Afiero, Massimiliano 2. SS-Panzer-Division Das Reich. Band 1: Operación Tifón 1941. Reconquista de Kharkov 1943

Volume 49 of the series "Imágenes de Guerra" describes the deployment of the 2nd SS Panzer Division "Das Reich" during Operation "Typhoon" in the winter of 1941 as well as its role in the recapture of Kharkov in 1943.

On 6 September 1941, while the battle for Kiev was still raging, Adolf Hitler prepared the future offensive of Army Group "Mite" towards Moscow in his 35th directive. This was Operation Typhoon. However, the offensive on Kiev had delayed the German plans and considerably weakened the Wehrmacht's shock troops. This delay had allowed the Soviet forces to organise numerous lines of defence in front of Moscow and to send newly formed armies into the area of the capital. The officers of one of the German advance units, the SS division "Das Reich", as it was then called, could already see the Kremlin towers through their binoculars. Only 16 kilometres separated their positions from the centre of the Soviet capital. Stalin and his government had left the city, and it seemed that one last push would be enough for the swastika flag to wave triumphantly over Red Square. But Operation Typhoon did not end with the expected success. Attacks and counterattacks followed in various sectors, and a particularly cold winter set in. The war on the Eastern Front was expected to be long and hard. In the pages of this book, the reader follows the dramatic development of the campaign as they accompany the men of the reorganised SS Panzer Grenadier Division "Das Reich" to the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov, where, as part of the SS Panzer Corps, they took part in the counterattack designed to push back the Red Army, emboldened by the victory at Stalingrad