South of the city, 24th Siberian held the shoulder, and Zhukov was forced to pull back everything he still had west of the upper Don. With strong infantry support available, the Germans shifted 12th and 55th Infantry Korps to that shoulder, again freeing up Model’s Panzers to move further east. There was a sharp battle around the railhead town of Panino, 80 kilometers east of Voronezh on 1 October, but the sheer mass of the German advance overwhelmed the defense. To the north and south, the ground was now a sea of mud, but Model cleverly found the hardened rail bed a perfect avenue for his drive. It ran southeast to the city of Anna, which is exactly where he wanted to go.
By October 8th, The Germans were 100 kilometers east of Voronezh and the Don, advancing into territory that they never occupied during Operation Blue in the old history. In fact, this was the original intention of Operation Blue as it was first conceived. The Germans wanted to pierce the enemy line east of Voronezh, and with that breakthrough, turn to attack the Soviet position south of the Don from the rear. It was their inability to make this breakthrough in Fedorov’s history, that forced them to instead move along the southern bank of the Don, which remained a bulwark of the Soviet defensive front. Now, the stunning pincer operation Halder had planned would deliver Voronezh, and write all new history with that speedy drive east.
At his wits end, Zhukov pulled units back over the Don, then pushed them north, including the entire 50th Army under Petrov, which extended the southern shoulder of the German penetration as it pushed east. He then set about grabbing any rear area unit he could find, border security regiments, NKVD guards, railroad battalions, flack units, and service troops, and threw them in a haphazard line to extend the northern shoulder. His problem was that he had no substantial force available in this area to stage a counterattack to try and blunt the German drive.
To make matters worse, the German 17th Army took Rossosh as the Soviets pulled out, then launched a surprise night river crossing operation just north of Pavlovsk on the Don. That attack was driving up the rail line past Voronskova towards Burnurlinkova. It was acting as a small southern pincer and, if Model shifted his drive south, he would bag 36 divisions, all the troops of 3rd and 11th Armies, along with 24th Siberian. It was another disaster in the making.
“They persist,” Zhukov said to Sergei Kirov. “The mud is slowing them down in the open country, but they are advancing up the hardened rail lines. This attack to the south of Burnurlinkova must be contained by counterattack, so I have moved Yeremenko’s 4th Shock Army to the rail lines, and pulled the 1st Special Rifle Corps under Katukov out of the Boguchar Bridgehead as well.”
“4th Shock Army?” said Kirov. “Those were troops you were holding for the Winter Offensive.”
“Yes, but that is all I can use. There is nothing else in reserve, and I’ve raided every nest I could find, from cities as far away as Tambov and Saratov, just to find scattered remnants that were reforming in the rear and throw something in front of those panzer divisions. The line won’t hold. It will have to be the mud that eventually stops them.”
“What can Katukov do?”
“He has good troops: 1st and 7th Guards Rifle Divisions, 4th and 11th Tank Brigades, and with all new T-34s, and then the 12th and 27th Cavalry Divisions along with a few smaller supporting regiments. These were the troops that fought at Mtsensk and saved Tula last Winter. They will be enough to challenge this southern pincer that crossed the Don at Pavlovsk. As for the German 2nd Panzer Army, it will take a strong fresh army to stop them. 4th Shock Army was in the Serafomovich Bridgehead. It was slated to be the exploitation Army for Operation Uranus. It is either that, or nothing.”
“Why not pull back all those armies and form a new line running from Anna, through Burnurlinkova, and then to Voronsovka?”
“We could do that as well,” said Zhukov, “but then all the German infantry presently opposite those armies will be free to redeploy again. They can thin out their line, shift troops north into the penetration, and that could allow the panzers even more freedom of movement.”
Kirov stared at the map, his brow deeply furrowed. They were in uncharted territory here, fighting for cities that Stalin had never lost. On the Volgograd Front, Steiner was pushing up the road from Martinovka towards Volgograd, and this also forced the Soviets to abandon the Beketova bulge, terrain they had held south of the city opposite Volkov’s troops. That fortified line had held for years, but now it was simply abandoned as the defense there focused more and more on the immediate approaches to the city. Yet this crisis east of Voronezh was the most serious event on the table. A decision had to be made.
“If you send 4th Shock Army, can it stop those panzers?”
“Possibly. At the very least we will take hold of the tiger’s jaws and keep them from closing for a time. Katukov will stop the southern pincer, and 4th Shock attacks the main drive in the north. But do not expect them to do anything more. We can probably halt the German advance, but taking ground back is out of the question.”
“What if we allowed a pocket to form? The Kirov pocket held up the German advance on Moscow a year ago, and it held out for over six months.”
“That was because we had a major city at its heart. Burnurlinkova cannot supply all the armies that would be in that pocket here, over 36 divisions.”
“What about Volgograd?”
“I have a train arriving from Saratov. It isn’t much, a single rifle division and three or four regiments of engineers, flack units, AT battalions. I’ve also shifted three divisions from the line of the Volga north of the city. I do not think Volkov will try another attack there after what happened to him last time.”
“What if he does? He got over the river there before.”
“Then, Mister General Secretary, we have the Volgograd pocket, and if that happens, I will attack with everything we have left in the Serafimovich Bridgehead and try to reach the Chir again. They have the rail line open there now. The supply it has been delivering is the reason Steiner was able to break the stalemate. I had 18 divisions against those SS troops. It took that much to hold them in check for so long. The Volga Rifles practically died to a man. Only one division in the corps remains.”
“We have nothing else in reserve? No more tank corps?”
“I have three rifle divisions and a few tank brigades at Ryazan, and four or five airborne regiments guarding key airfields. Aside from units in the Serafimovich Bridgehead, the only free tank corps are well west of Moscow, in the North Front sector. I was holding them for a spoiling attack.”
“They would be better used where it matters, but we must step up tank production dramatically.”
“That would be wise, but unfortunately, everything is in Siberia or up at Perm, and both production and delivery is very slow. The factories in Volgograd have enough to do just repairing damaged tanks we send them. The Germans have most every other major production center. Aircraft deliveries are better, as the Americans have sent us a good deal through Siberia. Tanks take longer, and we need them desperately. I massed damn near every heavy tank I could scrape from the lines into a division for Operation Uranus.”
At that moment, a messenger arrived with a stiff salute and trouble in his eyes. Model had again broken through the thin screen of units that Zhukov had thrown at his advance. The Germans had tanks in Arkangelskoye 40 kilometers east of Anna, and other units were flowing through a 20 kilometer breach in the front and turning south. This was also compounded by a big push north to Martinovka by Steiner’s SS that broke the stalemate in the Kalach Bridgehead. The Germans had cleared the terrain north of the road to the city to a depth of eight to ten kilometers, and Volgograd was now under direct threat of attack. Three Divisions were now reorganizing prior to commencing offensive operations.