The Battle For Kharkov 1941 1943

Download or read book The Battle for Kharkov, 1941–1943 written by Anthony Tucker-Jones and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2016-06-30 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A pictorial history of a series of World War II battles between the Soviet Red Army and the Nazi Wehrmacht around a city in present-day Ukraine. The four battles fought for Kharkov during the Second World War are often overshadowed by the battles for Moscow, Leningrad, and Stalingrad, yet they were critical stages in the struggle between the Wehrmacht and the Red Army for control of the southern Soviet Union. Anthony Tucker-Jones, in this volume in the Images of War series, offers a visual record of the dramatic and bloody conflict that took place there, showing every grim aspect of the fighting. Kharkov became one of the most bitterly contested cities during the war on the Eastern Front, and this book presents a graphic overview of the atrocious conditions the soldiers on both sides had to endure. In 1941 Kharkov fell to Hitler’s Army Group South. In 1942 the Soviets tried and failed to retake it, losing 240,000 men in the Barvenkovo Bulge. Then, in 1943, the control of the battered city changed hands twice before the Soviets liberated it for good. The fate of Kharkov during the war reflects the history of the wider struggle between Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union. Praise for Battle for Kharkov “The collection of original un-published Scott Pick photos are exceptional with such quality and topic coverage that the material visually jumps off the pages. . . . Presents a hard hitting and furious review of the period. . . . The ability of the author to cover the lengthy period in a concise review is very solid, and creates a substantial quality of information versus time of reading commitment.” —Richard Wade, military historian

Download or read book Kharkov 1943 written by Philippe Naud and published by Histoire & Collections. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of the fierce struggle between the Red Army and Axis troops between February and March 1943. By the end, although the situation had changed in favor of the Allies, the Eastern Front now had new protagonists; the Waffen-SS armored units on whom Hitler was counting to work some miracles and defeat his mortal enemy.

Download or read book Kharkov 1942 written by David Glantz and published by Ian Allan Publishing. This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: America's foremost expert on Russian military history has written the first book in English on one of the great battles on the Eastern front during World War II. Illustrations & maps.

Download or read book Eastern Inferno written by Christine Alexander and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2010-11-30 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Remarkable personal journals . . revealing the combat experience of the German-Russian War as seldom seen before . . . a harrowing yet poignant story” (Military Times). Hans Roth was a member of the anti-tank panzerjager battalion, 299th Infantry Division, attached to the Sixth Army, as the invasion of Russia began. As events transpired, he recorded the tension as the Germans deployed on the Soviet frontier in June 1941. Then, a firestorm broke loose as the Wehrmacht tore across the front, forging into the primitive vastness of the East. During the Kiev encirclement, Roth’s unit was under constant attack as the Soviets desperately tried to break through the German ring. At one point, after the enemy had finally been beaten, a friend serving with the SS led him to a site—possibly Babi Yar—where he witnessed civilians being massacred. After suffering through a brutal winter against apparently endless Russian reserves, his division went on the offensive again when the Germans drove toward Stalingrad. In these journals, attacks and counterattacks are described in you-are-there detail. Roth wrote privately, as if to keep himself sane, knowing his honest accounts of the horrors in the East could never pass Wehrmacht censors. When the Soviet counteroffensive of winter 1942 begins, his unit is stationed alongside the Italian 8th Army, and his observations of its collapse, as opposed to the reaction of the German troops sent to stiffen its front, are of special fascination. Roth’s three journals were discovered many years after his disappearance, tucked away in the home of his brother. After his brother’s death, his family discovered them and sent them to Rosel, Roth’s wife. In time, Rosel handed down the journals to Erika, Roth’s only daughter, who had emigrated to America. Roth was likely working on a fourth journal before he was reported missing in action in July 1944. Although his ultimate fate remains unknown, what he did leave behind, now finally revealed, is an incredible firsthand account of the horrific war the Germans waged in Russia.

Download or read book Army Group South written by Werner Haupt and published by Schiffer Military History. This book was released on 1998 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After long years of studying sources and literature, Werner Haupt presents the military history of one of the larger theaters of World War II. The completion of the history of "Army Group South" is the result of the author's utilization of all available German and Russian literature, as well as those combat diaries and documents of the committed troop units that are available in German archives. In addition, the author was assisted in clearing up several questions by the advice of former members of the army group - from commanders to drivers. This third and final volume of a three volume set by Werner Haupt includes a volume each on Army Group North, Army Group Center, and now Army Group South. The author served in the German Army as a soldier and officer in the northern sector of the Eastern Front during the Second World War. He is also the author of Assault on Moscow 1941 (available from Schiffer Publishing Ltd.).

Download or read book The End of the Gallop written by Alexei Isaev and published by Helion. This book was released on 2023-07-28 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based heavily on inaccessible Soviet records, this book presents a lively account of a pivotal battle on the Eastern Front, illustrated with photographs and maps. In the history of war there are not that many battles that changed one side's strategy over a considerable period of time, becoming not only a material, but also a psychological factor in decision making. A classic example of this is the Battle of Smolensk in 1941, which forced the German leadership to change their strategy for 'Barbarossa' and to deploy their troops towards the northern, and eastern flanks of the Soviet-German front. We can however find another example on the other side of the front line: this was the battle in the area around Kharkov in the winter of 1943, which had even more of an impact. Following the simultaneous defeat of several of the shock troops on the two fronts and the loss of a large tract of territory the vector of Soviet strategy changed. A passive expectation of the enemy's actions replaced the attacking momentum that was traditional for Soviet command. To begin with there were objective prerequisites: Red Army units were exhausted and had incurred heavy losses in the German counterattacks during February-March. By May 1943 however, when the troops had recuperated and reserves had been drawn up, the psychological factor continued to play a role. Recalling their bitter experience during the winter battles outside Kharkov the Supreme Soviet Command decided not to go on the offensive, but await the start of German offensive operations. Up until the very last day before the start of Operation 'Citadel' the Commander of the Voronezh front N.F. Vatutin was pleading, he demanded that precious summer days not be spent waiting for the enemy to attack but for the Red Army to take up the offensive themselves. All these proposals distracted supreme command, as they remembered Vatutin's failures outside Kharkov a few months previously. From a military historian's point of view the battles outside Kharkov between February-March 1943 were dramatic maneuvering battles and the success of both sides hung in the balance on a daily basis. Operations such as these are always much more interesting than the tedious, meat grinding positioning for a 'house in the forest', that is abundant in the histories of both world wars. Maneuvering, the deployment of corps and divisions around an area to attack an enemy where they are most vulnerable, played a much more important role than the arithmetic of the numbers of tanks and guns. The steady equalization of both Soviet and German sides added spice to this menu of a classic maneuvering battle. During the course of the battle for Kharkov Soviet forces encountered a new, powerful enemy in the shape of the Panzer divisions of the SS. These were elite mechanized formations equipped with the latest technology, which were soon to become leading participants in decisive battles in the East and the West in the second half of the war.

Download or read book Kharkov 1942 written by Robert Forczyk and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-04-20 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A highly illustrated account of the 1942 battle of Kharkov, one of the Red Army's largest defeats in World War II. After failing to finish off the German Army in the 1941/42 Winter Counteroffensive Stalin directed the Red Army to conduct a powerful blow in one sector of the Eastern Front in order to disrupt German plans. The sector chosen was Kharkov. Under Marshal Semyon Timoshenko, the Stavka's remaining reserves were assembled and prepared to conduct a breakthrough attack intended to encircle the German Sixth Army near Kharkov. However, Stalin was unaware that the Germans were planning their own riposte at Kharkov, known as Operation Fredericus. When Timoshenko began his offensive in May 1942, he did not realize the limitations of his own forces or the agility of the Germans to recover from setbacks, all of which contributed to one of the Red Army greatest defeats of World War II. This volume will pay particular attention to intelligence and logistics issues, as well as how this campaign served as a prelude to the battle of Stalingrad. It will also focus on the nascent development of the Red Army's tank corps and 'deep battle' tactics, as well as the revival of the German Panzertruppen after Barbarossa.