This new SS Division Himmler delivered can’t hold either, he thought. The weight of both 3rd Shock and 3rd Guards Armies is simply too much. We’ve been trying to hold back three armies with three divisions, and the water is finally coming over the dam. Dietrich pulled 1st SS back over the river as we planned, and he has contained and pushed back the Soviet bridgehead in the Stary Saltov sector, but that is irrelevant now with everything else to the south of that collapsing!
Yet I am not without resources. 9th and 11th Panzer are right here with me in Kharkov, but how to proceed here? If I continue to hold out that infantry shield it may be battered to a point that it will lose all combat effectiveness. I think the infantry must withdraw, but that will not be easy under this heavy enemy pressure.
I could strike now with my sword and probably defeat that penetration near Zimyev, but it will be no good separating my Korps and trying to stop that and the enemy advance through Chuguyev as well. It must be one or the other, and the Zimyev breakthrough is the most serious. If I take my Panzers south, then General Raus will have to either hold on as best he can, or fall back on Kharkov.
That was what he decided. 48 Panzer Korps moved south, and it would not be long before the two sides would meet. Balck had sent his “incomparable Hauser” with the 11th Recon Battalion, who reached the town of Beloye at about 4:00 that morning, and a company of panzers were with him. The Russians had mastered the art of night moves, and were not shy about initiating attacks if they seemed promising. It was a battalion of 1st Guard Mech in the van that first ran into Hauser, the German Armored cars spitting out fire that lit up the murky darkness, soon to be joined by the sharp crack of the Panzers 75mm guns.
But that Mech Battalion was not alone. The Lieutenant radioed back that they had encountered German mechanized units, and General Russiyanov knew he would soon have to earn any further advance towards Kharkov, and likely pay for it in both blood and steel. He had 17thGuards Tank Brigade up front, and the 16th Guards right behind it, so he ordered them to engage and secure Beloye. The T-34’s ground up the wet soil, veering off road to take a short cut, and move swiftly to the battle zone, about a kilometer south of the town. Meanwhile 3rd Guard Mech Brigade had two more battalions, and they crossed the Udy River intending to flank and envelop the town on the right, while 1st Guard Mech Brigade would proceed to flank it from the left.
Hauser engaged, but soon had reports of what the Russians were doing, and he deftly slipped out of the trap, falling back on the hamlet of Vlaschevo north of the river. There he met the entire 110th Panzergrenadier Regiment coming up, with a panzer company assigned to each of its three battalions.
“Good to see you,” said Hauser. “Because the Russians are coming for breakfast.”
“Then it is time we served it,” said Leutnant Paulson. “But I’m afraid their eggs will be cold.” He smiled, waving his hand to get the Grenadiers moving. The long column of halftracks would fan out and deploy on a three battalion front, and the regiment would sweep south towards the river, where they knew the Russians would be coming.
The ensuing action was a case of the best mechanized infantry the Soviets had against some of the very best Panzergrenadiers on the German side. Hauser led the attack on the enemy penetration east of Beloye, his armored cars racing from point to point, guns firing as they moved, a fine art he had developed. They would drive back two battalions of the 1st Guard Mech, and the Germans were able to close up the position on the Udy River, where the Russians had now adopted a defensive line.
The Russians had learned that there was also trouble on their left, where Scheller’s 9th Panzer was attacking through a gap in the heavy woodland south of Kharkov. That prompted Kuznetsov to send the 5th Guards Rifle Division to that sector to buttress Kuliev’s Cavalry on that flank. Soon the Russian position looked like a big inverted horse shoe, solid as the iron it was made of, but one thing was immediately clear. Knobelsdorff had stopped the Russians and forced them to go over to the defense.
The problem for the Germans was that this apparent enveloping Russian pincer was not alone. As Zhukov had explained to Sergei Kirov, the plan was to attack along a very broad front. Kuznetsov’s 1st Guard Tank had crossed the Donets at Chuguyev, and it was now 10 kilometers up the road to Kharkov, pushing hard against the persistent resistance of the 320th Division.
That thrust was strongly supported on the right by the entire 3rd Shock and 3rd Guard Armies, which had been methodically pushing out of the bridgeheads at Pechengi and Martovaya, through the heavy woodland. Sepp Dietrich had contained the Soviet bridgehead at Stary Saltov, but from there all the way to Chuguyev, the Soviets were over the Donets in force.
That concentration was going to become a bold thrust for Kharkov, and with Knobelsdorff using both his available panzer divisions to stop Kuznetzov, he could not intervene. To make matters worse, the spearheads of Mikhail Katukov’s fast moving armor were now already 40 kilometers southwest of Belgorod. It was going to put that city on the chopping block next, for it was now the northernmost bastion of Heinrici’s 4th Army, but another sore thumb that Hitler was again loathe to relinquish. Something had to be done, and the tension was as hard as twisted rope at OKW.
“Where is Manstein?” Hitler’s impatience never helped the situation. “He promised me he would smash this attack, but we have no word of his doings for hours.”
“Apparently he is still concentrating his forces at Izyum and to the west; bringing up further reserves from the Caucasus.” Zeitzler had finally received the position update on Group Hollidt, penciling in the three division he had brought to the lower Donets, the last of which was only now arriving, the 198th.
“The Caucasus? From where?” Hitler gave him a wide-eyed look.
“Group Hollidt was transferred from the Black Sea coast. Manstein has used them to secure the lower Donets crossings and prevent any further enemy advance or bridgeheads in that sector. This gives him a free hand to maneuver with Steiner’s group.”
“A free hand, a free hand… Herr Manstein takes a good deal of liberty with that free hand of his these days. I gave no authorization for that withdrawal from the Caucasus. Those troops were supposed to be in Sukhumi by now!”
“Obviously that can wait,” said Zeitzler. “Sukhumi gives us nothing, but Hollidt, where he is now, can help us keep the Donets Basin. Don’t forget the coal mines.”
Turnabout was always fail play, thought Zeitzler. The Führer is always throwing out these economic foils to our plans. Now let me stick him with that one. He watched while Hitler put on his eyeglasses and leaned over the map to note the position of those three divisions.
“As you can see,” said Zeitzler. “Hollidt can now cover the lower Donets from Krasny Liman all the way to Izyum. That gives us a strong right shoulder. The real problem now is in the center.”
“What about this big bridgehead the Russians have obtained between Andreyevka and Balakleya?” Hitler shook his head. “What is to stop them from pushing further south?”
“Manstein,” said Zeitzler. “That is the purpose of this buildup here with Steiner’s divisions. In fact, I would invite them to do as you suggest, and then you will see what they get in return for the ground they think they are taking from us. That is not a concern for now. The real trouble spot is developing south of Kharkov and behind 4th Army. Now Belgorod is in the same soup that the Soviets used to cook Oboyan. It is being strongly held, but the enemy is flanking the entire position.”
“They cannot go much further,” said Hitler Dismissively. “How can they hold the flanks of that penetration in the north?”