page_title: Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist
section_title: Operation Fredericus
hierarchical_section_title: Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist / World War II / Invasion of the Soviet Union / Operation Fredericus
caption_attribution_description: English: General Ewald von Kleist greets the Italian officer at a bridge near Dnepropetrovsk
context_page_description: Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist was a German field marshal during World War II. Kleist was the commander of Panzer Group Kleist, the first operational formation of several Panzer corps in the Wehrmacht during the Battle of France, the Battle of Belgium, the Invasion of Yugoslavia and Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union.
  Kleist was appointed commander-in-chief of Army Group A during the last days of Case Blue, the 1942 German summer offensive in southern Russia. His disagreements with Hitler over strategic decisions led to his dismissal in March 1944 after the German defeat in right-bank Ukraine.
  Following the war, Kleist was extradited to the Soviet Union where he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for war crimes; he died in prison.
context_section_description: During the Second Battle of Kharkov on 17 May 1942 as part of Operation Fredericus, Kleist's 1st Panzer Army attacked the Barvenkovo bridgehead from the south, advancing up to ten kilometres in the first day of the attack. On 19 May, the German 6th Army led by General Friedrich Paulus launched an offensive north of the bridgehead, encircling the Soviet 6th Army and 57th Army. After six days of encirclement, both armies were destroyed. By 28 May Kleist and Paulus' armies had captured 240,000 prisoners and destroyed or captured over 1250 Soviet tanks and 2000 artillery pieces.
caption: Kleist greeting an Italian officer near Dnepropetrovsk, 1941
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