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. 攻击首先由一支侦察部队发起，在梅耶的率领下他们乘坐大众两栖吉普车冲入了苏军的车队中央。
Luftwaffe aerial reconnaissance was providing Breith with valuable photographs that showed thousands of Russian tanks moving southwards to the west of Kharkov. 德国空军的空中侦察部队为布雷特提供了极具价值的照片，这些照片表明数千辆苏军坦克正向南前进试图到达哈尔科夫的西部。
