Belgorod - Khar ' kov Offensive Operation The Belgorod - Khar ' kov Offensive Operation or Fourth Battle of Kharkov ( 12 August 1943 - 23 August 1943 ) was an operation conducted as part of Operation Polkovodets Rumyantsev between the Red Army and Wehrmacht forces around the city of Kharkov ( now " Kharkiv " ) . It was one of the operations that followed the Battle of Kursk . Prelude . Following the Battle of Kursk , the Red Army launched Operation Polkovodets Rumyantsev on 3 August 1943 , which aimed to retake the cities of Belgorod and Kharkov ( now " Kharkiv " ) . On the first day , the units of the Voronezh Front quickly penetrated the German front - line defences on the boundary of the 4th Panzer Army and Army Group " Kempf " , between Tomarovka and Belgorod and gained 100 kilometres in a sector along the Akhtyrka - Bogodukhov - Olshany - Zolochev line along the banks of the Merla river . By 12 August where they were finally halted by German armoured units of the III Panzer Corps . On 5 August 1943 XI Corps evacuated the city of Belgorod . ( see Belgorod - Bogodukhov Offensive Operation ) Following its withdrawal from Belgorod on the night of 5 / 6 August 1943 the XI Army Corps under the command of ( Raus ) now held defensive positions south of the city between the Donets & Lopan Rivers north of Kharkov . The XI Army Corps consisted of a " Kampfgruppe " from the 167th Infantry Division , the 168th , 106th , 198th , 320th Infantry Divisions , and the 6th Panzer Division which acted as was the corps reserve . This constituted a deep salient east into Soviet lines and was subject to outflanking attempts on the corps left flank , indeed Soviet armoured units had already appeared 20 miles behind the corps front line . XI Army Corps now made a series of phased withdrawals toward Kharkov to prevent encirclement . Only reaching the final defenses north of the city on 12 August 1943 , following breakthroughs by the 57th & 69th armies in several sectors of the front - line , the disintegration of the 168th Infantry Division and after an intervention by the corps reserve . When its attempts to force a breakthrough in the Bogodukhov - Olshany - Zolochev met with frustration along the Merla River , the Steppe Front directed its assaults towards Korotich , a sector held by 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich to cut the Poltava - Kharkov rail link . Fierce fighting ensued , in which Korotich was captured by the 5th Guards Mechanised Corps and subsequently recaptured by grenadiers from 2nd SS then to remain under German control , but the 5th Guards Tank Army ( Pavel Rotmistrov ) did cut the rail link finally on 22 August 1943 . The loss of this vital line of communication ; while not fatal in itself , was a serious blow to the ability of Army Group Kempf , to defend the city from the constant Red Army attacks . This meant critical delays of supplies and reinforcements , and the unit ' s position was becoming increasingly untenable . The way to Poltava now remained open , but Vatutin hesitated to push through while the Germans flanking the gap held firm . Instead , he turned his left flank armies ; the 5th Guards Tank Army and the 5th Guards Army , against the western front of Army Group Kempf where the 2nd and 3rd SS Panzer Divisions fought to keep the front angled south westward away from Kharkov . On the weaker east front of Army Group Kempf , the Soviet 57th Army cleared the right bank of the Donets between Chuguyev & Zmiyev , but the army command somehow could not quite bring itself to try for a full scale breakthrough . These threats had led to a request by General Werner Kempf to abandon the city on 12 August 1943 . Erich von Manstein did not object , but Adolf Hitler countered with an order that the city had to be held " under all circumstances " . After a prediction that the order to hold Kharkov would produce " another Stalingrad " , on 14 August 1943 Manstein relieved Kempf and appointed General Otto Wöhler in his place . A few days later , Army Group Kempf was renamed the 8th Army . Kharkov now constituted a deep German salient to the east , which prevented the red army from making use of this vital traffic and supply centre . Following boastful reports made by Soviet radio that Soviet troops had entered the city , when in fact it was still held by XI Army Corps , Joseph Stalin personally ordered its immediate capture . General Raus the officer commanding the city takes up the story : The supply situation in Kharkov was now catastrophic ; artillerymen after firing their last rounds , were abandoning their guns to fight as infantrymen . The army ' s supply depot had five trainloads of spare tank tracks leftover from " Zitadelle " but very little else . The high consumption of ammunition in the last month and a half had cut into supplies put aside for the last two weeks of August and the first two weeks of September ; until the turn of the month the army would have to get along with fifty percent of its daily average requirements in artillery & tank ammunition . XI Army Corps now had a combat strength of only 4 , 000 infantrymen , one man for every ten yards of front . General Erhard Raus explains the intensity of the constant Russian attacks : Wöhler , recognizing the hopelessness of the situation , did not prove anymore resolute , in view of the harsh realities facing the defenders of Kharkov , he knew that the depleted Infantry regiments could not hold their positions without copious artillery support . Two days after taking command of 8th Army , Wöhler also asked Manstein for permission to abandon the city . Regardless of Hitler ' s demand that the city be held , Wöhler & Manstein agreed that the city could not be defended for long , given the diminishing German strength and the overwhelming size of Soviet reserves . On 21 August 1943 , Manstein gave his consent to withdraw from Kharkov . The largely destroyed Soviet city , which changed hands several times during the war , was about to be recaptured by the Soviets for the last time . During the day of 22 August 1943 , the Germans began their exodus from the city under great pressure from the Soviets . The 57th & 69th Armies pushed in from three sides with the coming of daylight . The Soviets sensed that the Germans were evacuating Kharkov , due to the lessening of artillery fire and diminishing resistance in the front lines . Later in the day , thunderous explosions were heard as ammo dumps were blown . Large German columns were then observed leaving the city and the Soviet troops pushed into the town itself . Moving out of Kharkov to the south , the Germans desperately fought to hold open a corridor through which a withdrawal could be made . All along the corridor through which the 8th Army evacuated Kharkov , Soviet artillery and mortars pounded the withdrawal . Their planes gathered for the kill and attacked the German columns leaving the city , strafing & bombing the men & vehicles . After dark , the 89th Guards and 107th Rifle Division s broke into the interior of the city , driving the last German rearguard detachment s before them . Enormous fires were set by the Germans in hope of delaying the Soviet advance . The city became a hellish place of fire and smoke , artillery fire & desperate combat , punctuated by the explosions of supply dumps . By 0200 on 23 August 1943 , elements of the 183rd Rifle Division pushed into the city centre , reached the huge " Dzerzhinsky Square " and met men from the 89th Rifle Division . The victorious Soviet troops hoisted a red banner over the city once again . By 1100 , Kharkov and its outskirts had been liberated completely . The fourth and final battle for the city was over . Aftermath . By re - establishing a continuous front on Army Group South ' s left flank , the 4th Panzer Army and the 8th Army had for the moment , blunted a deadly thrust , but to the north and southeast fresh blows had already been dealt or were in the making . Employing the peculiar rippling effect that marked their offensives , the Red Army , thwarted in one place , had shifted to others . For the first time in the war they had the full strategic initiative , and they grasped it jealously without regard for economy of effort , tactical sophistication , or the danger of overreaching themselves . The failure of Operation Citadel doomed the Germans to the permanent loss of the strategic initiative on the Eastern Front without any hope of regaining it , although Hitler refused to acknowledge it . The terrible losses in manpower that the Germans suffered in July and August 1943 severely crippled both Army Groups South & Centre . Operations Polkovodets Rumyantsev , along with the concurrent Operation Kutuzov marked the first time in the war that the Germans were not able to defeat a major Soviet offensive during the summer and regain their lost ground and the strategic initiative .