What happened in May 1942 on the steppes of Kharkov, in Ukraine? The Red Army launched an offensive that ended in disaster.

Kharkov 1942 describes, analyzes, and explains in detail the massive confrontation whose outcome remained truly unpredictable. Keys to understanding the battle are recontextualized in the spring 1942 campaign and the overall German-Soviet conflict. A folio of color maps will aid readers in following the battle's progress from day to day. A final section discusses the consequences of this Soviet defeat, and the way in which historians from the west and east alike put the puzzle pieces together, seeking memorial traces of the struggle in Ukraine and today's Russia.