The attack began with a daredevil charge into the middle of the column by a reconnaissance team in VW Schwimmwagen amphibious jeeps, led by Meyer himself. 攻擊首先由一支偵察部隊發起，在梅耶的率領下他們乘坐大眾兩棲吉普車沖入了蘇軍的車隊中央。
Luftwaffe aerial reconnaissance was providing Breith with valuable photographs that showed thousands of Russian tanks moving southwards to the west of Kharkov. 德國空軍的空中偵察部隊為布雷特提供了極具價值的照片，這些照片表明數千輛蘇軍坦克正向南前進試圖到達哈爾科夫的西部。
