“Can’t it be done without yielding all the territory 4th Army now holds?”
“It cannot. Before I can strike, I must move, and 4th Army must come along with me to prevent the formation of a pocket you were lamenting over a moment ago. So we must move Heinrici’s 10th and 12th Infantry Korps as well, and re-establish themselves on a line here, near Volchansk on the upper Donets. If they could get their quickly, they would be able to help defend Kharkov against this powerful central thrust.
“Yet another withdrawal…” Hitler shook his head.
“Quite the contrary,” said Manstein, moving to parry that thrust by Hitler as soon as possible. “If Model and Heinrici do not withdraw together, then tis invites real trouble if the enemy breaks through to Kharkov. You pointed this out yourself just a moment ago. So they must withdraw. Otherwise, this strong attack from the Oskol River Bridgehead will cut them off.”
“Yes,” said Hitler with some annoyance. “From a bridgehead that should have been eliminated!” His voice was barely controlled.
It was the first break in the icy calm that had lay upon the Führer up until that moment. He had seemed irksome when he discussed Volkov, particularly his obsession with the oil, but now the first flash of anger returned.
“Eliminated! Eliminated! You call this generalship? You propose to give them ground that they have not even had to fight for—ground that it took us weeks of hard fighting to acquire last winter. Can’t you see what they are doing? They want to push us farther from Voronezh and Kursk, and upset all the planning for our summer offensive in this sector. They want us to do exactly what you suggest and pull our best troops out of the Caucasus. That is the real aim of this offensive. And now you propose to give them everything they want, and all because a few reserve regiments were overrun south of the Don! Model and Heinrici should hold their present lines. Steiner will stop this other attack from the Don sector, and then he can turn north with Grossdeutschland to deal with the center thrust.”
“By that time the enemy could be in Kharkov,” Manstein said flatly, “or somewhere else. From the latest reports I am receiving, the forces emerging from the Oskol bridgeheads are very strong. It will take everything Steiner has left to stop them, and yes, Grossdeutschland as well. Even that may not be enough, which is why I have ordered 17th Panzer Division to prepare to entrain at Divnoye for a move north of the Don. My Führer, we simply must maneuver. We cannot sit and hold the line as you ordered during the Moscow counteroffensive.”
“Why not? We still hold Moscow, do we not? My order to stand fast saved that entire front, and I will do the very same thing here.”
“That would be most unwise.”
At that moment, a knock came at the door and an adjutant came in, saluting stiffly as he handed off a message. Manstein read it, seeing there what he expected. Then he turned to the Führer and pointed at the map.
“The Don Front has collapsed south of Boguchar. Schenken’s 17th Korps is now cut off and completely surrounded—what’s left of it. The leading spearheads of two Soviet tank corps are now reported no more than 50 kilometers from Star O’blesk. If they go another fifty, they will be over the Donets. So Steiner has his work cut out for him, and at present his Korps has not even been fully assembled. As for Paulus, his 6th Army will soon be isolated. 51st Korps is already being flanked, and in my judgement, the entire Army should also move west immediately. Otherwise that infantry will be useless to us in the ensuing counterattack. Steiner might be many days dealing with this, but the whole situation would be greatly relieved if you allow me to order Paulus west to the Donets. That is good ground for defense, and he has sufficient force to prevent any enemy crossing and cover Rostov. Steiner will need infantry to cover his right flank, and that can only come from Paulus.”
“So now you propose we yield the entire Don Bend?”
“We don’t need it. It is nothing more than empty steppe land. There is no oil there, My Führer.” There was just the hint of sarcasm in the General’s tone. “Their intentions here are very clear. They are hoping to cut off the entire 6th Army. If left where it is, a stand fast order would play directly into the enemy’s hands. The only answer to this offensive is maneuver. It will take some doing, but it is a fine art our troops are more than capable of pulling off. Yes, it will mean we yield hard fought ground as well, for the moment, but that is the only way I can assemble the mass required to smash this attack, and mark my words, if given freedom of action here, that is exactly what I will do. You trusted to my instincts last winter when Zhukov pounded on the Don Front for a long month. Trust me now.”
“We prevailed in the winter because we stood firm, and refused to yield,” said Hitler with a wag of his finger. “Steiner fought for Oblivskaya, and for Morozovsk. He fought like a tiger! His men would not take one backward step!”
“My Führer, we barely contained those offensives, and I did so only because Steiner had all four SS divisions, and to that I added Grossdeutschland and Hermann Balck’s 11th Panzer Division. It took the finest troops in the entire army to stop Zhukov, and we no longer hold that sword. Leibstandarte will be hundreds of kilometers to the west, containing what I believe was merely a spoiling attack, intended to bring our reserves there. The Wiking Division is in Syria. Balck’s 11th Panzer is in Army Group Center, defending on the Bryansk Front. Now… I need to move Model and Heinrici, and quickly. Paulus goes west at the same time. Give me this freedom of action.”
Hitler seemed hunched and withered, the quiver in his hand more noticeable, the stress apparent in every line on his face. He slowly removed his eyeglasses and then started to rattle off a litany of unrelated political and economic reasons as to why he wanted the army to hold. “If Paulus goes west, then what about the Italians south of the Don? Then they will be exposed, and that river offers only so much of a barrier. The enemy can build bridges, can they not? Mussolini has been whining over the loss of Libya for months! Can you imagine what he will say if his expeditionary army here in the east is destroyed?”
“The Don is too deep and wide there,” said Manstein, “its banks too marshy for a crossing behind the Italians. The enemy can only cross south of Tormosin, and that can easily be defended.”
“Just as the Don Front was defended?” Hitler gave him a challenging look. “If the Soviets do cross, do you think the Italians will do better than our troops? If they go, then the Rumanians go right along with them, and then we lose everything as far south as the Manych! Of course, if you had been more deliberate in launching that offensive against Elista, this would not be a problem. There would be good German troops there to stop such a move by the Soviets. Losing those allied armies could also lose me Allies. Understand?”