Kharkov '43 Grand Campaign AAR

[larsonney]

KHARKOV ’43 GRAND CAMPAIGN---Day 3

Day three was both quiet and stressful. There were no heavy engagements, but many quick skirmishes as the Wermacht got into full retreat mode!
The Russian 3rd Tank Army is pushing ruthlessly forward and the situation is getting nerve-racking! Day 4 should be quite a headache…but we’re getting ahead of ourselves again…here is the recap of day 3….

Northeast Front

The Russian 40th Army has been moving a full day now, but still no sign of them…we had expected some type of contact by early evening since separation was less than 20 kms in certain areas. Lt. General Krais of the 168th Infantry division requested recon flights in front of Korochato help ascertain the location of 40th Army but Heerresgruppe Don/Sud politely but firmly reminded our nervous general that the limited air assets available in theater would not be spent counting trees…
The Grossdeutschland had another busy day, eliminating the ”Slonovka Pocket” by early afternoon. The division then wheeled northwest and began the strenuous forced march to close “the Gap” southeast of Korocha. This division has performed splendidy…however, they are tired! Most of the division is heavily fatigued so we hope to rest them on day 4 once they get into their assigned sector!



Because of the incessant pressure from 3rd Tank Army, the decision was made by mid-morning to abandon Budarka to the Red hordes…we could have made a stand here, but did not see the wisdom to sacrifice a large chunk of the Das Reich to buy a day or two. By dawn on day 4 we have been hounded 10 kms west of Budarka. We expect to continue to fall back west towards Volchansk on day 4.



Our wonderful counterattack of day 2 is long gone…the main elements of 12th Tank Corps are rolling west, replacing the losses we inflicted and then some! The counterattack did allow us to evacuate the majority of the 526th & 527th infantry regiments of the 298th infantry division to escape west. We toyed with the idea of having those regiments make a stand at Verilkiy Burlok, but we are holding true to the principle we decided on before we started…getting everyone out whenever possible! the Der Fuhrer regiment will continue to fall back west on day 4.



Center Front

If you have been with us for awhile, you will remember we had a quandary on day 2 regarding what to do with the recon battalion of the SS LAH PzG division. We chose option 1, sending it northeast to join the south flank of Der Fuhrer. This insured that Der Fuhrer’s flank was secure. Dawn found the LAH recon battalion, you guessed it, falling back west towards the Donets!



The main highway to Chuguev still lies open for the most part, with only a Schnelle company performing rear-guard duties against a pursuing rifle division. No strong push here, as the Russian forces are not aligned to take advantage of this hole in our lines…they could shift part of 3rd Tank Army south to take advantage of this, but we have seen no evidence of this yet. The 585th regiment of the 320th INF division ceased to exist by late evening of day 3, beginning their long trek into Siberia. Our kameraden will not be forgotten!



The Soviet offensive had been just a rumor for the 320th INF Division’s 586th regiment until early afternoon of day 3…the regiment was the recipient of a punch in the face in the form of the 106th Rifle Brigade , backed up by a tank regiment from 6th Army. Oops…remember when we thought they had turned south for Izyum? We appear to have been wrong! It appears the Russians only have the one mobile unit, so we hope to maneuver out of this trap…a bit of a cat and mouse game going on here…West of Izyum, the 587th regiment of the 320th infantry division made it across the Donets and started to dig-in by the end of day 3. Note the units from the 35th Guards Division in this area...more on that later.



South Front

Southwest of Izyum, the 681st regiment of the 333rd infantry spent day 3 digging in at Petroyskaya. Not a moment too soon, since elements of a rifle and Guards division showed up during the night. An interesting side note, the Guards division is the 35th, so it appears the division is split up, the first time we have observed this from the Russian Command Staff.



30 kms south of Petroyskaya, the 680th regiment of the 333rd infantry division dug-in at Barvenkovo was greeted by new elements of Mobile Group Popov, who appeared at dusk. It appears that the released elements of Popov are making a move we expected. However, expecting and being able to parry the move are two different worlds!



Southeast Front

At Slavyansk, the 7th Panzer spent the day withdrawing to the heights southwest of the city. All appeared well until late afternoon, when the skies cleared enough for Russian observers to see our lines…and the Russian Air Force made its first major appearance, raining steel down on the hapless defenders. The Russians also built two bridgeheads south of the city, but made no push across these bridgeheads. Because of the threat to 7th Panzer, 3rd Panzer marched through the night to be in position to push north to Cherkasskoye and possibly flank Slavyansk on day 4.



To the east, the 19th & 27th Panzer divisions saw no concerted effort to push south by the two Guards divisions, so they prepared to jump off at dawn on a local counterattack to remove these divisions’ bridgeheads over the Donets. We found that the Russian engineers had been busy building bunkers…so it appears that we waited too long to launch our mini-offensive! Time will tell…



Summary

The southeast is heating up and with more Russian hordes arriving/releasing on day 4, we are experiencing a slight tremor of apprehension at the prospect of more days of this hell!

The Russian steamroller does not stop, and our crack panzer & panzer grenadier divisions are growing weary from 3 days of continuous action. Day 4 should help us understand Russian operational motives more clearly and allow us to plan more effectively. By this point, the forest is lost among the trees at times!