The Eastern Front in early 1943 saw no respite from battle for either side, which involved all available units from the German Army. The battered frontline was lashed by freezing winds, which increased the windchill factor considerably. Throughout the first week of February 1943 the Waffen-SS repulsed numerous Soviet attacks, inflicting serious losses on the enemy, who were somewhat shocked at running into strong Waffen-SS units. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Leibstandarte SS held its sector for two weeks against the full weight of the Soviet 3rd Tank Army, a remarkable feat in itself. Time after time the SS-Panzerkorps was called upon to reinforce, fill and stabilize weak points, and to close the gaps before the onslaught of Soviet troops could pour through. Oftentimes they were outnumbered and arrived just in the nick of time. Unlike the Battle for Moscow in 1941, SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser's Waffen-SS troops fighting in the Kharkov campaign were well equipped with winter clothing and equipment. Clips: an armoured half-track personnel carrier Sd.Kfz. of Hausser's SS-Panzerkorps and frontline footage of Waffen-SS in combat under extreme winter conditions on Eastern Front in February 1943. Temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius below zero, snowstorms and the difficulties they caused placed the highest demand on the men, for once again they had to bear the heaviest burdens of the fighting. The volunteers of the Waffen-SS were suffering from frostbite and snow blindness but kept struggling, keenly aware that surrender to the Soviet Red Army meant certain death. SS-KB-Zug III. Deutsche Wochenschau - the official Nazi German war newsreel from 1940 until production discontinued in March 1945. It received film stock from special Waffen-SS and Wehrmacht war reporting units. Today the preserved Wochenschau short films make up a significant part of the audiovisual records of the Nazi era. Fair use.
The West European Waffen-SS soldier was the cutting edge of Germany's military might, aggressive in attack and dogged in defence. Wherever the enemy breached the lines, orders went out for the elite Waffen-SS formations.
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