There it stood, a massive historical anomaly, the vast and rusting hulk of the trans Volga bridge, positioned where the river narrowed a bit, right between Rynok and Spartanovka. Just south of that point the river split around the long almond shaped Denezhny Island, a buffer zone seized by the Soviets long ago to screen both the Barrikady Factory and Dzerzhinsky Tractor Plant. East of that bridge, across the wide Volga, a city had been built up where modern day Volzhskiy now resides, except in this world it was called Volkovskiy. It was guarded against Soviet incursion by two divisions of Volkov’s best troops, the 11th and 12th Guards Divisions. If the western end of that bridge could be taken by the Germans, they would establish a very valuable link to the Orenburg 5th Army on the other side of the river. It was something that had dawned on Steiner the previous evening, in spite of his distaste for Volkov and his entire federation.
There is the infantry I need, he thought grimly. If I get that bridge, then all Volkov’s troops on the other side will be fodder for the battle on this side. I can use them to hold and cover portions of the front so I can further concentrate my shock divisions. I will have staffers put out feelers to Gerasimov on the other side of the river. I’m told they actually have a couple divisions over there worth the name, and I can use those troops. Why wait for Manstein when all the infantry I need is right there on the other side of that river!
It was a plan that was bound to emerge from the rubble of that city at one time or another. After his earlier cross Volga offensive ended so disastrously when the Soviets counterattacked and drove his men into the river. Volkov had given orders that there would be no further operations west of the Volga, but now Steiner thought he could persuade the man to coordinate with his troops for an attack on that bridge.
To further his chances for success, he had moved all his Korps assets to support Das Reich, and was now planning to halt the Leibstandarte’s offensive operation and order them to cover sectors of the front now held by the 2nd SS Division. That was his plan, the principal operation he had devised for this offensive. All the other attacks put in by Grossdeutschland Division and the Wikings were merely meant to tax the enemy’s resources, and pull in his reserves. There was only one question in his mind now: would his enemy see the danger in time to take countermeasures?
See maps for action against the City Center and Das Reich’s drive on the Volga bridge at www.writingshop.ws
Part IX
The Bridge
“A bridge has no allegiance to either side.”
— Les Coleman
Chapter 25
“They are trying to break through to get at Novo Kirovka,” said Shumilov. He had taken the hazardous journey from his headquarters at the Cannery to Chuikov’s command center near the Red October Factory.
“They are trying to break through everywhere,” said Chuikov, “but Kirovka is the least of my worries. The situation in the center is far more serious. They came out of the cemetery region, and there’s a big push underway towards the heart of the city. I sent two tank Brigades in, but we can’t stop their armor. Those new tanks of theirs are just too good.”
“Will they get through?”
“I managed to plug the gap with two battalions of the 154th Naval Brigade, but I have nothing else in reserve there, except Zholudev’s 37th Guards Brigade. I pulled it off the line and moved it south yesterday. It crossed the Tsarista Gorge this morning, but now there’s trouble with the 196th?”
“What kind of trouble?”
“Just the usual sort, it was defending the Army Barracks near the airfield, now it’s been cut off and largely surrounded.”
“The whole division?”
“Most of it.” Chuikov gave the stolid Shumilov a shrug.
“What about the other two Guards Brigades in that Provisional Division? They’re all fresh. The Germans have been wise enough not to attack them directly for some time. Take the Engineer Battalion and spread it out through this wooded area here. Then pull the 39th Guards Brigade out and move it south towards the Barracks. The 37th can then go and stop this thrust towards Central Volgograd.”
Chuikov nodded. It seemed a reasonable solution, unless the Germans got wise to the fact that the old front occupied by those troops had been thinned out. Yet, there was a good deal of ground to give there, a lot of open woodland that ran up to Mamayev Kurgan. He decided to take Shumilov’s advice.
“Now we have the north to consider, and this is the real problem. They shifted the axis of their attack this morning. They were trying to push through 2nd Volga Rifles, now they have shifted south of Rynok.”
“The bridge,” said Shumilov flatly.
“The bridge,” Chuikov echoed. “Rynok is the real crisis point. Everything we slip in on the night barges must land there, and then go by road to the city. We can’t move barges beneath that bridge, it’s too well guarded. Rynok must be held, so I have no choice but to send a brigade of the 13th Guards. I posted one in each of the three factories in the north. 1st Brigade is in the Tractor Plant, and I’m going to move it north through Spartanovka at noon. I have nothing else to send but Special Brigade 115, and they won’t hold half a day.”
“Do what you must,” said Shumilov. “I agree that we must hold Rynok. For that matter, look at the bulge forming in the woodland north of the Tractor Worker’s Settlement. Why not give that up and reform your line here?” He traced a fat thumb on the map in an arc much closer to Spartanovka. “You can get some of the Samara Rifles into the fight if you do that.”
“Agreed,” said Chuikov. “And the south? Can you hold?”
“We’re in much better shape there than it seems. Moving those Divisions out of Beketova made all the difference. Don’t worry, I’ll hold.”
* * *
On the morning of October 28th, Manstein got some much needed relief. The 50th Infantry Division had been slated to go to the Crimea to begin building up a nucleus of a shock group to take Sevastopol. But when the Russians moved most of the garrison troops out by sea to try and save Rostov, the 50th was instead re-routed to the Donets Basin. Now it was close enough to be brought into the fight on the steppes west of the Don. The trains came up through Tatsinskaya, ordered to stop about 10 klicks west of Morozovsk and detrain there. Division commander Schmidt went on to the city to confer with Manstein as to what he expected of his division.
“Are the men fit?” asked Manstein.
“Very fit. They have been itching to get into a fight ever since the mission to Sevastopol was cancelled.”
“Good,” said Manstein. “Well, they will find one here. Have a look at the map. You are detraining just south of the Bystraya River. This enemy penetration has already come to within ten kilometers of your position as it stands. Move your men up to the river, hold that line and make sure nothing gets around your left flank. Expect enemy armor. In fact, they ran right over 24th Panzer when it was on the line, so be ready. I am trying to get 23rd Panzer off the line to backstop a new defensive front, and your division was the missing piece of the puzzle. As you come forward, the 305th is on your right, then the 336th here, just north of the city. You are the left flank, and I hope to move 23rd Panzer to that sector as soon as possible.”
“I see,” said Schmidt. “I thought we were to move farther east to Volgograd.
“Nobody gets to Volgograd without a 200 kilometer road march,” said Manstein. “As you can see, they have cut the road between here and Kalach. That is what all the fighting is to the east. If I had my wish you would be on the Chir between Surovinko and Chern relieving the Totenkopf Division so that it can continue to attack. If wishes were horses. The lack of good infantry here had been our most serious problem. I’ve been wrangling for every division I could find. Army Group Don now has a total of nine infantry divisions in this sector, and that includes the four Steiner took with him east of the Don. Give me three more and I would settle this affair rather quickly. As it stands, we must squirm a bit.”
That was what it was now coming to in the
Wehrmacht—every division mattered, and the infantry every bit as much as the mobile divisions. Schmidt nodded. Then, echoing the words lately spoken by Shumilov, he told Manstein not to worry. “Rest assured, we’ll stop them,” he said with a salute. Then he went off to get his division into the fight.
Schmidt and his men were going to need every bit of the confidence they exhibited. The force coming their way was now so big, and so heavily concentrated, that it was getting in its own way. 3rd Tank Corps had arrived, strung out in a column some 5 kilometers long, but there were too many vehicles, tanks and infantry, all mixed together, so it was forced to halt and wait for the traffic snarl to get sorted out. An impatient man, General Rulenko simply decided to turn his Corps off the road and move due east. Crossing a small balka, he ran right into the 305th Infantry, deployed in a concave hedgehog position some ten to twelve kilometers north of Morozovsk.
In the ensuing battle, the tanks looked like a herd of war elephants as they swirled around the hedged defensive positions of the German infantry. But the Tank Corp was a well-balanced combined arms force by now, with three mech infantry battalions, three tank brigades, recon elements, engineers, and its own fast moving artillery. Furthermore, when concentrated at any given point on a defensive front, the sheer mass and cross country speed of the tank brigades was almost impossible to stop. The Germans would get kills with their AT guns, but far more tanks would race on through, and then the infantry would select one spot for a concerted attack, some leaping from the backs of the tanks themselves, others carried to the scene on fast moving halftracks or trucks.
The three battalions and engineers would target a single German battalion on the line, and with ample fire support from all that armor. A breakthrough was almost inevitable, and there was then usually another full tank brigade as yet in reserve, soon rushing to this breach to exploit. If the Germans did not have a mobile reserve behind the crust of their infantry, it was very difficult to stop such attacks, and when they were followed up with the swamping human wave attacks of one or two Rifle Divisions, the breach became a gap that would grow wider with each passing hour.
Now the loss of 24th Panzer Division when it was forced into line duty was really beginning to matter. It should have been that fast moving reserve to counterpunch at the critical hour, but instead, for lack of infantry to hold the line, it had found itself right at the center of an attack that was led by Volsky’s revitalized 4th Mech Corps, an enormous formation that had been further bolstered by the addition of heavy tank battalions.
With the timely arrival of 50th Infantry Division, Manstein was now desperately trying to swing 23rd Panzer down towards Morozovsk, and have a sword in hand to meet a thrust like this, but it was still fighting a fast moving battle of disengagement, the tank companies moving, stopping to fire, then racing south again, the infantry leaping to their halftracks and vehicles behind the thrumming stream of fire from the MG-42s.
As 23rd Panzer moved south, it was actually moving parallel to the Russian advance, catching up with some of their fast recon units. A running gun battle ensued, with tanks and APCs on either side racing over the snow covered terrain, guns blasting away at one another. The 126th Panzergrenadier Regiment turned, with the pioneer and recon battalions and a company of tanks and stugs. In so doing, it ran right into the 7th Tank Corps, and the battle thickened.
It was the arrival of 50th Infantry that stabilized that front, slowing the soviet advance and forcing it to consolidate. Yet Manstein now had a most difficult decision, and he requested that Steiner fly to meet with him at Morozovsk, a short but hazardous jump from Gumrak Airfield.
“This is the situation,” said Manstein pointing to the map. “We may stop them, though that has yet to be determined. The loss of most of 24th Panzer Division was a very severe blow. As you can see, they are within 5 kilometers of the rail line at the 161 marker, and also here at this bend west of the city. The main axis of their attack is coming down this road, and it is ten kilometers from us as we speak.”
“Enough to tighten one’s collar,” said Steiner. “What about Winter Storm?”
“We’ve take Surovinko, destroyed three Guards divisions and two of the three Tank Corps they had there, and now we have forced the withdrawal of their 3rd Guards Rifle Corps, relieving the pressure on Oblivskaya. In all this action, 3rd SS has been exemplary. They saved that town, standing like a rock, and now, with the heavy panzers adding weight to their attack, they have been unstoppable. The only question is what to do next? If we do stop this attack on Morozovsk, that will be the best we can accomplish for the moment. Pushing it back is beyond our means without substantial reinforcement. I could take 3rd SS and send it west, or leave it where it is. The latter option will probably guarantee a breakthrough to Kalach.”
“The other two divisions cannot get through?”
“Possibly, if I at least leave one of the Schwerepanzer units there. But you could also prepare an assault group to break out of the Kalach bridgehead at an appropriate time.”
Steiner considered that, rocking on his heels. “My men are very well occupied as it stands,” he said. “Das Reich is driving for the Volga Bridge, but they are fighting very hard to try and stop us. To allow that division to concentrate, I had to extend the lines of Leibstandarte and put the entire division in a defensive posture. I even had to commit all the Korps level assets to beef up Das Reich. This is no easy fight.”
“Nor is it the battle I wanted here,” said Manstein, “particularly not for your Korps. You will not reduce that city easily, or quickly. I think you have already seen this, and your men have not even worked into the heart of the city yet. However, if we can inflict a decisive check on the enemy here, west of the Don, then we would be free to make some prudent changes. I have six infantry divisions out here. They should all be east of the Don fighting for Volgograd. You have five of our very best mobile divisions in that kessel, and they should be here, smashing each and every attack the Russians throw at us.”
“Yet I promised the Fuhrer I would deliver this city,” said Steiner.
“And Rommel promised him all of Egypt,” said Manstein quickly. “You must put aside your personal pride in that. Now we do what makes best military sense. Clear? Winter Storm proved what we can do. At the moment, our forces are simply not balanced, and the enemy is taking good advantage of that. I intend to correct it.”
“Then how do we proceed?” asked Steiner. “The forces I have are barely enough to cover the frontage. The city is over 80 Kilometers long.”
“Can you clear the Volga Bridge to allow for Volkov’s 5th Army to cross?”
“That is the plan,” said Steiner. “I think another day or two will do the job.”
“Then his troops can form up opposite the Soviet 66th Army along the aqueduct. We need to redeploy in such a way as to allow you to build a strong force at Kalach. I’ll leave the particulars of that to you, but establish a force there capable of breaking out through 24th Army. I will continue with Winter Storm, and when the time is ripe I will signal to begin your breakout operation. Let us call it operation Thunderclap. Once we link up, reestablish communications and a good supply line, then your situation will look a little brighter. We can begin swapping in the infantry I have accumulated in trade for your mobile divisions.”
“Operation Thunderclap,” said Steiner. “I like that. Herr General, I will do as you ask. It may mean temporarily suspending the operations currently underway with Grossdeutschland and the Brandenburg Division, but I can build a strong force for Kalach. And Totenkopf? It would be nice if it was there to greet us when we break out.”
“No I think I will move it west, General Steiner. I want the SS Panzer Korps out of that mess. We should never have committed that force to a big street fight like this. So you come to Totenkopf.” He smiled. “They’ll be waiting for you. But first, it is imperative that you gain control of the Volga Bridge.”
Chapter 26
The Bridge
Steiner�
�s attack had continued through the 28th of October, with Das Reich summoning troops from the Deutschland Regiment that had been watching the aqueduct line. They were relieved by three battalions of 11th Army Pioneers that had come up from the Don sector after Volkov sent men to keep an eye on the river. So the precious infantry moved like pawns to hold key sectors and enable the mobile forces to move and strike—exactly the opposite of what Manstein wanted.
The addition of that fresh SS regiment put more steam into the attack towards the Volga Bridge, and now the lines of battle were drawing the shape of a man’s head, all the troops of 2nd Volga Rifles posted from Rynok north. The narrowing neck of ground where the Surchaya Balka wrinkled down to the bridge was the throat, and then the arc of the Samara Rifle Division the chest of the defense to the south. The SS Korps pioneers and assault gun battalions kept up heavy pressure on that chest, enabling Das Reich to take hold of the throat and attempt to choke the breath out of the enemy.
Some of the leading elements that had made the initial breakthrough from De Führer Regiment, and the supporting panzers, were now running low on ammunition, so the arrival of the Deutschland Regiment was just what the attackers needed. The Germans had pushed to within four kilometers of the bridge when the first battalion of the 13th Guards arrived from the Tractor Factory. It was followed by the 137th Tank Brigade, with 19 T-60s, eight T-34s, and six late model KV-1 tanks. The reached a balka separating Spartanovka from the approaches to the bridge, and began to deploy for a counterattack about 2000 meters behind the Guards.
Thor's Anvil (Kirov Series Book 26) Page 22