“Do we have sufficient forces for this?”
“We do. I have reorganized the offensive power of the army into several Operational Shock Groups. They are generally composed of one Shock Army, and a new Guards Army forged from the veteran divisions of the first two years of fighting. A Tank Army could also be substituted for one of the other armies, or added to an existing group to create more striking power for deeper operations. Three Groups have been assembled for this operation, and renumbered so all the armies assigned to a given group would share the same numeral designation. The front will still be held by the regular field armies, and these Shock Groups will move up just prior to the onset of the attack.”
“So you will not attack from the Don Bridgeheads?”
“Only as a feint. The Germans must cover and hold Rostov to protect their position in the Caucasus, so any attack from our lower Don bridgeheads will be certain to produce a strong reaction. I will use that against them this time, and launch a spoiling attack threatening Rostov. Last year we fought hard to reach the Oskol River. That is where our main attack will come from now, and with the objective of liberating all the ground between the Oskol and Donets. Phase II is to then force the upper Donets along a broad front, all with the aim of taking Kharkov. Phase III, should the opportunity present itself, might be a deeper penetration beyond the Donets.”
“Show me on the map.”
“Very well, we start where the enemy expects us to come, the lower Don. That attack will only be meant to pull in the enemy mobile reserves, and then it will be withdrawn. But while it is underway, the real operation begins here, east of Prokhorovka. I have planned a series of successive blows against the German. This is the 2nd Army along the Psel south of Kursk, and on its right is their 4th Army defending the line of the Oskol River. I will attack them both, and with three primary objectives. The first is to eliminate these two German 2nd Army strongpoints at Oboyan and Prokhorovka. This will launch first, conducted by the 5th Shock Group. Initially, it will seem to be a local operation, but a day later we will throw two more shock groups over the Oskol River—here, between Novy Oskol and Valuki, at the southern end of their 4th Army’s line. This is the main push for Kharkov, and it will be further augmented by a special mobile group under General Popov, which will push for the Donets. I am designating this whole operation as Krasny Zvezda. ” (Red Star).
Kirov cast a wary glance at Berzin, but said nothing. That was an eerie echo of the name given to Popov’s ill-fated operation east and south of Kharkov in the real history, intending to flank that city and drive on to the Dnieper. Called Operation Star, it had overextended itself, and was eventually defeated by a stunning counterattack put in by Manstein, his famous “Backhand Blow.” It was as if Zhukov had read the same “material” that Kirov and Berzin had been using to guide them through the war, though they knew that was clearly impossible.
“And the third objective?” asked Kirov.
“Assuming all goes well and the opportunity presents itself, Poltava. After reducing those strongpoints, the 5th Shock Group will move on Kharkov as well, and once it arrives there, all forces will reorganize and form one concerted thrust at Poltava. Kharkov then becomes the forward depot to support our operations against Poltava, and we use that city as a springboard to the Dnieper this summer. This attack will then threaten to cut off everything the Germans have to the east, the Donbass, Donets Basin and the Caucasus. You see? We will not have to fight for the Donbass this year, though I will launch a spoiling attack there, intended only to pull in enemy reserves. Once we have Kharkov and Poltava, the Germans will simply have to give all the rest to us to avoid being cut off. We will not have to grind our way through the heavy built up industrial region of the Donets Basin, because once we reach Poltava in force, that sector is completely flanked. We can go right to Kremenchug, or anywhere east of that city, and threaten to cross the Dnieper.”
“I see…. And General, what will the Germans do about this?”
“That remains to be seen, but we will keep considerable reserves in hand to deal with it, the 2nd Shock Group.”
When the General departed for the front, Kirov gave Berzin a strange look. “Uncanny,” he said. “He comes to us with the same plan—the same name, and even with Popov leading that thrust in the south!”
“It certainly has a very dark rhyme to it,” said Berzin.
“And a dark ending as well,” said Kirov. “What if this General Manstein does the very same thing he did in the Material? Popov’s attack becomes a disaster. I don’t see how this attack can succeed. The German 6th Army is still in the Donbass. Shouldn’t we destroy it first, as in the Material?”
“Zhukov seems to think we can bypass it,” said Berzin. “And he may be correct.”
“Assuming that, do you believe the Germans will just sit there while we go raging into Kharkov and on to Poltava?”
“They might do exactly that. You forget Hitler. He went to war with Volkov for a very good reason—he wants that oil, and now that his troops have reached Groznyy, he can smell it. Maykop was just the appetizer. The fields at Groznyy are much bigger, and from there, he can see both Baku and Astrakhan. He won’t give any of that up easily, so he’ll hold on to the Caucasus at any cost.”
“But that means they will also have to hold the lower Don region to cover Rostov, and the Donets Basin as well. Isn’t Rostov the more important objective now? It was in the Material.”
“Perhaps,” said Berzin. Rostov was already secured by the time this operation was launched in the Material—but only because of the German defeat at Stalingrad. That was Zhukov’s intention last winter with Operation Saturn. Then he played that wildcard with Operation Jupiter, and it shifted the gravity of the whole campaign further north. The Offensive aimed at Bryansk did the same thing. It concentrated most of our offensive power in the Voronezh sector. Moving those armies about is no simple matter. So Zhukov plays the game from where he stands, and in that light, this plan makes perfect sense. Remember, the army was fairly well spent when Operation Star was launched in February of 1943 according to our documents. That isn’t the case here. General Winter was so severe this year that he forced us all to sit and wait. Now the army is well rested, and with fresh troops and the best tanks and equipment we could give them—not those hand-me-down Matilda’s Popov had from the British Lend Lease Program. Things could turn out differently, and if this plan does work, it would compromise all the German positions to the east of Dnipropetrovsk, just as Zhukov suggests.”
“Yes…” said Kirov. “If it works. I’m a bit nervous about this one. See if we can scare up something more in the way of a reserve. This General Manstein is not to be underestimated.”
Chapter 20
The sector chosen for the northern attack was just east of the city of Prokhorovka, an old Cossack rail station on the Moscow Kharkov rail line that was built by an engineer named Prokhorov. The town was in ruins, many homes and buildings burned out rubble, but it had been fortified by German Engineers, and was protected by a thick belt of minefields.
About 12 kilometers to the west on the River Psel, was Krasny Oktyabr, (Red October), which was chosen as the breakthrough zone for 5th Guards Army. About five kilometers southeast of Prokhorovka, the heavy defensive works thinned out at another red town, simply called Krasnoye. That was now the nest of KG Schubert an independent unit in Model’s new 2nd Army. His 305th Infantry Division held Prokhorovka, and KG Schubert was the last unit under Model’s direct control at Krasnoye. From there, the German line would stretch southwest to the Oskol, with the 4th Army under General Heinrici. So Schubert was right on the seam between the two armies, commanding a small Kampfgruppe composed of three more battalions, the 161st Panzerjager, 21st Armored Car, and 221st Pioneers.