Third Battle of Kharkov
Throughout the spring and early summer, 1943, Richthofen began preparing his air fleet for Operation Citadel, and the Battle of Kursk, the major summer campaign which was supposed to repeat the Kharkov victory on a larger scale, and turn the tide in the east back in the Axis favour. Richthofen did not take part. The Third Battle of Kharkov proved to be his last battle in the Soviet Union, and he was transferred to the Mediterranean to begin operations there.