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Kharkov is the second largest city in Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Kharkiv Oblast (province), as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Kharkivskyi Raion (district) within the oblast. The city is located in the northeast of the country at around 4954′60″N, 3618′60″E. As of 2006, its population is 1,461,300. People living in Kharkiv are known as Kharkovites.

Kharkiv is one of the main industrial, cultural and educational centers of Ukraine. Its industry and research specialize on arms production and machinery. There are hundreds of industrial companies in the city. Among them are world famous giants Morozov Design Bureau and Malyshev Tank Factory (Zavod Malysheva, a leader in tank production since the 1930s), Hartron (aerospace and nuclear electronics) and Turboatom (turbines producer).

There is an underground rapid-transit system with 35 km of track and 28 stations. Another landmark of Kharkiv is its Freedom Square (Ploshcha Svobody), which is the second largest city square in Europe, and the 4th largest square in the world.

Geography

Kharkiv rests at the confluence of the Kharkiv, Lopan, and Udy Rivers, where they flow into the Seversky Donets watershed.

History

Archeological evidence discovered in the area of present-day Kharkiv indicates that a local population has existed in that area since the 2nd millennium b.c.e. Cultural artifacts date back to the Bronze Age, as well as those of later Scythian and Sarmatian settlers. There is also evidence that the Chernyakhov culture flourished in the area from the 2nd to the 6th century.

Founded in the middle of 17th century, the city has had a university since 1805. During the early years of the Soviet Union, Kharkiv was the capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (from 19171934). In the early 1930s, the Ukrainian famine (Holodomor) drove many people off the land into the cities, to Kharkiv in particular, in search of food. Some of them died and were secretly buried in one of the city's cemeteries. During April and May 1940 about 3800 Polish prisoners of Starobelsk camp were killed in the Kharkiv NKVD building, later buried in Pyatikhatky forest (part of the Katyn massacre).

During World War II Kharkiv was the site of several military engagements. The city was captured by Nazi Germany and its military allies, recaptured by the Red Army, captured again twice by the Nazis and then finally liberated on August 23, 1943. Seventy percent of the city was destroyed and tens of thousands of the inhabitants were killed. It is mentioned that Kharkiv was the most populated city in the Soviet Union occupied by Nazis, since in the years preceding World War II Kiev was the smaller of the two by population. Between December of 1941 thru January of 1942, an estimated 30,000 people were killed by the nazis (mostly Jewish). They were laid to rest in one of the largest mass graves that is known as Drubitsky Yar.

First Battle of Kharkov As part of Operation Barbarossa, the German Army South Group advanced toward the city of Kharkov in the Soviet Union (now Kharkiv, Ukraine) on October 20, 1941. The Russian 38th Army set up a defense at the city. Meanwhile, entire factories were dismantled for relocation farther east. By October 21, all of the factory equipment had been loaded on to rail trains. On this day the Germans closed to within seven miles of the railyards. The German 6th and 17th Armies attacked Russian positions on October 24 and took control of the city on the same day.

Second Battle of Kharkov The Second Battle of Kharkov was a battle fought from 12 May to 28 May 1942, on the Eastern Front during World War II. After a successful winter counteroffensive that repulsed German troops from Moscow but also depleted the Red Army's reserves, the Kharkov offensive was a new Soviet attempt to expand upon their strategic initiative.

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

This bloody 17-day battle resulted in the loss of over 200,000 Red Army personnel along with several hundred tanks. In the end, it would award Friedrich Paulus his first field victory and open the path for the eventual operations which led to the Operation Blue and the Battle of Stalingrad, throwing the Red Army into another series of defeats and retreats.

Third Battle of Kharkov The Third Battle of Kharkov was the last major strategic German victory of World War II. Kharkov had originally been captured on October 25, 1941, but had fallen to the Soviets in February 1943, following the German defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad. Led by Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, the Germans counter-attacked and after destroying Soviet spearheads, retook the city in bitter street fighting.

The II SS Panzer Korps, equipped with heavy Tiger tanks, played a significant role. It was comprised of the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler and Das Reich divisions, which had been resting and refitting for a long period of time and were at full strength. Under the command of SS-Gruppenfhrer Paul Hausser, it checked the Soviet advance on Kharkov, despite odds of six to one, but, threatened with encirclement, Hausser withdrew against explicit orders from Hitler. The act so infuriated Hitler, he refused to award Hausser after the battle.

The II SS Panzer Korps (now reinforced with the Totenkopf division) was attached to Manstein's counter-thrust, which destroyed the Soviet spearheads and saved Army Group South. The Leibstandarte division then retook Kharkov, for which Hitler renamed the central square "Leibstandarteplatz". The battle is often regarded as the last successful German offensive in the USSR and is still studied in military academies as a textbook example of mobile defence.

The city remained only temporarily in Axis hands. On August 22, 1943, in the aftermath of the Battle of Kursk, the Germans were driven out once again.

However, it must be noted that after the German disaster at Stalingrad, von Manstein's achievement in stabilizing the front must rank as one of the greatest (if not the greatest) achievements of World War II. He had executed a successful withdrawal, then launched a masterly counterattack that inflicted on the Russians immense losses in men and material. Most importantly, he re-established the front from Taganrog to Belgorod as a virtually straight defensive line and, at little cost, retook the fourth largest city in the Soviet Union, all this while his opponent possessed a considerable numerical advantage.

Despite its significance, the battle has been the subject of minimal post-war academic study.

Fourth Battle of Kharkov Operation Polkovodets Rumyantsev (literally: "Commander Rumyantsev", after 18th-century Field Marshal Peter Rumyantsev) was a military operation conducted by the Red Army in its fight against the German Wehrmacht during World War II. The operation was conducted by Steppe Front in the Belgorod sector.

The operation began in early August, 1943, and was aiming to follow up the defensive success against German Army Group South in the Battle for Kursk. It was immediately successful, pushing back the German defenders and liberating Belgorod and Kharkov. By 12:00 in the morning of August 23, 1943 the Soviet divisions of the Voronezh Front and the Steppe Front had successfully liberated the city from German forces, annihilating most of the defending forces. It was the last time that Kharkov changed hands during the Soviet-German War. The operation led to the retreat of the German forces in Ukraine behind the Dnepr River, and it set the stage for the liberation of Kiev in autumn 1943.

The tank battle of Akhtyrka occurred during the operation.

By the Wehrmacht, this operation is often referred to as the Fourth Battle of Kharkov.

Before the occupation, Kharkiv's tank industries were evacuated to the Urals with all their equipment, and became the heart of Red Army's tank programs (particularly, producing the legendary T-34 tank earlier designed in Kharkiv). These enterprises were returned after the war, and still continue to produce some of the world's best tanks.

Kharkiv's residents are primarily Russophone.

Attractions

Of the many attractions of the Kharkiv city are the: Gosprom building, Memorial Complex, Freedom Square, Taras Shevchenko Monument, Mirror Stream, Uspensky Cathedral, Militia Museum, Pokriv Cathedral, T. Shevchenko Gardens, Kharkiv's funicular (shut down due to accident), Blagovishensky (Blessed News) Cathedral, Children's narrow-gauge railroad, Building on Sumskaya Street #6,and many more.

Railways

The first railway connection of Kharkiv was opened in 1869. The first train to arrive in Kharkiv came from the north on May 22nd, 1869, and on June 6th, 1869, traffic was opened on the Kursk-Kharkiv-Azov line. Kharkiv's passenger railway station was reconstructed and expanded in 1901, to be later destroyed in the Second World War. A new railway station was built in 1952.

Various railway transportation methods available in the city are the: Railway trains, and elektrichkas (regional electric trains).

Sport

Kharkiv is one of Ukraine's largest cities and as in the whole country sports are taken seriously. The most popular sport is football. City has two clubs playing in the Ukrainian Premier League.

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