Chuikov nodded. It seemed a reasonable solution, unless the Germans got wise to the fact that the old front occupied by those troops had been thinned out. Yet, there was a good deal of ground to give there, a lot of open woodland that ran up to Mamayev Kurgan. He decided to take Shumilov’s advice.
“Now we have the north to consider, and this is the real problem. They shifted the axis of their attack this morning. They were trying to push through 2nd Volga Rifles, now they have shifted south of Rynok.”
“The bridge,” said Shumilov flatly.
“The bridge,” Chuikov echoed. “Rynok is the real crisis point. Everything we slip in on the night barges must land there, and then go by road to the city. We can’t move barges beneath that bridge, it’s too well guarded. Rynok must be held, so I have no choice but to send a brigade of the 13th Guards. I posted one in each of the three factories in the north. 1st Brigade is in the Tractor Plant, and I’m going to move it north through Spartanovka at noon. I have nothing else to send but Special Brigade 115, and they won’t hold half a day.”
“Do what you must,” said Shumilov. “I agree that we must hold Rynok. For that matter, look at the bulge forming in the woodland north of the Tractor Worker’s Settlement. Why not give that up and reform your line here?” He traced a fat thumb on the map in an arc much closer to Spartanovka. “You can get some of the Samara Rifles into the fight if you do that.”
“Agreed,” said Chuikov. “And the south? Can you hold?”
“We’re in much better shape there than it seems. Moving those Divisions out of Beketova made all the difference. Don’t worry, I’ll hold.”
On the morning of October 28th, Manstein got some much needed relief. The 50th Infantry Division had been slated to go to the Crimea to begin building up a nucleus of a shock group to take Sevastopol. But when the Russians moved most of the garrison troops out by sea to try and save Rostov, the 50th was instead re-routed to the Donets Basin. Now it was close enough to be brought into the fight on the steppes west of the Don. The trains came up through Tatsinskaya, ordered to stop about 10 klicks west of Morozovsk and detrain there. Division commander Schmidt went on to the city to confer with Manstein as to what he expected of his division.
“Are the men fit?” asked Manstein.
“Very fit. They have been itching to get into a fight ever since the mission to Sevastopol was cancelled.”
“Good,” said Manstein. “Well, they will find one here. Have a look at the map. You are detraining just south of the Bystraya River. This enemy penetration has already come to within ten kilometers of your position as it stands. Move your men up to the river, hold that line and make sure nothing gets around your left flank. Expect enemy armor. In fact, they ran right over 24th Panzer when it was on the line, so be ready. I am trying to get 23rd Panzer off the line to backstop a new defensive front, and your division was the missing piece of the puzzle. As you come forward, the 305th is on your right, then the 336th here, just north of the city. You are the left flank, and I hope to move 23rd Panzer to that sector as soon as possible.”
“I see,” said Schmidt. “I thought we were to move farther east to Volgograd.
“Nobody gets to Volgograd without a 200 kilometer road march,” said Manstein. “As you can see, they have cut the road between here and Kalach. That is what all the fighting is to the east. If I had my wish you would be on the Chir between Surovinko and Chern relieving the Totenkopf Division so that it can continue to attack. If wishes were horses. The lack of good infantry here had been our most serious problem. I’ve been wrangling for every division I could find. Army Group Don now has a total of nine infantry divisions in this sector, and that includes the four Steiner took with him east of the Don. Give me three more and I would settle this affair rather quickly. As it stands, we must squirm a bit.”
That was what it was now coming to in the Wehrmacht—every division mattered, and the infantry every bit as much as the mobile divisions. Schmidt nodded. Then, echoing the words lately spoken by Shumilov, he told Manstein not to worry. “Rest assured, we’ll stop them,” he said with a salute. Then he went off to get his division into the fight.
Schmidt and his men were going to need every bit of the confidence they exhibited. The force coming their way was now so big, and so heavily concentrated, that it was getting in its own way. 3rd Tank Corps had arrived, strung out in a column some 5 kilometers long, but there were too many vehicles, tanks and infantry, all mixed together, so it was forced to halt and wait for the traffic snarl to get sorted out. An impatient man, General Rulenko simply decided to turn his Corps off the road and move due east. Crossing a small balka, he ran right into the 305th Infantry, deployed in a concave hedgehog position some ten to twelve kilometers north of Morozovsk.
In the ensuing battle, the tanks looked like a herd of war elephants as they swirled around the hedged defensive positions of the German infantry. But the Tank Corp was a well-balanced combined arms force by now, with three mech infantry battalions, three tank brigades, recon elements, engineers, and its own fast moving artillery. Furthermore, when concentrated at any given point on a defensive front, the sheer mass and cross country speed of the tank brigades was almost impossible to stop. The Germans would get kills with their AT guns, but far more tanks would race on through, and then the infantry would select one spot for a concerted attack, some leaping from the backs of the tanks themselves, others carried to the scene on fast moving halftracks or trucks.
The three battalions and engineers would target a single German battalion on the line, and with ample fire support from all that armor. A breakthrough was almost inevitable, and there was then usually another full tank brigade as yet in reserve, soon rushing to this breach to exploit. If the Germans did not have a mobile reserve behind the crust of their infantry, it was very difficult to stop such attacks, and when they were followed up with the swamping human wave attacks of one or two Rifle Divisions, the breach became a gap that would grow wider with each passing hour.
Now the loss of 24th Panzer Division when it was forced into line duty was really beginning to matter. It should have been that fast moving reserve to counterpunch at the critical hour, but instead, for lack of infantry to hold the line, it had found itself right at the center of an attack that was led by Volsky’s revitalized 4th Mech Corps, an enormous formation that had been further bolstered by the addition of heavy tank battalions.
With the timely arrival of 50th Infantry Division, Manstein was now desperately trying to swing 23rd Panzer down towards Morozovsk, and have a sword in hand to meet a thrust like this, but it was still fighting a fast moving battle of disengagement, the tank companies moving, stopping to fire, then racing south again, the infantry leaping to their halftracks and vehicles behind the thrumming stream of fire from the MG-42s.
As 23rd Panzer moved south, it was actually moving parallel to the Russian advance, catching up with some of their fast recon units. A running gun battle ensued, with tanks and APCs on either side racing over the snow covered terrain, guns blasting away at one another. The 126th Panzergrenadier Regiment turned, with the pioneer and recon battalions and a company of tanks and stugs. In so doing, it ran right into the 7th Tank Corps, and the battle thickened.
It was the arrival of 50th Infantry that stabilized that front, slowing the soviet advance and forcing it to consolidate. Yet Manstein now had a most difficult decision, and he requested that Steiner fly to meet with him at Morozovsk, a short but hazardous jump from Gumrak Airfield.
“This is the situation,” said Manstein pointing to the map. “We may stop them, though that has yet to be determined. The loss of most of 24th Panzer Division was a very severe blow. As you can see, they are within 5 kilometers of the rail line at the 161 marker, and also here at this bend west of the city. The main axis of their attack is coming down this road, and it is ten kilometers from us as we speak.”