July 1943

Eastern Front

The 11th Army supports the attacks of the 11th Guards Army while the 4th Tank Army tries to speed up the advance. The LV Corps manages to slow the Soviet advance, inflicting heavy losses. To the east the XXXV and LIII Corps continue their dogged resistance against the 3rd and 63rd Armies.

Tolbukhin's South Front and Malinovsky's Southwest Front begin probing attacks along the Mius and Donets. Light attacks strike Mackensen's 1st Panzer and Hollidt's 6th Armies, alerting Manstein to what he believes is the next Soviet offensive. He therefore begins to move II SS Panzer Corps south to deal with this threat. This move denudes the southern face of the Kursk sector of a significant portion of its armor, 4th Panzer retaining the battered XLVIII Panzer Corps while XXIV Panzer Corps remains in reserve. The latter unit will also soon leave for the Mius line. Manstein is not expecting a major Soviet attack north of Kharkov, believing the Voronezh Front to be spent and being unaware of the existence of large-scale Soviet reserves.