th Panzer Army, II SS Panzer Corps, XLVIII Panzer Corps, and elements of the 1st Panzer Army launched an offensive to recapture the cities of Kharkov (Kharkiv, Ukraine) and Belgorod in the Ukrainian SSR (Belgorod is today a part of Russia).In February 1943, the Soviet counterattacks against the Axis … On February 24, von Mackensen's men succeeded in surrounding a large part of Popov's Mobile Group. ThoughtCo uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience and for our, The Aftermath of the Third Battle of Kharkov. These culminated on 2 January 1943 when the Soviets launched Operation Star and Operation Gallop, which between January and early February broke German defenses and led to the Soviet recapture of Kharkov, Belgorod, Kursk, as well as Voroshilovgrad and Izium. [76] That same day, the 4th Panzer Army issued orders to the SS Panzer Corps to take Kharkov as soon as possible, prompting Hausser to order an immediate attack on the city by the three SS Panzer divisions. Society for Military History. It is a mini publishing studio of professional military history. Fighting their way past Soviet T-34s, this German contingent was able to lodge itself into Kharkov's northern suburbs. [79], German armored personnel carrier advancing through the Sumskaya street of Kharkov, March 1943, The Das Reich division attacked on the same day, along the west side of Kharkov. [55] The 1st and 4th Panzer Armies were also ordered to attack the overextended Soviet 6th Army and 1st Guards Army. Kennedy Hickman is a historian, museum director, and curator who specializes in military and naval history. As the offensive progressed, the attack on the German right flank also began to stagnate in the face of increased resistance, while the attack on the left began to over-extend itself. The house-to-house fighting in Kharkov was also particularly bloody for the German SS Panzer Corps, which had lost approximately 4,300 men by the time operations ended in mid March. Text and photos are provided by Alte Kamerade Publishing Studio. "Kharkov and Sinai A Study in Operational Transition". [16] [25] These were positioned in such a way that Reiter's Briansk Front was on the northern flank of Army Group South, while Voronezh was directly opposite of Kursk, and the Southwestern Front was located opposite their opponents. The Third Battle of Kharkov was a series of battles on the Eastern Front of World War II, undertaken by the German Army Group South against the Red Army, around the city of Kharkov (or Kharkiv) between 19 February and 15 March 1943. [67] Between 1–5 March the 4th Panzer Army, including the SS Panzer Corps, covered 80 kilometers (50 mi) and positioned itself only about 16 kilometers (9.9 mi) south of Kharkov. The setting is the Third Battle of Kharkov, which was really a series of battles launched by the Wehrmacht beginning on February 19, 1943, to take advantage of the fact that the Red Army had exhausted much of its strength and overrun its lines of supply following the massive series of offensives it had launched against the Germans following the latter’s defeat at Stalingrad. A Soviet counterattack was repulsed after a bloody firefight. https://www.thoughtco.com/third-battle-of-kharkov-2361480 (accessed May 14, 2021). In a bid to trap the city's defenders in the center, the 1st Battalion of the 1st SS Panzergrenadier Regiment re-entered the city using the Volchansk exit road. 3rd Kharkov The Third Battle of Kharkovwas a series of battles on the Eastern Front of World War II, undertaken by the GermanArmy Group Southagainst the Red Army, around the city of Kharkov(or Kharkiv)between 19 February and 15 March 1943. By the end of the day, the division had reached a position just two blocks north of Dzerzhinsky Square. On 25 February, Marshal Rokossovsky's Central Front also joined the battle. Did you know that Erich von Manstein was one of the greatest generals in the history of histories? Though von Manstein and Hoth wished him to continue the encirclement, Hausser directly attacked Kharkov from the north and west on March 11. pp. Hoth repeated his order at 00:15, on 12 March, and Hausser replied as he had replied on 11 March. 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