Von Manstein's Castling

At the start of 1943, the German Wehrmacht faced a crisis. A Soviet attack crossing the Donets River liberated the cities of Kursk, Belgorod and Kharkov. It threatened to cut off the entire German Army Group South. Erich von Manstein …

1943-02-19

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At the start of 1943, the German Wehrmacht faced a crisis. A Soviet attack crossing the Donets River liberated the cities of Kursk, Belgorod and Kharkov. It threatened to cut off the entire German Army Group South. Erich von Manstein was put in command of Army Group South to organise a counter offensive to allow the remaining troops around Stalingrad to retreat. Von Manstein’s plan was to conquer the area around Kharkov and Belgorod in a combined attack by several Panzer forces moving through the area from south to north and the Leibstandarte infantry division moving from west to east. This manoeuvre would switch the positions on the front of infantry and armoured divisions without pulling forces from the front, bringing armoured divisions in position for Operation Citadel. This plan was called “Von Manstein’s Castling”.

Kharkov, Russia

The Third Battle of Kharkov was a series of battles on the Eastern Front of World War II, undertaken by the German Army Group South against the Red Army, around the city of Kharkov between 19 February and 15 March 1943. Known to the German side as the Donets Campaign, and in the Soviet Union as the Donbas and Kharkov operations, the German counterstrike led to the recapture of the cities of Kharkov and Belgorod.

Wikipedia: Third Battle of Kharkov

Russian

German

Game Type: Standard

Board Type: Winter

Website Access: Available