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Kharkov: The Backhand Blow (January 1942 - May 1942)

Kharkov: The Backhand Blow (January 1942 - May 1942)

The Second Battle of Kharkov, so named by Wilhelm Keitel, was an Axis counteroffensive against the Red Army Izium bridgehead offensive conducted from May 12th to May 28th, 1942, on the Eastern Front during World War II. Its objective was to eliminate the Izium bridgehead over Seversky Donets, or the "Barvenkovo bulge" which was one of the Soviet offensive's staging areas. After a successful winter counteroffensive that had driven German troops away from Moscow, but also depleted the Red Army's reserves, the Kharkov offensive was a new Soviet attempt to expand upon their strategic initiative, although it failed to secure a significant element of surprise.

On May 12th, 1942, Soviet forces under the command of Marshal Semyon Timoshenko launched an offensive against the German 6th Army from a salient established during the winter counteroffensive. After initial promising signs, the offensive was stopped by German counterattacks. Critical errors by several staff officers and by Joseph Stalin himself, who failed to accurately estimate the 6th Army's potential and overestimated their own newly-trained forces, led to a successful German pincer attack cutting off advancing Soviet troops from the rest of the front.

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Soviet Polikarpov I-16 Fighter - G. Tsokalayev, 4th Guards Regiment, Leningrad, 1942 Soviet Polikarpov I-16 Fighter - G. Tsokalayev, 4th Guards Regiment, Leningrad, 1942 (1:72 Scale)

The Polikarpov I-16 was a Soviet fighter aircraft of revolutionary design; it was the world's first low-wing cantilever monoplane fighter with retractable landing gear to have attained operational status and as such "introduced a new vogue in fighter design."

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Italian Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana Macchi C.202 Folgore Fighter - Capt. Carlo Maurizio Ruspoli, 91 Squadriglia, 10 Gruppo, 4 Stormo, Fuka, Egypt, 1942 Italian Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana Macchi C.202 Folgore Fighter - 356 Squadriglia, 21 Gruppo Autonomo Caccia Terrestre, Regia Aeronautica, Russia, 1942 (1:72 Scale)

The Macchi C.202 Folgore (Italian "thunderbolt") was a World War II fighter aircraft built by Macchi Aeronautica and operated by the Regia Aeronautica (RA; Royal (Italian) Air Force).

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German Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2 "Gustav" Fighter - "Yellow 1", Oberleutnant Hermann Graf, Staffelkapitan 9./Jagdgeschwader 52, Pitomnik, Russia, September 1942 German Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2 "Gustav" Fighter - "Yellow 1", Oberleutnant Hermann Graf, Staffelkapitan 9./Jagdgeschwader 52, Pitomnik, Russia, September 1942 (1:72 Scale)

Numerically the most abundant fighter produced by either side during WWII, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 formed the backbone of the Jagdwaffe on both the eastern and western fronts, as well as in the Mediterranean and North Africa. Of the eight distinct sub-types within the huge Bf 109 family, the most populous was the G-model, of which over 30,000 were built between 1941-45.

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German Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 "Gustav" Fighter - "Yellow 6," Ofw. Alfred Surau, 9./Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet," Germany, September 1943 German Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 "Gustav" Fighter - "Yellow 6," Ofw. Alfred Surau, 9./Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet," Germany, September 1943 (1:72 Scale)

Numerically the most abundant fighter produced by either side during WWII, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 formed the backbone of the Jagdwaffe on both the eastern and western fronts, as well as in the Mediterranean and North Africa. Of the eight distinct sub-types within the huge Bf 109 family, the most populous was the G-model, of which over 30,000 were built between 1941-45.

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German Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2 "Gustav" Fighter - "Black 6", Heinz Ludeman, 8./Jagdgeschwader 77, Gambut, Libya, November 1942 German Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2 "Gustav" Fighter - "Black 6", Heinz Ludeman, 8./Jagdgeschwader 77, Gambut, Libya, November 1942 (1:72 Scale)

Numerically the most abundant fighter produced by either side during WWII, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 formed the backbone of the Jagdwaffe on both the eastern and western fronts, as well as in the Mediterranean and North Africa. Of the eight distinct sub-types within the huge Bf 109 family, the most populous was the G-model, of which over 30,000 were built between 1941-45.

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German Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2 "Gustav" Fighter - Oberleutnant Gunther Rall, Staffelkapitan 8./Jagdgeschwader 52, Gostanovka, Russia, August 1942 German Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2 "Gustav" Fighter - Oberleutnant Gunther Rall, Staffelkapitan 8./Jagdgeschwader 52, Gostanovka, Russia, August 1942 (1:72 Scale)

Numerically the most abundant fighter produced by either side during WWII, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 formed the backbone of the Jagdwaffe on both the eastern and western fronts, as well as in the Mediterranean and North Africa. Of the eight distinct sub-types within the huge Bf 109 family, the most populous was the G-model, of which over 30,000 were built between 1941-45.

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German Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 "Gustav" Fighter - "Red 8", Kurt Gabler, "Mosquito Hunter", III./Jagdgeschwader 300, Juterbog-Waldlager, Germany, July 1944 German Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 "Gustav" Fighter - "Red 8", Kurt Gabler, "Mosquito Hunter", III./Jagdgeschwader 300, Juterbog-Waldlager, Germany, July 1944 (1:72 Scale)

Numerically the most abundant fighter produced by either side during WWII, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 formed the backbone of the Jagdwaffe on both the eastern and western fronts, as well as in the Mediterranean and North Africa. Of the eight distinct sub-types within the huge Bf 109 family, the most populous was the G-model, of which over 30,000 were built between 1941-45.

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German Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6/U2 "Gustav" Fighter - "White 16", 1./Jagdgeschwader 301, July 1944 [75th Anniversary of the D-Day Invasion] German Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6/U2 "Gustav" Fighter - "White 16", 1./Jagdgeschwader 301, July 1944 [75th Anniversary of the D-Day Invasion] (1:72 Scale)

Numerically the most abundant fighter produced by either side during WWII, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 formed the backbone of the Jagdwaffe on both the eastern and western fronts, as well as in the Mediterranean and North Africa. Of the eight distinct sub-types within the huge Bf 109 family, the most populous was the G-model, of which over 30,000 were built between 1941-45.

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German Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2 "Gustav" Tropical Fighter - "Yellow 14" Hans Joachim Marseille, 3./Jagdgeschwader 27 "Afrika", Quotaifiya, Egypt, September 30th, 1942 German Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2 "Gustav" Tropical Fighter - "Yellow 14", Hans Joachim Marseille, 3./Jagdgeschwader 27 "Afrika", Quotaifiya, Egypt, September 30th, 1942 (1:72 Scale)

Numerically the most abundant fighter produced by either side during WWII, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 formed the backbone of the Jagdwaffe on both the eastern and western fronts, as well as in the Mediterranean and North Africa. Of the eight distinct sub-types within the huge Bf 109 family, the most populous was the G-model, of which over 30,000 were built between 1941-45.

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German Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 "Gustav" Fighter - Black Double Chevron 'Mickey Mouse', Hptm. Horst Carganico, CO II./Jagdgeschwader 5 "Eismeer", Pskow South Airfield, Soviet Union, Early 1944 German Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 "Gustav" Fighter - Black Double Chevron 'Mickey Mouse', Hptm. Horst Carganico, CO II./Jagdgeschwader 5 "Eismeer", Pskow South Airfield, Soviet Union, Early 1944 (1:72 Scale)

Numerically the most abundant fighter produced by either side during WWII, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 formed the backbone of the Jagdwaffe on both the eastern and western fronts, as well as in the Mediterranean and North Africa. Of the eight distinct sub-types within the huge Bf 109 family, the most populous was the G-model, of which over 30,000 were built between 1941-45.

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German Dornier Do 17Z-2 Light Bomber - 7 Staffel, Kampfgeschwader Blitz, Russian Front, Winter 1941-42 German Dornier Do 17Z-2 Light Bomber - 7 Staffel, Kampfgeschwader 3 "Blitz", Russian Front, Winter 1941-42 (1:72 Scale)

The Dornier Do 17, sometimes referred to as the Fliegender Bleistift ("flying pencil"), was a World War II German light bomber produced by Claudius Dornier's company, Dornier Flugzeugwerke. It was designed as a Schnellbomber, a light bomber, which in theory, would be so fast that it could outrun defending fighter aircraft.

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