Eastory

BattleGif: Second Battle of Kharkov

Added 2018-07-22 10:13:23 +0000 UTC

In the early summer of 1942 the Soviets decided to make several local attacks to weaken the anticipated Axis’ attack towards Moscow. In the Ukraine thy planned to encircle the German 51st Corps and take Kharkov with a two-pronged attack. The attack began on the 12th of May and managed to gain some ground, but unbeknownst to the Red Army, the Axis had deployed their main forces in the South and were finishing preparations for an operation to cut off the salient from which the main Soviet force was attacking. The the Red Army did not expect an attack on the neck of the salient, which allowed the Germans to cut off and destroy the whole Soviet southern spearhead taking 240 000 prisoners.

Then the Germans decided to exploit the situation to the fullest and while the Soviet forces were still off balance, they attempted to destroy the second Soviet spearhead and after that cut the newly formed salient. This plan was founded on the estimation, that the Red Army would attempt to hold its positions no matter what, as in the summer of 1941 and this would make it possible to encircle most of its units. However, the Soviets had learned their lessons and when a risk of encirclement was detected, they pulled their units back. The Germans managed to take 46 800 more prisoners, but most of the Soviet forces escaped. Three days later the Axis forces began their main summer offensive to capture the Caucasus.