Ironfall (Kirov Series Book 30)

by Schettler, John

  On the right, Manstein waited two hours, and then he would throw the power of Grossdeutschland Division right on the seam between 63rd and 2nd Shock Armies, very close to a sharp bend in the Donets. That attack would also be spearheaded by the 501st and 502nd Schwerepanzer battalions, each having 36 new Lions with the 88mm main gun.

  As a feint, he ordered the division artillery to fire due north at the lines of 63rd Army, to deceive the enemy into thinking that would be the point of imminent attack. It was well away from the river, which was where he wanted to make his Schwerpunkt with the bulk of the division. Hörnlein would take his division around that river bend, and push northwest to Balakleya, severing that communications link to the troops south of the Donets. In so doing, he would essentially be the right flank of Steiner’s attack, and all three of these powerful divisions would move to crush Popov’s deep incursion south of the Donets.

  Two regiments of the 346th Rifle division bore the brunt of the initial attack, and they were driven back, rallying with their HQ when two reserve tank battalions came up in support. They each had about 16 T-34’s and nine T-60’s, with a few more 57mm SP AT guns, but they had not yet made the acquaintance of the Lions. 346th Rifle Division fell back and tried to re-establish the front, and the Army artillery pool was beating a hasty retreat.

  28 kilometers to the northwest, at Balakleya, Popov was chafing at the bit to continue his advance over the Donets. Now he knew why Zhukov had reined him in. He reported that there was an attack in progress, but initial reports did not indicate that there was anything more than a strong regimental scale attack. That was Das Reich , leading with the regiment on its left. The full weight of that division, and all of 3rd SS had not yet engaged. So Popov decided to surprise the upstart German regiment he thought he had in front of him, and ordered his two tank corps to sweep south and east, thinking to pin whatever the Germans had out there against the river and annihilate it. He was soon about to learn just exactly what the Germans had out there.

  Higher command must have gotten wind of something Popov did not yet know, for he received an order near midnight to consolidate and defend his bridgehead, but to prepare to withdraw the bulk of his force back north of the Donets if so ordered. That was all the message said, with no mention of the German counterattack already underway north of Izyum. Popov was confused. He scratched his head at the message, for he was now doing the exact opposite, swinging his Shock Group into the attack.

  Why does Zhukov want me to sit here, he thought? I have already given him Balakleya and Andreyevka? He reluctantly sent a staff officer out to draft an order that would halt his attack, but not yet knowing the full scope of what was happening, he was in no great hurry. In his mind, he could crush this German regiment first, and then make his preparations to consolidate the bridgehead again.

  * * *

  General Zeitzler had always been a very energetic man, so much so that he had been called “General Fireball” in the early years of the war when he laid the planning for Fall Grun in Czechoslovakia and took over Army Group D in the low countries. Many thought he would become just another yes man at OKW when he was appointed there, but he had finally come to see the misery that Halder had to put up with in Hitler’s intransigence and the nonsensical way in which he tried to interfere with daily operations on the front.

  In a fast moving battle like this, the ability of improvise, make snap decisions based on sound military principles, account for the necessary supply to allow the army to maneuver, were all qualities entirely missing in Adolf Hitler. He never gave a thought to logistics. His troops needed no fuel to move when all they had to do was sit in static positions and defend as in the last war.

  Yet now the deep thrust made by Mikhail Katukov simply had to be answered. His spearheads and forward patrols had moved as far south as Trosnoye, 40 kilometers south of Tomarovka where Model was slowly building up infantry freed up by his withdrawal to the Pena River line. In making adjustments intended to free up 1st SS, General Heinrici had freed up a full infantry division, the 167th, but this is when the hand of fate intervened.

  Katukov turned east.

  He had taken Bessonovka, and now he was swinging his mechanized forces south and east around that town, pushing for the main road and rail line that led to Belgorod from Kharkov. Heinrici’s own HQ was now right in Katukov’s path, along with the entire logistical train for the 4th Army. Something had to be done, and because the 167th Infantry Division was 25 kilometers closer to the threat than Dietrich’s troops, it was immediately ordered to move towards the Udy River, one of three watercourses that flowed south to the vicinity of Kharkov.

  There was a village with the impossible name of Shchetinovka there, which the Germans simply called “Shetovka”, and that is where Katukov’s 6th Tank Corps encountered the arriving German infantry. If the Russian tanks could move another 10 kilometers, they would sever the jugular for Heinrici’s 4th Army.

  Zeitzler then did something that was very uncharacteristic. He had been a loyal Nazi, properly awed by the Führer for some months. Now he was seeing the reality, and knew he had to do more than make persuasive arguments at the map table. So he made a private call to Colonel-General Heinrici.

  “What is your situation?” he began.

  “The line is holding. Belgorod is strongly defended as ordered, though I cannot see why I must hold that city when the enemy is about to kick me in the backside.”

  “De Führer,” said Zeitzler, and he did not need to say anything more. Then he made plain the reason for his call. “If you stay put, there is a good chance that the entire northern half of your army will be cut off in another day or so. The 167th may not be able to stop what’s happening behind you. Furthermore, Korps Raus cannot hold much longer. This could all be academic soon. The Russians are pushing very hard for Kharkov, and they are now only 15 kilometers from the city. That too, would cut your entire army off and make a withdrawal an absolute necessity—one the Fuhrer would simply ignore. Understand? Now… I have freed up the Reichsführer Brigades to try and clear your lines of communication, but you will remain in a dangerous position if you stay where you are.”

  “Well, if I could simply pull back we could stop this entire northern offensive! Model and I could pinch it off easily enough. Stuck where I am, with my troops anchored on the Donets, we can do very little. This is ridiculous!”

  “Agreed,” said Zeitzler. “Getting the Führer to agree is the problem. And yet…. If you found that enemy pressure on your lines was so great that the troops simply could not hold….” He let that hang in the silence, the meaning of his suggestion evident to Heinrici.

  “I see… You propose we hand the Führer a fait accompli, and then blame it on the Russians. Heads could roll if Hitler ever found out we had this discussion.”

  “I am prepared to lose mine, if you are prepared to lose yours,” said Zeitzler. “What I am not prepared to lose if the 4th Army. General, I think you should send me a report that strong enemy attacks have developed all along your front, and the line is simply too thin to hold…. But do so only after you have made some judicious redeployments. I can keep things off the situation map at OKW for 48 hours, but no longer.”

  “I understand,” said Heinrici. What about Festung Belgorod?”

  “Who is there?”

  “Ludecke and the 56th”

  “Gekreuzte Säbel,” said Zeitzler, Crossed Sabres, the Divisional insignia. It was fated to be dissolved in September of 1943 in the real history after suffering heavy losses, and would not be rebuilt for another year. “If we throw the dog a bone, it will likely sit like the 305th in Prokhorovka. This is a lot to get done, General. I will place 22nd Panzer under your direction as well, and do what I can to stop that attack behind you. Good luck….”

  This little conspiracy was going to reshape the front, and cause a major row at OKW when it was finally clear that the line of the upper Donets had been lost. But it was the only chance the Germans had to save that army, and bot
h Zeitzler and Heinrici knew that, even if Hitler would have to accept the agony of yet another “withdrawal,” undertaken by his unreliable Generals.

  Heinrici ordered the 56th Infantry Division to adopt hedgehog defense around Belgorod, then he folded back the two divisions on either side of that city to build a new line about 12 kilometers to the south. His plan was to slowly peel his divisions away from the Donets, sliding them west as he did so, to build up strength near the farthest point of Katukov’s advance.

  As the Reichsführer Brigades moved toward the Udy River as Zeitzler had promised, they ran into trouble immediately. The enemy had already slipped south of Shetovka where the 167th had deployed, and they were 15 Kilometers southeast of the Udy River, now crossing the next minor river barrier, the Lopan, at the town of Kazeya Lopan. Katukov’s 3rd Mech Corps was there, with heavy tank support from the 6th Tank Corps. They had already cut the rail line to Belgorod, and were just two kilometers from the main supply road as well. Heinrici’s little conspiracy with Zeitzler was enacted just in time to stave off disaster.

  Chapter 29

  Balck ordered his 11th Panzer Division to pull out and move north when he learned that Knobelsdorff himself had to use his Headquarters company to aid in the defense of Kharkov. The situation at Borovoye south of Kharkov was now stable, and he could not see his division sitting there head butting Kuznetzov’s 1st Tank Army for very much longer. So he got with Scheller and they conspired to have his 9th Panzer take over defensive positions, ending the combined offensive the two divisions had been engaged in. The 11th was needed elsewhere.

  “Hauser!” Balck got hold of his Recon Battalion. “I need you to pull out fast and get up north to the main road into Kharkov from Chuguyev. A Soviet tank brigade has broken through and Knobelsdorff has been using his Korps assets to try and stop it. Be aggressive. I’m bringing up the rest of the division right behind you.”

  “Very good, General,” said Hauser. “I’ll move immediately.”

  And he did.

  His battalion was quite strong, with an armored car company, a second company in halftracks, and a heavy recon company, also mechanized. They could move fast and hit hard, which is exactly what Hauser did, arriving to find the 48th Korps Pioneers trying to stop 15th Guards Tank Brigade. It had slipped through a hole in the line like a good running back and boldly raced another 10 kilometers up the road from the village of Rogan to Kharkov. That has sent off alarm bells in the city, and the reaction was now bringing one of Germany’s best Panzer Divisions into that action. But by the time Balck arrived on the scene, Hauser had smashed that brigade, the 75mm guns on his armored cars just good enough to do the job, particularly when he caught them from behind.

  Balck was also moving north because the 3rd Shock Army was making increasing inroads in the lines of Korps Raus. It was now only 16 kilometers due east of the city, and Wagner’s Nordland SS Division had to fall back to straighten its lines and free up units to send in support.

  This crisis so near the city had the effect of fixating Hitler’s attention, and Zeitzler seized upon it to focus the Führer’s attention, personally intercepting position reports concerning his little conspiracy with Heinrici. The net effect was that the belated arrival of 6th Panzer Division was finally resolved. Hitler had equivocated over actually sending the division from Berlin, now he ordered it to Kharkov with all haste.

  Then word came from Manstein: “Beginning counteroffensive operations, effective 04:00.”

  17-APR-43

  While General Popov was contemplating the meaning of his orders, and equivocating, the west wing of 63rd Army was being ground under the heavy steel tracks of Grossdeutschland Division. The 346th Division was mauled and pushed back, reorganizing its defense as close to the river as possible to try and prevent a breakthrough. The 266th Rifle Division on its eastern flank was also giving up ground, along with the 203rd. General Shurkin of the 63rd Army began shifting units west to try and reinforce the threatened sector, but Grossdeutschland Division was not going to be stopped.

  Behind it, Kirchner’s 57th Panzer Korps was finally arriving from the Caucasus. The lead unit was the 17th Panzer Division, followed by 3rd Panzergrenadier. The 29th Motorized was coming as well, for after the fall of Groznyy, Volkov’s forces retreated to Makhachkala, and the line was compressed considerably. This allowed Kleist to order 17th Army to that sector, freeing up Hansen’s entire 11th Army. Some divisions would be used to relieve those two mobile divisions, and other would also be made available to send north.

  Kirchner would throw his two divisions in to the right of Grossdeutschland, and Shurkin soon found his line was being stormed along an 18-kilometer front, with numerous regiments already surrounded by the fast moving German forces, surging through any gap to envelop the defenders. The smoke and fire of the battle obscured the sun and made for a blood red dawn on the 17th, an ominous portent of what was now happening.

  It was Manstein’s Backhand Blow.

  * * *

  General Shurkin of the 63rd Army was in a state of shock. The two tank brigades he had rushed to backstop his infantry had been destroyed, the heavy German Tigers grinding through the muddy fields and simply chopping them to pieces, firing at ranges out to 2000 meters. Nothing remained but the smoking wrecks of gutted, burning tanks. 346th Rifle Division had been overrun, with two regiments crushed and the last in a desperate retreat. 266th and 203rd Rifle Divisions had been hit just as hard, and his 1st Rifle Division had been surrounded and then completely destroyed.

  63rd AT tried to throw up a Pakfront, but it was simply overwhelmed before the gunners to get properly positioned. His army had fielded 15 rifle regiments among its five divisions, and seven were destroyed or completely routed. Shurkin ordered a general retreat, which would soon become a cascading rout of his entire army.

  While this carnage was underway, 57th Army heard the frantic reports and realized big trouble was rolling like thunder to the west. General Gagan’s army was east of the Oskol River where it flowed down to the Donets near Izyum, and he immediately began issuing orders to fold back his line. This army was better organized, with many of its regiments dug in, but when word came that the 63rd Army was in full retreat on their right, Gagen’s 57th had no recourse other than to withdraw north.

  Popov was listening to his radio, and heard those same frantic calls of one colonel and lieutenant screaming orders or asking for help. He now surmised that the German Grossdeutschland Division was emerging from the Izyum Bend, smashing its way through 63rd Army, and heading for Balakleya, where the hapless bridging engineers had just finished repairing the bridge there, only to find demolition engineers come rushing in to set charges in case the Germans broke through. The cacophony on the radio was deeply disturbing, for he had heard all this before, over the first two long years of the war, and he knew what it meant—chaos was coming his way, a threat well behind his bridgehead over the Donets if it reached Balakleya. Now he realized that his impudent order to sweep away what he thought was a single reinforced German regiment had suddenly become two full SS Panzer Divisions!

  It was Steiner, and Das Reich was going right through those three cavalry divisions that had been screening the eastern face of his bridgehead. He realized he was in serious trouble, but he knew what he had to do to save his command.

  “Order all units to break off their attack to the southwest and retire north immediately! They are to reassemble south of the bridge at Andreyevka.”

  “Not at Balakleya sir?”

  “Are you deaf? I said Andreyevka! Now move!”

  He still had time.

  Vlasov’s 2nd Shock Army would be falling back over the bridge at Balakleya, and the rest of it was strung out along the north bank of the Donets to the southeast. There was nothing he could do to save the 63rd Army, but he could save his own Shock Group if he acted quickly.

  If he had the privilege of reading the books shared by Sergei Kirov and Berzin, he would have seen how badly he was treated in this
battle, though the situation now was not as grievous as in was in the old history. There, Popov had pushed out nearly all the way to the Dnieper, his lines and columns very overextended and ripe for the counterattack that Manstein delivered. Here Zhukov had wisely reined Popov in at his Donets Bridgeheads, and this was largely because the plan did not call for any concerted push over the Donets until Kharkov had been captured. If Popov perceived he was in danger, it was peril of his own making with that brash attack contrary to Zhukov’s written orders. That said, his tank corps here were better provisioned, and a more cohesive force than in Fedorov’s history. Now it remained to be seen whether they could measure up to the task and redeploy as he wanted. The Popov group had been all but destroyed in Manstein’s counterattack, and its fate here was as yet undecided.

  The General then sent a message to Zhukov indicating he was under aggressive attack by two SS divisions, and moving to secure his easternmost bridgehead and possibly retire north of the river—and he requested support. That would soon come from a man who was well up to the task General Rodion Malinovsky, commander of the 2nd Shock Group that had been slowly following in Popov’s wake.

  The big, broad chested man with the dour face receive the news with studied calm. Then he gruffly issued orders for his forces to prepare to move out.

  Malinovsky’s Group had been Zhukov’s last mobile reserve, the Knight in the center of the board ready to leap off to any threatened corner. Oddly enough, Malinovsky’s central square was in a town called Volkov Yar, one of the few that still retained the name of the renegade leader of the Orenburg Republic. A good chess player, Zhukov now looked at the situation as if he were studying a complex position on the board.

  2nd Shock Army was now to be the front most directly engaged with the enemy, both north and south of the river. Those were his pawns, and some were too far into the enemy camp to be protected now, particularly since he had to withdraw his Bishop, General Popov.