An important administrative and railroad city in Eastern Ukraine, Kharkov was the scene of five battles during World War II and changed hands four times.

During the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Kharkov fell to the Sixth German Army on October 24, 1941. From here, the Germans advanced 25 miles to the east, stopping at the Donets River. Adolf Hitler decided this would be the rallying point for the 1942 summer offensive. Soviet Red Army planners called for five armies to cross the Donets 75 miles southwest of Kharkov, then form a salient that would retake the city.

On May 12, 1942, Marshal SemyonTimoshenko led his Southwest Front (a "front" is the Red Army equivalent of the Western allies' army group) in an advance on Kharkov. On May 17, the Sixth and First German Panzer armies counterattacked with converging advances along the Donets from the north and south. Timoshenko pulled up short, halting 15 miles outside the city on May 20. His timing was bad, and the German forces encircled his armies by May 23. When the battle was over, on May 28, Timoshenko had lost more than 250,000 troops and 1,200 tanks. It was a disastrous defeat.

On February 11, 1943, two armies of General N. F. Vatutin's Voronezh Front crossed the Donets east of Kharkov. Hitler ordered three SS panzer divisions to hold the city, which he wanted as a fortress. By February 16, however, the Soviet armies had enveloped Kharkov, prompting the panzers to abandon the city, which was also in the throes of a popular uprising. The panzers headed south for a distance of 115 miles, where they joined up with the Fourth Panzer Army, under General Hermann Hoth. Then, on March 9, the SS divisions wheeled about, determined to restore their honor by retaking Kharkov. Realizing what was happening, Hoth ordered the SS to bypass the city, but on March 11, the divisions, defying him, entered it and fought a three-day street battle, which ended in German victory on March 13. This prompted Hitler to issue orders for Operation Citadel, with Kharkov as a staging area.

In early August, the Soviet victory in the great tank Battle of Kursk enabled a massive offensive involving 14 Soviet armies and some 1.5 million troops. Kharkov was targeted by four armies of Ivan Konev's Steppe Front. The German defenders were battered and repeatedly appealed to Hitler for permission to withdraw. It was not until August 22, 1943, that Hitler permitted the evacuation, and Kharkov remained in Soviet hands for the rest of the war.

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