While this battle ground on, the real trouble spot on the Kharkov front was the sector just to the north, where Das Reich was on the line. It had been hit very hard by the bulk of the 3rd Guards army, which had two strong mobile corps added. It was able to drive the division back over the main road to Mikhaylovka, and push another 5 kilometers, just shy of the Kharkov river flowing down from the north. Success by Grossdeutschland Division was therefore offset by this setback to the north, and Manstein could now see that his counterattack would not succeed.
We sallied forth, he thought, but we cannot drive them from our gates. Now I am facing a situation that will see my best mobile troops stuck in a static battle of attrition, for this will surely be settled in the city soon, block by block, and house by house. While that fight grinds on, the enemy is free to operate to the south. They have already pushed through Taranovka. The hole in our lines just yawns open there, some 60 kilometers wide, and there is nothing there but the Wiking Division. I need to get Steiner out of this mess, and out where he can maneuver, but this damnable order from the Führer that Kharkov be held is frustrating that plan. This is my own damn fault. I promised him we would hold the city to placate him for the orders I sent so brazenly to OKW.
What I need now is infantry to replace Steiner if it comes to a city fight, but doing that under pressure will be difficult. Hansen has freed up two more divisions, and they are enroute from the Caucasus this very day. Yet the most direct route by rail has already been cut. They could come up through Krasnograd, and then the temptation to use them with the Wiking Division would be very great.
If, however, I send them through Krasnograd, there is a junction further north that could take them back through Poltava, and from there they would approach Kharkov from the west instead of southwest. First things first—get them up through Krasnograd. It may be that the better play is to try and pull divisions from 4th Army. I don’t like the cauldron that is forming to the north. Balck has managed to tie up Katukov, but he can only buy me time. Knobelsdorff is simply too weak, and I would need at least one more panzer division there to have any chance of stopping Katukov.
Meanwhile, in the south, Kirchner hit the flank of that bridgehead at Andreyevka, but the enemy just keeps reinforcing it. Last night the Luftwaffe recon flights spotted what looks to be an entire new army crossing the river at Andreyevka. I must get Steiner free of this city, even if it means giving Kharkov to the enemy.
It was time for one of those uncomfortable choices. He called Speidel and told him to order General Raus to bring his two division Korps to Kharkov at once. Raus was due north, and he could use the rail line through Dergachi to move his equipment quickly.
“Then the rest of 4th Army will have to fold back to make a linkup with Knobelsdorff,” said Speidel.
“It can be done,” said Manstein. “Their pursuit along Kempf’s front has not been all that aggressive. Frankly, I think they want us to hold our positions there. They were counting on Katukov getting in behind Kempf, and thinking they might have a pocket forming. That will not happen. If we do this right, and we will, then I think we can also free up 3rd Panzergrenadier Division. Send that one to Knobelsdorff, and he’ll know what to do with it.”
“That front is starting to stabilize,” said Speidel. “The three divisions from Armeegruppe Center have formed up behind the breakthrough zone. Balck’s spoiling attack worked wonders,” said Speidel. “Katukov got into a boxing match with the best division in the Army, and he’s been stopped cold. Balck is just moving from one side of the ring to another, jabbing, dancing, a real master. He called to say he got one of the new Russian AFVs.”
“Oh? That should be interesting.”
“Indeed!” Speidel seemed in high spirits, then he took a deep breath. “What about Hitler?”
“Efendi?” Manstein smiled. “He’s already come and gone, and I don’t think we’ll see him again any time soon. In fact, he won’t hear about any of this until late tomorrow. I intend to inform OKW, and urge Zeitzler to rubber stamp this move. Hitler was quite heavy on that point—no withdrawals unless approved by OKW. Well, I can only wait so long for such approval. I must be able to act in a crisis like this.”
“What are you planning?”
“Steiner has to move. So Raus gets Kharkov, and I’m going to swing southwest and surprise Kuznetsov. He had a good chance to push around the city, but the Wiking s gave him pause. Now we’ll get out of this damn city fight and do some maneuvering. Don’t worry. If this works, Hitler will be quite pleased.”
“And if it doesn’t work?”
“It’s always a risky thing, this business of war. You know what Napoleon said. It is but one step from triumph to fall. I’ll try not to stumble.”
Manstein’s order to ‘readjust’ the front would enable him to pull three divisions off the line. Yet it would also allow the enemy to consolidate their own front, and they would be stronger at every point along that line. It was now a question of time. What he had to do was get mobile forces capable of inflicting damage on the enemy into a position where they could stop the inexorable flow of forces over the Donets. This would require him to present the enemy with a situation where their LOC was clearly threatened, meaning that their ability to sustain any further move south would be in jeopardy.
Yet there were several flaws in the plan. First, as the Field Marshal had said, it was risky. Trying to extricate forces under heavy enemy pressure could have unforeseen negative consequences, but he had accepted the worst of them—the possible loss of Kharkov. Secondly, while his recent counterpunches had demonstrated that they could stop the enemy advances, not one had been able to truly push them back. Just one month ago he had chased Popov back across the Don, but then he had three SS divisions in the perfect position to do so. Since that time, something had changed, and the dark answer he had to face was that the enemy had been strongly reinforcing the front to try again.
The arrival of 8th Guards Army in the north had restored that sector after the damage inflicted by Zitadelle. Now the 47th Army had moved onto the line in the south to replace the losses Manstein had inflicted on 63rd Army, and the center had been reinforced with the arrival of 4th Guards Army and 27th Army, both flowing into the wide breach between Andreyevka and Kharkov.
Now Manstein would take yet another risk. Though he had two infantry divisions coming up from the Caucasus, the withdrawal of Korps Raus had provided him with infantry to defend Kharkov. He also had the 7th Infantry Division from Armeegruppe Center, and he hoped that would be enough. So he abandoned the plan to move 44th Korps under Angelis through Krasnograd and Poltava to try and reach the city from the west. What he needed now was some stronger threat to the enemy bridges at Andreyevka. It was there that Kirchner’s 57th Korps had been attacking unsuccessfully against the base of the bridgehead. It needed help.
Risk.
It was at the heart of mobile warfare, like the daring foray of a Knight into the enemy camp, or the sweep of a Bishop to a far-off square on the diagonal. He would send those two infantry divisions to Kirchner, and more, he would now order General Gille to leave off his screening operation and move southwest to join that concentration of forces as well.
Speed, concentration and power—these were the essential ingredients of the German art of maneuver war. Manstein needed to get his forces where they could act as a lever against the massive boulder of the Soviet incursion over the Donets. In his mind, he was slowly setting up his counterattack plan, wishing only that he had acted sooner. It had only been his promise to hold Kharkov that had forced a delay, but now he would act, and take the consequences.