First Battle of Kharkov

First Battle of Kharkov
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
German infantry and armored vehicles battle Soviet defenders on the streets of Kharkov
Date 20–24 October 1941 Location Kharkov, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union Result German victory
Belligerents
Germany	Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Erwin Vierow Anton Dostler Josef Brauner von Haydringen Kurt von Barisani	Vladimir Tsiganov
Strength
Two divisions 1 Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 10,000–30,000 men (est.) 12 StuG III	One division
Casualties and losses
unknown	unknown, but probably higher

The 1st Battle of Kharkov, so named by Wilhelm Keitel, was the 1941 tactical battle for the city of Kharkov (now Kharkiv) (Ukrainian SSR) during the final phase of Operation Barbarossa between the German 6th Army of Army Group South and the Soviet Southwestern Front. The Soviet 38th Army was ordered to defend the city while its factories were dismantled for relocation farther east.

The German 6th Army needed to take the city in order to close the widening gap between the 4th Panzer Group and the 17th Army. By 20 October the Germans had reached the western edge of the city, it was taken by the 57th Infantry Division by 24 October. In that time, however, most of Kharkov's industrial equipment had been evacuated or rendered useless by the Soviet authorities.

In the autumn of 1941, Kharkov was considered one of the Soviets' most important strategic bases for railroad and airline connections. It not only connected the east-west and north-south parts of Ukraine, but also several central regions of the USSR including the Crimea, the Caucasus, the Dnieper region, and Donbas.

Kharkov was one of the largest industrial centers of the Soviet Union. One of its greatest contributions was the Soviet T-34 tank that was both designed and developed at the Kharkov Tractor Factory. It was considered to be the most powerful tank plant in the country. Other factories that were located in the city included the Kharkov Aircraft Plant, Kharkov Plant of the NKVD (FED), and the Kharkov Turbine Plant. Military products that were in Kharkov before the battle started included: tanks, Su-2, artillery tractors, 82 mm mortars, sub-machine guns, ammunition, and other military equipment. The main objective for the German troops was to capture the railroad and military plants, thus they desperately tried to keep the industrial area of Kharkov intact. Adolf Hitler himself stressed the importance of those military plants stating: "… The second in importance is south of Russia, particularly the Donets Basin, ranging from the Kharkov region. There is the whole basis of [the] Russian economy; if the area is mastered then it would inevitably lead to the collapse of the entire Russian (sic - Soviet) economy…"

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