That word would come as the sunlight faded on the 16th of April. The third division now assigned to Steiner’s Korps was Grossdeutschland, which Manstein had sent by rail to Izyum, where it then moved up behind the lines of Hollidt’s 50th Infantry Division. The river split this force, with the SS on the left and Grossdeutschland on the right, but there was a convenient bridge that would allow Manstein to shift forces in either direction, and these moves would be well concealed by heavy woods.
The move to concentrate the Korps had been lightning swift, a combination of fast rail moves and night marches, with the divisions taking rest in well screened terrain in the daylight hours. The troops were well rested, and ready to fight, and the power those three divisions represented could not be underestimated.
Manstein launched his counterattack with Steiner’s SS Korps on the left. Supported by all the Korps artillery, including heavy Nebelwerfers, the thunder of that opening barrage in the darkness was just the opening round. Behind it came Das Reich and Totenkopf, in a tightly concentrated attack sweeping north and west towards the enemy bridgeheads. The sudden appearance of a force this large, with two full SS divisions in their prime moving side by side, was a shock akin to that delivered by Stonewall Jackson after his famous night move around the Union flank to attack on May 2nd of 1863 at Chancellorsville.
The attack would fall heavily on those two Cavalry Corps that had moved south from Balakleya to screen the bridgehead, and the steel chariots the SS were riding in were a little more than the Russians could handle. To make matters worse, Manstein had also moved all four of the Schwerepanzer Battalions in Armeegruppe South to support these attack, with two on each side of the river.
On the right, Manstein waited two hours, and then he would throw the power of Grossdeutschland Division right on the seam between 63rd and 2nd Shock Armies, very close to a sharp bend in the Donets. That attack would also be spearheaded by the 501st and 502nd Schwerepanzer battalions, each having 36 new Lions with the 88mm main gun.
As a feint, he ordered the division artillery to fire due north at the lines of 63rd Army, to deceive the enemy into thinking that would be the point of imminent attack. It was well away from the river, which was where he wanted to make his Schwerpunkt with the bulk of the division. Hörnlein would take his division around that river bend, and push northwest to Balakleya, severing that communications link to the troops south of the Donets. In so doing, he would essentially be the right flank of Steiner’s attack, and all three of these powerful divisions would move to crush Popov’s deep incursion south of the Donets.
Two regiments of the 346th Rifle division bore the brunt of the initial attack, and they were driven back, rallying with their HQ when two reserve tank battalions came up in support. They each had about 16 T-34’s and nine T-60’s, with a few more 57mm SP AT guns, but they had not yet made the acquaintance of the Lions. 346th Rifle Division fell back and tried to re-establish the front, and the Army artillery pool was beating a hasty retreat.
28 kilometers to the northwest, at Balakleya, Popov was chafing at the bit to continue his advance over the Donets. Now he knew why Zhukov had reined him in. He reported that there was an attack in progress, but initial reports did not indicate that there was anything more than a strong regimental scale attack. That was Das Reich, leading with the regiment on its left. The full weight of that division, and all of 3rd SS had not yet engaged. So Popov decided to surprise the upstart German regiment he thought he had in front of him, and ordered his two tank corps to sweep south and east, thinking to pin whatever the Germans had out there against the river and annihilate it. He was soon about to learn just exactly what the Germans had out there.
Higher command must have gotten wind of something Popov did not yet know, for he received an order near midnight to consolidate and defend his bridgehead, but to prepare to withdraw the bulk of his force back north of the Donets if so ordered. That was all the message said, with no mention of the German counterattack already underway north of Izyum. Popov was confused. He scratched his head at the message, for he was now doing the exact opposite, swinging his Shock Group into the attack.
Why does Zhukov want me to sit here, he thought? I have already given him Balakleya and Andreyevka? He reluctantly sent a staff officer out to draft an order that would halt his attack, but not yet knowing the full scope of what was happening, he was in no great hurry. In his mind, he could crush this German regiment first, and then make his preparations to consolidate the bridgehead again.
General Zeitzler had always been a very energetic man, so much so that he had been called “General Fireball” in the early years of the war when he laid the planning for Fall Grun in Czechoslovakia and took over Army Group D in the low countries. Many thought he would become just another yes man at OKW when he was appointed there, but he had finally come to see the misery that Halder had to put up with in Hitler’s intransigence and the nonsensical way in which he tried to interfere with daily operations on the front.
In a fast moving battle like this, the ability of improvise, make snap decisions based on sound military principles, account for the necessary supply to allow the army to maneuver, were all qualities entirely missing in Adolf Hitler. He never gave a thought to logistics. His troops needed no fuel to move when all they had to do was sit in static positions and defend as in the last war.
Yet now the deep thrust made by Mikhail Katukov simply had to be answered. His spearheads and forward patrols had moved as far south as Trosnoye, 40 kilometers south of Tomarovka where Model was slowly building up infantry freed up by his withdrawal to the Pena River line. In making adjustments intended to free up 1st SS, General Heinrici had freed up a full infantry division, the 167th, but this is when the hand of fate intervened.
Katukov turned east.
He had taken Bessonovka, and now he was swinging his mechanized forces south and east around that town, pushing for the main road and rail line that led to Belgorod from Kharkov. Heinrici’s own HQ was now right in Katukov’s path, along with the entire logistical train for the 4th Army. Something had to be done, and because the 167th Infantry Division was 25 kilometers closer to the threat than Dietrich’s troops, it was immediately ordered to move towards the Udy River, one of three watercourses that flowed south to the vicinity of Kharkov.
There was a village with the impossible name of Shchetinovka there, which the Germans simply called “Shetovka”, and that is where Katukov’s 6th Tank Corps encountered the arriving German infantry. If the Russian tanks could move another 10 kilometers, they would sever the jugular for Heinrici’s 4th Army.
Zeitzler then did something that was very uncharacteristic. He had been a loyal Nazi, properly awed by the Führer for some months. Now he was seeing the reality, and knew he had to do more than make persuasive arguments at the map table. So he made a private call to Colonel-General Heinrici.
“What is your situation?” he began.
“The line is holding. Belgorod is strongly defended as ordered, though I cannot see why I must hold that city when the enemy is about to kick me in the backside.”