183 - The Blitzkrieg is Back - WW2 - February 26 1943

So he's attacking in Tunisia?

Wait, no, what does Rommel think?

Isn't Rommel, like, his boss?

Yes he is.

Um... that's not how command structure works then... is it?

Okay...

Yeah, yeah, talk to you next week.

February 26, 1943

Since November, the Soviets have launched offensive after offensive against the Axis

powers all over the Eastern Front, and have seen a fair amount of success, but this week

something different happens- this week the Germans strike back.

I'm Indy Neidell; this is World War Two.

Last week saw some Axis gains in Tunisia, but the main attacks of the week were all

up and down the Eastern Front in the USSR, where the Red Army was on the move along the

entire southern half, taking two major prizes, Rostov and Kharkov.

In fact, they advanced so far that the Soviet spearheads were just 50km from Erich von Manstein's

Army Group South headquarters, which Adolf Hitler was visiting to talk about the impending

Axis counterstrike.

That counterstrike begins this week.

At the very end of last week, the 19th, Hitler told Manstein and some of the men who were

about to launch the offensive, "The outcome of a crucial battle depends on you!

A thousand kilometers away from the Reich's frontiers the fate of Germany's present and

future is in the balance."

He tells them that ever more divisions are to come east, as well as new and unique weapons.

Manstein has been husbanding the resources he has now- and that are not a future fantasy-

for this counterattack.

He is certain that the Soviet armies are now overextended on their drive to the Dniepr.

He has a point.

By the end of last week Soviet 6th army had a front of 200km for under 30,000 men.

Forward Soviet units by now are only like 20km from Manstein's HQ, but they are out

of fuel; in fact, all of the forward Soviet positions are very short on both fuel and

ammo.

The counterattack is convergent thrusts- by the three divisions of the SS Panzer Corps

from near Poltava in the northwest, and attacks from the south by the 57th Corps on the left

and the 48th on the right, with kickoff as the week begins by the SS Panzers.

Their axis of advance is along the highway from Kharkov to Dniepropetrovsk that goes

through Krasnograd, and it is pretty successful from the get go, after launching at 0500.

By 1100 the skies have also cleared enough for Luftwaffe support to arrive.

The final objective of that first day is the village of Pereschchepyne and taking the bridge