Waffen-SS: Kharkov, 1943

Background

In early 1943 the Germans were on the verge of losing the war on the Eastern Front. The defeat at Stalingrad and the subsequent Soviet offensive in the Ukraine threatened the whole southern sector of the front. The situation was saved by the leadership of Erich von Manstein and his masterful use of the newly raised I SS Panzer Corps, which retook Kharkov in spectacular fashion.

The Red steamroller

In January 1943, Soviet armies had been running rampant in the Ukraine, with the Wehrmacht falling back in disarray after the massive defeat suffered by the German Army at Stalingrad. While finishing off the remnants of Paulus' battered army, the Russians extended their offensive to the Ukraine, smashing weak German, Hungarian and Italian armies in their path.

Soviet forces began the final phase of their offensive on 14 January with a massive attack on the overstretched German, Hungarian and Italian armies dug in along the River Don. Lieutenant-General F.I. Golikov's Voronezh Front and Lieutenant-General N.F. Vatutin's Southwest Front rolled over the defenders with ease, and within two weeks had pushed 160km (100 miles) westwards. They were now poised to cross the River Donets, which barred the way to Kharkov and the strategically crucial River Dnieper crossings.

The SS Panzer Corps moves East

To counter this advance, the Germans rushed reinforcements from all over Europe in a desperate bid to rebuild the Eastern Front. North of Kharkov, the army's élite Grossdeutschland Motorized Division, supported by the 88th and 168th Infantry Divisions, held the Belgorod area. Two divisions of the SS Panzer Corps, which had just arrived from France, were deployed along the Donets blocking the direct route to Kharkov.

Under SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser, I SS Panzer Corps was superbly equipped with new tanks, armoured halftrack personnel carriers, self-propelled artillery and Nebelwerfer multi-barrel rocket launchers. Holding the Donets line were the Leibstandarte and Das Reich Divisions. The 1st SS Panzer Regiment of the Leibstandarte was the strongest tank unit in the corps, with 52 Panzer IVs, 10 Panzer IIIs and 9 Tiger Is. Das Reich's 2nd SS Panzer Regiment had 81 Panzer IIIs and only 21 Panzer IVs, backed up by 10 Tiger Is.

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