Third Battle of Kharkov
By this time the main preoccupation of the "STAVKA" was the German successes in the first phases of the Third Battle of Kharkov. It began reassigning its reserve forces in the south on the evening of February 28. The 252nd was reassigned to the 24th Army with a directive to the Army's commander: As the crisis deepened, on March 12 the "STAVKA" ordered the creation of a Reserve Front, to which 24th Army was assigned.