It was Manstein’s Backhand Blow.
General Shurkin of the 63rd Army was in a state of shock. The two tank brigades he had rushed to backstop his infantry had been destroyed, the heavy German Tigers grinding through the muddy fields and simply chopping them to pieces, firing at ranges out to 2000 meters. Nothing remained but the smoking wrecks of gutted, burning tanks. 346th Rifle Division had been overrun, with two regiments crushed and the last in a desperate retreat. 266th and 203rd Rifle Divisions had been hit just as hard, and his 1st Rifle Division had been surrounded and then completely destroyed.
63rd AT tried to throw up a Pakfront, but it was simply overwhelmed before the gunners to get properly positioned. His army had fielded 15 rifle regiments among its five divisions, and seven were destroyed or completely routed. Shurkin ordered a general retreat, which would soon become a cascading rout of his entire army.
While this carnage was underway, 57th Army heard the frantic reports and realized big trouble was rolling like thunder to the west. General Gagan’s army was east of the Oskol River where it flowed down to the Donets near Izyum, and he immediately began issuing orders to fold back his line. This army was better organized, with many of its regiments dug in, but when word came that the 63rd Army was in full retreat on their right, Gagen’s 57th had no recourse other than to withdraw north.
Popov was listening to his radio, and heard those same frantic calls of one colonel and lieutenant screaming orders or asking for help. He now surmised that the German Grossdeutschland Division was emerging from the Izyum Bend, smashing its way through 63rd Army, and heading for Balakleya, where the hapless bridging engineers had just finished repairing the bridge there, only to find demolition engineers come rushing in to set charges in case the Germans broke through. The cacophony on the radio was deeply disturbing, for he had heard all this before, over the first two long years of the war, and he knew what it meant—chaos was coming his way, a threat well behind his bridgehead over the Donets if it reached Balakleya. Now he realized that his impudent order to sweep away what he thought was a single reinforced German regiment had suddenly become two full SS Panzer Divisions!
It was Steiner, and Das Reich was going right through those three cavalry divisions that had been screening the eastern face of his bridgehead. He realized he was in serious trouble, but he knew what he had to do to save his command.
“Order all units to break off their attack to the southwest and retire north immediately! They are to reassemble south of the bridge at Andreyevka.”
“Not at Balakleya sir?”
“Are you deaf? I said Andreyevka! Now move!”
He still had time.
Vlasov’s 2nd Shock Army would be falling back over the bridge at Balakleya, and the rest of it was strung out along the north bank of the Donets to the southeast. There was nothing he could do to save the 63rd Army, but he could save his own Shock Group if he acted quickly.
If he had the privilege of reading the books shared by Sergei Kirov and Berzin, he would have seen how badly he was treated in this battle, though the situation now was not as grievous as in was in the old history. There, Popov had pushed out nearly all the way to the Dnieper, his lines and columns very overextended and ripe for the counterattack that Manstein delivered. Here Zhukov had wisely reined Popov in at his Donets Bridgeheads, and this was largely because the plan did not call for any concerted push over the Donets until Kharkov had been captured. If Popov perceived he was in danger, it was peril of his own making with that brash attack contrary to Zhukov’s written orders. That said, his tank corps here were better provisioned, and a more cohesive force than in Fedorov’s history. Now it remained to be seen whether they could measure up to the task and redeploy as he wanted. The Popov group had been all but destroyed in Manstein’s counterattack, and its fate here was as yet undecided.
The General then sent a message to Zhukov indicating he was under aggressive attack by two SS divisions, and moving to secure his easternmost bridgehead and possibly retire north of the river—and he requested support. That would soon come from a man who was well up to the task General Rodion Malinovsky, commander of the 2nd Shock Group that had been slowly following in Popov’s wake.
The big, broad chested man with the dour face receive the news with studied calm. Then he gruffly issued orders for his forces to prepare to move out.
Malinovsky’s Group had been Zhukov’s last mobile reserve, the Knight in the center of the board ready to leap off to any threatened corner. Oddly enough, Malinovsky’s central square was in a town called Volkov Yar, one of the few that still retained the name of the renegade leader of the Orenburg Republic. A good chess player, Zhukov now looked at the situation as if he were studying a complex position on the board.
2nd Shock Army was now to be the front most directly engaged with the enemy, both north and south of the river. Those were his pawns, and some were too far into the enemy camp to be protected now, particularly since he had to withdraw his Bishop, General Popov.
East of the Oskol River, Gagen’s 57th Army was still secure for the moment, so he would not worry about that side of the board. His Knight, Malinovsky, had 2nd Guards Mech Corps and the 2nd Motor Rifle Division in hand, with strong artillery. That piece had to move—or should it stay right where it was, guarding the center of the board? Zhukov needed to look several moves ahead to see what the enemy was up to here.
Manstein has castled, he thought, and Steiner has finally reappeared. So here comes his Queen and a strong Rook, looking to cut off all the forces exposed south of the Donets. Steiner will get north of the river in time, and he will then make one concerted push north, most likely towards Chuguyev, and that will cut off Kuznetsov and all of 1st Guards Army. So I have to stop him…. Somewhere. To do that I will need everything Popov has, and Malinovsky as well. That will give me two Tank Corps, a Mech Corps, and two Motorized Divisions. Malinovsky soon received the news: Deploy for combat but maintain your present position until further orders.
The plight of the 63rd Army worsened by the minute. 60% of the army would cease to exist that afternoon. When the stragglers found their way to Malinovsky’s line, a Lieutenant asked whether the rest of the 63rd Army was coming this way or not. A haggard Sergeant replied: “We are the 63rd Army, and there’s very little left behind us.” The Sergeant exaggerated, but the truth was just as grim. General Shurkin’s the 63rd Army would be left with no more than five regiments.
Manstein’s attack had already had a dramatic effect on the Soviet offensive as a whole. It had shattered one army and put it to rout, then prevented Popov from moving any further over the Donets. The commitment of Malinovsky’s reserve also had an effect on the battle for Kharkov. The attack by Kuznetsov’s 1st Guards Army had pushed over the Donets bend near Zimyev and was half way to the city before it was checked by the sudden appearance of the 9th and 11th German Panzer Divisions.
Scheller’s division had come in by rail the previous day, intending to join Knobelsdorff’s Korps, but the situation at Zimyev was so bad that it had to be diverted there. The Soviets had crossed the river and advanced another 20 kilometers, half way to Kharkov, before Knobelsdorff stopped them near the small village of Borovoye.
Kuznetsov informed Zhukov of the situation, requesting Malinovsky be sent to get his attack moving again, but that was not to be. For the first time, the Soviets were being forced to react to German countermoves.