World War II History: How the Soviets Failed at "Operation Gallop"
World War II History: How the Soviets Failed at "Operation Gallop" The combination of Soviet ambition and von Manstein’s brilliant handling of the battle culminated in a bloody defeat for the Red Army. The stage was now set for one of von Manstein’s greatest accomplishments—the recapture of Kharkov—which would take place in mid-March. As Adolf Hitler’s vaunted Sixth Army lay in its death throes in the ruins of Stalingrad, German forces to the west of the city faced their own kind of hell. The inner ring of the Russians’ iron grip at Stalingrad was tasked with the total destruction...