September 30th, 1942
Operation Typhoon
The Northern wing offensive - Intermittent rain falls from low clouds on the battlefields. At dawn, Breith's 3. PzDiv, or what is left of it (an improvised force built around a decimated armored battalion, a mechanized infantry battalion and a few reconnaissance vehicles) try to take Pyryatyne. But the Soviets of the 327th ID and the 399th Anti-tank Brigade are well entrenched and the weather prevents the Stukas from supporting the attackers.
At Romny, Malinovsky forms a combat group with the armored vehicles of the 7th Shock Group, whose losses of the previous day are compensated by tanks of the 5th Cavalry Corps. This force leaves Romny at 04:00 towards Pryluky to cut off from their rear the elements of the 2. PzG who assaulted Pyryatyne. But they encounter around noon the LVI. PanzerKorps of von Manstein, which performs a perfect pincer maneuver. The 302nd and 312th Armored Brigades of the 5th Cavalry Corps, still mainly equipped with BT-5 and BT-7, and the 24th Cavalry Division, are practically destroyed in two hours of combat. Manstein's forces push the Soviets back to Romny, where they arrive at twilight. There, however, the 6. PzDiv i met by the 398th Anti-Tank Brigade and the 131st Heavy Armored Brigade. The Germans lose 27 tanks in twenty minutes and Manstein suspends the attack. He avoids catastrophe, but his LVI. PzK is almost exhausted.
Meanwhile, in Bakhmash, the 1st Armored Army of Chernyakovsky, reinforced by the 168th Heavy Armored Brigade and the 324th and 526th Artillery Rgt., attacks in force on the German left flank, hoping to provoke the encirclement of a part of the 3rd PzG.
The objective is presumptuous, considering the forces commanded by Chernyakovsky, but the elements of the XXXIX. PzK holding Bakhmash are severely tested. It is the 20. ID which undergoes the most violent shock and only the skilful use of its anti-tank guns and of some assault guns of the 7. PzDiv prevent it from being completely overwhelmed. Despite its resistance, the Soviet troops begin in the evening to infiltrate in Bakhmach.
While his men face unexpectedly strong Soviet forces, Guderian is in Rastenburg, where he tries to obtain some of the infantry divisions now deployed in front of Smolensk in addition to the new armor reinforcements he had been promised to replace those lost since the beginning of Typhoon. As Halder's diary testifies, it is freshly received! Halder, opposed since the beginning to the offensive in Ukraine, does not appreciate the autonomy granted to Guderian and his appointment as head of the 1. PanzerArmee. His deputy, Paulus, is much better disposed towards Guderian. But the most important thing is that the troops deployed east of Minsk have not recovered from the battles of August. Lightening the load in this area could provide the Soviets with a good opportunity to attack again.
The news from the Mediterranean does not help Guderian either. Sicily is given as lost. The risk of Italy collapsing is becoming tangible!
All that Guderian can obtain after meeting with Hitler in the afternoon is to send 200 tanks in addition to the 300 already promised by Paulus. But these 500 tanks can only arrive by train at Gomel (or even Jlobin, if the Gomel station is too damaged by the Soviet bombers). They will then have to drive south on their own.
These 500 tanks are much more than the 200 that Kleist has, but for them too the question arises: when will they reach the battlefield?
Guderian then tries to reduce Typhoon's ambitions. Arguing that Kleist is behind in his advance towards the Dnieper, he proposes in his turn to be satisfied with an encirclement by converging the German troops towards Cherkassy and not towards Krementchuk. This option "Small Typhoon" (Kleine Taifun) is accepted neither by the OKH nor by the OKW. This time, the main reason alleged is that this restricted maneuver would prohibit other movements towards Rostov and the Crimea and that the Dnieper is so wide at Cherkassy that the Soviet river flotillas could probably supply Kiev and the troops. In reality, Halder tries to harm Guderian by all means. The latter openly despises him, because he considers him too conservative. Halder, in return, considers that Guderian thinks he is a star and refuses to see his plans in the context of an overall strategy.
...
The Southern wing offensive - As the rain becomes colder and colder on the battlefield, the 26th Army attacks under the command of General Sokolov. The 99th and 195th Infantry Divisions, supported by the 133rd Artillery Regiment and the 28th Armored Brigade, rush to the front.
Armored Brigade, rushes on the positions of the 299. ID. The latter folds under the shock and gradually withdraws to the Ros', near Belaja Tcherkov. The fights are very violent, but the German troops gradually stiffen and manage to block the assault of the Soviets. Around 16:30, the Soviets reach the river in three places, but cannot cross it. Sokolov, a general from the NKVD who is still unfamiliar with the demands of the front, understands that he would have to wait for the arrival of the specialized troops of the engineers.
Meanwhile, in Rastenburg, Kleist sees Guderian also ask to reduce the ambitions of Typhoon, but he does not seek to support him. He is in fact irritated to note that Guderian had obtained 500 tanks, although he had only been promised 200. However, hearing the news of the Russian offensive, he cuts short his stay in Rastenburg and joins Boguslav in the evening.
Typhoon-South situation on September 30th (Dark blue - Germans/Hungarians, Red - Soviets)
