Nexus Deep (Kirov Series Book 31)

by Schettler, John

  Other designs existed, like the super heavy jagdpanzer “Krokodil,” on a chassis that would have seen it approach 100 tons in weight when fully loaded. That monster had not yet been born, but the small E-series prototypes and test batches were all released to the Wiking s.

  Kuznetsov knew he had to cobble together some defense on his left flank. There was very little left in his barn, as all his primary formations had been committed to the envelopment operation. Aside from that recon battalion he had sent to Novaya Vodolaga, there was a flak unit 8 Kilometers to the northeast, and the 76th heavy SPG Regiment was another six kilometers beyond that on the main road to Kharkov. That had 10 SU-122’s, five more heavier SU-152’s, and a few armored cars with light infantry. Yet it was the heaviest unit he had in that sector, and he gave it orders to go to the town and reinforce the recon battalion.

  The General knew that would not be enough, so he detached the 186th Tank Brigade from 10th Tank Corps to move southwest. Then he ordered his real defense to get ready to move, the Guardsmen of his infantry divisions. These troops had cleared the Donets bend south of Zimyev, and were now mopping up some Luftwaffe battalions west of that town. He wanted them to continue west and see if they could develop a blocking defense in case anything with real power was coming up that rail line. If he had known about the steel menagerie coming his way, and in the hands of veteran troops like the Wiking SS, he would have thought twice about trying to press his envelopment forward.

  Events to the east would soon play in his favor. It was the Nordland SS Division again, now a month after its baptism of fire, and much worse for the wear. It had learned a great deal in the field since April Fool’s Day, but the 3rd Siberian Shock Army was relentless. The lines of Wagner’s troops were buckling, with more crisis points than he could manage. The Grenadiers of Grossdeutschland had gone to shore up the flagging Reichsführer Brigades, and Nordland was on its own again.

  Manstein was realizing that he would simply have to fall back on Kharkov. The city was a warren of heavy concrete and brick buildings, and he had troops that could turn it into another Volgograd if the enemy wanted a street fight. Nordland was in trouble, half the reserve was off trying to shore up the line, Dietrich’s Leibstandarte was badly overextended, and he knew he had to concentrate to build a stronger defense.

  The only segment of the line that was solid was the area being held by Das Reich and Balck’s 11th Panzer. The former was in a line running parallel to the main road from Stary Saltov to Kharkov, which was screened by a small minor river that flowed into the city. He quickly gave orders that the river line would now become the new main line of resistance, and told Hörnlein to pull back the Grenadiers.

  “I want your hounds back in the city,” he said. “I am bringing the fight here. If the Nordland SS can get back to this river, all the better, but if they get hung up making the withdrawal, your men should lend a hand. Otherwise, I want them in the city before sunrise.”

  “What news from the north?” asked Hörnlein.

  “The usual. They are hitting the line between Belgorod and Tomarovka again, and Knobelsdorff’s Korps is missing 11th Panzer. They will get through again, and that will raise the whole question of 4th Army’s position on the upper Donets. Hitler will want to stand fast, but I will not order it. There will be no ‘Festung Belgorod’ this time around, for all that would do is hand the enemy another good division or two to file away with Oppenlander’s 305th that died at Prokhorovka. I foresee having to order all of 42nd Korps to withdraw in a matter of hours.”

  “I thought Salmuth’s 10th Korps went north.”

  “It did, and it will likely be out of the frying pan and into the fire in another few hours as well. That may buy us another day. I just received notice that 9th Panzer is disintegrating west of Tomarovka. The 6th is holding the line closer to Belgorod, but I think they will bypass that city and put the question to us. I already have given you my answer. I see the 10th Korps as nothing more than a delaying force now. I intend to get our men out of Belgorod, and start peeling back that front from the Donets in short order. As for Model, he’s going to have to fold back as well, and Hitler will have his fits.”

  “This could get serious,” said Hörnlein. “You saw what happened to Heinrici.”

  “Generals are Generals,” said Manstein. He was a Field Marshal, and perhaps the most highly regarded strategist in the Army. Hitler once listened to him like a school boy before the head master, but that time was long passed. The Führer would quibble with him now, as that marathon session in Zaporozhe had shown the previous month, but Manstein was not going to allow that this time. His loyalty was unquestionable, but he had to do what he knew was right, not for himself, but for the salvation of the Army.

  “Papa, let me put it to you this way,” he said to Hörnlein, using the nickname he knew the men often called him. “This front is shielding the Donets Basin—the fabled ‘Donbass’ and the heart of the coal mining center of the Ukraine. That is shielding Rostov, the gateway to the Caucasus, and all of Efendi’s dreams of endless oil. If we lose here—if this front collapses, or is fatally compromised by Hitler’s nonsensical interference, then it all comes tumbling down—everything. We’ll have to pull out of the Caucasus and get Hansen and Kleist back through Rostov, and then order Paulus to fall back behind the Donets where it meets the Don near that city. This little war Hitler wanted with Volkov will be as good as over. Volkov will end up getting exactly what he wanted when he fumed at Ribbentrop. The Kuban will be his once more—until Sergei Kirov comes for it again.”

  “I see….” Hörnlein could clearly hear the warning in Manstein’s voice and tone, and knew there would be a good deal of trial and travail ahead for his favored sons, the soldiers of the Grossdeutschland Division.

  “It is going to be a very long year,” said Manstein. “For the first time, I am beginning to realize that we could lose this war. We broke into this farmhouse, booted out the sleeping farmer and wife, all easily accomplished. But now his sons have learned what we have done, and they are coming home to settle matters. This is not the army we beat from pillar to post in 1941, and I don’t have to remind you that even that army stopped us at Moscow, and then pushed back—very hard.”

  Chapter 18

  News coming to Manstein’s Headquarters was consistently bad. In the North, the enemy had already broken through west of Tomarovka, and powerful new forces were smashing their way through that second line of defense that the two remaining divisions of Salmuth’s Korps had thrown up. They had arrived just in time to be hit by the steam rolling offensive, a thankless fate. The men were weary from the long 70-kilometer march, and few battalions had time to get set up or prepare any kind of defensive positions. The enemy tanks were a new model that none of the Germans had seen before, and they watched their 50mm AT gun rounds bounce off that armor on the Kirov tanks.

  Manstein drafted the orders that he knew he had to deliver, in spite of what Hitler would think. To Korps Raus holding the upper Donets and Belgorod, he signaled. “Your Korps is to withdraw from Belgorod immediately on the road through Mikoyanovka, and positions on the upper Donets are to be relinquished in good order as this movement proceeds.”

  To Dostler’s 42nd Korps and Salmuth’s 10th: “You are to fall back in a fighting defensive withdrawal, while continuing to maintain as cohesive a front as possible between the Vorskla River and the Donets. Every effort should be made to maintain contact with Korps Raus on your right. In this movement, Tomarovka is to be deemed non-essential.”

  To Knobelsdorff at his headquarters in Borisovka he signaled: “Your divisions are to render screening and defensive support to the infantry wherever possible, but it will be essential that 6th Panzer be extricated from the line as soon as possible.”

  To General Walther Model: “Given the enemy breakthrough west of Belgorod, it is necessary to readjust your lines so as to maintain contact with our forces on your right. In doing so, Sumy is to be screened and held, but positions on th
e Psel should be considered disposable at your own discretion. It is imperative that you maintain the integrity of your army in the field, and use every opportunity to frustrate and wear down enemy offensive thrusts in your sector.”

  Manstein hoped that note would be interpreted correctly, for Model was a very astute officer, and knew exactly what he needed to do in a situation like this. At the same time, Manstein had also passed the buck on that order, leaving the final decision up to Model as to whether he would withdraw.

  In the south, Manstein had told Hollidt to pull his Korps back to the Donets and seek better defensive ground in the woodland fringing the winding river. 17th Panzer was already holding near the river and screening Balakleya. Reports came that the Russians had again seized Andreyevka, and forced their way over the river to create a small bridgehead. Whether they had any strength behind it was not known.

  The only bright spot was the steady advance of the Wiking Division, which had leapt from the trains and deployed enough strength forward to quickly clear out Novaya Vodolaga. They continued northeast another eight kilometers before the sun came up on the 1st day of June, eventually meeting the 186th Tank Brigade and engaging it in that grey hour.

  That morning, Manstein would cover all these exceptional orders, each one given without consultation with OKW or Hitler, with a long letter to Zeitzler:

  “I have, this hour, ordered numerous adjustment to the front now being held by Army Group South in the interest of rebuilding a cohesive defense aimed at halting the current enemy counteroffensive. These orders entail the movement of certain formations, so as to maintain the army’s integrity as a fighting force in the field, and prevent any encirclement of our forces that would become a grave weakening of our general situation and overall strength.

  If my intentions as Commander are frustrated by countervailing orders from OKW, or higher authority, I shall have no choice but to assume the Führer has not the necessary confidence in this Headquarters. While no commander in the field should ever be considered infallible, I must point out that this Army Group has carried out each and every assignment given to it with exemplary vigor, and when faced with difficult situations at the end of last year, and against the enemy’s previous attempt to seize Kharkov, we were able to master the situation. The orders I have issued are herewith attached, and are deemed by this Headquarters as essential prerequisites to ensure the defense of Kharkov, and prepare an appropriately timed counterattack.

  If the Führer thinks he can find any Army Group Commander or headquarters staff with better nerves than we had in the past six months, with more initiative than we have showed, or with the ability to foresee the inevitable more clearly than we have done, I am fully prepared to hand over to them. As long as I remain at this post, however, I must have the chance to use my own head.”

  It was a stunning and bold communication, covering the withdrawals he had ordered, and basically telling both OKW and Hitler to stay out of his affairs, or find someone else to command Army Group South. He thinly veiled his intention to tender his resignation if his present conduct of the battle was interfered with. [2]

  When Zeitzler read the letter, his eyes fixed on one salient comment: “…so as to maintain the army’s integrity as a fighting force in the field.” That spoke volumes, the sum of all fears now arising in the minds of the Generals at OKW. The enemy had been able to seize the initiative on the field, and hold it, for the first time in the war. German offensives were now counteroffensives, all aimed at restoring a deteriorating position, and they seldom ended with any full recovery of territory that had been lost to the enemy. Soviet armies appeared on the front at the most inopportune time, and there seemed to be no end to them. All this was also creating a rising level of tension at OKW, for with every backward step the Army took, Hitler would become more and more irrational, more unstable, more demanding, and given to fits of anger and frustration.

  As a hedge against Hitler, Manstein would have his staff update OKW on new division positions only after his orders were carried out and the units reported they were on their new assigned frontage. He knew that Hitler found any retreat inimical, unwilling to believe that the German Army could be forced off ground it was determined to hold. The long years of triumph had convinced him that the Wehrmacht was invincible, and he would then blame the loss of ground on the incompetence or weak nerves of his Generals. For him, iron will was the only solution to adversity.

  The entire issue of the “adjustments” that Manstein had ordered would, however, be quickly eclipsed by new developments. The Soviets had opened yet another attack, this time aimed at Paulus and his 6th Army in the Don basin. 44th, 28th, 51st, and 2nd Guards Armies smashed through the remnants of Polsten’s 69th Korps, flanking Seydlitz-Kurzbach and compelling him to withdraw towards the Donets. This was Manstein’s greatest fear, a move that now threatened to cut off the entire position in the Caucasus. The rest of 6th Army was strung out to the east, and in danger of being cut off.

  It was almost inevitable that there would be repercussions from the bold moves Manstein ordered near Kharkov, but when this news reached OKW, he was not surprised when Hitler announced that he would again fly to the scene for a direct conference, undoubtedly to prevent any further unilateral actions by Manstein. The General, and his Chief of Staff Hans Speidel, steeled themselves for the storm.

  “Do you realize the pressure I am under?” said Hitler, unable to let Manstein’s transgressions pass in spite of the urgency of the hour. “When you take such sweeping actions without consultation or consent from higher authority, you compromise positions the Army has taken two long years to obtain! It was only your rank as Commanding officer of this Armeegruppe that stopped me from removing you the instant I read this letter!” Hitler threw the long teleprint that Manstein had sent earlier down on the table, his eyes like coal, a pained expression on his face. It was as if he had come to redress a personal insult, an offense directed at him more than what it was meant to be, Manstein’s insistence that he should command his Armeegruppe , and not Hitler.

  “I overlooked that business with 4th Army earlier,” said Hitler, “but General Heinrici paid the price, did he not? Thank God Model stood his ground, and perhaps I should consider him for higher level command.” Hitler gave Manstein a narrow-eyed look, the implied threat being that he could easily appoint Model in his place. “I need men of iron will, and with backbone in situations like this, not officers who insist that the only solution to every crisis is a withdrawal.”

  The General shrugged, then simply pointed at the letter on the table. “That was my warning shot,” he said, quite boldly. “I will not have my nerve, nor my competence in the field, questioned here, not by OKW, and not by you either, my Führer. If Heinrici had obeyed your orders to the letter as you might have wished, he would not be idling on the North Front waiting for Operation Downfall. Instead he would be encircled, along with most of 4th Army, somewhere on the Oskol River, which is now over 100 kilometers behind enemy lines. And without his troops, the center of Armeegruppe South would have collapsed. The enemy would already be in Kharkov now, and possibly half way to the Dnieper!”

  Now it was Manstein who raised his voice, and Speidel, standing at his side with his hands clasped behind his back, stood frozen like a statue, amazed that his C.O. could address Hitler in that manner. Hitler had his head turned away, eyes averted, a twitch in his cheek and at the edge of his left eye. Then he turned, the well of his dark eyes so deep that it seemed endless. He regarded the General with an unflinching stare that expressed the full power of his considerable will. It was as if he wished to break Manstein with that stare, crush him, and the silence stretched between the two men like a steel cord pulled to the point of snapping.

  Such a moment was often the dreadful calm before the storm, the darkening of the clouds as they towered up and up, building to an outpouring of utter rage. Yet not this time.

  Manstein could feel the awful pressure of the Führer’s expression, his dissati
sfaction, disappointment and more, his disdain. It was an unspoken reprimand carried entirely in the venom of those eyes. Yet behind that stern gaze there was something more, an emptiness, a yearning, an unfed infant in its crib, bawling in the night. The Field Marshall knew that if Hitler spoke next, his words could only lead him one place—into a tirade of blame, recrimination, and anger. Before the Führer could launch himself into that rage, Manstein pressed his offensive, staying objective, cool, unmoved by the emotion of the moment.

  He had to impress upon the Führer the real gravity of the situation. He had to see what Manstein himself had finally come to see and believe himself, that somewhere in the long, frozen winter of early 1943, the Soviet army had changed, and dramatically so. The bear that came out of hibernation this year was bigger, meaner, fatter, and yet as hungry as ever.

  “We have before us a crisis that makes the matter of Heinrici and 4th Army pale by comparison. Paulus is maneuvering to shore up his line—maneuvering —which is how a competent Army commander must fight in situations like this. Yet he has no Panzer divisions assigned to his Army, and his prospects for launching any counterattack aimed at restoring the front are very dim. In fact, there are only three divisions that could be sent—17th Panzer and 29th Motorized in Kirchner’s 57th Panzerkorps, and the 18th Panzer Division still in the Caucasus. If Kirchner must go, then I can say with equal certainty, that we will not be able to hold the line of the lower Donets either. The enemy has already seized Andreyevka and Balakleya, and will likely secure the vital crossing at Izyum as well. In this instance, the threat to Paulus will be redoubled, because if we cannot hold here, then his defense further east, no matter how competent and dogged, will be for naught. Now… All that said, I have a solution to the crisis, and yes, it will take iron will to redress this situation, but not in the manner you may think.”