Second Battle of Kharkov
The Second Battle of Kharkov was a World War II battle fought on the Eastern Front between the German 6th Army and the Soviet forces. It took place in the area near the city of Kharkov from May 12 to May 28, 1942. The Second Battle of Kharkov began with a Soviet offensive launched from a bulge in the front line in the area near Kharkov. Nevertheless, the Soviets were stopped dead in their tracks by tenacious German counterattacks conducted by the 6th Army under the command of Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus. As a result, the Soviets suffered 207,000 casualties (killed, wounded, or captured) and the loss of 1,300 tanks.
Operation Barbarossa had led the German armies to the gates of Moscow. Although the Red Army had begun a counterattack in December 1941, pushing the Germans back 100 miles, the Soviet counteroffensive had ground to a halt by February 1942, leaving two salients that stuck out into German-held territory; one in the north between the cities of Kholm and Velikiya, the other in the south in the area south of Kharkov, in the Ukraine. The salient in the south was called the Izium Salient. On May 12, 1942, after a massive buil-up of forces, the Soviet Army launched an offensive from the Izium Salient in an attempt to amplify their strategic initiative after their victories during the Winter Counteroffensive.
During the first three days of the Second Battle of Kharkov, the Germans were pushed back a few miles, losing 10 battalions. Then the Germans began to hold their terrain as their resistance and determination became stiff. Ferocious fights broke out in the rain and mud as General von Kleist’s 1st Panzer Group began a double headed counter-attack on the Barvenkovo bridgehead, crushing Soviet positions and advancing up to eight miles on May 17.
By May 19, General Friedrich Paulus had already started a general offensive in the north to encircle the remaining Soviet forces in the Izium salient. The Germans achieved considerable success against Soviet defensive positions. By May 24 Soviet troops opposite of Kharkov had been encircled by German formations. Several German divisions transferred to the front increased the pressure put on the Soviet flanks and finally forcing them to collapse. To no avail, the Red Army tried to break out of the encirclement as the surviving Red Army soldiers were forced into crowded positions in an area roughly nine square miles in size. Finally, on May 28, 1942, Timoshenko ordered the official halt of all Soviet offensive maneuvers, leaving 200,000 Soviet troops which were annihilated in the encirclement.
Map of the front line situation a month before the Second Battle of Kharkov
Second Battle of Kharkov (Documentary film)
