Unsuccessful operation of the Red Army in the Kharkov direction at the beginning of 1943

At the beginning of 1943, the Red Army was tasked with liberating the large industrial centers of the USSR. The offensive of the Soviet troops was supposed to lead to a breakthrough in the Kharkov-Zaporozhye direction, for which the main role was assigned tank parts and connections.

In mid-February, one of the episodes of this offensive began, which is often called the third battle for Kharkov. The day before the start of the Soviet offensive near Kharkov, Hitler flew to his headquarters in Zaporozhye. Questions of further actions of the Nazi troops in relation to Kharkov were also discussed.

From the Soviet side, the main blow was to be delivered by the troops of the Voronezh Front. But a quick breakthrough by the Red Army was not carried out. The mobile defense of the nearly 150-strong Nazi group turned out to be very effective.

The Germans urgently transferred additional armored forces to the area of ​​operation, including a number of Tiger tanks.
Despite the fact that in a few weeks of the operation the Soviet troops managed to defeat the main forces of the Hitlerite group, Army "B", the overall success of the Red Army near Kharkov was not achieved. As a result, Kharkov and Belgorod had to be abandoned.

The historian Alexei Isaev tells about the operations "Zvezda" and "Skip", about the formation of the so-called southern face of the Kursk Bulge and about the failure of the Red Army in the offensive near Kharkov:

Comments

[svp67]

Four, Four battles for the city of Kharkov in two years, three of which were unsuccessful for us, this is of course a special page of that war

[Cartalon]

You can count 5

[svp67]

Quote: Cartalon

You can count 5

- Leaving in 41st
- An attempt to recapture in the spring of 42
- An attempt to recapture in the winter of 43rd
- Liberation in the summer of 43
What did you miss?

[Cartalon]

Barvenkovo-Lozovskaya operation

[Darter88]

In February 43 they recaptured Kharkov, but after Manstein's counterattack, they lost Kharkov and Belgorod again in March! There were 5 battles for Kharkov in total!

[Eug]

Transport and industrial center, "gateway" of the Southwest direction ....

[strannik1985]

"Studying" was expensive.