Nexus Deep (Kirov Series Book 31)

by Schettler, John

  The ‘stream’ described by the infantry was actually the Lozova River, and he worked his way along that watercourse until he found exactly what he wanted. He came across a lot of track marks in the soft ground, and followed them to a crimp in the river where it flowed around a tree covered nob. The troops of the 167th had told him this vehicle was amphibious, but there he would find a lost sheep that had tried to cross in a place where it found more mud than water. It had become bogged down, half submerged, and its infantry squad was milling about trying to figure out how to get it unstuck.

  Hauser pulled up a line of five armored cars, and fired three warning shots, deliberately missing the vehicle, but sending the infantry scrambling away in the dark, chased by his machinegun fire. Then he ordered his own Panzergrenadiers to dismount and sweep forward in the inky darkness, beckoning the vehicle recovery team on the radio. For the next hour, that was his sole purpose, dragging that vehicle out of the bog and eventually getting it onto a flatbed truck. All the while, he could hear sounds of fighting off to the north, knowing that Balck had the main body of the division there in an attack against the enemy flank.

  When he finally found the General at field command post, he leapt down from his armored car, beaming from ear to ear.

  “Well?” said Balck, knowing that the mischief in those eyes meant that Hauser had news.

  “First things first,” said Hauser. “They’ve already crossed the Lozova River. I’d say at least a brigade went southwest from there.”

  “The rest are making our acquaintance now,” said Balck. He had been smoking a cigar, and took a long drag.

  “They went right through the 167th,” said Hauser. This is more serious than we thought. I think they will be at Grayvoron by dawn.”

  “Too far west for us to get over there tonight. Better to just keep pressure on this flank, but they’ve brought up another tank corps. I had a look at this new AFV too, but only from a distance. The Tigers knocked out three before they pulled back.”

  Then, almost as an afterthought, Hauser delivered his real news. “Oh, I’ve got one for you—found it bogged down near the river. It’s with my recovery team, along with two of my armored cars.”

  “You’ve got one? Good for you!” Now Balck reached into his greatcoat and pulled out one more cigar. “There, you’ve earned that. Have them bring this thing here. Then get out and watch my left.”

  * * *

  Hauser’s catch was one small consolation in an otherwise grim picture all along the front. In spite of Balck’s counterattack in the north, there was still a 20 Kilometer gap between the place where Hauser had found his quarry and the town of Grayvoron. There, 9th Panzer had been trying to counterattack as well, but being already weakened from previous action, it could make no headway against the 3rd Mech Corps. Both the 167th and 168th Infantry Divisions were shattered and falling back in disarray, unable to offer any effective resistance with in the breakthrough zone.

  The whole of 1st Tank Army was now engaged with 6th and 11th Panzer, and they would be simply too much for the German divisions to push back. It was the first time in the war when the Panzertroops found themselves unable to make headway, even though their tanks were the equal or better of those fielded by the enemy. Between the two Panzer divisions, there were only eight battalions of infantry and two Panzer regiments of six companies each.

  The enemy matched that with its 5th Guard Mech Corps alone, which fielded nine mechanized infantry battalions in the new BMP, and had three heavy armored brigades with 164 tanks. Then came the new 31st Tank Corps and the 6th. Those six additional brigades, plus three others from 7th Guards Army, added another 350 Soviet tanks and six more battalions of motorized infantry.

  The Germans were simply overmatched, and it was only the skill of the soldiers, their officers and commander, that allowed them to shift forces from one flank to another to parry the enemy attacks.

  Further south near Kharkov, even Steiner’s Korps was having great difficulty. Dietrich’s division, in action now for six days of continuous fighting, was simply not up to the task of moving to the offensive. The Grossdeutschland Division moved through its ranks, encountering swarms of Russian infantry that would not turn and flee as it did in the past. Things had changed. The Soviets had pushed to within 5 kilometers of the city, and they could smell the victory they sought.

  While this battle ground on, the real trouble spot on the Kharkov front was the sector just to the north, where Das Reich was on the line. It had been hit very hard by the bulk of the 3rd Guards army, which had two strong mobile corps added. It was able to drive the division back over the main road to Mikhaylovka, and push another 5 kilometers, just shy of the Kharkov river flowing down from the north. Success by Grossdeutschland Division was therefore offset by this setback to the north, and Manstein could now see that his counterattack would not succeed.

  We sallied forth, he thought, but we cannot drive them from our gates. Now I am facing a situation that will see my best mobile troops stuck in a static battle of attrition, for this will surely be settled in the city soon, block by block, and house by house. While that fight grinds on, the enemy is free to operate to the south. They have already pushed through Taranovka. The hole in our lines just yawns open there, some 60 kilometers wide, and there is nothing there but the Wiking Division. I need to get Steiner out of this mess, and out where he can maneuver, but this damnable order from the Führer that Kharkov be held is frustrating that plan. This is my own damn fault. I promised him we would hold the city to placate him for the orders I sent so brazenly to OKW.

  What I need now is infantry to replace Steiner if it comes to a city fight, but doing that under pressure will be difficult. Hansen has freed up two more divisions, and they are enroute from the Caucasus this very day. Yet the most direct route by rail has already been cut. They could come up through Krasnograd, and then the temptation to use them with the Wiking Division would be very great.

  If, however, I send them through Krasnograd, there is a junction further north that could take them back through Poltava, and from there they would approach Kharkov from the west instead of southwest. First things first—get them up through Krasnograd. It may be that the better play is to try and pull divisions from 4th Army. I don’t like the cauldron that is forming to the north. Balck has managed to tie up Katukov, but he can only buy me time. Knobelsdorff is simply too weak, and I would need at least one more panzer division there to have any chance of stopping Katukov.

  Meanwhile, in the south, Kirchner hit the flank of that bridgehead at Andreyevka, but the enemy just keeps reinforcing it. Last night the Luftwaffe recon flights spotted what looks to be an entire new army crossing the river at Andreyevka. I must get Steiner free of this city, even if it means giving Kharkov to the enemy.

  It was time for one of those uncomfortable choices. He called Speidel and told him to order General Raus to bring his two division Korps to Kharkov at once. Raus was due north, and he could use the rail line through Dergachi to move his equipment quickly.

  “Then the rest of 4th Army will have to fold back to make a linkup with Knobelsdorff,” said Speidel.

  “It can be done,” said Manstein. “Their pursuit along Kempf’s front has not been all that aggressive. Frankly, I think they want us to hold our positions there. They were counting on Katukov getting in behind Kempf, and thinking they might have a pocket forming. That will not happen. If we do this right, and we will, then I think we can also free up 3rd Panzergrenadier Division. Send that one to Knobelsdorff, and he’ll know what to do with it.”

  “That front is starting to stabilize,” said Speidel. “The three divisions from Armeegruppe Center have formed up behind the breakthrough zone. Balck’s spoiling attack worked wonders,” said Speidel. “Katukov got into a boxing match with the best division in the Army, and he’s been stopped cold. Balck is just moving from one side of the ring to another, jabbing, dancing, a real master. He called to say he got one of the new Russian AFVs.”


  “Oh? That should be interesting.”

  “Indeed!” Speidel seemed in high spirits, then he took a deep breath. “What about Hitler?”

  “Efendi?” Manstein smiled. “He’s already come and gone, and I don’t think we’ll see him again any time soon. In fact, he won’t hear about any of this until late tomorrow. I intend to inform OKW, and urge Zeitzler to rubber stamp this move. Hitler was quite heavy on that point—no withdrawals unless approved by OKW. Well, I can only wait so long for such approval. I must be able to act in a crisis like this.”

  “What are you planning?”

  “Steiner has to move. So Raus gets Kharkov, and I’m going to swing southwest and surprise Kuznetsov. He had a good chance to push around the city, but the Wiking s gave him pause. Now we’ll get out of this damn city fight and do some maneuvering. Don’t worry. If this works, Hitler will be quite pleased.”

  “And if it doesn’t work?”

  “It’s always a risky thing, this business of war. You know what Napoleon said. It is but one step from triumph to fall. I’ll try not to stumble.”

  Manstein’s order to ‘readjust’ the front would enable him to pull three divisions off the line. Yet it would also allow the enemy to consolidate their own front, and they would be stronger at every point along that line. It was now a question of time. What he had to do was get mobile forces capable of inflicting damage on the enemy into a position where they could stop the inexorable flow of forces over the Donets. This would require him to present the enemy with a situation where their LOC was clearly threatened, meaning that their ability to sustain any further move south would be in jeopardy.

  Yet there were several flaws in the plan. First, as the Field Marshal had said, it was risky. Trying to extricate forces under heavy enemy pressure could have unforeseen negative consequences, but he had accepted the worst of them—the possible loss of Kharkov. Secondly, while his recent counterpunches had demonstrated that they could stop the enemy advances, not one had been able to truly push them back. Just one month ago he had chased Popov back across the Don, but then he had three SS divisions in the perfect position to do so. Since that time, something had changed, and the dark answer he had to face was that the enemy had been strongly reinforcing the front to try again.

  The arrival of 8th Guards Army in the north had restored that sector after the damage inflicted by Zitadelle . Now the 47th Army had moved onto the line in the south to replace the losses Manstein had inflicted on 63rd Army, and the center had been reinforced with the arrival of 4th Guards Army and 27th Army, both flowing into the wide breach between Andreyevka and Kharkov.

  Now Manstein would take yet another risk. Though he had two infantry divisions coming up from the Caucasus, the withdrawal of Korps Raus had provided him with infantry to defend Kharkov. He also had the 7th Infantry Division from Armeegruppe Center, and he hoped that would be enough. So he abandoned the plan to move 44th Korps under Angelis through Krasnograd and Poltava to try and reach the city from the west. What he needed now was some stronger threat to the enemy bridges at Andreyevka. It was there that Kirchner’s 57th Korps had been attacking unsuccessfully against the base of the bridgehead. It needed help.

  Risk.

  It was at the heart of mobile warfare, like the daring foray of a Knight into the enemy camp, or the sweep of a Bishop to a far-off square on the diagonal. He would send those two infantry divisions to Kirchner, and more, he would now order General Gille to leave off his screening operation and move southwest to join that concentration of forces as well.

  Speed, concentration and power—these were the essential ingredients of the German art of maneuver war. Manstein needed to get his forces where they could act as a lever against the massive boulder of the Soviet incursion over the Donets. In his mind, he was slowly setting up his counterattack plan, wishing only that he had acted sooner. It had only been his promise to hold Kharkov that had forced a delay, but now he would act, and take the consequences.

  To sweeten the broth when he sent his message to OKW, he indicated that he was now moving to implement “Operation Donnerschlag, ” (Thunderclap), and he intended this as a means of throwing a bone to Hitler. If the Führer thought a counterattack was imminent, he might be less likely to interfere with the troop movements Manstein had ordered. That was the final risk he was taking—that all of this could be reversed at the whim of Adolf Hitler.

  If that could be avoided, he hoped to have three infantry divisions in Kharkov before nightfall on June 2nd, and then he would begin pulling Steiner’s troops out and offer the enemy the city-fight they seemed intent upon. That night, the trains flowed in Kharkov, the grey infantry disembarking with well-practiced efficiency, their officers collecting companies, building battalions, and then marching them off to their assigned post in the city. Manstein was creating another Volgograd, but just as in that battle, he would not fight there with Steiner’s Korps.

  That same night, Hitler would arrive at OKW after his long plane ride, and thankfully, he would retire for the evening to rest. That gave Zeitzler time to collect all the latest situation reports, and he noted the arrival of three infantry divisions at Kharkov. With Steiner there as well, that would secure the city and at least remove that topic from the next day’s discussion. As to Operation Donnerschlag , he sent a message asking for details to be forwarded ‘as soon as feasible.’

  The General knew enough to know that Manstein had something in the oven, and he was not going to pull it out and stick his thumb in it until he knew more. At the very least, this would keep Hitler out of the decision loop for another twelve hours, and by then he believed he would learn what was happening.

  He smiled inwardly. The old fox is up to something again, he thought. I did not think he would get away with things as he did, cancelling Zitadelle , ordering both Model and Kempf to withdraw, not to mention Hollidt as well. So now he is planning a counterattack? That can only mean one thing. He is going to move Steiner, and that explains the movement of Korps Raus and the 7th Division into Kharkov.

  General Zeitzler could read a map.

  Part VIII

  The Road to Taranovka

  “The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room,

  especially if there is no cat.”

  —Confucius

  Chapter 22

  By the early morning of June 3, the front had stabilized. The Germans had given up a good deal of ground, all in the effort to shorten their lines, and the arrival of six new Infantry Divisions had filled in the line where the 10th Korps had been smashed in the north. It’s 167th and 168th Divisions now had to combine their remaining troops into one formation, and even that was weaker than a single line infantry division should have been. Knobelsdorff had been informed that 3rd Panzergrenadier Division was being sent to him, and now he might do even more to stop Katukov from regaining any momentum.

  Balck had stopped the powerful 5th Mech Corps, skillfully using both 11th and 6th Panzer Divisions in the two-day battle. In the center, there were places where the advancing Soviet troops in 5th and 8th Guards Armies had simply lost contact with the retreating German infantry of 4th Army. North of Kharkov, there was heavily wooded terrain, and Kempf was wise enough to fall back on that natural defensive advantage to strengthen his lines.

  Closer to the city, Das Reich was still under heavy pressure from 3rd Guards Army, and so Manstein lined up 32 heavy Lions in the 502 Schwerepanzer Battalion as a defensive screen, and pulled 2nd SS off the line. 3rd SS had already concentrated in the city, ready to move at first light. Grossdeutschland Division and Leibstandarte were still on the line south of the city, buying time for Korps Raus to get into good defensive positions. Just before sunrise, the SS would begin pulling out under the cover of heavy grey skies.

  With a wave of his cape, the wily master strategist of the Wehrmacht had pulled off his sleight of hand, and deftly extricated Steiner’s divisions all along the front. The cost had been three kilometers, as Raus had to form his li
ne up right at the edge of the city behind the SS. The Russians would gain this extra thin slice of the apple, advancing towards the shadowy grey city that morning, and wondering whether the Germans had given it up. They would be quite mistaken. Korps Raus, which had once been holding a frontage over twenty kilometers with its two divisions, was now nicely concentrated on an eight-kilometer line that ran all along the southeast edge of the city. Furthermore, it was reinforced with the addition of the 7th Infantry Division.

  The only SS units that would be left behind were Wagner’s Nordland Division, because of its preponderance of useful infantry, and the two Reichsführer brigades. Both Ferdinand battalions would remain for AT support, but Manstein ordered the faster moving Panthers of the 51st and 52nd Battalions to move out with Grossdeutschland .

  That morning, he took the main road west, which passed just north of Yubotin, and then swung around a large woodland, following the rail line to Poltava. After a time, it diverged southwest towards Valki, eventually reaching Poltava by running south of the Komag River, while the rail line ran north of that watercourse.

  German defensive tactics against Russian breakthroughs of this scale usually mandated an attack on the flank of the enemy advance. This was what Manstein had tried to do when he launched Steiner from Kharkov, and 57th Panzer Korps towards Andreyevka, but in both cases, the attacks encountered enemy strength too thick to penetrate. In effect, the shoulders of the breakthrough were too secure, and were, in fact, zones where the enemy was still concentrating the bulk of his offensive forces. The Russians were not pushing aggressively in the center of the breakthrough, where the roads to Poltava beckoned them to advance. Instead they were fixated on Kharkov, attacking it from the northern shoulder with 1st Guard Tank Army, and then busy reinforcing their crossing at Andreyevka with the two Siberian Motor Rifle Corps.