Evacuation of Kharkov: February 15 1943

Gerhard Bremer as SS-Obersturmführer

 

Albert Frey as SS-Sturmbannführer

By the evening of February 14 1943, Soviet forces had penetrated into the suburbs of Kharkov. Elements of SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Das Reich, however inflicted heavy losses on the enemy and temporarily halted the Soviet push. SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser had received orders from Adolf Hitler that the city of Kharkov be held at all costs. Hausser was well aware that Kharkov was doomed. Hausser was a realist and would not willingly see his SS-Panzerkorps sacrificed in a pointless defence of a city he already knew was lost. Kharkov was virtually surrounded. Hausser feared that his corps and Panzergrenadier-Division Großdeutschland would share the same fate as Generalfeldmarschall Friedrich Paulus at Stalingrad. He wanted to order an evacuation through a narrow corridor to the southwest. Repeated orders from Hitler to hold the city to the last man and bullet were treated with the contempt they deserved. Hausser bluntly replied that it was too late: It is already settled, Kharkov is being evacuated. He would not countenance the destruction of his corps in a pointless attempt to save Kharkov. He issued orders to pull out on February 15 1943. The corridor linking the city to German-held territory farther west was now only 1.5 kilometers wide at the best. The Soviets were overjoyed at their success in outing the Germans from this strategically important city, but the tenacious defence put up by the Germans had cost the lives of many thousands of their men. Credit: Gordon Williamson and Tim Ripley. Left image: SS-Obersturmführer Gerd Bremer conferring with SS-Obersturmbannführer Kurt Meyer before the evacuation of Kharkov. His shoulder straps have the embroidered “LAH” cypher, and the machine-embroidered pattern of cuffband is worn. Photo taken by the Leibstandarte war correspondent SS-Kriegsberichter Paul Augustin. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. FU. Right image: the tried and tested Leibstandarte SS commander Albert Frey after he was awarded the Knight's Cross for his achievements during the operations in the Kharkov campaign at the beginning of 1943. He was born in 1913 in Heidelberg and joined the SS in 1933 and ended the war as SS-Standartenführer. Albert Frey who was devoted to his seriously ill wife Lotte shot her dead and killed himself in the morning of September 1 2003 in Heilbronn. Credit: Bekors. Commons: Bundesarchiv.