A thin snow layer firmed up the ground in the Kursk-Kharkov Region. Both sides were well aware of what this meant, that the last remnants of the Russian winter were once again prepared to die away. Heavy rains were not far off that would soon largely immobilize both sides. If there was to be any offensive action of significance, the Stavka was all too aware this was the time. In Berlin, the German High Command could not but help come to the same conclusions. To that end, preparations were well in hand to enact countermeasures in this area, regardless of what moves the Russians made. If things went as well as might be expected, perhaps upwards of a half-million enemy troops might be caught in a trap from which they could not escape.
In Moscow, Colonel General Antonov along with his new Deputy for Operations, Major General Sergei Shtemenko laid out to the NKO, the Red Army plan for action.
Colonel General Konev with his Voronezh Front would strike west of Kursk in conjunction with Army General Meretskov’s Bryansk Front and attempt to trap whatever German divisions it could bag.
Simultaneously to the south in the Kharkov Region, Army General Zhukov of Central Front would launch a two-pronged offensive against this key industrial city. A thrust from north to south initiated southwest of Belgorod would link up with a matching force that would drive up from the south and surround the enemy forces there. The Soviets like their German counterparts had dreams of a massive victory that would decide the outcome of the war.
For the Soviets however, their plans called for walking into by all accounts was an obvious trap. All that was lacking was a means of insuring such a trap would not succeed. Thirty miles south of Kharkov was the beginning of a line of Rumanian screening divisions that ran in a southeast direction and designed to absorb any early blows. This would then invite the expected German counterattack by what was expected to come from at least three panzer corps in the greater Kharkov southern region. Specifically these were XLI and LVI Panzer Corps under Generals Erhard Raus and Erich Von Manstein as well as XXXX Panzer Corps under General Georg-Hans Reinhardt.
Soviet forces for the Kursk Operation would contain 1.3 million men between Voronezh and Bryansk Fronts. Konev was given the largest concentration of armor among all the fronts, amounting to over 2,150 AFVs. Bryansk Front in comparison fielded a meager 111 machines. For the Kharkov encirclement, General Zhukov had 928,700 soldiers under his command. Armor forces were modest in comparison to Konev with 720 fighting vehicles. As a consequence, Colonel General Vatutin of Southwestern Front was ordered to turn over operational control of Lieutenant General Chernyakhovsky’s 3rd Shock Army, containing another 850 AFVs, thus giving Zhukov over 1,500 in total. Vatutin was also expected to make available Rodion Malinovsky’s 2nd Guards Army consisting of six rifle corps, five of them guards to further augment Zhukov’s southern wing. With such a force, whatever German surprise was in the offing beyond their Rumanian screening forces, the Red Army here would be tremendously difficult to contain.
In any case, time was of the essence. By every meteorological estimate, the Spring floods were not far off. This was the time.
At 06:45am on 28 March, Colonel General Konev launched his opening artillery barrage. Zhukov would launch his own thirty minutes later. Neither side could anticipate what would come next. They could only hope.
