The Dzerzhinsky Square in the strategic Soviet city of Kharkov was engulfed in flames and smoke.
It was the third time it had turned into a battle zone since 1941.
The elite Waffen SS Panzer Corps had surrounded the city to take it back,
with the Panzer Grenadiers engaging the Soviet defenders in ruthless house-to-house combat.
But the resistance was stiff, and Soviet snipers were picking up any enemy soldier on sight.
As grenades flew above buildings and the bursts of relentless machine-gun fire covered the scene,
the German soldiers had to stay low and wait for the Panzers to come in
and eliminate the last stronghold of Red Army resistance in a city that could prove
a significant difference in the tide of the war...
Operation Fredericus
During Operation Barbarossa in the summer of 1941, over four million Axis troops marched across
Stalin’s territory, annihilating entire Soviet units with the successful Blitzkrieg doctrine.
Then, in October, the German Sixth Army of Army Group South approached the city of Kharkov,
Ukraine, to take it from the Soviet 38th Army. As the fighting raged on, Soviet personnel
dismantled the city’s factories to relocate them farther east, away from German bombings.
The combat lasted four days and ended with a German victory.
Nevertheless, the Russians accomplished their mission and either evacuated the
essential factory equipment or destroyed it before withdrawing from the city.
Kharkov was critical for the Wehrmacht and the Soviet Union because its airline
and railroad connections made it a pivotal control point for Ukraine,
the Crimean Peninsula, the Donbas, the Dnieper, and the Caucasus regions.
The aftermath of the battle left the city in ruins, and the population soon
started to suffer from starvation. Author Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy later wrote:
(QUOTE) "I saw Kharkiv as if it were Rome in the 5th century. A huge cemetery…"
Moreover, the city would suffer another devastating attack when the Red Army attempted to
retake the city in May of 1942. Over 350,000 Axis forces led by Fedor von Bock and Ewald von Kleist
clashed with more than 750,000 Soviet troops over the Donets River between May 12 and 28,
with the Soviets taking over 280,000 casualties while the Axis lost some 20,000 men.
Operation Fredericus, launched to counter the Red Army’s advance, had been successful.
Soviet Counterattack
Despite the impressive defeat against the Axis, the Red Army leadership
was committed to retaking the city and began planning a counterattack for 1943.
Around this time, things began to change for the Wehrmacht after its defeat at Stalingrad
in February, where General Paulus’ 6th Army was encircled and forced to surrender.
In addition, the Soviet Stavka, or High Command, launched Operation Star to take over Kursk,
Kharkov, and Belgorod. Four Red Army tank corps led by Lieutenant-General Markian Popov
breached the German defenses at the Donets and attacked the Axis front directly from the rear.
Meanwhile, two other tank corps approached the city of Zaporizhia,
close to the Dnieper River, to storm the headquarters of Army Group South.
The German forces withdrew from Kharkov and regrouped to counter the Red Army offensive,
but the Soviets recaptured the city a day later and amassed more forces to continue the advance.
Hitler then flew to Erich von Manstein’s headquarters to express his disdain about
the retreat and ordered the seasoned Marshal to counterattack immediately.
However, Manstein convinced him it was more suitable to attack the overextended
Red Army flank with his five Panzer corps and then move into Kharkov.
The Fuhrer agreed to let Manstein do as he pleased if he could push back the enemy, which
now threatened to overtake the airfield where the critical Luftflotte 4 division was stationed.
As the Marshal gathered his forces and planned the operation,
the Soviet 60th and 13th armies pushed back the 4th Panzer Division from Kursk,
opening a 40-mile breach between the German forces in the region.
The German resistance stiffened in the following days, and Soviet gains diminished considerably.
However, the damage was already done,
as the Soviets had breached the front and threatened to crush several German units.
Manstein had to act fast and strike hard…
The Elite Waffen SS Panzer Corps
The Fuhrer released several panzer and motorized divisions to strengthen the counteroffensive,
bringing over 130,000 Axis troops against over 300,000 Soviet soldiers.
Manstein had the 1st Panzer Army, the 4th Panzer Army, the 4th Air Fleet, and the 6th Air Fleet
at his disposal. This included the elite 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler,
the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich, and the 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf. The entire
Waffen SS Panzer Corps comprised over 20,000 soldiers and was led by General Paul Hausser.
Meanwhile, the Red Army had committed the Central Front and the 16th Air Army to the offensive.
This comprised the 1st Guards Army, the 3rd Tank Army,
the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps, and the 6th, 40th, and 70th armies.
Manstein's plan consisted of three phases. The first was the destruction of the Soviet
spearheads, the second involved the recapture of Kharkov, and the third was an attack against the
Soviet forces located at Kursk. The enterprise was known to the Germans as the Donets Campaign.
Hausser’s Waffen SS Panzer Corps were dispatched on February 19 to strike the enemy forces south
of Zaporizhia to divert attention from another attack for the 4th Panzer Army.
Meanwhile, the 1st Panzer Army drove north to destroy a column of enemy tanks.
The initial clashes caught the Red Army tank corps entirely by surprise.
As expected by the Germans, the momentum of the Panzer units drove off the advancing
Soviet armies, and after three days of intense movement across the frontline,
the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler flanked the 6th Soviet Army and secured the Dnieper River.
The Waffen SS tankers then swiftly encircled, pinned down,
and destroyed multiple Red Army vehicle units scattered near the Samara River.
Similarly, the Das Reich and Totenkopf Divisions advanced
through the northeast and crushed the fragile supply networks of the Red Army spearheads.
By February 24, the Soviet advance was brought to a halt and put Stalin's troops on the defensive.
Taking Kharkov
The Soviet 3rd Tank Army began engaging the Axis forces south of Kharkov during the last
week of February. The advancing infantry units were reinforced by regiments of the
Leibstandarte and Totenkopf divisions to fend off the Red Army armored units.
Soon, the Soviet Central Front gained some ground against the
2nd Panzer Army, but the attack quickly lost stamina and faltered.
Then, on March 3, the Stavka organized a task force to liberate the Soviet 6th Army from a
German encirclement, but the Red Army vehicles and infantry columns were stalked and picked
off easily by the Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers as they attempted to decimate the 3rd SS Panzer Division.
The Soviet relief effort backfired, and the 15th Tank Corps was then encircled by the Totenkopf
division, which managed to flank it with other units. The same occurred with the 12th Tank Corps,
which went on the defensive after engaging the Das Reich Division.
After the German victories, the Soviet 3rd Tank Army was utterly
decimated and forced to retreat to friendly lines.
And by March 5, the Soviet 6th Army and numerous tank units had been destroyed by the joint
efforts of the ground units and the Luftflotte 4 led by Field Marshal Wolfram von Richthofen.
Ultimately, the Luftwaffe conducted over a thousand sorties during the initial
phase of the counterattack and provided close air support to the tank divisions.
Retaking Kharkov
On March 7, the Panzer divisions began pressing toward Kharkov, and Manstein decided to attack
from the west to encircle the city from the north. The Soviet tank corps and the mechanized
infantry did their best to stop the Axis from surrounding the town, but it was to no avail.
Two days later, Hausser’s Waffen SS Panzer Corps split the 40th and 69th
armies, as well as the 3rd Tank Army, before completing their drive north.
Steel met steel, and the superior German tactics routed the puzzled Soviet units.
With the Soviet tanks scattered, the SS Panzer Corps then turned east and
completed the encirclement. The Stavka made a series of counterattacks to break free,
but it was too late to stop the German war machine.
Hausser immediately went on the offensive with his SS troops.
The Liebstandarte attacked from the north, the Das Reich division attacked from the west, and the
Totenkopf provided support from the northwestern flanks. Meanwhile, the 2nd Panzergrenadier
Regiment advanced into the city in two columns to secure the Belgorod-Kharkov railroad,
and another battalion rushed to attack the defenders at the city's Severnyi Post district.
Resistance was heavy, and progress was slow. The Soviets grew strong in the
streets and the buildings with DP27 machine guns, forcing the SS troops to withdraw
from the Alexeyevka district momentarily after a unit of T34 tanks attacked them.
Even so, the Germans resumed their advance after receiving support from Stuka dive bombers and Stug
assault guns, and brutal close-quarters combat broke out between both armies in the city suburbs.
A City Destroyed
As the SS troops neared the city's center through Dzerzhinsky Square on March 12,
Soviet snipers inflicted heavy casualties. However, more German forces poured into
the city from a bridgehead at the Kharkiv River, overwhelming the Red Army defenders.
The city was decimated, but the fighting significantly lessened by March 14.
The Panzer Corps cleared the city in the following days,
and the remnants of the Soviet armies retreated and left, leaving the city to the Germans.
In the end, the Red Army had over 80,000 casualties, while Hausser’s Waffen SS
Panzer Corps lost over 4,000 men. The Third Battle of Kharkov was the
last great German victory at the Eastern Front, but participants from both sides
would meet again during the summer of 1943 at the largest tank battle of World War 2:
the combat at the salient of Kursk.
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