The Third Battle of Kharkov

The third battle of Kharkov was a series of offensive actions by the army group in southern Germany against the Soviet Red Army from February 1943 to March 19. The German operation was code-named Operation Donetsk, while the Soviet Red Army was called Operation Donetsk and Kharkov. The German counterattack destroyed about 52 Red Army divisions and reoccupied Kharkov and Belgorod.

When the German Sixth Army was surrounded in Stalingrad, the Soviet Red Army launched a larger attack to attack other troops of the army group in southern Germany. 1943 1.2 The Soviet Red Army launched planetary action, broke through the German defense line, and captured Kharkov, Belgorod and Kursk from June/kloc-0 to early February. Although the action of the Soviet Red Army was successful, the supply lines of the participating troops were excessively extended. After the surrender of the 6th Army on February 2nd, the Central Army of the Soviet Red Army turned to the west and launched an attack on the southern and central German army groups on February 25th. However, the continuous months of fighting have caused heavy losses to the Soviet Union, and some troops are only 1 1,000 to 1 1,500. On February 65, 438+09, Marshal Erich von Manstein, commander-in-chief of the German Southern Army Group, launched a counterattack with newly reinforced Waffen SS and two armored units.

Although the German fighting capacity declined, the German Wehrmacht still attacked, surrounded and defeated the Red Army armored forces south of Kharkov. However, the SS Panzer Corps directly attacked the city in March 1 1, and the Germans captured Belgorod, forming a prominent part, which led to the Battle of Kursk in July 1943. Although the German attack caused the Soviet Red Army to lose about 70,000 casualties, the Waffen-SS Panzer Corps paid a huge price because of Kharkov's door-to-door fighting. By the end of March, the Germans had lost 44% of their troops. Recover Belgorod, Kharkov and Kursk. A Soviet Red Army column under the command of Markian Popov, led by four tanks, broke through the German defense line, crossed the Donetsk River and inserted into the German flank. This is the key to control the road to Rostov, and it is also the headquarters of the German Air Force's Southern Army Group and the 4th Air Force. Although Adolf Hitler ordered him to insist, manstein told Hitler that he was not interested in recovering Kharkov immediately, and he would use Soviet troops to attack the red army's overstretched flank and five armored units in his hand before recovering Kharkov.

1943 In February, the 6th German Army surrendered to the 6th Soviet Red Army under the command of Konstantin rokossovsky in Stalingrad. They were reorganized and reinforced the 2nd Tank Army and the 70th Army. These troops are deployed at the junction of the southern German army and the central German army. They took part in the offensive of Kharkov and Donbass, that is, they surrounded and destroyed the German army in orel, crossed the Jessner River and surrounded and destroyed the German Central Army Group. The Soviet Red Army was originally planned to launch from February 12 to February 15, but the deployment problem delayed the action of the supreme commander of the Soviet Red Army until February 25th. At the same time, the 60th Army of the Soviet Red Army expelled the 4th Armored Division of the 2nd German Army from Kursk. Soviet Red Army 13 Army attacked the flank of the German 2nd Armored Cluster, which was the junction of two German army groups and was torn by rokossovsky's offensive. The Soviet Red Army 14 and the 48th Army attacked the right wing of the 2nd Armored Cluster and made some progress. Rokossovsky launched an attack on October 25th, 65438/KLOC-0, breaking through the German defense line, surrounding and cutting off the German 2nd Army and 2nd Armored Cluster in the south. However, unexpected German resistance made the Soviet Red Army's offensive slow, and rokossovsky's offensive only made a little progress on the left and middle. It's just that the 2nd Tank Corps of the Soviet Red Army rushed along the attacking left wing 160km(99 miles) and invaded the German flank, but its flank was excessively extended 100km(62 miles).

When the Soviet Red Army continued to attack, the Fourth Air Force, under the command of Lieutenant General Fromm von richthofen, was able to reorganize and increase the average number of flights per day, from 250 in 10 to 1000 in February, which gave the Germans a strategic air advantage. When the Soviet Red Army approached Zaporoge, the Germans began to counterattack, that is, the German Donetsk operation. 1943 65438+ 10/3 from April 3, about 500,000 Red Army troops participated in the Voronezh-Kharkov offensive. At that time, there were about 6 100000 red army soldiers on the eastern front, and another 659000 people were injured. Compared with the following, the German army * * * has about 2.2 million people on the eastern front, and another100000 people are deployed in Norway. So, in early February, the Soviet army formed two pairs of 1 advantages over the German army. However, due to the long supply line and heavy casualties, at the beginning of manstein's counterattack, the Germans had a strategic advantage in number, including the number of tanks-for example, there were 350 tanks in manstein, which formed a 7-to-0 advantage over the Soviet Red Army armored forces in some areas.

German troops participating in the war

At the beginning of the counter-offensive, Manstein's 4th Panzer Cluster included the 48th Panzer Corps and the Waffen-SS Panzer Corps, and 1 Panzer Corps included the 40th and 57th Panzer Corps. The 48th Panzer Corps consists of the 6th, 1 1 and 17 Panzer divisions. The Waffen-SS Panzer Corps consists of the Waffen-SS 1 Adolf Hitler's Flag Panzer Division and the 2nd Imperial Panzer Division. At the beginning of February, the Waffen-SS armored forces numbered about 20,000, and the 4th armored cluster was located in the south of the Soviet Red Army. 1 The Panzer Corps is in the east of the 4th Panzer Corps, and the Waffen-SS Panzer Corps is in the north of the prominent part of the Soviet Red Army as the northern wing of the Confederate Army.

In contrast, the German army * * * has 70,000 people facing the Soviet Red Army * * * 2 10000 who attacked the Don River. The wehrmacht was at a disadvantage. In particular, the Germans fought continuously for several months from June 1942 to February 1943. At that time, Hitler appointed field marshals Wilhelm Keitel, martin bormann and hans hofmann to form a committee to recruit 800,000 new recruits from unnecessary industries, but the effectiveness of this recruitment will not come into play until May 1943. By then, the Germans will be the strongest since the war, reaching 950 thousand.

At the beginning of 1943, the German armored forces suffered heavy losses. Few armored divisions can have tanks above 100, and only 70 ~ 80 tanks can fight on average. At about the beginning of the third Battle of Kharkov, heinz guderian was appointed to be responsible for strengthening the German armored forces. Although he has made great efforts, the German armored division of 1 is only about10000 ~11000, which is lower than the normal 13000 ~ 17000. By June, 1 armored division can only own 100 ~ 130 tanks. The Waffen-SS armored division is in good condition, with about 150 tanks, a battalion of self-propelled artillery and half of motorized infantry and armored grenadiers-about 19000 men. At that time, although the 2nd Imperial Armored Division of Waffen SS was equipped with a certain number of Tiger tanks, most German tanks were still No.3 and No.4 tanks.

The 4th Armored Cluster was commanded by Admiral Herman Holt, and 1 Armored Cluster was commanded by Admiral eberhard von Mackensen. The 6th, 1 1 and 17 armored divisions were respectively commanded by Major General Walter von Hornadoff, Major General Hermann Balck and Major General Fridolin von Sangl Ondel Etlin. The Waffen-SS Panzer Corps was commanded by Lieutenant General Paul Hausel, who also commanded the Waffen-SS 3rd Skull Panzer Division.

Soviet red army troops participating in the war

When the Soviet Red Army began to attack the Southern Army Group from the end of June to the beginning of February in 65438, the participating troops included Bryansk, Voronezh and the Southwest Army. They are under the command of Lietier, Philippe Golikov and nicolay fiadorovish vatutin. Their positions are as follows: Gorikov's Bryansk army is in the north of the southern army group, Voroney's Japanese army faces Kursk, and the southwest army faces the enemy. The central army expanded its achievements between the Bryansk army and the Japanese army in Voroney. These two local troops will break the German Second Armored Cluster. The strength of the two local troops is about 500,000, of which about 346,000 participated in defending Kharkov after the German counterattack began.

Almost like the Germans, many divisions of the Soviet Red Army suffered serious losses. For example, the 40th Army has only 3500-4000 divisions on average, while the 69th Army has only 1 000- 1 500 divisions. Some divisions only have 20-50 mortars for fire support. This shortage of manpower and equipment caused the Southwest Army of Wa Tuting to request reinforcements of more than 65,438+09,000 soldiers and 300 tanks. But at the beginning of the 1943 campaign, only 16000 people were added. When manstein began to counter-attack, the Japanese army in Voroney lost a lot of troops, but it pushed too much without covering the southwest army on its southern flank. The whole operation started on 1943 February19 and ended on March 15. Originally, manstein's plan was divided into three parts: 1 part was to attack and defeat the excessively extended attack spearhead, the second part was to recover Kharkov, and finally, to defeat the Soviet Red Army in Kursk with the Central Army Group, which was unwilling to participate because of the melting of Soviet spring snow.

As a barrier to the attack of the Fourth Armored Cluster, Holert Battle Cluster continued to contain the Soviet Red Army which broke through the German front. 1 The armored cluster was ordered to cut off and destroy popov's mobile forces northward. According to accurate information, the Germans seized the weakness of the Soviet Red Army, so they chose their attack route and gained a quantitative advantage in strategy. 1 and 4 armored clusters were also ordered by the 6th Army of soviet strike Red Army and the 1st 1 Army of Guards. From February 20th to 23rd, the 1 Adolf Hitler armored division of the Waffen SS cut off the flank of the 6th Army of the Soviet Red Army, blocked the road to Dnieper River, and successfully surrounded and destroyed a part of the Soviet Red Army on the Samara River. The Waffen-SS Second Imperial Armored Division pushed northeast, and the Waffen-SS Third Skull Armored Division also pushed in the same direction on February 22nd. The two divisions successfully cut off the supply lines of the attacking forces of the Soviet Red Army. The Supreme Command of the Soviet Red Army ordered the Japanese army in Voroney to transfer the 3rd Tank Army and the 69th Army in the south to the Southwest Army under pressure, so as to prevent the Germans from capturing the Geller area in Kela Si Nuo.

The Third Tank Army of the Soviet Red Army launched an attack on the Germans from the south of Kharkov to stop manstein's offensive from continuing. Together with 167 and 360 Infantry Divisions, the 3rd Skull Armored Division of Waffen SS 1 Battalion and a part of the 2nd Imperial Armored Division of Waffen SS, they defended the western front of the prominent part of the Soviet Red Army. But there was not much progress, because the supply was insufficient and the offensive weakened. The two wings made progress, but the middle was not successful. After the attack began, the attack on the German right wing was blocked by the German stubborn resistance, and at the same time it was excessively extended on the left wing.

Faced with the success of the German attack on the Southwest Army, including the encirclement of the Sixth Army of the Soviet Red Army, the Soviet High Command ordered the Japanese army in Voroney to hand over the Third Tank Army to the Southwest Army. In order to shorten the handover time, the 3rd Tank Corps handed over two sniper divisions to the 69th Army of the Soviet Red Army to attack the Waffen-SS Panzer Corps from the south. However, due to the lack of fuel and ammunition, the 3rd Skull Armored Division finally broke into the front line of the 15 Tank Corps to join other troops attacking northward and surrounded the 15 Tank Corps. Another unit under the 3rd Tank Corps 12 Tank Corps also fell into passive defense because the 3rd Skull Armored Division and the 2nd Imperial Armored Division cut off the supply line of the 3rd Tank Corps. Only a few people escaped from the encirclement and formed a defense line.

Popov's mobile unit, the 6th Army of the Soviet Red Army, was defeated at the beginning of the German attack, leaving a big gap in the defense of the Soviet Red Army. In view of the lack of cooperation of the Soviet Red Army, Manstein ordered the Germans to attack Kharkov. From March 1 to March 5, the German 4th Armored Group, including the Waffen-SS Panzer Corps, advanced 80 kilometers (50 miles), about 16 kilometers (10 miles) south of Kharkov. On March 6th, the armored division of the Waffen SS 1 Adolf Hitler's Leibstandarte established a bridgehead on the Moses River, opening the road to Kharkov. The success of manstein's counterattack forced the Soviet high command to order rokossovsky to stop attacking. German 1 Armored Cluster regained the defense line of Donets River, and manstein began to plan to destroy the Soviet Red Army troops west of Donets River. According to German data, the German counterattack killed an estimated 23,000 Soviet Red Army soldiers and lost 6 15 tanks and 352 guns.

When the Central Army of rokossovsky continued the offensive of the German Second Army, the strength of the Second Army increased greatly with the reinforcements of several elite divisions, and the German attack on Kharkov shocked him. Although faced with the melting snow in spring, the great German Panzergrenadier Division has returned to the front line as the main attack, dividing the remnants of the 69th Army and the 3rd Tank Army of the Soviet Red Army. Divide the 69th Army and 40th Army of the Soviet Union, and then turn to the east on the 9th to complete the encirclement. Although the Soviet high command ordered 19 sniper division and 186 tank brigade to stop attacking, the German offensive continued.

On March 9, the 40th Army of the Soviet Union launched a counterattack against the Kharkov bomber division of the Great German Armored Forces to resume communication with the 3rd Tank Army. The 4th Armored Cluster ordered the Waffen-SS armored forces to recover Kharkov as soon as possible. Commander Paul Hausel ordered three Waffen-SS armored divisions to attack the city immediately. The 2nd Waffen-SS Imperial Armored Division covers from the west, 1 Waffen-SS Guard Flag Division and 3rd Waffen-SS Skull Armored Division cover from the north and northwest. Although Holt ordered Hausel to return to the original plan and delayed it for one day because of the stubborn resistance of the defenders, Hausel still attacked as planned. Manstein gave the order to surround the city, but Hausel disobeyed the order and continued to attack according to his own plan. According to Manstein's information, the Army Command intervened several times, so that the Waffen-SS armored forces surrounded Kharkov from the east instead of attacking the city head-on.

On the morning of June 1 1, the Waffen SS 1 Adolf Hitler's armored division launched a two-wing attack on the north of Kharkov. The 2nd Panzergrenadier Regiment attacked from the northwest and pushed north of Kharkov in two columns along the Belgorod-Kharkov railway. Among them, 2 battalions are on the right side of the railway, attacking the north station in the city. Due to stubborn resistance, it was pushed to the North Station platform at sunset. On the other side of the railway, 1 battalion attacked Alexandria, where it was countered by a T-34 tank of the Soviet Red Army, so it was driven out of the city. Only with the strong air and artillery support of JU-87 dive bombers and assault guns can German infantry break into the city again. A flank attack from behind the city enabled the Germans to establish a stronghold in the city. At the same time, the Waffen-SS 1 Panzergrenadiers launched an attack with an independent armored force, captured the road to Belgorod and repelled the counterattack launched by Kharkov Airport to its left wing. After destroying some passing T-34 tanks, the Germans set up a stronghold in the residential area in the northern suburbs. In the northeast, other German infantry, armored vehicles and assault guns tried to control the road to Chuguyev, and this attack went deep into the city of Kharkov. But because of the lack of fuel, the Germans had to dig trenches to take defense.

On the same day, the 2nd Imperial Armored Division of Waffen-SS launched an attack in the west of Kharkov. When advancing to the Zaliutino area in the city, the defenders equipped with anti-tank guns in the anti-tank trench stopped the attack. After a bloody battle, the counterattack of the Soviet Red Army failed. A detachment of the division attacked south, cutting off the road to Melava. At about 3 pm, the commander of the 4th Panzer Corps, Holt, ordered Hauser to immediately lead the 2nd Imperial Panzer Division of the Waffen-SS out of contact with the enemy, deploy a retreat, and cut off the retreat of the defenders. However, Hauser sent a team from the 3rd Skull Armored Division of the Waffen-SS to complete the task, and informed Holt that it was very risky for the 2nd Imperial Armored Division of the Waffen-SS to perform the task. From the night of March 1 1 to the early morning of March 12, a German army suddenly passed an anti-tank trench, which opened a gap for the attacking armored forces, greatly shocked the defenders there and made the 2nd Imperial Armored Division of the Waffen-SS enter the main railway station in Kharkov. This is the farthest distance that the division has advanced in this city. Holt repeated his order on the morning of March 12 15, but Hauser replied to the reply he gave on March 1 1. However, Hausel respected Holt's third attempt, led the Second Reich Armoured Division of the Waffen-SS to break away from the enemy, and used the passage opened by the Armoured Division of theNo. 1 flag of the Waffen-SS to advance to the north of Kharkov and deploy it in the east of the city.

Push towards the city center. At sunset, the division reached the middle of two buildings in the north of dzerzhinsky Square. The 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Panzergrenadier Regiment captured the square with heavy casualties after a fierce battle with Soviet snipers and defenders that night. After being captured, it was renamed Leibstandarte Square. That night, under the command of Colonel Joachim Peppel, the 2nd Panzergrenadier Regiment 1 Battalion joined the 2nd Battalion in dzerzhinsky Square, pushed southward, crossed the Kharkov River, built a bridgehead, and opened the road to the Moscow highway. At the same time, the left wing of the division reached the intersection of the road leading to Volchangsk and another road leading to Chuguyev, where it defended against the Soviet counterattack.

The next day, 1 Adolf Hitler's armored division of the Waffen-SS guards went south to the bridgehead of the Kharkov River and Peppel to clear the Soviet defense in the building. In order to clear the defenders in the city center, 1 Panzergrenadier Brigade re-entered the city by using the road leading to Volchansk. At the same time, Payper's troops broke through to the south, engaged in sporadic battles with the defenders, and joined forces with the left wing of the division at the road intersections leading to Volchansk and Chuguyev. Although most of the Waffen-SS armored divisions of the Second Reich had left the city, an independent Panzergrenadier Brigade remained in the southwest of the city to wipe out the defenders. The brigade cleared the resistance at sunset, and two-thirds of the city fell into German hands.

Go to the eastern edge of the city. At sunset that day, the city completely fell into the hands of the Germans. Although the city has been declared completely occupied, to sum up

The German Donetsk operation caused the Soviet Red Army to lose 52 divisions, accounting for 70,000 to 80,000 people. About 45,200 of them were dead or missing, and another 465,438+0,200 were injured. 1943 From April to July, the Soviet Red Army needed to rebuild its troops in this area to prepare for the German offensive again, namely the Battle of Kursk. In addition, the number of German casualties is more difficult to count, but we can refer to the number of casualties of the Waffen-SS Panzer Corps. By March 27th, it was estimated that the Waffen-SS Panzer Corps had lost 44% of its troops, including about 160 officers and 4,300 active personnel.

After the Waffen-SS Panzer Corps entered the city, it attacked the Soviet troops in the southwest of the city, including 17 light cavalry brigade, 19 sniper division and the 25th pro-guard sniper division. Although it was useless, the Red Army kept trying to reconnect with the remnants of the Third Tank Army. However, the 40th and 69th legions of the Soviet Red Army fought the great German Panzergrenadier Division and were divided at 13. After the defeat of the Kharkov War, the defense line of the Soviet Red Army on the Donetsk River has collapsed. However, bad weather and fatigue forced Manstein's counterattack to stop, although the marshal wanted to attack the Kursk bulge formed when he captured Kharkov and Belgorod.

With the German victory in Kharkov, Hitler was faced with two choices: first, the "counterattack mode", that is, the Soviet Red Army was bound to launch an offensive again and carry out actions similar to those in Kharkov-allowing the Soviet Red Army to attack, retreat on its own, counterattack again and surround the enemy; Second, or "preemptive strike", the Southern Army and the Central Army jointly launched a large-scale attack on the Kursk salient; In the end, Hitler chose the preemptive way, which led to the outbreak of the Battle of Kursk. Although Hitler has been distressed since the disastrous defeat in Stalingrad, in order to reverse the decline, he tried to launch a new round of offensive with Kursk as a breakthrough, annihilating the main army corps of the Soviet Red Army and creating conditions for the further eastward advancement of the central army group and the southern army group. However, the Soviet Red Army grasped this information of the German army and strengthened its troops in Kursk. Germans face another challenge. Moreover, the Germans originally planned to launch an offensive in mid-April, and it was not until May that they had time to launch an offensive. Then came the news that 250,000 Axis troops in North Africa had surrendered. In addition, the production capacity of the Soviet Union has been improved due to the recovery of a large area of territory. All these forced the Germans to speed up the adjustment. On the other hand, in mid-May, the Soviet Union issued an order to all units to guard against the German counterattack. Thus, the famous Battle of Kursk began.

After the victory of the Battle of orel, the Red Army of the Soviet Union launched a big counterattack on the southern front. Code-named "Rumiantsev", the campaign was aimed at Kharkov reoccupied by the Germans. The Battle of Kharkov was the last battle of Kursk. Through this campaign, the Soviet Red Army completely stabilized the situation in the south and created conditions for the recovery of Ukraine. Before the Battle of Kharkov, the Germans had been defeated in Kursk, orel and other places, which undoubtedly greatly shook the morale of the Germans. Therefore, the German high command turned its attention to the Belgorod-Kharkov region. Because it can contain the Soviet attack on Ukraine and Donbass. The Germans know very well that the Soviet counterattack on the southern front will be an important battle for Kharkov. So they deployed a large number of defense forces in this area. The German defense system here consists of several defense zones with a total depth of 90 kilometers. Kharkov became the center of this defense system. Because it is the basis of German defense in the whole Belgorod-Kharkov area. The Germans built five deep defense zones in the north of Kharkov, and covered the road leading to the periphery of Kharkov in the north. In addition, around the city of Kharkov, the Germans also arranged two circular sections. Defending the entire Belgorod-Kharkov defense line is the German Fourth Armored Army and the "Kampf" campaign cluster. Organized into 18 armored division and infantry division, with a total strength of 300,000, in addition to 3,000 guns and mortars, about 600 tanks and assault guns, and more than 0,000 planes/kloc-0.

The original idea of the Soviet Union for the Battle of Kharkov was that the Japanese army in Voronezh carried out a long-range assault from the northwest to the southwest of Belgorod, trying to cut off the German army's retreat from Kharkov to the west and southwest; The grassland army attacked Belgorod and captured the city, and then immediately attacked Kharkov from the north; Cut off the German retreat to the south.

In order to ensure the smooth attack, the Soviet Red Army assigned seven synthetic army groups, two tank army groups and 1 air force army group to the Japanese army in Voroney. Its total strength with the Grassland Army reached 980,000, with more than 20,000 guns and mortars 1.2, 2,400 tanks and self-propelled guns, and more than 30,000 combat aircraft 1.3. In terms of strength, the Soviet Red Army has an overwhelming advantage over the Germans.

On the eve of the Battle of Kharkov, the Soviet Red Army wisely used long-range aviation aircraft to carry out a surprise attack in the planned breakthrough area. Two hours before the troops launched the charge, the bombers and attack planes of the Second Army of the Air Force, under the cover of fighter planes, once again suppressed the enemy support points in the breakthrough area. Moreover, before the troops launched the attack, more than 200 planes of the two air force group armies made a concentrated assault on the targets in the main defense zones. In addition, the artillery of the Soviet Red Army also participated in the attack on German positions. Under the attack of this suppression activity, the Germans suffered certain losses, so there was basically no resistance within half an hour after the attack began. The individual artillery was ready to fire, and was immediately discovered and destroyed by the Soviet Red Army attack aircraft over the battlefield. That morning, the Japanese army in Voronezh occupied the main defense area of the German army, and the whole tactical depth of the German defense line was broken.

After reorganizing the equipment, the Germans also invested a lot of air force in the battle. German bombers mainly fought in small formations, focusing on the infantry and armored forces attacked by the Soviet Red Army. However, the fierce interception of Soviet Red Army fighters made it impossible to carry out activities, so the German air power did not give much support to the ground. On the other hand, the Soviet Union is quite different. Under the strong air cover, the Japanese tank army in Voroney quickly broke through the German defense line and advanced 26 kilometers that night. The grassland army also broke through the enemy lines and wedged into 7-9 kilometers.

The Grassland Army completed its first task and recovered Belgorod (completed by Lieutenant General Mana Gallov, commander of the 53rd Army). After a short rest, I immediately went to kharkov. In order to help the Belgorod-Kharkov Army, castle wolfenstein transferred the reserves originally prepared to resist the Soviet Red Army's attack in the direction of Donbass from other areas to Kharkov. However, the German action was discovered by the reconnaissance plane of the Soviet Red Army. The Soviet Red Army acted decisively and dispatched a large number of attack planes and bombers to attack it. Among them, the Eighth Army of the Soviet Red Army and the South Army first attacked the German reserve, and its bombers launched a fierce attack on the mechanized corps transferred by the Germans to Kharkov area for the first time. In addition, the Air Force 17, 5 and 2 troops also participated in the war. They successfully attacked many railway stations near the battlefield and destroyed many military columns and automobile columns on the way.

Due to the coordinated operation of the Soviet Union and the Air Force, the German anti-assault has never been successful. Due to heavy losses, the Germans were forced to retreat. The Soviet Red Army's attack in the first five days was relatively smooth. During this period, the Japanese 1 tank army in Voroney made a breakthrough of more than 100 kilometers. On August 7th, the Soviet Red Army conquered Borg Dukhov, an important center of German defense depth and transportation hub. The 5th Tank Division of the Guards also captured two important centers in Kharkov, Zorochev and Kazakhstan Yaropan, which were covered by German troops from the northwest. In this way, the German army was divided into two parts. On August 1 1, the Japanese army in Voronezh also successfully expanded its breakthrough in the west and southwest, cutting off the railway from Kharkov to poltava (according to data, the railway was destroyed by Soviet guerrillas). Within 48 hours, all the railways in the rear area of the German Southern Army Group were paralyzed. At the same time, the Red Army of the Soviet Union launched an assault on poltava between the Eighth German Army and the Fourth German Army (Commander General Holt), thus splitting the German Belgorod-Kharkov Army in two.

In order to smash the assault of the Soviet Red Army and eliminate the biggest threat surrounding Kharkov, the German army decided to use the basic forces transferred from Donbass to Kharkov to carry out counter-assault on the Japanese army in Voronezh, which broke into the south of Borg Dukhov. After the Germans invested three armored divisions, they forced the Soviet Red Army 1 Tank Army (Commander Lieutenant General katukov) to retreat 20 kilometers to the north, but failed to achieve the plan of breaking through the Borg Dukhov area and entering the rear of the Russell Red Army Voronezh Army Group. 17, the Soviet red army counterattacked successfully, and the Germans stopped attacking in this direction and turned to defense. At this time, the Germans attacked Borg Dukhov from the northwest in Ahh Trka, and planned to cut off the front projection south of Ahh Trka, penetrate into Borg Dukhov from the northwest, and smash the basic forces of the Japanese assault corps in Voroney. In order to achieve this goal, the Germans assembled the "Great Germanic" Mechanization Division and the basic forces of 19, 1 1 and the 7th Armored Division in Trka and its west. At the same time, the Germans also arranged the SS "Skull" armored division in the south of Koterva in an attempt to attack the Soviet rear of Koterva. However, the Japanese army in Voroney successfully crushed the German attempt, and the German army turned to defense in an all-round way.

During this period, the main force against the German anti-assault operation was the Japanese army in Voroney. On August 18, the grassland army broke through the German defense line outside Kharkov. As a result, the Soviet Red Army surrounded the enemy on three sides: east, north and west, and the German attempt to delay the Soviet Red Army's counterattack failed. In this case, the German headquarters thinks that it is meaningless to resist again, and if the war continues, it will face the consequences of total annihilation. Therefore, on the 22nd, the 8th German Army abandoned Kharkov's retreat. However, the Soviet army immediately dispatched the 5 th Army of the Air Force and dispatched all its troops to intercept it. From August 2 1 to August 22, the Soviet Air Force dispatched 1300 fighter planes, destroying and injuring many tanks and hundreds of cars.

On that day, the two armies pushed south and west 140 km. The 69th Army of the Soviet Red Army (Commander Major General Klyochokin) and the 7th Guards (Commander Lieutenant General Shumilov) entered the city on the same day. At this point, the Soviet Red Army successfully retaken Kharkov and won the Battle of Kharkov. The German 15 division was defeated in this battle. Since then, the Russian army tried to advance along the railway to poltava, but it was strongly resisted by the Germans in the south of Kharkov. After 20 days of fighting, the Soviet Red Army defeated the German army by an overwhelming margin. As the last battle of Kursk, it firmly ended another turning point in the Soviet-German battlefield. After Kharkov's World War I, the Germans were so weakened that they could no longer organize new resistance to stop the avalanche of the Soviet Red Army. Hitler's offensive strategy went bankrupt completely, and he was forced to "completely turn to strategic defense in the whole Soviet-German battlefield" (in the words of Alexander Aleksandr Vasilevsky).

The Battle of Kharkov was actively carried out by the Soviet Red Army according to the predetermined plan, which had strategic initiative and material advantages. This is different from the defensive way that the Soviet Red Army was forced to take in the early stage of the Soviet-German War. After mastering the German attempt, the high command of the Soviet Red Army accurately judged the direction of the German assault and took the initiative to pull Kharkov back into his own hands.

In the attack, the Soviet Red Army paid special attention to the strategic cooperation between several legions attacking the German army from several directions, which made it impossible for the German army to adjust its troop deployment according to the battlefield situation. Special mention should be made here of the role of the Soviet Red Army Air Force. It was the Soviet Red Army Air Force that gave great assistance to the ground troops at the beginning of the campaign and during the attack, which indirectly contributed to the victory of the Soviet Red Army campaign.