August 1943

Eastern Front

The Stavka brings its Mga Operation to a close, having failed to drive the XXVI Corps of the 18th Army out of its Mga defenses. The fighting has cost the Soviets 20,890 killed and missing and 59,047 wounded.

Manstein, refusing to rusk further losses in a useless battle at Kharkov, orders the withdrawal of Detachment Kempf, against Hitler's orders. The fighting along the Mius intensifies as the South Front presses back Hollidt's 6th Army. With his forces under attack from Kharkov to the Azov Sea, Manstein is unable to draw upon any reserves. A strength return by the 6th Army shows the sheer weight of Soviet forces against Army Group South. The 6th Army deploys the XXIX, XVII and IV Corps, the XXIX with 8,706 men against 69,000 Soviets, XVII Corps with 9,284 against 49,500, while IV Corps has 13,143 ment against 18,000 Soviet troops. The weakened German armored forces are also facing formidable numbers of Soviet forces; the 4th Panzer Army faces 490 Soviet tanks, Detachment Kempf faces 360 tanks, the 1st Panzer Army 220 and the 6th Army 400. Army Group A, reduced to only the 17th Army in the Kuban, has 21 divisins with around 270,000 men between the V Corps , XLIX Mountain Corps and XLIV Corps. Manstein repeatedly requests the withdrawal of these valuable men, the quarter of a million troops being sorely needed against the overwhelming Soviet armies facing Army Group South.