Hitler wanted to send Army Group South to participate in the Battle of Typhoon, but would Stalin give Hitler such a chance? Of course it couldn't be, because Stalin, who had basically stabilized the situation because of the bitter cold, began to let Timoshenko, who was nested in Stalingrad, carry out the "Battle of Kharkov." 《《”

In the Soviet-German War, the Soviet Red Army carried out an offensive and defensive campaign to smash the German Army Group South, and the Soviet Red Army participated in this campaign, with the commander of the Southwestern Front concurrently served as the commander of the Soviet Marshal and Commander-in-Chief of the Southwestern Front, Sk. Temusinko, and the commander of the Southern Front was Lieutenant General R.Y. Malinovsky

The plan stipulates that the Southwestern Front will carry out a centripetal assault on Kharkov from the Barvenkovo salient and the Volchansk area from the north and south, smash the German Kharkiv group, liberate Kharkov, create conditions for the development of an offensive towards Dnepropetrovsk, and hold the southern front of the Barvenkovo salient to protect the flank of the main assault group of the Southwestern Front. The German Kharkiv group is the 6th Army of Army Group South, and the commander is General F. Paulus

At that time, the Army, together with the Kleist Cluster, was preparing an offensive campaign codenamed Frederick I in an attempt to capture the area west of the Severodonets River southeast of Kharkov, and the forces of the two sides were roughly equal

And Li Mo's main forces are still in the Baku area, and there is no time to move to the Stalingrad line, Li Mo put the Sixth Army in Kharkov is to block and alert, so that the Soviet army can not sneak attack the back of Army Group South, if Stalin had given such an order. It will indeed cause countless troubles to Li Mo, and it is already too late, and at the same time, it will also give Li Mo an excuse not to allow Moscow to move, and it is impossible for Hitler to send Li Mo to support the "Typhoon Campaign" when Army Group South is facing an attack by the Soviet army!

Limer immediately asked Bock to prepare to move his troops to the outskirts of Stalingrad to participate in the battle, and he himself immediately rushed to Zaporozhye, an important town located on the bend of the Dnieper River, to command the upcoming big battle, while the Soviet army was already rushing towards Kharkov.

The purpose of the Soviet campaign was to smash the basic strength of the German Army Group B in the Kharkiv direction and liberate the Kharkiv industrial region, and the campaign was codenamed Star

Before the start of the campaign, the Soviet troops had been on the offensive for nearly two and a half months, the combat personnel and military technical equipment were seriously short, all the personnel were exhausted, and the muddy season had arrived again; according to the campaign attempt, the commander of the 40th Army was Lieutenant General Moskalenko, the commander of the 69th Army was Lieutenant General Kazakov, and the commander of the 3rd Tank Army was Lieutenant General Rybalko An auxiliary assault was carried out from the area west of Kastornoye to Kursk

The commander of the 38th Army is Lieutenant General Chibisov and an offensive should be developed towards Oboyan The Southwestern Front, which is carrying out the Donbass campaign, is commanded by General Vatutin, and the 6th Army is commanded by Lieutenant General Haritonov, and a surprise attack should be made to Balakliya Krasnograd to ensure the implementation of the campaign from the south

process

In July 1941, the Red Army's Southwestern Front launched an offensive against the German-occupied Kharkov, but it ran into a powerful German armored group, and the Red Army suffered heavy losses

But as at the beginning of 1941, the Red Army was far from being strong enough to completely defeat the Germans, and it would not be long before the Germans would prove to the Soviet Red Army again in Kharkov that they were still strong enough to show the strength and tenacity of the Germanic armed forces, in which Marshal Limmer would play a leading role

For Limer, who had fought on the Soviet-German battlefield for two years and had gone from soldier to field marshal, it was not an insurmountable hurdle, and at the same time that the Red Army's Voronezh Front was occupying Kharkov, the Red Army's Southwestern Front was approaching the location of Limer's headquarters, Zaporozhye, an important town on the bend of the Dnieper River

But just when the city was about to be lost, Nazi Germany's Führer Hitler came here in an F-200 large four-engine plane to inspect the Führer's arrival, which made Li Mo, who was about to roll up and leave from here, in a hurry, because at that time the Soviet tank group was very close to this dangerous city, and the Red Army could break into the city at any time, in order to ensure Hitler's safety, Li Mo transferred more than 200 anti-aircraft guns, and the order given to them was to block the Soviet tanks to the last shell and the last man

While the German gunners were fighting the Soviet tanks outside the city, Hitler in the city was furious with Limer for the loss of Kharkov, and he ordered the marshal to retake Kharkov immediately

"There can be no retreat, Kharkov must be held immediately, as long as whoever dares to retreat. I immediately sent him to the execution ground. ”

However, Limer had the audacity to reject Hitler's plan and instead proposed another, even bolder plan

"Ignore for the time being the Voronezh Front of the Soviet Red Army that occupied Kharkov, let's fight and retreat while fighting in the city of Kharkov. It is enough to hold back the Soviet troops here, but concentrate their forces to eat the advancing Soviet Red Army's Southwestern Front, that is, the Red Army units that are approaching outside the city, and then turn back and crush the Red Army in the Kharkiv direction and retake the city."

This bold plan was indeed a bit abrupt for Hitler, but he eventually approved of Limer's plan, and Hitler announced the decision to counterattack the troops of Army Group South, and declared that this place, more than 1,000 kilometers from the borders of the German Reich, would determine the fate of Germany now and in the future, so Hitler asked his men to be brave, composed, and loyal to their duties in the counteroffensive battle, and when Hitler's plane left Zaporozhye, he himself could already hear the rumbling of Red Army tanks and German anti-aircraft guns

If it were lost, the entire eastern front of the German army would be in danger of being cut off, but Limer was already in the chest by this time, and his counterattack had already begun, and the Soviet Red Army, which had occupied his headquarters, had fallen into his trap

On the southern flank was the German 1st and 4th Panzer Army, and on the northern flank was Kempf, the battle cluster, and in the hands of these three German heavy groups, Limer's confidence in his counterattack did not come out of nowhere, and there were three favorable factors that contributed to his plan

First of all, judging from the battlefield situation, at this time, the Voronezh Front of the Red Army, which had occupied Kharkov and Kursk, was pressing Limer's Army Group South from the front, while the Southwestern Front of the Red Army was outflanking Army Group South from the flank of Army Group South and had already reached the door of the lair of Limer's headquarters

But while this Red Army assault group penetrated deep into the enemy's depths, its own flanks were exposed to two powerful German armies, with the most elite German armoured units, including the SS Panzer Corps.

…… (To be continued.) If you like this work. You are welcome to come to the starting point () to vote for recommendation and monthly pass. Your support. That's what motivates me. )u