As you know, from the first days of the Great Patriotic War and for several months, Soviet troops retreated along the entire length of the western border of the country. For the first time, the swift tread of the enemy was stopped only in November 1941, at the approaches of Moscow. Then, at the cost of incredible efforts of the Red Army, the Nazis were driven back. This gave rise to the military command to be convinced of the readiness of the troops to conduct offensive attacks. However, such misconceptions led to a disaster near Kharkov.
Original plan
By the time the German forces' attack was successfully stopped, and, moreover, the enemy was thrown back from Moscow’s borders at a fairly decent distance, most of the industry was evacuated beyond the Urals, where active production of military equipment was carried out in several shifts at most enterprises. The receipt of weapons in the army was normalized, in addition, the army personnel significantly increased. Already in the second quarter of 1942, it was possible to form not only replenishment for the existing army, but also reserve nine armies.
Based on these circumstances, the main command decided to develop several offensive operations in different directions of the front in order to demoralize the enemy, prevent him from uniting his armies, cutting off the southern front of the Germans and, having pressed them, to destroy. Among the strategic operations was the Kharkov boiler of 1942.
The composition of the future collision
On the Soviet side, it was decided to include in the battle of the army just three fronts - Bryansk, South-West and South. They included more than ten combined arms armies, as well as seven tank corps and more than twenty separate tank brigades. In addition, the reserve, which consisted of additional tank formations, was fitted to the front line. The Kharkov cauldron of 1942 was carefully prepared, so more than 640 thousand fighters, including officers, and 1.2 thousand tanks were prepared to participate in future battles.
The command of the entire operation was also entrusted to the first persons of the country's military leadership. Among the leaders was the head of the Southwestern Front, Marshal Semyon Tymoshenko, the headquarters were headed by commander Ivan Bagramyan, as well as Nikita Khrushchev. At that time, Lieutenant General Rodion Malinovsky was at the head of the Southern Front. Hitler's forces were led by Field Marshal Fedor von Bock. The general forces totaled three armies, including the Sixth Army of Paulus. For its part, the Wehrmacht called the operation the Kharkov boiler of 1942, "Fredericus."
Preparatory work
In early 1942, Soviet troops began preparatory maneuvers. The formation of a strong bridgehead began with units of the Southwestern Front in the Kharkov region in the vicinity of the city of Izyum, near the Seversky Donets River, on the western bank of which it was possible to create a support for a further attack on Kharkov and Dnepropetrovsk. In particular, the Soviet army was able to cut the railway, which was the supply of enemy units. However, spring and the lascivious road along with it intervened in the war plans - the offensive had to be stopped.
Ahead of the curve
According to the plans of the German high command, it was assumed that the Kharkov boiler of 1942 would initially be expressed in the destruction of the bridgehead created by the Soviet army, and then surrounded. The Nazi attack was supposed to begin on May 18, but the Red Army ahead of the Germans, having begun to advance six days earlier. The operation was launched with simultaneous attacks on enemy units from the north and south. According to the strategy of the Soviet command, the Sixth Army was to get surrounded - in the Kharkov boiler. The year 1942 from the very beginning seemed quite promising - at first, plans for Soviet formations were successfully implemented. Five days later, they really managed to push the Germans to Kharkov.
At the same time, three Soviet armies immediately crushed the Germans from the southern side, who managed to break through the German defenses and bury themselves in small places where long fierce battles began. In the north, during the first days of the operation, it was possible to delve into the German defense for 65 kilometers. However, the South-Western and Southern fronts did not show themselves quite actively, which allowed the Germans to navigate the situation on time and regroup troops, withdrawing whole units from the attacked areas.
First failures are harbingers of disaster
Operation "Kharkov Cauldron" (1942) was successful for the Soviet side only in the first few days. By the end of the fifth day of fighting, it became clear that everything was not going according to plan. By this time, the defense should have been rather seriously breached, and the Soviet troops would have moved far ahead, but they were still trampling on the front line. In the northern sector, defensive battles against German attacks dragged on. Historians note that already in the early days of the unit, the attackers from the southern and northern sides acted inconsistently. At the same time, the formations of the South and Southwest Fronts did not act at all in coordination, which created serious failures in the operation.
In addition, reserves were not formed, the preparation of engineering structures and barriers was at an extremely low level. As a result, there was no stiff defense on the south side. This was partly the reason that the Kharkov boiler of 1942 eventually turned into a real disaster for the Soviet troops. Do not forget that the command did not at all assume the possibility of a German offensive during the operation. The bridgehead created such confidence.
Counter attack
German troops also planned to deliver two attacks from the southern side of the bridgehead in order to develop a further attack on Raisins. The Ninth Army was responsible for this section. It was planned that the Nazis would break through the Soviet defenses and cut the troops into two parts in order to surround them and destroy them separately. Further, it was supposed to continue the offensive to destroy the entire group of armies that were seated on the bridgehead.
On the fifth day of the battle of the First Tank Army of the enemy, they managed to break through the defensive support of the Red Army and strike. We add that on the first day they were able to cut off one of the armies of the Southern Front from the main forces and in ten days exclude the possibility of their retreat to the east. Probably, even then, Kharkov boiler 1942 (photos related to the events presented in the review) was doomed. Tymoshenko, realizing the desperation of the situation, asked Moscow for permission to retreat. And although Alexander Vasilevsky, at that time already appointed chief of the General Staff, allowed, Stalin said his categorical "no." As a result, on May 23, a larger number of Soviet units were surrounded.
Enemy Trap
From that moment on, the Red Army men stubbornly tried to break through the blockade. In particular, German officers recalled desperate and intense attacks with an incredibly large number of infantry. Attempts were not particularly successful: three days after the encirclement began, Soviet units were driven into a relatively small area in the vicinity of the small town of Barvenkovo. This was only the first stage of the Second World War. Kharkov boiler was only a logical consequence of insufficient preparedness and lack of coordination of actions. Due to the solid German defense, the Soviet units failed to get out of the encirclement. And Tymoshenko had no choice but to stop the offensive operation.
Nevertheless, attempts to withdraw their friends from the encirclement continued for several more days. Despite the huge losses (the death toll was literally endless), the Kharkov boiler managed to break through a little near the village of Lozovenki. However, only a tenth of those who fell into it could escape from the trap. This was a crushing defeat. The dead in the Kharkov boiler of 1942 - 171 thousand people - gave their lives literally just like that, one might say, because of Stalin’s whim. The total number of losses reached 270 thousand.
Deplorable consequences
The most important consequence of the failure was the total weakening of Soviet defense along the entire length of the Southern Front. Quite large forces were invested in the Kharkov boiler (1942). The collapse of hope for a turning point in the war was too painful. And the Wehrmacht, of course, correctly used it.
The Nazis launched large-scale offensives in the Caucasus direction, as well as on the Volga. Already at the end of June, passing between Kharkov and Kursk, they broke through to the Don. The Kharkov cauldron in 1942 cost a lot - several high-ranking military leaders added to the lists of the dead, including commanders of armies and fronts. But even with the retreat of parts of the Southwestern Front, the losses were considerable. While the Germans took Voronezh and moved to Rostov, the Soviet army lost prisoners from 80 to 200 thousand soldiers. Having taken Rostov closer to the end of July, at the beginning of August the enemy went to Stalingrad, a boundary that the Germans could no longer overcome.
About the current situation near Kharkov, as the last triumph of the Wehrmacht in the USSR, wrote a book by Konstantin Bykov - "Kharkov Cauldron of 1942."
Return to Kharkov
In fact, battles on the Kharkiv borders went on more than once. And that is understandable. Hitler began his offensive precisely with Belarus and Ukraine. On the approaches to Kharkov, Soviet troops have already begun to navigate and have learned how to repulse enemies. So, the first Kharkov boiler in 1941 "boiled" throughout October. Then the two sides fought desperately for the industrial wealth of the city. However, by the time the city fell, most of the most important industries were either exported or destroyed.
A third clash at the same frontiers occurred a year after the second battle. The next Kharkov boiler - 1943 - was formed in February-March on the territory between Kharkov and Voronezh. And this time the city was also commissioned. Losses on both sides were more than impressive.