Volume 59 of the "Imágenes de Guerra" series. At the beginning of 1943, the German forces on the southern front in Russia found themselves in a serious crisis situation. Since November 1942, the Soviets had launched a series of offensives that threw the Germans back hundreds of kilometres... Manstein was immediately engaged in dealing with the massive Soviet offensives, and when the enemy forces threatened to retake Kharkov, Hitler personally ordered the city to be held at all costs. Manstein and his subordinates disobeyed this insane order and saved their strong divisions. This created the conditions for a major counter-offensive that enabled the recapture of Kharkov.
With the recapture of the Ukrainian city, southern Ukraine was firmly back under German control. Paul Hausser's SS divisions formed the main attack force for the 4th Panzer Army offensive and were instrumental in Manstein's counter-offensive. The SS Panzer Corps divisions won an important victory at a time of grave crisis for the Axis powers.
