Third Battle of Kharkov by Army Groups South and Center against the protruding Kursk salient. Because of Hitler's obsession with preserving the front, he chose the "forehand method", which led to the Battle of Kursk. Further reading Third Battle of Kharkov The Third Battle of Kharkov was a series of battles on the Eastern Front of World War II, undertaken by the German Army Group South against the Red Army, around the city of Kharkov (or "Kharkiv") between 19 February and 15 March 1943. Known to the German side as the Donets Campaign, and in the Soviet Union as the Donbas and Kharkov operations,
Battle of Kursk German historian Karl-Heinz Frieser. German historian Roman Töppel disagrees. Having consulted the armies and units archives, he writes that Krivosheyev's figures on Soviet losses at Kursk are underestimated by 40%. Krivosheyev calculated total Soviet losses during the German offensive as 177,877 casualties. The Central Front suffered 15,336 irrecoverable casualties and 18,561 medical casualties, for a total of 33,897 casualties. The Voronezh Front suffered 27,542 irrecoverable casualties and 46,350 medical casualties, for a total of 73,892. The Steppe Front suffered 27,452 irrecoverable casualties and 42,606 medical casualties, for a total of 70,085. During the two Soviet offensives, total casualties amounted to