July 21st, 1943
Operation Zitadelle
Kiev - Landing under heavy escort in a heavily guarded train station in the middle of a heavily patrolled city, the first personnel of the 21st and 22nd Armored Corps do not linger on the quays. Dozens of convoys followed, loaded with tanks, vehicles of all kinds, artillery pieces and support equipment. Tanachichin and Volkov have received their orders: to deploy their troops as quickly as possible to the west of the Ukrainian capital to ensure the close defense of the capital. Too busy unloading their equipment and cautious by nature, the tankers are not really interested in the trains leaving in the other direction.
Those are full of wounded and repairable wreckage - and all of them also have several freight cars with padlocked doors, from which shouts escape from time to time.
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Sector of the 3. PanzerArmee - The maps drawn during the night and given to von Langermann-Erlencamp during the morning briefing of his staff reflect a very confused tactical situation. Several parts of the front are not represented, others see the recognized lines and positions of both sides crossing or getting tangled up. On the ground, Landsers and Frontoviki are mixed up in a muddle of lost more or less deserters in the middle of overrun entrenchments. It is not uncommon for the German estafettesto cross Soviet convoys, in an indescribable mess. A lot of work of reflection based on more or less well-founded hypotheses, two things emerge, passed on to Model and Kluge. One, the Soviets seem to be retreating southward, faster in the west than in the east. German officers are considering a move to a line along the rivers Norin and Ush [Ouj]. Two, the bulk of the Soviet resources are moving towards Ovruch, presumably to link up with the defenders still holding Korosten. We know that there is at Ovruch at least one Soviet armored corps, but this one, if it is undoubtedly able to counter Scheller's tanks, is already caught by Model's other forces.
The intensity of Model's recriminations and demands having decreased with the night, Langermann-Erlencamp can decide to take some time to think. It appears to him that for Scheller, reinforced by the 267. ID and covered on his right by the 81. ID, reaching Ovruch is now possible - provided that he disperses all the runaways that clutter the roads and undergrowth and to obtain a minimal support from the Luftwaffe.
The movement starts in the morning. Too busy evaporating southwards, the units of the 56th Army do not care about the German progression. As the Germans estimated, Trofimenko ordered a recovery on the two rivers further south*. Now almost devoid of armor means, he made up his mind. Ovruch will fall most certainly today or tomorrow. His army will be more useful if we mass it on the Ush, east of Ovruch. The Germans will not be able to leave a Soviet mass on their left flank.
It will give them something to think about. And in Korosten, Vatutin certainly has reserves that he could use against the German points. Well held, the headquarters of the Front cannot fall and will serve as a pivot for future counter-attacks. In these conditions, the wisest thing to do is to hold on to Ovruch, waiting for something better.
But Trofimenko does not know that Vatutin has no reserves in Korosten, and that the headquarters of the Front is already being evacuated. Too busy emptying the place (a British memoirist would later speak of a "disorderly escape rather than an organized movement") and convinced that the Stavka had already notified the 56th Army, none of the officers of the 3rd Ukrainian Front thought of warning Trofimenko that Stalin had decided to withdraw to Malin.
The assault on Ovruch is not long in coming. Defended by elements of the 56th Army and the 6th Armored Corps, the city is now besieged by four German infantry divisions and the 4. Panzer. To the west, the village of Norinsk [Noryns'k] blocks the way of the attackers. Five times, the Germans seize it, only to be driven out immediately by enraged defenders. A sixth charge, carried out with the support of some heavy howitzers, finally takes the decision and eliminates the last riflemen still in ambush, at the cost of very high losses. Exhausted, the men of the 78. SD collapse in the ruins, exhausted. In the south, von Saucken's tanks cut the railroad and the roads leading to Korosten.
Only connected to the remains of the 56th Army, in the east, by a thin cordon, the garrison of Ovruch awaits the final assault.
On the other hand, on the side of Korosten, the German scouts are formal: the Soviets are evacuating the city. Kluge immediately draws a simple conclusion: it is necessary to attack immediately in order to disrupt this withdrawal, to prevent the destruction of the supply stocks and to kill as many defenders as possible. The order is transmitted directly to the corps leaders - but Model is not informed (the head of communications of the Heeresgruppe NordUkraine will claim a radio failure...). Kluge lets the leaders in the field take over the city as quickly as possible, no matter how.
In front of Korosten, distraught by the urgent and unusual orders of Stalin, harassed by the Luftwaffe, the Soviets fight like hell but in a way too disjointed to be effective. Cut off from his forces on the ground by the too rapid relocation of his HQ, Vatutin can hardly influence the battle. It is Alexeiev, Rybalko and Potapov, isolated in the storm, to lead the rescue of what can be saved.
Advancing amidst explosions and smoke rising from burning depots, the panzers reach the outskirts of Korosten. But the capture of the city is not done before the end of the night of the 21st to the 22nd. In the north-west, the railway station district is burning from one end to the other, burned by its defenders. Advancing with the caution of a wolf on the hunt, watching for snipers firing from window wells, roofs or even manholes, the Landsers try not to take any risks, which does not prevent them from suffering significant losses. The methodical cleaning of the residential buildings with grenades causes many deaths among the remaining civilian population. The few testimonies of exactions on civilians will be ignored and drowned out by the victory communiqués of Goebbels' teams, proclaiming the fall of Korosten.
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Sector of the 6. Armee - Anxious to seize Korosten and Ovruch as soon as possible, the XLVII. PanzerKorps does not care about its right flank. In these conditions, an attack by the 4th Shock could seriously damage the German action. But Maslennikov must above all find a solution to his own problems.
Indeed, after two days of relative calm, the XLV. ArmeeKorps resumes the offensive. Taking advantage of the panic that disorganized the right wing of the 37th Army and forces the 4th Shock to send reinforcements, De Angelis plays his part. On the right, the 302. ID gives a hand to the 9. ID to enlarge the Iablonets salient. In the center, the German assault is concentrated on Krivotin.
Deprived of the support of the 11th Armored Corps, now entirely engaged in Korosten, Maslennikov can only rely on his own forces. And these forces are dwindling by the hour: overwhelmed in the north by Model and soon in the south by Jashke, the 4th Shock is under pressure from one end to the other of its front, its tanks trying to extinguish the multiple fires which start from north to south. As a final blow, Stalin demands that it launch a counter-offensive towards the north in order to take back Korosten or at least to keep the Germans away from it!
Calling Vassilievsky, Maslennikov empties his bag. To counter-attack? With what means and under what conditions? He is almost surrounded! And what is the staff of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, which is impossible to reach? Vassilievsky has only few satisfactory answers to give him: he can only confirm that Stalin ordered to evacuate the HQ of the Front, and only promise to discuss with the Vojd the possibility of withdrawing the 4th Shock to the east. While waiting for an answer, Maslennikov has no choice: he has to stand his ground.
Further south, with his right wing in danger, Chuikov decides to take charge of the operations in Yablonets, leaving the rest of the 37th Army to his subordinates. Vigorous counter-attacks allow him to retake Usolusy and to reduce the German bridgehead at Iablonets, but at the cost of heavy losses - and the 37th Army is far from being a priority in the allocation of reinforcements.
On the other side, the LV. ArmeeKorps can at least count on the men of the 4. Luftwaffen-Feld-Division to fill the gaps. And Paulus has not yet given up everything.
General Gollnick's 36th PanzerGrenadier has so far been kept in reserve, to counter-attack of a Soviet armored corps. But nothing of the sort happened.
The FHO has reported the presence of such a corps (the 17th Armored Corps) east of Zhitomir, but it has not yet moved. Can we then use the hundred or so Panzer IIIs and StuG IIIs available against the 4th Shock? Against the 37th Army? Or to try to break through in depth to isolate the two formations? Of course, this would be a lot to ask of Gollnick, but in the panic, the Soviets might feel the urgent need to withdraw to the east.
However, Paulus is not the man to take such an adventurous initiative. In the morning, he decides to ask for von Kluge's approval and to inform one of his protectors: Halder. Indeed, he is still chief of staff of the OKH, even if he is gradually being sidelined.
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Battle of Zhitomir and sector of the 8. Armee - But in the southern part of the gigantic battle raging on, the Germans feel that the day is going to be difficult.
In fact, it took the Red Army days to get everything in place, but this time there is no question of backing down. Now that the Germans have entered Zhitomir, it is time to take the initiative. Time for the counter-offensive! Rokossovsky waits for secured channels to communicate with Vlassov and Chernyakovsky, who are themselves able to exchange between them without going through the rear, which is very unusual in the Red Army. The leader of the 1st Ukrainian Front will orchestrate a counter-encirclement - a daring operation for a Red Army not used to this kind of maneuvers. Due to lack of time and experience, it is necessary to fall back on a less ambitious and less delicate plan than initially envisaged, but undoubtedly more reliable - Zhukov's influence. In any case, there was not a minute to lose.
Falling in the night on tired and unsuspecting Landsers, the 5th Shock bursts without warning on the 332. ID. Surprised, the division of General Trowitz suffers heavy losses and is forced to loosen its grip on the north-east of Zhitomir. At the same time, to the south of the city, Vlassov's 1st Shock strikes hard against 205. and 304. ID.
By mid-day, for Manstein in the 8. Armee as well as for Paulus at the 6. Armee, astonishment gives way to dismay. Are the Soviets trying to lock the attackers in a large pocket? The 147. and 223. ID are already almost trapped in Zhitomir and the risk is great to lose the 332. ID on one side, the 205. and 304. ID on the other. That is no less than five divisions! An unbearable prospect for Paulus as for Manstein.
The Red offensive has at least the effect of lifting Paulus' questions. He is not going to call Kluge nor Halder. Gollnick must march with the gun and strike the 5th Shock to clear the 332. ID.
