Nexus Deep (Kirov Series Book 31)

by Schettler, John

  Chapter 11

  “Where is this Citadel operation?” asked Zhukov.

  “A plan to strike at Kursk. There has been some unusual activity in Model’s 2nd Army zone. Stores and munitions are being moved closer to his front lines, and the rail lines feeding that area are all being repaired.”

  “Any sign of a buildup?”

  “Not yet. A Panzer Division, number twelve, was sent to their Army Group Center last week, but their 48th Korps remains in defensive positions behind Model.”

  “Watch Steiner,” said Kirov. “Those divisions will always be at the heart of any major offensive they plan. General Zhukov, we believe there may be more than meets the eye here. What is your plan for defense in the north?”

  “5th Shock Group is still there, and fairly strong. Katukov is there as well with his 1st Tank Army, but I was considering moving him to join Kuznetsov and rebuild his Shock Group in the south to an all mechanized force. The rifle divisions he had were badly mauled in the enemy counterattack, and most have now been disbanded.”

  “I see… Perhaps you had best wait on that order to Katukov, at least until we let Berzin chew on this business concerning the German Citadel plan. Leave 1st Tank Army in general reserve in the north.”

  “As you wish.”

  “What would your response be to the other German plan—Hawk.”

  “If it is a pincer operation aimed at 1st and 2nd Shock Groups, they will bite off more than they can swallow. Those forces remain very strong. We lost Ermakov’s Motor Rifle Division, and learned a good lesson when battling their armor. We still have good tank strength there, but more of the newer models are needed, and quickly.”

  “We have additional Kirov-1 shipments heading your way,” said Berzin. “Some will go to Katukov, the rest to Kuznetsov.”

  “That will help. To answer your earlier question, Mister General Secretary, it is my opinion that our southern group has the strength to repel any attempt to conduct an envelopment operation. I have also moved up the 47th Army from Steppe Front to stand as a general reserve and replace 63rd Army, which will need to be rebuilt. The new army is moving by rail to Kupyansk.”

  “Very well, I will take your word that the south is secure. If they should instead strike us in the north, then what?”

  “As Katukov is being retained there, I am confident we can hold long enough to evaluate that situation and make an appropriate response. Should the south remain stable, I would consider transferring a Shock Group to reinforce the north if necessary. However, our best option might be to simply counterattack in the south.”

  “Explain,” said Kirov, thinking.

  “If they strike us in the north,” said Zhukov, “then they want Kursk back. To have any chance of getting there, they will need Steiner’s troops on the line. So while they are trying to take Kursk, I will be free to attack again in the south. I could threaten Kharkov, or drive on the Middle Donets in this case. Once they look over their shoulder, I believe that would put an end to any operation against Kursk. Then we go over to general counterattack.”

  “Very well, General. You have not failed us in the past. We will do what we can to redress the shortfall in heavier tanks, and please keep me informed of the general situation on the field.”

  Zhukov had handed the General Secretary the old Napoleonic maxim that the best defense was a good offense. He saw his armored Shock Groups as capable of repelling any German attack, and launching another offensive if the situation warranted that. It was the very same assessment that Manstein had surmised, yet the German General could not overcome the real obstacle to German strategic planning—Adolf Hitler.

  The battle fought in late April was the first real field test of the new Soviet heavy mobile forces against the best the Germans had to oppose them. The enemy had prevailed, and now Zhukov was inwardly hoping the factories could get him more tanks capable of standing with the alarmingly potent new German models in Hitler’s shock divisions.

  The battle that was coming would be another test of steel versus steel. The Germans were well ahead in terms of heavy tank production. In the real history, over 80% of the tanks fielded by the Germans at Kursk were Pz-III and IV models. There were only 200 of the new Panther Pz V, 147 Tigers and 90 Ferdinands. In this history, the Panzer II had been largely phased out and replaced by the German Leopards with a 50mm main gun. Almost all the Pz IIIs were gone, sent off to HQ companies, and rear area depot garrisons, or delivered to the Hungarians, Rumanians and Italians. Only 75 Pz-IIIN tanks were on the field in late May of 1943 in the south, with 30 more Flampanzer models. There were still 402 Pz IV’s, mostly F1 and F2 models, but the new Lion-75 was vying to become the standard medium tank, and there were 342 of those on the field.

  The real difference was in the heavy tank category, the legacy of Brigadier Kinlan and his Challenger II’s. The shock had been so severe, that it had spurred the German effort to increase both armor and hitting power for its panzer force. As a result, there were now about 250 Lion-88 models in the south, with 46 more Tiger I’s and 243 Panthers. They also had 80 Ferdinand ‘Elephants’ arriving by rail that very week.

  This monster was built on unused chassis designed by Porsche when they were competing for the contract to build the Tiger tank. Henschel got the contract for the Tiger, so Porsche had about 100 unused chassis and designed a new tank destroyer mounting Krupp's newly developed 88 mm Panzerjägerkanone 43. It was meant to replace the lightly armored Nashorn, and when it came to armor, this 65-ton beast was given a full 200mm, a full 80mm thicker than the Tiger.

  All in all, the heavy metal the Germans were wielding was much stronger than in the real history. The plan was to line up six panzer divisions abreast, the 9th, 6th and 11th on the left, backed by Grossdeutschland Division, and Steiner’s three SS divisions on the right. The ground they would attack into was not traversed by networks of trenches and minefields, nor was there a strong anti-tank line established yet. The thick layers of concentric defensive lines that had proved so impenetrable in the real battle did not exist here. That said, the forces deployed near the point of attack were still very strong.

  Rokossovsky, the overall Voronezh Front Commander, had the entire 5th Shock Group, (5th Tank Army, 5th Shock Army, 5th Guards Army), and they were right on the line between Tomarovka and Belgorod, with the mechanized forces poised to make swift counterblows. Behind them, at Oboyan, was Mikhail Katukov’s 1st Tank Army, and more strong infantry forces were available in theater if needed, another full army.

  Though the concentration of German forces was impressive, and would be intimidating under any circumstances, Manstein nonetheless had strong reservations about this attack. Hitler had rejected his preferred operation, Habicht , and that was going to leave not one, but two strong enemy shock Groups in the south unfought.

  We are making a serious mistake here, he thought. We should have dealt with the threat in the south first, but the Führer sees no gain of territory in such a battle. He does not yet realize that this whole affair is not about occupying the Soviet Union, but defeating its army! Now he wants Steiner to lead the charge all the way to Kursk.

  This attack should not be made….

  * * *

  It was 9th Panzer in Knobelsdorff’s 48th Panzerkorps that opened the attack to the left of Tomarovka, and it rippled west through the lines of 6th Panzer, and then Balck’s 11th. They would be attacking Gorodov’s 21st Army, a large formation of nine rifle divisions, four of those being Guards, and three tank brigades in support. But these stronger divisions had been positioned well to the west, near Proletarsky, where they had been planning to make an attack against the German infantry front. That meant that Knobelsdorff’s attack would fall mainly on the line of Rifle Divisions in the Army, the 243rd, near Tomarovka, and the 279th, 259th, 78th and 195th extending along the line to the west.

  The 279th Division was all but smashed in the shock of the initial attack made by 9th Panzer Division. As the line buckled when the 6th and 11th Panzers
joined the attack, Gorodov was sluggish in his response, but he managed to get one tank brigade, the 59th, moving to the point where Balck’s 11th Panzers were driving north through the lines of the 78th Rifle Division. It had 16 T-34’s and nine T-60’s with a few SU-57’s, but had the misfortune of running right into 2/501 Schwere Company, which had a dozen Tigers. The Germans engaged from long range, and cut the Soviet brigade to pieces before it could close to attack at ranges that could hurt the Tigers.

  Of the three tank Corps that were placed behind 5th Shock Army on the right, only one moved in the pre-dawn darkness, Burkov’s 29th. Gorodov had called Rybalko to ask for help, and so that Corps moved west across the Vorskla River, which flowed down from the north into Tomarovka. Reaching the far bank, it began to deploy for a counterattack against the breakthrough zone for 9th Panzer. General Burkov was moving into a firestorm, for the Grossdeutschland Division was already advancing through the breach forced in the line, even as 9th Panzer began to engage the recon elements of 29th Tank Corps.

  That sudden clash forced the Russians to stop and reorganize a stronger formation, waiting for their motorized infantry to come up in support of the armor, but in that interval, the bulk of the Grossdeutschland Division swept around the flank of the 29th Corps, driving for Cherkasskoye north of Tomarovka. There they would find front level artillery deploying to begin fire missions, and put those guns to rout.

  The situation was rapidly moving from bad, to worse, to disaster for the eastern segment of 21st Army’s line. 279th Division was destroyed, the 259th surrounded and badly disrupted, as was the 78th. The Germans had smashed a hole in the line that was 12 kilometers wide.

  Gorodov now began to order his better Guards divisions to move east, but for that he needed the cooperation of 6th Army Commander Kharitonov, asking him to extend his lines eastward so the 8th Guard Para could be pulled out to move to the breakthrough zone. The 80th Guards Rifle Division had been in reserve, and it now moved to the left flank and began organizing a defensive shoulder position. The Germans immediately began to put heavy artillery on that sector, and elements of 11th Panzer and the 72nd Infantry Division continued to keep up the pressure. Meanwhile, Hauser’s recon battalion moved quickly to exploit that gap, moving to try and cut the main road between Tomarovka and points west.

  Balck would swing 11th Panzer to force open the left shoulder of the penetration, while Scheller’s 9th Panzer attacked the 29th Tank Corps on the right shoulder. 6th Panzer continued to mop up the divisions that had been surrounded, and this allowed Grossdeutschland Division to drive right through the center, bearing right towards Steiner’s attack closer to Belgorod.

  Steiner’s three SS divisions ground against the much stronger lines of the 5th Guards Army, strengthened by five regiments of engineers, and it was a difficult battle. 3rd SS made some initial progress against 5th Shock Army on the left near Tomarovka, but the Soviets counterattacked with Mechanized Cavalry brigades, pushing back the probing German recon companies and preventing any serious breakthrough on that front.

  Further east it would take the combined strength of 1st and 2nd SS to break the line of 5th Guards Army. The fighting was intense all morning, but the Germans had a massive steel battering ram that they brought into action in the afternoon, two very strong battalions of new Panther tanks in KG Denker, and the Ferdinand battalion, all combined to smash the 66th Guards Rifle Division, and 13th Guards to the west was now completely surrounded and under heavy attack by both SS divisions. It was sheer muscle and steel, an overwhelming force that beat down the valor of the Soviet Guardsmen, no matter how dogged their defense.

  To make matters worse, Steiner ordered Eicke to pull out of his attack against 5th Shock Army, moving up the infantry of 42nd Korps to hold that front. Now 3rd SS would swing east into the breach being forced by Dietrich and Hausser’s divisions, and the Germans had the makings of a massive pincer operation that threatened to take the whole of 5th Shock Army within its grasp.

  The only thing preventing that was Rybalko’s last two Tank Corps, which had remained in reserve behind 5th Shock Army. Now he had no choice other than to commit those units to try and stave off the closing of those iron jaws. 24th Corps moved west against Grossdeutschland , and 25th Corps had just been engaged by elements of 2nd SS. Neither Corps was anywhere near a match for the enemy divisions they were now facing.

  Chapter 12

  Word came to General Katukov in his headquarters north of the attack at Oboyan, and he soon gave orders to the 31st Tank Corps, telling it to prepare to move down a secondary road to Berezovka, where German recon troops had entered the town an hour earlier. This was a new Corps, with three brigades of the new T-34/85’s, with 28 tanks each, so that put 84 tanks on the road south, with three battalions of motor rifle infantry in support.

  As the full scope of the German attack became apparent, it was clear that some decision had to be made about 5th Shock Army. Katukov spoke with Rokossovsky via telephone, wanting to know if he needed to form his troops for a counterattack, or build a defensive position north of Berezovka.

  “5th Shock is in danger of being cut off,” said Rokossovsky. “It has held on to Tomarovka, but the pressure from 3rd SS Division eased up three hours ago. We now believe they are moving that division into the penetration achieved by the other two SS units. If we allow that army to be pocketed, they might have a nice big stone in their belly that will force them to envelop and reduce it.”

  “That’s a lot to sacrifice,” said Katukov. “There are three other fish in the barrel. Rybalko’s entire 5th Tank Army could be pocketed, all three corps.”

  “Yes, but this must have the effect of slowing down this offensive. They want Kursk. There can be no other objective for an attack on this scale.”

  “And if they simply screen off the 5th Shock Army and continue? My army would be hard pressed to stop them if those two pincers unite. And once they close the trap, Rybalko will have perhaps another day’s worth of ammunition—maybe two.”

  “I am taking further defensive measures,” said Rokossovsky.

  “Defensive? We will need to organize a counterattack to make sure we establish contact with those armies.”

  “All in good time,” said Rokossovsky, which frustrated Katukov. Yet the front commander was aware of bigger events in the offing which he did not wish to discuss on the telephone. “Move towards Berezovka, and take it if the opportunity presents itself. That will bring your army close enough to reach the others when we counterattack. I am bringing up additional reserves.”

  Rokossovsky could have ordered 5th Shock to pull out under cover of darkness, but he was opting to stand his ground. An army of that size, particularly with 5th Tank included, could not be defeated quickly. It had staying power to last as long as the General needed in this situation, and now he got on the telephone to Stary Oskol where the 8th Guards Army was waiting in reserve.

  The man who answered that phone call was one Vasily Chuikov, the stone-faced defender of Volgograd. The survivors of his 62nd Army had formed the root and stem of a new formation, which was now composed of six rebuilt Guards Rifle Divisions, with two heavy tank brigades and a regiment of SU-122’s. It was ordered to begin boarding the trains for movement to Prokhorovka. Zhukov was taking no chances that Steiner would finally break through and begin a rampage toward Kursk. And so the ‘Man of Iron Will,’ as Chuikov was now known, was moving on the steel rails after midnight, his first major movement to battle since Volgograd. He would reach Prokhorovka that night and establish his headquarters there, but the troops would continue on south along the rail line to Belgorod.

  Balck kept attacking that night as well, wanting to push back the line of 21st Army and secure the left flank. Hopefully, there would be infantry coming up to relieve him soon, but in the meantime, he ordered Hauser to scout out the situation north in the event the enemy had strong reserves at hand.

  General Chmienko of the 31st Tank Corps would not get to Berezovka that night. The town had
already been bypassed by the 6th Panzer, its mop-up mission complete. Hunnersdorff then moved quickly north to Verkhopenye, the new vanguard of the drive towards Kursk. That same night, as Katukov had feared, the Grossdeutschland Division turned east to meet 3rd SS, which had now exploited the work of its brother divisions and took the lead position in that pincer. The jaws closed sometime after midnight, and when the news reached OKW that the offensive had already encircled two Soviet armies in the Tomarovka Pocket, Hitler was elated.

  General Katukov could not understand why Rokossovsky reacted the way he did. This was obviously a major German offensive, as big as the Backhand Blow that had defeated 1st and 2nd Shock Groups the previous month, and drove them well north of the Donets. But he did not know about Chuikov’s 8th Guards Army arriving until the Morning of the 26th, and so now he moved his 3rd Mech Corps into blocking positions north of Berezovka, glad to know that the Stone Man had something up his sleeve after all.

  He wanted to get to Berezovka, but the Germans were already there, so he moved on Verkhopenye, where reports of fighting were soon on the radio. He could hear the distinctive sound of 88s firing in the dark, and being answered by the 85mm guns of his own tanks. His enemy had moved much faster than anticipated, and he quickly got on the radio to inform Rokossovsky.

  “I could not get to Berezovka as ordered,” he said, “The Germans are already north of there, as far as Novenkoye, and we are fighting in Verkhopenye. I’m going to try and push them out.”

  “Do so,” said Rokossovsky. “Bring your entire 1st Tank Army there. Here is your chance to march to the sound of the guns. You must keep them there. Keep fighting. If they pull out, I want to know which direction they go, immediately.”