Third Battle of Kharkov
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The Third Battle of Kharkov or "Manstein's Riposte" is the name given by Wilhelm Keitel[1] 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. 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.
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[edit] 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).[2] 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[3]. 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[citation needed], 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.
[edit] References
- ^ see The memoirs of Field-Marshal Keitel. Edited with an introd. and epilogue by Walter Gorlitz. Translated by David Irving, William Kimber, London (1965)
- ^ pp.237-239, Army Group South,Haupt)
- ^ ibid.,p.239
[edit] Sources
- Haupt,W., Army Group South: The Wehrmacht in Russia 1941-1945, Schiffer Military History, Atglen, PA, 1998
[edit] Recommended reading
- 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
