ϟϟ-Panzerkorps Complete the Retaking of Kharkov: March 11 – 15 1943

Panzerkampfwagen IV of SS-Panzerregiment 3 Totenkopf moving through Kharkov

At March 10 1943, SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser pulled together his SS-Panzerkorps into an attack formation. The Donets Campaign climaxed when his SS-Panzerkorps slammed into Ukrainian Kharkov on March 11 1943, the most populous Soviet city occupied by the Germans during World War II. The Waffen-SS battled through fanatical resistance in the concrete high-rise housing blocks that dominated the approaches to the city centre of Kharkov, and after four days of gritty street fighting, cleared the city. From Kharkov, the charismatic 28-year-old SS-Sturmbannführer Joachim Peiper hopped 80 Kilometers north to Belgorod, taking that city on March 18 1943. In the end, the Germans achieved the seemingly impossible: they re-established the German front in the south where it had been torn open by the debacle at Stalingrad. The achievement was almost surreal compared to the disastrous situation that had existed only a few weeks earlier. The German triumph was hard won, but fleeting. Credit: Historian Robert M. Citino. Image: a Panzer IV of SS-Panzer-Regiment 3 Totenkopf with tank-riding elements of Paul Hausser's SS-Panzerkorps entering Kharkov on or after March 11 1943. SS-Panzer Regiment 3 only fought on the Eastern Front and was one of the most capable. It supported Das Reich and covered the flanks and rear of the Leibstandarte SS during the counteroffensive and recapturing of Kharkov. The strain of the combat in the city streets is distinctly evident on the faces of the men in this picture. The frontline veteran SS-Oberscharführer and panzer commander peers straight ahead, his face tight with stress, searching for the next Soviet anti-tank gun or T-34 waiting in ambush, while the blank faced SS-Panzergrenadier behind his left shoulder appears completely exhausted. The tension of street fighting is clearly written on the visage of the man in the lower right corner. Credit: George Nipe. Photo by SS-Kriegsberichter Peter Adendorf, holder of the Panzer Assault Badge in Bronze as well as the Close Combat Clasp in Silver. The Totenkopf tank commander in picture has never been positively identified. Credit: Jakob Lagerweij. c. Bundesarchiv.