2012 · Critical Hit, Inc.
KHARKOV, UKRAINE, 10 March 1943: The SS Forces under Obersturmbannführer Kurt 'Panzer' Meyer led his recon unit to drive through the Russians and form a blocking position in the southeast section of the surrounded city, around the cemetery. Meyer's men passed through the city center and held a blocking position despite being surrounded for two days, armed with the new MG 42 belt fed machine guns aided greatly in their defense, until contact was reestablished by a sister battalion commanded by Major Peiper. Lt. General Rybalko's forces in the city were composed of a Tank Brigade and NKVD security troops of his Third Tank Army. General Rybalko ordered his units to block the German units from moving through the city, establishing defense lines along the small river meandering through Kharkov. The local militias were called up to aid in the defense of the city and many were thrown piece meal against the SS units armed with new "wonder" weapons. Those new weapons included the MG 42, whose rate of fire almost doubled over the previous MG 34, from 600-800 rpm to 1100 to 1200 rpm. The German forces would begin to have a new type of problem, an inability to maintain a high enough level of supply of ammunition to take advantage of the high rate of fire of the MG42. Many soldiers interviewed after the battle were quoted to say that the rate of fire was so high it was impossible to discern acoustically the individual shells firing. Many cited that the machine guns sounded like the tearing of canvas.
On 12 March, the LSSAH made progress into the center of the city of Kharkov, breaking through hardened enemy defenses in the northern suburbs. What followed was a house-to-house bloodbath as the Germans pressed ever closer to city center. By the end of the day, the division had reached a position just two blocks north of Dzerzhinsky Square. The 2nd Panzergrenadier Regiment's 2nd Battalion was able to surround the square, after taking heavy casualties from Soviet snipers and other defenders, by evening. When taken, the square was renamed Platz der Leibstandarte. That night, 2nd Panzergrenadier Regiment's 3rd Battalion, under the command of Joachim Peiper, linked up with the 2nd Battalion in Dzerzhinsky Square and attacked southwards, crossing the Kharkov River and creating a bridgehead, opening the road to Moscow Avenue. Meanwhile, the division's left wing reached the junction of the Volchansk and Chuhuiv exit roads and went on the defensive, fighting off a number of enemy counter-attacks.
In the aftermath of the debacle at Stalingrad it almost defies belief that German soldiers, in this some of the last elite units available on the Eastern Front ... would plunge into the heart of a massive urban center and initiate house-to-house combat. But that's exactly what took place in Kharkov during the winter of 1943 and the results were a victory ... of sorts. The decline of German fortunes in the East were halted and the desire of Hitler to launch another offensi
