Nemesis

by John Schettler

For now, the ground was good enough to continue the offensive, which had the general aim of bypassing and enveloping the major industrial center of Bryansk. Also a major rail hub, as long as they held that city, the Germans would not have the use of a good rail line to sustain further operations towards Moscow. There was also one good rail line from Orel, heading south through L’gov and eventually reaching the German logistical center established at Kiev. But the Russian retreat had chosen that rail line to reorganize the defense, and it would soon be necessary to push them off in order to make any use of it. Once secured, the long process of conversion from the Russian wide gauge to the narrower European gauge could then take weeks before it could serve any useful purpose as a supply conduit.

  In those precious weeks, the Russians had a sliver of time to organize the defense of Moscow and try to unhinge Operation Typhoon. To do so, Sergei Kirov was calling in the markers he had placed on the table when he bargained with Karpov on the 1st of August. He needed veteran troops, men who would stand and fight, and above all, he needed some means of stopping the devastating German mobile divisions. He needed the Siberians, and he needed heroes, and soon he would have them both well in hand.

  It had not been all gloom and disaster, in spite of the terrible losses of men, material and territory that the Soviets had suffered since May. There had been moments of great bravery and heroism, and units fought, some dying to a man, to hold vital ground while their comrades retreated all around them. The fighting had been hard and bitter; the price of faulty deployment, or the inexperience of a young commander, very high at times. More than anything, the Russians needed an effective mobile element to match the German Panzer Divisions.

  They had started the war with full divisions, mostly equipped with obsolete T-26 tanks, and these had been arranged into large, unwieldy Mechanized Corps. Their size created sloth in deployment and maneuver, particularly because many of the tanks had no radios, and communications problems created a kind of mechanized chaos when the corps would attempt to move. The shattering German advance since May had eventually engaged and largely destroyed these early war formations, and the Russians had been replacing them with smaller Armored Brigades, many under construction for some time, as Kirov had the advantage of knowing what would go wrong.

  Many generals resisted his planned remodeling of the Soviet Armored Corps, but one man, General Pavel Rotmistrov, had made convincing arguments for change. The brigades Kirov was building were mixed formations, with a battalion of T-60 or the newer T-70 light tanks, and then a medium battalion of 24 to 36 new T-34s, buttressed by ten of the heavier KV-1 Tanks. Rotmistrov pointed out the flaw in this unit grouping, based on real time practical experience.

  “In one respect, it is good the Germans have destroyed most of our older tank divisions, as hard as that is to say. Now we can use the new tanks to build proper formations. But do not mix in the light and heavy tanks with our T-34s.”

  “Why not?” Kirov had asked. “The Germans use a similar model. They have their lighter tanks mixed with medium and heavy types.”

  “They are the Germans, and the cohesiveness of their mobile operations is unmatched. We have seen our own mobile tactics fall considerably short. Yes, our light tanks are as fast as the new T-34s on the roads, but their narrower tracks make them poor off road performers. Most of the time we find ourselves operating in the open country, and the T-34s do very well there, quickly leaving the lighter tanks behind when they advance. As for the KV-1s they are too slow to keep up under any conditions. And too heavy for many of the old bridges, which are often so badly damaged after they cross that nothing else can use them!”

  “Then what do you suggest?”

  “Group all our T-34s together in one battalion. Put the light tanks with the KV-1 in a separate battalion. And by all means, let the light tanks cross the bridges first. Then follow the KV-1s with engineers to repair the damage. The new T-34s are our armored fist. Let them maneuver cross country and strike the enemy columns on the flank. Those tanks are superb in this role, if they are well led. Then, use the T-60s and T-70s for rapid movement on the roads, backed up by infantry and any KV-1 tanks assigned. The light tanks fight better in towns and villages too, where they can maneuver easily in the urban setting, and provide good fire support for infantry. This is how we must fight.”

  Part X

  Typhoon

  “The wise man in the storm prays to God, not for safety from danger, but deliverance from fear.”

  ―Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Chapter 28

  It was very good advice, and Sergei Kirov gave orders that, as far as possible, this new brigade structure should be followed in the Armored corps rebuilding program, and it should be hastened in every possible way. “On that matter, how is the Mechanized Corps conversion going?”

  “We are making good progress,” said Berzin. “As Rotmistrov warned us, our original structure for those corps was faulty. Most were destroyed, either because they were so unwieldy they could not maneuver, or because their tanks were woefully inadequate.”

  “It was both,” said Kirov. “That and the lack of radio communications throughout the corps structure, but we have corrected that, have we not?”

  “Yes, all the new Corps formations will have a much better command and control system,” said Berzin. “We have adopted the organization Rotmistrov recommended—lighter tank brigades and motorize rifle units to replace the old mech and armored divisions. Yet we haven’t enough new tanks to provide these corps with three full brigades as in the material. So what we are doing is building up a stronger Motor Rifle Division from the motorized regiment, and further augmenting this with the addition of an Engineer Regiment, and a fast motorcycle cavalry regiment. In time, as we get more of the new tanks, we can add the missing third tank brigade.”

  “How soon will they be ready?”

  “The conversions are well underway. We should have new units ready in a matter of weeks.”

  “Excellent,” said Kirov. “The Germans won’t be expecting us to adapt so quickly. You see, Berzin, the material is still a valuable aid to our war planning. We learn from it what eventually worked. Now it simply becomes a matter of building the tanks. These new Corps must not be rushed in piecemeal. Remember how they were used in new Tank Armies in the material.” He held out a finger to emphasize his point.

  “We have three new Corps forming in the field at Lipetsk,” said Berzin, “well to the east of Orel, the 17th, 20th and 21st Tank Corps. That is the new designation. We will no longer call these formations Mechanized Corps. Those three will comprise our first new Tank Army. The rest are in various stages of readiness, and they will be added to STAVKA reserve. We can fold them into additional Tank Armies as those headquarters become operational.”

  “And the icing on the cake will be the Siberians,” said Kirov.

  Berzin looked up from the map, surprised. “You are moving 1st Shock Army now?”

  “As soon as we can free up enough rolling stock. The Germans are going to make a drive on Tula. We know that, and everything in the field points to Guderian making the very same move he did in the material. They may get there, but the material indicates they will not be in good shape by the time they arrive. I want to be ready to counterattack.”

  “Yet the roads are still passable,” said Berzin. “Remember, this isn’t October as it was in the material. The Germans are a full month ahead of schedule.”

  “So we must fight for time,” said Kirov. “We must delay them until the Raputista takes hold, and dig in deep. Then, when the ground freezes, I’ll want those new Tank Corps ready with the Siberians. Their movement now is just a precaution. They are too far east, and I wish to get them closer to Moscow.”

  “And away from Karpov’s control,” said Berzin with a grin.

  “Karpov? He has only one thing on his mind now—getting that ship under his boots.”

  “Was it wise to give him such a weapon?” asked Berzin.

  “Perhaps not,
but it bought us a good deal in return. And the added benefit is we don’t have Karpov in our hair concerning these land operations. He whined on and on about that offensive on the upper Volga. Now things have quieted down. So yes, the Siberian 1st is to head west for Moscow.”

  “In case the Germans break through at Tula,” said Berzin, wary of the threat. “Yes, we must not become complacent, or too overconfident. There is still a lot of fight in the Germans. They remain very dangerous.”

  *

  The rapid advance of the German 2nd Panzer Group now threatened to overrun Orel and seize the valuable depot stores there. The line had burst open further south, and the Germans were doing some broken field running with their swift moving panzer divisions. There was no cohesive Soviet defense, and the few units retreating up the road from the south passed quickly through Orel in the late summer night, the frightened citizenry watching from their windows.

  The night was then strangely quiet, the calm before the storm, but by morning the fear lay upon the city like a funeral shroud. People were on the streets, loading any vehicle that would run, any truck or cart that had not already been commandeered by the retreating army to move its weary, wounded soldiers. As the last rearguard rushed through the main streets in a bustle of clatter and dust, women wept to see them go, for they knew any semblance of life as they once knew it was retreating with them, hastening up the long thin road to Tula. By noon the panic had set in, with the rolling sound of distant artillery fire heralding the coming typhoon of steel.

  An NKVD section arrived in three trucks from the north, and a young, red cheeked officer vainly tried to stop the flow of people and machines out of the city. New to his job, he berated the retreat, brandishing his service pistol, though he did not use it. And when the people saw he would not kill them, or force them into militias as had happened in so many other cities, they hastened north, carrying all they could hold.

  The Germans came soon after, a column of mechanized troops in the vanguard of the 4th Panzer Division. Soon they would get a lesson of their own. It was a heady time, for it seemed the road to Tula was wide open, and that was the road to Moscow, at least insofar as Heinz Guderian was concerned. Yet the Russians were still not beaten, and a new defense was already being planned south of Tula.

  Reading the material on the war carefully, Sergei Kirov had deployed a hastily formed blocking force on the road to Tula, the 1st Special Guards Rifle Corps, built with the foreknowledge he possessed. It had been formed, as it was in the older history, around the hard core of the 6th Guard Rifle Division. To these veteran troops, two Airborne Brigades were taken from the fields near Moscow, the 10th and 201st. The 4th and 11th Tank Brigades arrived by rail, and with them came the 36th Motorcycle Regiment, the 132nd Border Guards Regiment, and the student battalion from the Tula Artillery Military School. An older cavalry division, the 41st had also been reforming near Tula, and it was added to this corps as a light reaction force.

  The engagement that would soon follow would show the way forward. Possessed with a foreknowledge of what the Germans might do, and even with information that identified key players in that drama, Kirov also knew how they might be stopped. “The 1st Special Rifle Corps,” he said to Berzin. “You read the material. Those were the boys who delayed Guderian, and we will send the same force to do the job again.”

  “You mean to say you have assembled the very same units?”

  “More or less, and in this case more means I have assigned new T-34s to those two armored Brigades, the 4th and 11th. Some of our best tankers emerged from those units, and now they get their trial by fire. I also have a Guards Rifle Division to support them.”

  “Are we committing the new tank brigades too soon?”

  “It will do us no good to commit them after we lose the capital,” said Kirov with an exasperated look.

  *

  Slowly, in suffering one hard defeat after another, the Red Army was being taken to a deadly school of tactics and strategy by the Germans, and some of the men fighting for Sergei Kirov were going to become very good students.

  One such man had come down the road from Tula, handpicked by Sergei Kirov himself, who had seen his fate and fortune in the books he had secreted in the Red Archives. His name was Mikhail Katukov, and he had the newly reconstituted 4th Tank Brigade out in front on the road to Orel, with two battalions restructured along the lines Rotmistrov had suggested, freshly fitted out with the new T-34 tanks that would form the backbone of Soviet Armored operations for the remainder of the war.

  His two battalion commanders, Gusev and Burda, were both well experienced men, and Lt. Dimitry Lavrinenko’s platoon was soon tasked with holding the road at Voin, about 20 kilometers from Orel on the road to Tula. After a grueling battle to envelop Bryansk, the Germans had sent their 4th Panzer Division up that road, intending to sweep through Orel and continue a wide envelopment up to Tula, which would threaten Moscow from the south and east. But they were about to meet a most enterprising young man, with other ideas about how their campaign should go.

  In May of 1938, as a young man of 24 years, Dimitry Lavrinenko graduated with honors from the Ukyanovsk Tank Academy. Born a Kuban Cossack in a small village near Krasnodar, he had been a numbers man before the war, a teacher, statistician and cashier. Soon he found himself in the deadly calculus of war, far from home in the north where he fought in the long retreat from the border, until his unit was pulled off the line to be refitted with the new T-34 tank.

  The Lieutenant had always been a stalwart defender, adopting a habit of holding his positions to the last possible moment, and personally assuring that all other tanks in his unit safely withdrew before he ever pulled out. Bravery came naturally to him. Even his home town when translated meant ‘fearless,’ and when he fought, it was with a single minded skill that could not admit fear to the equation of battle if he were to succeed. It was his platoon of four tanks that reached the village first, and Lavrinenko quickly sized up the situation, spying a farm near a wooded area just east of the town. He was lucky to have some paratroopers along, men who had landed at a small airfield just a few hours earlier. The orders had been cut, the alarm sounded, and they had leapt onto planes to fly south and land as close to Orel as possible. Arriving just as the 4th Tank Brigade was moving to take up their defensive positions, many leapt atop the T-34s riding down the road to Voin.

  “Get your men into those woods, and set up a skirmish line,” said Lavrinenko. “I’ll hold my tanks at the farm, and we’ll lie in ambush. The rest of the battalion is on that low ridge.” He wanted to lay a trap for the German panzers as they moved through those woods, baited by the paratroopers, who were ordered to delay and then fall back to the village.

  Lavrinenko’s tank platoon of four T-34s was holding at that insignificant farm astride the road, just as it emerged from the woods, where the early harvest still lay in great piles of hay. It would provide him the perfect cover for his tanks, he thought, and maneuvered between the high mounds of hay, jumping out of his tank to shovel more onto to his tank for camouflage. The trap was set, and now they waited for the mice to come, only these mice were cold steel rats with very sharp teeth.

  He was about to get a real test of what his T-34s could do, for coming down that road, sweeping through the woodland after the scattering paratroopers, was a column from the 4th Panzer Division, Guderian’s spearhead as the Germans drove up from Orel.

  “Let them come, boys,” he said in a hushed voice. “They’ll run right past our line of fire. Mark your targets and fire on my command.”

  The other tanks in his platoon knew that was always protocol with Lavrinenko. Nobody took a shot until his tank opened the engagement, and a breathless minute later he did exactly that.

  He did not know it at that moment, oblivious of the hours and days that might lie ahead for his men, but the unit he had joined was going to have a storied future. Off to his right, another platoon was hidden in the woods under Captain Konstantin Mihaylovich Samohin.
Behind that, a third platoon, the only other armor that had arrived, was waiting with 1st Sergeant Ivan Timfeyevich. They were soon to face the wrath of 36 German tanks rolling with the I/35th Panzer Regiment, and the fate of the nation, at least on that road to Moscow, was presently in their hands.

  *

  The battle at Mtsensk was sharp and deadly. The units of the 201st Airborne Brigade that had been assigned to support the 1st Special Rifle Corps had dispersed along a narrow front of light woods screening the town from the south and west. Into those same woods went the lead elements of the 35th Panzer Regiment of 4th Panzer Division, its lead battalion still fielding mostly Panzer III tanks with the 50mm gun. It had been more than enough to deal with the older Soviet tanks they had faced earlier, the T-37, T-38, and T-40 all becoming easy prey.

  The Germans had been accustomed to encountering these vehicles, and were able to open up on them at ranges approaching 1000 meters, usually making short work of them. Being light amphibious scout tanks, the Russian armor had nothing that could harm the Panzer IIIs, with little more than 12.7mm machine guns for main armament. The newer T-60 fared a little better with a 20mm cannon and armor approaching 26mm, but it was still a light tank in every respect, and posed no real threat to the Panzer IIIs, which had more than twice the firepower with its 50mm gun, and armor up to 70mm.

  But all that was about to change.

  The Airborne screen was the 3rd Battalion of the 201st “Kirov” Airborne Brigade, commanded by Lt Colonel Kovalev. They had managed to get air lifted into a small airfield about 8 kilometers north of Orel before the Germans overran the place. Now they fell back, in seeming disarray, but in actuality they were operating under pre-planned orders, hoping to lure the German tanks after them to the farms just outside the town, where Lavrinenko waited with his comrades in something quite different.