“It was a good day!” he exclaimed, a fist full of division status reports in hand. “We went through them like they weren’t even there!”
Steiner had seen his Korps perform yet another smashing attack against Chuikov’s outer defense line, with one division after another battering through the line like the successive blows of Thor’s Hammer. Now he was closing on the city, and the battle, that had consumed 1.7 million men in the old history.
He was closing on Thor’s Anvil.
West of the Don, Eicke’s Division pushed forward against a blocking force put up by the 81st Motor Rifle Division. It had been on the main road to Surovinko, which dipped well south of the River Chir. To his right as planned, the 9th Panzer Division engaged the 3rd Guard Rifle Division, who were suddenly surprised by the ferocity and scale of the German counterattack.
As for Balck, by day’s end he had moved southeast to Verkhne Solonov, consolidating briefly south of State Farm 79. Now he made good his maxim that night marches save blood, intending to swing further east towards the Chir after dark. He had no intention of attacking due north through the neighboring hamlet of Nizhne Solonov. Instead that night march would see his division appear on the enemy’s flank and rear the following morning with a maneuver that was classic Hermann Balck. 5th Guard Rifle Division was going to have uninvited guests for breakfast.
1st Panzergrenadier Battalion of the 111th Regiment reached the road heading north from Nizhne Chirskaya, where one of Hauptmann Paul Hauser’s recon troops had scouted to report what he first thought were Russian troops crossing from the southern bank of the Don. It was soon learned that they were a division of Volkov’s 2nd Orenburg, securing that bridge and town, and the railway bridge to the north as they relieved the Wiking Division. With the flank and rear scouted and secure, Hauser notified Balck by sending a prearranged “Code Blue.”
Fifteen minutes later the attack began, with 4th Panzergrenadier Battalion storming up that road to the height of Hill 528, where they drove off a Soviet flak battery that had been setting up there that morning. From that height, they had a perfect view of the State Farm to the southwest, for now they were actually behind that position. They quickly radioed in the locations of the three Brigades making up the enemy division. One was near a small balka south of the farm, a second at the edge of the cultivated area, a third on its right at the hamlet of Sysoyevski. The brigade on the balka would be attacked first, and Balck ordered both battalions of his division artillery to pour on the fire.
The Guardsmen fought tenaciously, but eventually gave ground in the face of Balck’s armor, retreating north only to find they were already cut off by two more companies of tanks. Driven back to the edge of the State Farm, they were then overrun by III Battalion of the 111th Regiment, the fighting hand to hand amid the bales of hay and broken wood fences of the outer farm. Ahead lay the barren orchard, the leafless trees now in “Stick Season.” The German division was now pivoting to engage the second brigade, even while the Russian Division HQ was fleeing madly northwest away from the farm.
By mid-day the 5th Guards had given up this embattled people’s Commune, falling back north to make a linkup with the 7th Guards, who were retreating in the face of the attack put in by 9th Panzer Division. On the main road east, Totenkopf was heavily engaged with the 25th Tank Corps, but the Russians still had the 24th and 1st Guard Tank Corps in reserve, both north of the Chir.
Balck came up along the road to Nizhne Chirskaya, finding the man he wanted to speak with again. “Hauser!” he called, seeing his intrepid Captain standing on top of his armored car, his eyes lost in a pair of binoculars. Hauser turned, offering a stiff salute and a wide grin as the General came up.
“What is the situation east on the Chir?”
“I’ve had men out that way this morning,” said Hauser. “There is a small secondary road that runs north to south along the river. About 9 klicks from here, there is a small village—Ostrovskiy. Beyond that town the ground firms up a bit. It’s a crossing point you want, correct?”
“You can read my mind,” said Balck.
“Well, there’s only one thing to deal with. A heavy assault gun regiment is parked in that town. I think they were sent down from Surovinko to block that road. That has to be where that big Guards Armored Corps is—Surovinko. They’ve been licking their wounds and keeping warm behind this screen of infantry we’ve been after. Well General, if you want to get over that river, there is no defense on the east bank, not at the moment. The 11th Rifle Corps pushed past that area yesterday. They are south, the tail end of their column at Bolshe Osinovka.”
“You learned all this this morning?” Balck was impressed.
“Well before breakfast, Herr General.” Hauser smiled.
Balck thought for a moment. “Is the river iced up yet?”
“Not quite. Not thick enough for the vehicles. It would have to be bridged, but the infantry would have no problem.”
Hauser would lead the way that afternoon, bringing up three companies of the 15th Panzer Regiment, and a battalion of Panzergrenadiers. By sunset, the Germans had Ostrovskiy, forcing the Russian Heavy SPGs back towards Kalinovka. During the fighting, Hauser again personally scouted the riverbed, identifying a nice shallow icy spot with a good gravel bottom that might even allow the vehicles to pass over it without much assistance. He notified Balck at sunset.
The plan was discovered by an alert Soviet Guardsman with a rocket battery. He had gone to the river to fetch a bucket of cold water to cool down the barrels of his Katyusha battery, when he saw what looked like German troops near the edge of the river. Hastening back, he reported to his Sergeant, and the word leapt up the chain of command to Surovinko, some 4 kilometers north of his position. There, the 1st Guard Tank had been resupplying, but this alarm, and the duel fought by its SPG regiment at Ostrovskiy, were enough to prompt action. That town was soon to be counterattacked by tanks from the 15th and 16th Guard Tank Brigades, and Hauser was on the radio to Balck reporting that the Russians had moved more tanks directly opposite the section of the river he had selected for the crossing.
“They can read a map,” said Balck, shaking his head. “Very well, Code Yellow. We must see what is happening at Ostrovskiy.”
Chapter 21
Buoyed by his dramatic breakthrough towards Volgograd, Steiner convened a meeting of his key Division commanders to plan the attack. “As you can see,” he said. “Their resistance has broken—even those two Guards divisions they threw at us. Now we must decide how best to carve up the hen. Keppler? What is the situation with Das Reich? Dietrich?”
“We have taken Orlovka,” said Keppler, a bespeckled man of 48 years who had come to the SS after commanding state police units between the wars. “They are falling back to a belt of woodland closer to the city. But that damn aqueduct is going to be a problem. I’ve covered it with flak and AT units, and the pioneers, but I think it will take a little more. This will mean I’ll have only one Panzergrenadier Regiment and the panzers to press any attack in the north.”
“What about 75th Infantry? They should be able to cover that front.”
“It’s a long way for a single division. We haven’t even reached the river in the north yet, and I think we must do so. They are still using roads leading north there, and my recon battalion continues to see more troops arriving. Those roads have to be cut, and when we get to the river, our artillery can stop any further attempt to move in supplies on the water. That said, I would need my whole division to push through.