Ironfall (Kirov Series Book 30)

by Schettler, John

  “Then no infantry.” Knobelsdorff cocked his head to one side. “I suppose we should get used to that. What about Model?”

  “The Führer has ordered him to hold his front. Heinrici is refusing his right and moving troops back to screen Belgorod. Manstein is trying to get permission to withdraw the entire 4th Army, but who knows how long that will take. At the moment, the only other units in theater are the two Reichsführer Brigades at Volchansk. They’ll be watching our back, but Manstein has it in his mind to send my division east after we stop this pincer. With Balck coming to Kharkov, it would be nice if he came along too. That attack over the Oskol river is their main push.”

  “Then we’d better get busy.” Knobelsdorff pulled off his gloves, tugging slowly at them, finger by finger. “With my two panzer Divisions, and the two SS units, it seems I’m more than a Korps now.”

  “Herr General,” said Dietrich, “You’re a full Panzer Armee!”

  “It not going to be mine,” said Knobelsdorff. “It belongs to Hoth—4th Panzer Armee. The only question is what will we do with it once we have it assembled?”

  “Do you want me to send out a reconnaissance in force?”

  “No I think we’ll wait tonight. Balck will be all morning getting off the train at Kharkov. Let them come. Things get strung out in an advance like this, and well scattered. When they get here, they’ll find we’re well concentrated and ready for action.”

  “You plan to attack?”

  “That remains to be seen. We’ve got the river, and that will serve for the lack of infantry here for a time. I’ll put my word in on Manstein’s behalf and make the same request to OKW that Heinrici should withdraw. Until we know more, we’ll just lie on the ropes, but be prepared to counterpunch.”

  “This city is a sore thumb,” said Dietrich. “Yes, it’s a good place to defend, but a pity it’s east of the Donets. Heinrici is pulling back fast, whether he has permission or not, and he promises me the 168th Infantry will watch the north flank. Another division will probably reach the Donets and cross late tomorrow. The thing is this—there isn’t a bridge behind us here. I had to throw up pontoons to get supply in, and it wasn’t easy. The river is receding, but this is the confluence of several tributaries, and it is still very wide in places. Frankly, I’d just as soon give them the city and retire behind the river, but I thought we might need a bridgehead. I’ve used all the bridging equipment I have, and I could use more pontoons if Model has them.”

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Knobelsdorff was taking all of this in, his mind working as he considered the situation. “Sepp,” he said quietly, never moving his eyes from the map. “This is going to get worse before it gets better. Make sure you build good bridges.”

  Part IX

  The Salient

  “ Man, everywhere and at all times, whoever he may be, has preferred to act as he chose and not in the least as his reason and advantage dictated.”

  —Fyodor Dostoyevsky

  Chapter 25

  15-APR-43

  The initial northern breakthrough of Operation Star, was beginning to bog down against the stubborn defense being put up by Model. Just when they thought they might seize a valuable prize in Kharkov, up came that German Panzer Division. The 22nd was worn out, but it still had about 48 tanks, all Pz-IIIN and IV-F2’s. It had not received any Lions, but did have several companies of the lighter Leopard and Lynx recon tanks, which could help against infantry even if they were largely ineffective against the T-34’s.

  It ran right into the Russian 25th Tank Corps, and was enough to stop it in its tracks when supported by 56th Infantry Division from Heinrici’s 12th Korps. His 39th Division had fallen back through Belgorod and moved up to extend the German line out to Tomarovka, and slowly, Model had scrapped together ad hoc units to try and fill that gap. Yet the Russians had not one but three tank corps in this attack, and by April 15 when Knobelsdorff arrived, they had begun bringing up more elements of the 5th Shock Army infantry, and several Guards divisions.

  Further east, 5th Shock had several brigades of light tanks organized loosely as a mechanized cavalry division, and they swarmed over the infantry of the 56th Division, pushing up the road from Melkhovo and Korocha. Division Commander Ludek had to use his Feld Ersatz Battalion to put in a counterattack and try to stop those light tanks short of Belgorod, but the situation put that fighting behind the right flank of 22nd Panzer.

  Further south, near Volchansk, the 21st Army had forced a small penetration that prompted the 168th Division to make a strong counterattack. So the Soviets were keeping up strong pressure in the effort to take Belgorod and flank Volchansk to the north. The shield, now a combination of troops from 2nd and 4th Armies, had been dented, but it was still holding.

  Yet this was no more than a sparring match in the north. As Dietrich had warned, the main event was in the east, and it was coming in behind a weather front, crossing the empty gap between the Oskol and Donets—cold steel at the edge of hard rain.

  * * *

  The tide rolling west from the Oskol looked like it was going to come crashing onto the stony defense of Sepp Dietrich at Volchansk, but as they approached the Donets, most of the mobile formations executed a turn to the south. The large 1st Shock Army moved to screen off Volchansk, its lines extending some 18 kilometers south, all along the bridgehead Dietrich had occupied. An attack developed at Volchansk itself, but Dietrich soon realized that this was a masking and holding force, and no attempt was being made to reduce his bridgehead.

  Further south on the Donets, there were two decent crossing points at Verkhne Saltov and Stary Saltov. These were held by General Franek’s 196th Infantry Division from Heinrici’s 10th Korps, and here the Russians moved up their powerful 3rd Guards Army. It would take infantry to force those crossings, and it would be a battle pitting concentrated Soviet Guards Brigades against German battalions, again on a front of approximately 18 kilometers.

  South of the 196th, the Donets made a wide hairpin bend around heavy woodland northeast of Chuguyev, which was the main road and rail crossing leading to Kharkov. In this bend, there were also several crossing points, at Martovaya on the northern portion of the bend, Pechengi at the deepest part of the turn, and then at a few locations as the river flowed almost due west in a winding course for Chuguyev. This area was assigned to 3rd Guards Army, and it was here that Himmler’s new SS Division had been posted. The dark SS man had wanted to sharpen his knife, and it was about to get a severe test.

  All the other mobile formations of 1st Guard Army and the Popov Shock Group had swept south and around that deep bend in the Donets, driving for Chuguyev and points south on the river. The sector near Chuguyev was defended by Korps Raus with the 106th and 320th Infantry Divisions, but the Russians had enough force to contest this whole segment of the river.

  South of the 320th, they would find four minor bridges near Zimyev before the river turned southeast to make its way down through Andreyevka, Balakleya and eventually reach the major rail and road hub of Izyum. Those four crossing points were only defended by the nine battalions that made up the 2nd Luftwaffe Field Korps. Yet as the river ran on to the southeast again, there was virtually no defense at all. A single battalion, Feldersats C from Armeegruppe South, had the bridge at Bishkin some 12 kilometers from the Luftwaffe troops. The rest of the river, nearly 100 kilometers to Izyum, was being screened by two reserve infantry divisions, which had only six battalions each.

  If the Soviets wanted to get over the Donets, they had plenty of opportunities to do so. The strongest attack began right there north of the big bend, on the southern end of Franek’s 196th Infantry, and against Himmler’s new volunteer Nordland Panzer Division. Wagner had neglected to blow the bridge at Martovaya, and the 48th Guards Rifle Division fought hard to gain a bridgehead there for the tank brigades of 3rd Corps right behind it. The Soviets had plenty of bridging equipment and they were soon swarming over the river at every site that looked crossable, slowly d
riving KG Wagner back.

  It was soon clear to Wagner that it would be fruitless to try to defend the deep salient created by the river bend, and he gave orders for the division to fall back to a new line stretching between the two top ends of the big U formed by the river. There was heavy woodland in that area that offered better prospects for defense, and his line would be considerably shorter.

  But fresh black uniforms and SS insignia do not make a division like those in Steiner’s Korps. The inexperience of the rank and file troops, their zeal for combat aside, was quite apparent. Wagner’s orders would be received, but not implemented in time to prevent the surge of 3rd Shock Army crossing the river along a wide zone between Pechengi and Chuguyev. Most of that sector was lightly screened by Wagner’s Recon battalion, a Panzerjager unit and one company of motorized infantry.

  They were about to get steamrolled.

  Zhukov and Vatutin new the terrain well, and they had planned this attack very carefully. They had no intention of trying to link up the two pincers, unless that opportunity presented itself. The breakthrough on the Oskol was so wide, and the ground so open to the west, that they had ample room to maneuver. In this event Zhukov wanted the strong infantry armies like 1st and 3rd Shock, and the 3rd Guards to cover the river and force crossing points.

  “The big bend northeast of Chuguyev will be easy to take and hold,” said Zhukov. I want that area attacked by strong infantry, at least two armies. Once our guardsmen fight their way through the woods, then we can send armor through on the shortest route to Kharkov.”

  “What about 1st Guard Tank Army and Popov’s group?” asked Vatutin. They’ll just have to sit there until the infantry gets us those bridgeheads.”

  “No,” said Zhukov definitively. “I want them moving south, bypassing Chuguyev and looking for crossings near Zimyev. That failing, they can go for Andreyevka or Balakleya.”

  Kuznetsov’s 1st Guard Tank Army went for Zimyev, and so Popov veered off south and reached the Donets late on the night of April 15th. His motorized infantry dismounted, rushing into the outskirts of Balakleya, and by sunrise, the Soviets would have that town secured.

  Pushed out of the plusher quarters, the German defenders retreated over the Donets, demolish the bridges and counted themselves lucky to be still breathing.

  * * *

  Sepp Dietrich was on the telephone to Knobelsdorff as reports came flooding in from the south. The Russians had stormed the Saltov position, and had a bridgehead there three kilometers deep. They had also crossed well north of Martovaya, and at Pechengi to seize the entire Donets Bend near Chuguyev. Now the Luftwaffe at Zimyev reported a strong attack there.

  “They are certainly persistent,” said Dietrich. “Do you still want this bridgehead at Volchansk? If we could get 4th Army back to the Donets we might shorten our lines and free up some troops to plug these holes. As it stands, the bulk of my troops are just sitting here.”

  “Balck is coming up,” said Knobelsdorff.

  “He won’t be enough on his own,” said Dietrich. “If I get over the river and join him, then we can do business.”

  “What about Wagner?”

  “That division is unreliable.” Dietrich stated the obvious. “It was sent here to get some seasoning, and instead it’s getting cooked!”

  “I don’t have authority to order 4th Army to withdraw as you suggest.”

  “Then pass it to Hoth…. Pass it up to Manstein,” said Dietrich. “We must do something. They’ll be on their way to Kharkov by this time tomorrow if we don’t.”

  “Alright, I can give you authorization to abandon the bridgehead at Volchansk. Balck came up the road from Kharkov. He’s at Mikhaylovka. Take your division to Ternovka, but I don’t want them over the river behind you.”

  “I’ll have to inform General Holts. He’s got the 161st just north of Volchansk.”

  “Correct,” said Knobelsdorff, “and then he’ll have to inform the 168th on his left, and so on. We haven’t time to kick this can from Hoth to Manstein. We have to act. Get your division free for offensive action as soon as you can. Move tonight, and take the Reichsführer Brigades with you. I’ll speak with you in the morning.”

  Knobelsdorff hung up the phone and then immediately informed his adjutant to get General Manstein on the line.

  “Generalfieldmarshal,” he said, “It has become necessary to tighten the defensive shield around Belgorod, and to do so we needed to give the Russians Volchansk.”

  “That is not a problem,” said Manstein. “We don’t need Volchansk. It’s on the wrong side of the river.”

  “Dietrich agreed with that, and so I ordered him to pull out tonight. Balck is arriving, and I’m beginning to assemble my Korps between Ternovka and Mikhaylovka, northeast of Kharkov. I was planning to stop the incursion over the Donets at the Saltov position, and then reinforce that new SS division at the river bend. They’re getting quite an education.”

  “Himmler paraded in to my meeting with the Führer thinking he was delivering Christ reincarnated with that unit. Well, they must learn their craft. Look after them. Tell Dietrich to take them under his wing and see what he can do with them.”

  “Then Volchansk won’t be a problem?”

  “Forget about it.”

  “Good, and how are things coming along on the Don front?”

  “Very odd. We identified their 1st Tank army here, but then it withdrew two days ago. I think they smelled Steiner and wanted no part of him. When the tanks pulled back, their infantry fell back as well. We mopped up yesterday, and I’m moving a few 6th Army divisions into the new line. I’ll be taking Grossdeutschland through Star Oblesk tonight. Steiner will move by rail from Millerovo and down through Krasny Liman. We should begin assembling in a day or so, between Izyum and the Oskol as it approaches the Donets.”

  “Then that attack was just bait,” said Knobelsdorff.

  “Apparently, and it pulled in some big fish down here. But that was Katukov. He slipped out the back door here, but rest assured, he’ll be delivering the mail somewhere else. Be wary.”

  * * *

  That morning on the 15th of April would bring a major complication to everything Knobelsdorff was planning. Model had been chafing to wriggle his way out of the necessity of holding Oboyan. It was another fortified town, like Prokhorovka, that was the north end of a big salient, but thus far, OKW was silent on his request to redeploy and shorten his lines by eliminating that bulge.

  The Soviet 5th Tank Army had been dueling with 22nd Panzer for the last two days north of Belgorod, but on the night of the 15th, it seemed to simply evaporate. German troops on the line reported no activity, and experienced NCOs and officers soon realized that the Soviet armored units had simply withdrawn. But that force had to go somewhere, and that somewhere was Tomarovka, 25 kilometers to the east. The Russians had pulled out of their fight with the 22nd Panzer, and they made a night march due east to push for Tomarovka the following morning.

  Model had moved his headquarters down the road to Borisovka, and when he got the news he hardly had the time to digest it when the telephones were ringing again. It was a Lieutenant in the Pioneer Battalion of 102nd Infantry Division near Tomarovka reporting that a small column of Soviet Armored cars had been seen on the road to the town. He was 2 kilometers behind the front line….

  A very strong attack had opened in the predawn hours, mostly infantry at first, but now tanks from the 29th Corps were being introduced, with waves of fresh infantry behind them. It was the 7th Guards Army, the old 64th Army now redesignated as a guards unit, with freshly rebuilt divisions. It had two Corps of three Guards Rifle Divisions each, three organic tank brigades, and a lot of artillery. Model knew the Guards were always used in the breakthrough role, and that they seldom came alone. There had to be something more behind this attack, and there was.

  It was Mikhail Katukov.

  The mail he was delivering that day was a good chunk of the 1st Tank Army, which he had discretely pulled out of th
e feint towards Millerovo after roughing up the German 17th Reserve Korps. He was one of the very few tank leaders the Soviets had who could have pulled off such a maneuver—to attack, withdraw, make a quick night march to waiting trains at Boguchov, which then took his Corps swiftly by rail to Stary Oskol and on down to the outskirts of Prokhorovka. But it had not come to reduce that pocket. Instead the troops detrained with lightning speed and began moving south to file in behind 7th Guards Army, a reserve unit that had been sent over from the Central Front. It would be remembered as “Katukov’s March” in the written history of these events, and it was going to be a big headache for the German 2nd and 4th Armies.

  It was already bad enough that Model had the 305th Infantry surrounded at Prokhorovka. Now the sudden shift of 5th Tank Army to Tomarovka made perfect sense. This new attack was intending to break through there and extend the deep salient achieved by 5th Tank Army, and the enemy’s intentions were perfectly clear. It was also pushing for Kharkov, and if it got there, it would well behind the 2nd Army on the Psel.

  Model again sent an urgent request directly to OKW asking for permission to abandon the Oboyan salient, but got no response. It was clear to him what was happening. Keitel, Zeitzler and the other generals were most likely huddled around the situation map haggling with the Führer. After permitting Manstein to pull back Paulus and his 6th Army, and allowing 4th Army to fall back and readjust its lines, Hitler was digging in his heels. It remained to be seen whether the Generals could persuade him that this salient was of no immediate military use, and instead had become a tremendous liability for the Army.

  “Look at the 305th!” Hitler would fire back. “It stands like a rock at Prokhorovka—six days now. Do not tell me that Model’s troops cannot do the same.”