The other four mobile divisions were on attack, benefiting from the sudden windfall of supplies trucked in from Oblivskaya and Surovinko just before the Soviets cut that route. When Steiner moved his HQ, he had brought all the supplies the Korps truck pool could carry, and so he found himself with more than adequate supply to attempt what he was now planning and executing—a sudden violent attack to take Volgograd by storm. He calculated that he could mount a sustained 10 to 14-day offensive with all his mobile divisions, along with support from the 75th Infantry Division, which was now on that line.
In the meantime, the Russians had invested Kalach with 24th Army, and then sent the 9th and 11th Rifle Corps south towards the confluence of the Chir and Don, where Volkov’s troops were now relieving the Wikings. Two Guards Rifle Corps, and three Tank Corps now formed the 5th Tank Army operating in the area between Surovinko and Oblivskaya along the Chir. West of Oblivskaya, was 4th Shock Army, then 3rd Shock, and finally 2nd Shock, their lines extending all the way to the ground some 50 kilometers north of Tatsinskaya.
Then, as Zhukov’s offensive engine continued to burn coal and build steam, he pulled another army together by extracting three tank corps that had been at Tula, Serpukhov and Ryazan. Ad hoc infantry replaced them on the line, which was now a stagnant front, and these three Corps were rushed south into his Don Bridgehead zone, the 3rd, 7th and 10th Tank Corps. This new group would be designated 1st Tank Army, and to strongly augment this force, he pulled the Siberian 5th Shock Army from the Volkov front in the north. Volkov had no offensive capability in that sector, and so the rail lines had been busy, delivering three rifle divisions, four cavalry divisions, two tank and two motorized brigades, and a pair of ski brigades.
So by robbing Peter to pay Paul, Zhukov had produced another very capable force to extend his offensive against the exposed German flank. Phase I, his Operation Uranus, had been a complete success. It had sealed off Kalach, and driven the Germans out of Surovinko. Now he would continue to press with 5th Tank Army against the stubborn German defense at Oblivskaya, while he unleashed his new 1st Tank Army with 5th Shock Group further west in what he was calling “Operation Saturn.” He would direct this attack at the area of Morozovsk and Tatsinskaya, with the long term aim of capturing one or both of those key towns, which both had valuable airfields the Luftwaffe would need to resupply Steiner. That part of the plan was still forming, still mustering on the steppes to the north, but thus far, Operation Uranus had done all he had hoped it would.
Manstein did not think the Russians would attack like this so soon, or in such strength, particularly with the big crisis near Voronezh to contend with. Yet his military mind found the Soviet achievement quite impressive, even if he now had every confidence he could contain the threat. When the meeting at Morozovsk concluded, he did not yet know of the forces gathering to the north in 5th Shock Army. The Russians would move by night, halt by day under white snow draped netting. The Luftwaffe spotted what looked like one large mechanized formation on the 20th, but no word had come to Army Group Don HQ by the 21st.
Manstein had gathered nine divisions to answer Zhukov’s offensives, finally halting the Soviet advance and saving three of the four depot sites on the Chir, as far west as Tatsinskaya. Now, as the first snows began to fall on October 21st, his next battle would be fought to determine the fate of Volgograd. The Russians would fight to hold the city, while continuing to press attacks against the German lines of communications. Manstein would fight to prevent that, while Steiner sent the cream of his force into the warren of death and misery that had once been called Stalingrad.
Chapter 20
Steiner’s attack on the 21st of October came as the first snows had dusted the frozen ground, darkening and chilling the memories of the troops that had fought and endured the Winter of 1941. Here it came again, promising to be colder, deeper, darker than ever, due to the blockage of sunlight that had been caused by the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in the Pacific.
It brought with it an urgency that was redoubled by Steiner’s mood. He had been driven from his headquarters on the Chir, saw his staff ignominiously packing up all his papers and effects, loading any vehicle at hand with all the supplies, food and fuel they could carry. He had chosen to withdraw east to join the bulk of his Korps, none too happy to see both 3rd and 5th SS left behind to try and halt the Soviet advance. He would now get the Wiking Division back as Volkov’s troops relieved it near Nizhne Chirskaya, and for wergild after losing Totenkopf, he took all the infantry of Hansen’s 54th Korps. Now he was determined to prove that his decision to withdraw east of the Don was one that would deliver a victory at Volgograd.
The Soviets had struggled to set up a perimeter in the north, where Das Reich had been driving towards a long fortified aqueduct that ran northwest from the Volga north of Rynok, shielding the main road and rail line from the north. The previous year, when Volkov had pressed his dogged offensive over the Volga north of the city, that aqueduct had been the strong line of defense that prevented Volkov’s troops from pushing south and enveloping Volgograd from that direction. Now the Russian troops in those bunkers found an enemy at their back, and the engineers had been busy cutting gun ports in the pill boxes, so that all the AT and machineguns could be repositioned to cover an attack from the southwest.
Das Reich was leading that attack, having cut the main rail line at Samofalovka, where it dropped off its Pioneer Battalion, 3rd Panzergrenadier Battalion, two companies from the Recon Battalion and a company of tanks. They took up positions astride the rail line, where the Soviet 58th and 80th Light Tank Battalions were defending with the 99th Rifle Division. The rest of the division struck parallel to the aqueduct defense line, pushing for Rynok. On their right, the full weight of the Leibstandarte Division was advancing on a nine kilometer front, right astride the road to Gorodische. There Chuikov had posted the 112th and 138th Rifle Divisions forward of the tree line sheltering a rail spur that diverted off the main line and ran east towards Rynok, eventually swinging south into the Factory district of northern Volgograd.
The battle hardened SS men hit the Soviet line like a sledgehammer, shattering the defensive front, infiltrating with fast moving recon elements, and pushing right to the outskirts of Gorodische. The pounding of 11th Army’s heavy artillery was earth shaking, and overhead, Stukas rained bombs down on the unlucky Soviet Riflemen. 115th Special Brigade was also hit in that same attack, surrounded on the main road that passed just north of the fortified Gumrak Airfield.
Brandenburg Division came next, just south of Leibstandarte, its mission to push directly for that airfield at Gumrak, which Steiner wanted for his forward air supply base. In their way were the remnants of the 36th Guards Rifle Division. The attack was merciless, overrunning 3rd Regiment, surrounding the remainder of the division, and pushing through the hole in the line to attack the enemy division HQ. 75th Infantry was on their right, helping to open and widen the breach, as infantry does so well when it advances to hold the shoulder of any penetration by the mobile troops. They had hit the Russian 95th Rifle Division hard as well, and now that entire position was dissolving into confusion, with the fighting hand to hand wherever the Russian infantry refused to withdraw.