Hörnlein’s attack was even more successful. His assault pioneers finished off the last resistance in the Hospital, and then he threw the main weight of his storm groups north of the balka where a main road wound its way east towards the city center. While the ground remained open, he led with armor, a full battalion committed to the assault. They met and shattered the enemy 56th Tank Brigade, and the Grenadiers followed them, leaping up out of the balka start line. The panzers were able to penetrate the Russian line, advancing 1500 meters by mid-day, with the infantry fighting their way after them. At one point, 2nd Company of the Panzer Battalion nearly overran the headquarters of the 204th Rifle Division, driving it east into the residential sector. They had broken all the way through to the enemy artillery positions, and the tankers could see the Russian guns lined up at the edge of the urban sector, still firing.
Not to be outdone, Beckermann’s Brandenburg Division decided to mount a pincer operation to surround and isolate the stubborn enemy defense of the old Army Barracks near the Kirov Airfield. The ground was very open east of that position, a perfect attack corridor that led strait to the Mamayev settlement, bounded by two arms of the extensive Tsarista River and Balka system. If the settlement were reached and taken, it would become the perfect staging point for an attack on the big hill itself. But first that Barracks position had to be reduced, which would be no small order, and it was now defended by no fewer than six battalions of the 196th Rifle division.
The pincer operation was successful, breaking through to either side of the enemy position, but now the Brandenburgers had a big lump of stone in their throat, they had bagged the bulk of that enemy division with that masterful stroke, but now they would have to find a way to kill it.
In the north, the attack put in by Das Reich was the most successful. Rather than continuing their push towards the Volga north of Rynok as originally planned, they shifted their weight south towards the seam between the two defending Russian divisions. The Samara Rifles were now on their right, their line anchored at the Little Mushroom and extending in a wide arc through the wooded country. On their left was the tough 2nd Volga Rifles. The SS had two initial goals—clear that Mushroom, then punch through the seam between the two divisions. Their intention now was to move just south of the Surchaya Balka, and Rynok itself, following the secondary road that eventually met the main coast road along the river. There a great anomaly now stood as their principal objective, a massive road and rail bridge over the Volga that had not really been built at that site into the 1950s. Yet in this world it had stood as a stubborn bone of contention between Volkov’s forces and the Red Army for over ten years. Neither side ever attempted to destroy it, as they both believed it would one day see their victorious troops marching into the enemy’s territory.
There it stood, a massive historical anomaly, the vast and rusting hulk of the trans Volga bridge, positioned where the river narrowed a bit, right between Rynok and Spartanovka. Just south of that point the river split around the long almond shaped Denezhny Island, a buffer zone seized by the Soviets long ago to screen both the Barrikady Factory and Dzerzhinsky Tractor Plant. East of that bridge, across the wide Volga, a city had been built up where modern day Volzhskiy now resides, except in this world it was called Volkovskiy. It was guarded against Soviet incursion by two divisions of Volkov’s best troops, the 11th and 12th Guards Divisions. If the western end of that bridge could be taken by the Germans, they would establish a very valuable link to the Orenburg 5th Army on the other side of the river. It was something that had dawned on Steiner the previous evening, in spite of his distaste for Volkov and his entire federation.
There is the infantry I need, he thought grimly. If I get that bridge, then all Volkov’s troops on the other side will be fodder for the battle on this side. I can use them to hold and cover portions of the front so I can further concentrate my shock divisions. I will have staffers put out feelers to Gerasimov on the other side of the river. I’m told they actually have a couple divisions over there worth the name, and I can use those troops. Why wait for Manstein when all the infantry I need is right there on the other side of that river!
It was a plan that was bound to emerge from the rubble of that city at one time or another. After his earlier cross Volga offensive ended so disastrously when the Soviets counterattacked and drove his men into the river. Volkov had given orders that there would be no further operations west of the Volga, but now Steiner thought he could persuade the man to coordinate with his troops for an attack on that bridge.
To further his chances for success, he had moved all his Korps assets to support Das Reich, and was now planning to halt the Leibstandarte’s offensive operation and order them to cover sectors of the front now held by the 2nd SS Division. That was his plan, the principal operation he had devised for this offensive. All the other attacks put in by Grossdeutschland Division and the Wikings were merely meant to tax the enemy’s resources, and pull in his reserves. There was only one question in his mind now: would his enemy see the danger in time to take countermeasures?
Part IX
The Bridge
“A bridge has no allegiance to either side.”
Chapter 25
“They are trying to break through to get at Novo Kirovka,” said Shumilov. He had taken the hazardous journey from his headquarters at the Cannery to Chuikov’s command center near the Red October Factory.
“They are trying to break through everywhere,” said Chuikov, “but Kirovka is the least of my worries. The situation in the center is far more serious. They came out of the cemetery region, and there’s a big push underway towards the heart of the city. I sent two tank Brigades in, but we can’t stop their armor. Those new tanks of theirs are just too good.”
“Will they get through?”
“I managed to plug the gap with two battalions of the 154th Naval Brigade, but I have nothing else in reserve there, except Zholudev’s 37th Guards Brigade. I pulled it off the line and moved it south yesterday. It crossed the Tsarista Gorge this morning, but now there’s trouble with the 196th?”
“What kind of trouble?”
“Just the usual sort, it was defending the Army Barracks near the airfield, now it’s been cut off and largely surrounded.”
“The whole division?”
“Most of it.” Chuikov gave the stolid Shumilov a shrug.
“What about the other two Guards Brigades in that Provisional Division? They’re all fresh. The Germans have been wise enough not to attack them directly for some time. Take the Engineer Battalion and spread it out through this wooded area here. Then pull the 39th Guards Brigade out and move it south towards the Barracks. The 37th can then go and stop this thrust towards Central Volgograd.”