Steiner relayed reports in a flurry back to Manstein at his HQ in Kharkov. Totenkopf had smashed the 60th Guards, but was still fighting through remnants and small pockets of resistance. Grossdeutschland had engaged 44th Guards, driven it back and surrounded a brigade, but enemy tanks had appeared and they were trying to break through to rescue the trapped Guardsmen. Now third in the column as the attack swung south, Leibstandarte also reported the enemy was counterattacking with massed armored brigades.
The 7th and 10th Tank Corps had finally moved down through Novaya Vodolaga and charged to the attack. Kuznetsov had pulled his shield in tight, and now he struck out with a sword. Manstein did not want his attack to broaden out too much and loose concentration, and he radioed Steiner to maneuver, reform, and hit along a narrower front further south. He wanted to get the SS Korps closer to Kirchner’s 57th, where the two mobile groups could support one another and become one massive counterpunch. The breakthrough was too large to attempt a pincer operation. He had to hit, move, hit again, and slowly beat the Soviet incursion back.
Near dusk stragglers from a lost battalion of the 60th Guards reached the area where 10th Tank Corps was operating, with tales of woe. This prompted Burkov to post two battalions of motor rifle infantry on that flank, and he sent out patrols to make certain he would not be ambushed from that direction in the coming darkness.
After sunset, the Germans seemed to vanish. They were only found on the main road to Krasnograd, where a sharp engagement was underway with the 1st SS, but that was only a rearguard. Steiner had pulled everything out and was rolling south under cover of darkness. In the morning, he wanted to appear somewhere else and regain the momentum afforded by surprise. With a wolf like that prowling in the dark, Manstein knew the Russians would not make any aggressive moves, or ever contemplate a movement towards Poltava. They would hunker down, consolidate, and seek information on the enemy movements.
Kuznetsov was taking no chances with this situation. He had pulled his best unit, the 1st Guards Tank, out of the attack on Kharkov, and that night it would move south to Novaya Vodolaga. This would give him his entire 1st Guard Tank Army to operate against the flank of any German offensive. Given the axis of attack the previous day, he was expecting the Germans to continue to drive east towards Taranovka, and the engagement on the Krasnograd road reinforced this belief.
Elsewhere, a stony silence had settled over the front. After five days of fighting, Rumyantsev had been brought to a halt. The only real progress that had been made in the last two days was a minor bridgehead near the twisting course of the Donets northwest of Izyum. The 2nd Shock Army had crossed at Zaliman, and slowly carved out a nest in the bend of the river, pressing against the left flank of Hollidt’s 50th Infantry Division. The Siberians could only move in one direction, west, for the river made a big U-turn, doubling back on itself and the way south was now blocked by that water barrier and thick, heavily wooded hills. Otherwise, a calm settled over the front. Even Katukov had been forced to accept a stalemate in his duel with Knobelsdorff’s four mobile divisions in the north.
The action was in the center, and both Manstein and Kuznetsov knew that the outcome of the battle rested there. That bridgehead was the major strategic advantage obtained by the Russians. The advance on Kharkov had been the magnet to pull in German forces, but the lodgment south of the Donets could deliver far more than that single city. It had opened the way to the Dnieper. Now Manstein was battling to destroy it, and Kuznetsov realized he must do everything possible to prevent that from happening.
To that end, he called General Leylushenko of the 3rd Guards Army, the sledgehammer that was operating north of Kharkov. That army had been reinforced with the addition of Mostrovenko’s 3rd Tank Corps, and Obukhov’s 3rd Guard Mech. He wanted them both, and was willing to accept a draw in the battle for the city until the issue was settled in the breakthrough zone.
The engagement on the road was only Steiner’s rearguard, meant to do exactly what it had accomplished and draw in the Soviet mobile units to that sector. All that night, Totenkopf and Grossdeutschland moved south, reaching the Brerstovaya River flowing southwest to Krasnograd, and then turning northeast at midnight. That watercourse ran parallel to a secondary road that led through a series of small towns, Melekhova, Okhochaye, and finally Manstein’s objective, Taranovka. In doing so they had joined up with the Wiking Division, and by 03:00 they would be close enough to support the attack of Kirchner’s 57th Panzer Korps, which was pushing due north toward that same target.
Manstein was lining up his chariots.
Zhukov flew to the front to meet with both Rokossovsky and Vatutin and assess the situation. He praised them for the progress made, and then got down to business.
“The momentum has stalled,” he said frankly. “How can we regain it?”
“They gave ground and reformed their line,” said Rokossovsky. In fact, they deliberately allowed us to get close to the city, and now they are dug in deep. This is what allowed them to pull out most of the SS, and now they are operating against our bridgehead.”
“The city is a figurehead,” said Zhukov. “Taking it will make the headlines, but the real business at hand is protecting this bridgehead and getting to the Dnieper. I do not want to be rolled up and pushed back over the Donets. Have we been hurt there?”
“One of our bears took a bite on the front paw,” said Rokossovsky. “1st Guards Army lost a good rifle division, but they have tightened their lines, and 4th Guards Army is secure.”
“And the base of the left shoulder?” Zhukov looked at Vatutin now, and the heavy-set General nodded.
“Trefimenko’s 27th Army crossed at Andreyevka and reinforced the Siberian Motor Rifle Corps. The Siberian units can hold a lot of frontage, but they are not as strong as a field army. The German 57th Tank Corps has been very aggressive there. They pushed back Kuliev’s 1st Guard Cavalry Corps, but the arrival of the 27th allowed the Siberians to move west and relieve them. The line is still solid.”
“But it is anchored very close to the bridges at Andreyevka.”
“We have crossed further east,” said Vatutin.
“That small bridgehead might be of some use,” said Zhukov, if we only had another field army to cross there. Luckily, this 57th Tank Corps has not chosen to attack the base of your bridgehead. A push of no more than five kilometers would close that bridge.”
“True, but that would only affect 27th Army. We have depots at Taranovka in the bridgehead itself, and another behind the river east of Zimyev. The bridgehead armies would remain in supply.”
“Where is Steiner?”
“He has been very cagy,” said Vatutin. “After slipping out of Kharkov two days ago, Kuznetsov thought he was going to push for Taranovka, so he pulled out all of 1st Tank Army to block him.”
“Which ended our assault on Kharkov,” said Zhukov.
“For the moment,” said Rokossovsky.
“And what is Kuznetsov doing now?” Zhukov seemed impatient.
“There is fighting on the road to Krasnograd, and now we are getting reports of assaults all along the line of 1st Guards Army.”