Battle for Kharkiv was played from February 21 to March 18, 1943. It is assumed that about 70,000 soldiers took part in the battle on the German side, while on the Soviet side - about 340,000. soldiers. On the German side was commanded by Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, while on the Soviet side - Marshal Filip Golikow. The genesis of the Battle of Kharkiv in 1943 dates back to the German defeat at Stalingrad in February 1943 and the Red Army's move to the west offensive in the area of today's south-west Russia, which was aimed at the German Army Group "South". At the beginning of February 1943, Soviet troops liberated, among others, Kharkiv, Kursk and Belgorod. At the same time, however, despite the successes, the Soviet troops were stretched significantly, their logistics was defective and, above all, they suffered relatively high losses in the course of their offensive operations. In this situation, despite the significant numerical superiority of the enemy, the German troops (especially armored forces - including the 2nd SS Panzer Corps) launched the offensive and in the period from February 21 to 28, 1943, they encircled and destroyed the Red Army troops fighting south of Kharkiv. On March 4, the II Corps entered the city, retaking it from the Soviet hands until March 15, and three days later Belgorod was recaptured. The Battle of Kharkiv stabilized the eastern front until the Battle of the Kursk in July 1943. In the course of the fighting, the Soviets lost about 80,000 people, while the German side - about 11,000 people.
Joachim Peiper was born in January 1915 and died in July 1976 at the age of 61. He was the German commander of motorized and mechanized units within the SS and Waffen-SS. He was born into a family with a certain military tradition, as his father served as a captain in German East Africa during the First World War. Joachim Peiper joined the SS at the age of 18, and a year later, in 1934, he was promoted to the rank of SS man and SS-Sturmmann. At the beginning of World War II, he was the personal adjutant of Heinrich Himmler. In May 1940, he obtained Himmler's permission to participate in the fighting in France, where he served in the 3rd Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler Battalion. In the course of these fights he showed personal courage, for which he was decorated with the Iron Cross. At the end of 1941, she joined the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler unit fighting on the Eastern Front. In the period 1941-1943 Joachim Peiper participated in the battles in the USSR, fighting between Rostov-on-Don, Kharkiv and the Kursk Arch. In the course of the fights, he showed not only personal courage, commanding talents and a considerable tactical sense, but also bestiality towards the civilian population. After the defeat at the Kursk, he was transferred to Italy, where he massacred the civilian population in the town of Boves. At the end of 1943, he returned to the Eastern Front, fighting near ¯ytomierz. At the beginning of 1944, he was transferred to France, and later - from June this year - he participated in the battles with the Allied forces in Normandy. During the offensive in the Ardennes at the turn of 1944-1945, he participates in the offensive in the Ardennes, commanding his own Kampfgruppe. It is likely that he knew about the crimes of his subordinates committed against the American prisoners of war in Malmedy. After the end of World War II, he was tried for war crimes. Originally sentenced to death, later changed to life imprisonment, he was released from prison in 1956. He worked for the Porsche company for several years, and then moved to France, where in not fully explained circumstances he died in a fire in his own home in 1976.