Prit Buttar - On a Knife’s Edge: The Ukraine, November 1942–March 1943

DEDICATION

For Rob

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This electronic edition published in 2018 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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First published in Great Britain in 2018

Prit Buttar, 2018

Prit Buttar has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work.

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ISBN: 978-1-4728-2834-7 (HB)
ISBN: 978-1-4728-3500-0 (PB)
ISBN: 978-1-4728-2835-4 (eBook)
ISBN: 978-1-4728-2836-1 (ePDF)
ISBN: 978-1-4728-2837-8 (XML)

Front cover: A wounded German soldier receives treatment in the Poltawa battle zone, 1943. (Getty Images)

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CONTENTS

LIST OF MAPS

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

GERMANY

Oberstleutnant Wilhelm Adam adjutant to Paulus

Major Franz Bke commander II Battalion, 11th Panzer Regiment

Generalmajor Hermann Balck commander 11th Panzer Division

Field Marshal Fedor von Bock commander Army Group South

Obergruppenfhrer Joseph Dietrich commander LSSAH

Generalleutnant Karl Eibl commander 385th Infantry Division, then XXIV Panzer Corps

Obergruppenfhrer Theodor Eicke commander SS-Totenkopf

Generalleutnant Martin Fiebig commander Fliegerkorps VIII

General Maximilian Fretter-Pico commander of eponymous Armee Abteilung

Generaloberst Franz Halder chief of the general staff

Leutnant Hans Hallfelz reconnaissance platoon commander, 6th Panzer Division

Obergruppenfhrer Paul Hausser commander II SS Panzer Corps

Generalmajor Otto Heidkmper commander XXIV Panzer Corps

Generalleutnant Ferdinand Heim commander XLVIII Panzer Corps

Generaloberst Gotthard Heinrici commander XL Panzer Corps

General Karl-Adolf Hollidt commander of eponymous Armee Abteilung

Generaloberst Hermann Hoth commander Fourth Panzer Army

Oberst Walther von Hnersdorff commander 11th Panzer Regiment

Generalleutnant Arno Jahr commander 387th Infantry Division, then XXIV Panzer Corps

Generaloberst Hans Jeschonnek chief of staff of the Luftwaffe

General Werner Kempf commander of eponymous Armee Gruppe

Major Franz-Joachim Kinitz chief of staff, 11th Panzer Division

Generalleutnant Friedrich Kirchner commander LVII Panzer Corps

Bodo Kleine junior NCO in 377th Infantry Division

Field Marshal Ewald von Kleist commander Army Group A

Field Marshal Gunther von Kluge commander Army Group Centre

General Otto von Knobelsdorff commander XLVIII Panzer Corps

Generalleutnant Hans Kreysing commander 3rd Mountain Division

General Hubert Lanz commander of eponymous corps

Generalmajor (Generalleutnant January 1943) Arno von Lenski commander 24th Panzer Division

Oberst Richard Lepper battlegroup commander in Sixth Army

Generalmajor Hans-Georg Leyser commander 29th Motorised Infantry Division

Major Erich Lwe commander I Battalion, 11th Panzer Regiment

Generalmajor Walther Lucht commander 336th Infantry Division

General Eberhard von Mackensen commander First Panzer Army

Field Marshal Erich von Manstein commander Army Group Don, later Army Group South

Oberst Friedrich von Mellenthin chief of staff, XLVIII Panzer Corps

General (Generaloberst November 1942, Field Marshal January 1943) Friedrich Paulus commander Sixth Army

Obergruppenfhrer Joachim Peiper commander of Kampfgruppe Ltlampe, LSSAH

Generalmajor Wolfgang Pickert commander 9th Flak Division

Generalleutnant Georg Postel commander 320th Infantry Division

Obergruppenfhrer Hermann Priess commander SS-Totenkopf

Generalmajor Erhard Raus commander 6th Panzer Division

Rittmeister Heinrich Remlinger commander I Battalion, 4th Panzergrenadier Regiment

Generaloberst Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen commander Luftflotte IV

Oberst Eberhard Rodt commander 22nd Panzer Division

Oberleutnant Hans-Ulrich Rudel commander Sturtzkampfgeschwader 2

Generaloberst Hans von Salmuth commander Second Army

Oberleutnant Horst Scheibert commander of 4th Panzer Company, 6th Panzer Division

Generalleutnant Arthur Schmidt chief of staff, Sixth Army

General Walther von Seydlitz-Kurtzbach commander LI Corps

Oberstleutnant (Oberst December 1942, Generalmajor February 1943) Rainer Stahel commander of eponymous battlegroup

Oberstleutnant Hyazinth von Strachwitz commander Grossdeutschland Panzer Regiment

Brigadefhrer Herbert-Ernst Vahl commander SS-Das Reich

Brigadefhrer Kurt Wahl commander SS-Das Reich

Generalleutnant Martin Wandel commander XXIV Panzer Corps

Field Marshal Maximilian von Weichs commander Army Group B

Oberst Walther Wenck chief of staff 3rd Romanian Army, then chief of staff Armee Abteilung Hollidt

Generaloberst Kurt Zeitzler chief of the general staff

Oberst Helmut Zollendorf commander 114th Panzergrenadier Regiment

HUNGARY

Colonel-General Vitz Jny commander Second Army

Major General Gyrgy Rakovsky commander III Corps

ITALY

Lieutenant Eugenio Corti artillery officer in Pasubio Division