The sound of artillery fire was the first dull rumble of distant thunder that would soon become a raging storm in the south, but this time it was on the Middle Donets. Another diversionary operation would be launched there, a mission given to Shumilov’s 7th Guards Army.
The Germans had been digging in on that front, fortifying their line on the Upper Donets, but that work had not extended all the way south. West of Shebelkino, the Russians had identified a weaker segment of the line, and in the early hours before sunrise, the men of 73 and 78th Guards Rifle Divisions, and all the armor attached to that army, struck across the river against the lines of the German 111th Infantry Division.
The large bridgehead on the Donets bend above Chuguyev was being held by both 3rd Guard and 3rd Shock Armies, and the former launched an attack near Bolshaya Babka, backed up by the 3rd Tank Corps. At the same time, 3rd Shock attacked further south with the support of 7th Tank Corps sent over the river the previous night by General Popov. These three attacks were not strong enough to pose any serious threat to Kharkov, but were instead designed to attempt to lure German reserves to this segment of the line—away from the main offensive being readied in the south….
Named for a Russian General of the 18th Century, the buildup for Operation Rumyantsev proceeded at a methodical pace. Then, in the early grey hours of May 27, the guns were elevating on the rear area breakthrough artillery, the heavy steel barrels rising to meet the dawn. There would be no less than nine heavy gun regiments, an equal number of Katyusha regiments, and several mortar regiments to make the initial opening barrage. The Germans would hear the movement of tanks and troops, vehicles rumbling in the grey, but no attack would come before sunrise.
General Vatutin was a very patient man that day. His would be the first of two planned counterblows, designed to envelop Kharkov and halt the German attack in the north.
When General Hoth was informed of the attacks, he nodded his head, as if he expected them. “Is anything serious?” he asked.
“Only in the sector west of Martovaya, near Bolshaya Babka. There’s a lot of armor reported there—at least two Corps.
“Which is why I have positioned the two Reichsführer Brigades right behind the line there. They should be able to handle that. Send them in. And what about the attack further north?”
“The only serious area is with the 167th, but General Trierenburg believes he can use local reserves to hold the line.”
“Very well. Let me know if anything changes.”
“There is one more thing, sir.”
“Yes?”
“I’ve received three separate reports of enemy movement on the southern front between the Donets and Oskol.”
“Fighting?”
“No sir, just movement.”
Hoth thought about that. The enemy might be pulling something out to send north. Then again, this could be a buildup for the counterattack Manstein warned me about.
“Where is 502nd Schwerepanzer Battalion?”
“On the road southwest of Kharkov, sir.”
“Send it to Chuguyev. The 503rd Battalion is already there with 3rd Panzergrenadier Division. Tell General Graser that I have just upgraded his outfit to a full Panzer Division.” Hoth smiled, a spark in his close-set eyes, and then he adjusted his officers cap, picked up his gloves and headed for his staff car. He was driving into Borisovka to confer with the 42nd Infantry Korps commander, General Dostler. Hermann Balck had called him to request infantry support so he could move his division north, and he wanted to see if the enemy pocket could be held in place with thinner lines.
“The attack last night by Hausser compressed that pocket considerably,” he said to Dostler. “2nd SS needs to get up north, along with 9th Panzer. So now I want your infantry to secure the entire perimeter. As for Gebhard’s 72nd Division—send it to relieve Balck on the left shoulder.”
As a further precaution, Hoth sent word to the other two mobile divisions in 57th Panzerkorps, 17th Panzer and 29th Panzergrenadier. They had been positioned near the Oskol River south of Kupyansk, and he ordered them to tighten up and deploy for possible offensive operations.
“You want me to attack?” asked von Etterlin of the 17th Division.
“Not in accordance with the Habicht Operation. No, prepare for defensive counterattacks in the event we get any trouble down there. They’ve been building up in the center of the line. If anything happens, it will start with the artillery. Keep me informed.”
Yes, it would start with the artillery….
Part V
Rumyantsev
“The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.”
Chapter 13
On the Morning of May 27th, the real Soviet answer to Operation Zitadelle began with that rain of steel. The bombardment lasted an hour, and to infantry, even in prepared positions, there is nothing more fearsome. Enemy infantry could be engaged with rifles and machineguns, and tanks could be seen approaching and fought with Panzerfausts and PAK AT guns. But artillery fire seemed to come from nowhere, unseen, yet presaged by the roar of the distant guns, and the closer whine of falling shells. Then chaos visited, and the only thing an infantryman could do was scramble for any cover he could find.
The shock and din of such a bombardment is earth-shaking, mercifully loud to smother the screams of the men unlucky enough to receive a heavy round close enough to kill, or worse, to maim for life. Human bodies are tossed into the air like the earth, and steel shrapnel flays and eviscerates anything in its path. Tanks provide some refuge, unless they receive a close or direct hit. But a 152mm round can even lift a 40-ton vehicle from the ground with the sheer force of the explosion. Shock and fire, blood, dismemberment and death, rule the hour.
Then, after what seemed like an interminable deluge of high explosive madness, the barrage lifts. The last rounds fall, and the heavy smoke drifts on the wind, the smell of death thick on that pallid veil of fear. Men who lay buried in soot and debris, crouching in any depression in the ground they could find, slowly begin to move, like reanimated corpses, groping for weapons, lost helmets, blinking bleary eyed in the acrid smoke, some with blood running down from their ruptured eardrums.
They do not hear the distant shout of tens of thousands, deep throated voices rising with the dawn—Urahhhhhhh ! It is a sound that others spared from deafness have heard for years on the Ostfront, the battle cry of their enemy as he came rushing over the sodden, shell pocked fields. Behind them comes the grind of heavy metal tracks—tanks!
Between the Donets and the Oskol Rivers, four German divisions, the Nordland SS, 50th, 198th and 336th Infantry, held a front of about 55 kilometers. That was a little over 40,000 men, perhaps half that number on the front line, which was a density of about 350 men per kilometer on the outer crust of the defense. Another 30,000 men were in reserve. On the left flank at Chuguyev was Graser’s reinforced 3rd Panzergrenadier Division, and on the right near Kupyansk the remaining two divisions of 57 Panzer Korps waited behind the infantry, seven German divisions in all, some 70,000 troops with 330 tanks. On the other side were six Soviet Armies, the entire Donets Front, totaling 25 divisions and 225,000 men under arms, with just over 600 tanks and another 120 assault guns.
At Chuguyev, General Graser had informed Hoth of the bombardment, and now he had to decide what to do about it. There was a strong attack developing north of that city, and the SS Nordland, the first division on the line in the gap, was also going to need help. He had no choice but to divide his forces into two Kampfgruppes, sending one to each sector.