The Military History Society of NSW

ANNOUNCEMENT LECTURE CANCELLATIONS Due to restrictions on public meetings associated with Covid-19 the Society has decided to cancel our lecture scheduled for Saturday, 4 April 2020 on "Pyrrhic Victory: Third Battle of Kharkov 1943" as well as the subsequent lecture scheduled for Saturday, 2 May 2020. We will monitor the situation and issue further notifications on the remainder of our lecture program in due course. Cancelled lectures will be rearranged for a later date. We hope everyone stays well during this time.

The Red Army’s stunning February 1943 destruction of the Wehrmacht’s 6th Army in the cauldron of Stalingrad ignited Soviet morale across the eastern front. Stalin was flushed with the news, insisting that commanders exploit this momentum to push the hated enemy beyond Russian territory. For German Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, commander of Army Group South, these conditions presented an unprecedented strategic and operational crisis. In the winter of 1943 Manstein faced a complex military position, having been left with minimal forces to counter the moves of vastly superior numbers threatening to entrap all German armies in southern Russia. Worse, Manstein had to manage Hitler’s obstinate ‘don’t surrender ground’ battle directive, diametrically opposed to his own mobile defence-to-offence approach which he considered essential for the survival of his army. The Third Battle of Kharkov has been studied in military academies ever since as a case study in how victory can

  THE SOCIETY’S LECTURE PROGRAM 2020 Please note that the program may be subject to change for unforeseen reasons 7 March 2020 4 April 2020 2 May 2020 6 June 2020 4 July 2020 & 1 August 2020 5 September 2020 Reminiscences of My Naval Career Pyrrhic Victory: The Third Battle of Kharkov, 1943 Australia’s Medical War in Papua, 1942-45 Krithia – Battle Done Badly TBA Sunderland Flying Boats Rear Admiral Guy Griffiths AO DSO DSC RAN (Retd) Robert Muscat, President Military History Soc of NSW Dr Jan McLeod, University of Newcastle Lt Col (Retd) Ron Lyons Denis Smith OAM