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 the war decreased. The opposite was true for Stalin; throughout the Kursk campaign, he trusted the judgement of his commanders, and as their decisions led to battlefield success it increased his trust in their military judgement. Stalin stepped back from operational planning, only rarely overruling military decisions, resulting in the Red Army gaining more freedom of action during the course of the war. The casualties suffered by the two combatants are difficult to determine, due to several factors. In regard to the Germans, equipment losses were complicated by the fact that they made determined efforts to recover and repair tanks.