Model is concentrating his reserves near Belgorod and his HQ at Tomarovka, right in the danger zone; always on the scene where the trouble is. It would put him in a position to counterattack that northern pincer if it continues south, but he’ll need panzers. Yet this attack over the Oskol is a matter of some concern. It seems a good deal bigger than the one in the north…. So they are trying to pocket 4th Army, and this pincer is strong enough to move on Kharkov as well. That will be a tall order. Do they think they could really pocket the whole of Heinrici’s 4th Army, and take Kharkov as well?
The answer to that got more complicated when the enormity of Operation Red Star emerged from the misty eastern shores of the Oskol River. There, the morning stillness was broken by the roaring thunder of the Breakthrough Artillery Division assigned to prepare the offensive. This division alone had 48 mixed guns in the 122mm to 152mm range, and another 48 super heavy 203mm howitzers. It would be joined by all the various army artillery, the thump of the mortar brigades and the hiss of well over 100 Katyusha rocket launchers, well over a thousand guns.
Covered by that intense bombardment, the line of the river was soon seething with Soviet infantry. Pontoon Engineers were dragging pre-assembled bridging units down to the river, where battalions were already crossing with assault boats. They were screened by woodland along the river, which stretched in a wide bend from Novyy Oskol, down to Valuki, where it made a sharp turn to the southwest, passing through Urazovo before flowing down to Kupyansk. It would continue south, eventually meeting the Donets about 10 kilometers southeast of the major crossing city of Izyum. One day Zhukov hoped to take that, but not this day.
The iron was falling on the weakest sector of the German line, held by the 1st Luftwaffe Field Korps with three “Divisions” that were really regiments in actual size. To their south as the river flowed to Valuki, the Osttruppen gathered from the 2nd and 4th Armies were patched into the line to fill gaps. The massive storm of steel and men that Zhukov was now throwing at this thin line was certain to break through, and from there, golden opportunities lay ahead, the first prize being Kharkov as planned.
The attack created a huge rip in the line, thick with rifle divisions, motorized battalions and then the powerful tank brigades crossing the bridges in the pre-dawn hours. By sunrise, the bridgehead over the Oskol was 7 kilometers deep and nearly 30 kilometers long from north to south. The Osttruppen were native Russian “volunteers,” mostly pressganged into makeshift battalions and used to watch rear areas and report on their brothers in arms engaged in partisan warfare. They were turncoats to be sure, but their ranks were salted with Czechs, Hungarians, Poles, Serbians and even dissident Turkomen troops that had fled from Volkov’s regime. Needless to say, when the real heart and soul of the Soviet Army showed up, they had no stomach for the fight, and wanted to divest themselves of any association with the Germans as soon as possible, melting away and pretending to be woebegone peasant farmers simply caught up in the storm.
Heinrici had put them on the line because he wanted to keep at least one good German Division behind his front as a reserve. He had thought the wider watercourse of the river near Valuki would offer them protection, but the Soviets were well prepared to make the crossing. The price Heinrici paid for this oversight was the quick collapse of the line from Valuki north. The Luftwaffe troops were putting up resistance near Volkonovka, but they were being flanked by the Popov group to the north, and 1st Guards Army to the south. Heinrici had ordered the single German division he had in reserve to move northwest and screen the approaches to Belgorod, so when this second storm broke, he had nothing he could send south to his right flank.
There was one mobile unit that might react, the two Reichsführer brigades at Volchansk, where a fan of several tributary rivers converged to flow into the northern Donets. That was a theater reserve, technically now part of Steiner’s SS Panzer Korps, so to use it, he would have to get permission from Manstein. The General had his eye on it that morning as he looked over the map.
Volchansk, thought Manstein. That is where this big attack over the Oskol must eventually go, and then we’ll see if they actually plan to cross the Donets in that sector. The Reichsführer is there now, and it would be a good place to send Dietrich. From there, he could also support Model’s defense of Belgorod, so that is where Leibstandarte must go. With the Reichsführer Brigades, I will have a little iron in hand, but it will take more than that to stop this offensive. I have Hausser’s 2nd SS at Izyum, and Totenkopf is further south at Donetsk. That is the force I will need, all of Steiner’s Korps.
But it was not to be. It is said that bad things come in threes, and that proverb would be proved true the following morning on the Middle Don.
On the night of the 12th, Zhukov staged his surprise attack with the leading echelons of his main forces assembled for Operation Comet. As one division general after another was awakened in the night, the telephones were soon ringing off the hooks. A picture as black as night began to emerge as staff members in the Rostov HQ updated the large wall map. The entire line of the lower Don, from Boguchar to Bokovskaya, was under attack.
The left flank of that line was not strong, with the Luftwaffe 2nd Field Korps anchored on the river near Boguchar, a reserve infantry Korps in the center, and the 1st Luftwaffe Field Korps on the right. The latter two were under attack, along with the independent 17th Infantry Korps, as well as the 51st Infantry Korps. Those last two formations were under 6th Army control, and so now Paulus would be involved.
What is Zhukov up to here, thought Manstein? This third offensive is very broad, over 150 kilometers wide! And like the attack on the Oskol, they are falling hard on the weak points in the line. This was well planned. Those Luftwaffe divisions won’t hold, so that means they will probably break through east of Millerovo by tomorrow morning. That is a key rail junction town, and the last bastion before the Donets crossings between Voroshilovgrad and Belaya Kalivta, and this is undoubtedly where this offensive is headed. If they get over the Donets, then I have Rostov to worry about, and that cannot be permitted.
Very bold, he thought. Yet they may be trying to do too much here. If they had combined these offensives, then they would have had a real bull in the ring. As it stands, they might allow me to defeat these attacks in detail. All this happens just as I was ready to begin my offensive towards Elista. That Don sector had the divisions much more widely spaced, and with very little behind the main line. So this is dangerous. This whole operation so deep into the Caucasus is equally dangerous. Kleist is a good man, and he can handle the army here well enough, but for now I think I must turn my attention to the Don Front sector, and the upper Donets.
I must first get Model a little help by sending him back his 22nd Panzer Division. That goes to Belgorod, in a good position to assist Dietrich when he moves on Volchansk. Hopefully we can contain that breach in a few days, but that failing, those divisions will be well positioned for a counterattack. Then it is time I spoke with Steiner. It looks like 2nd and 3rd SS Divisions cannot go north as I had hoped. We will need to stop this third offensive. As for this attack planned for Elista, I think it is ill-advised until I determine the full scope of the Russian plan. Who knows, there may be something else out there that will rear its ugly head in the next week. I must be cautious now. For the moment, I will trade a little space for time, readjust line along the lower Don, and then see about marshaling the reserves needed to stop these enemy drives. First things first—I must defend Rostov, and the Donets must not be crossed.