July 23rd, 1943
Kuntsevo - General Antonov himself describes the situation on the Ukrainian front during the nightly briefing at Stalin's dacha, in front of the usual assembly of politicians and soldiers.
In the north, the "Trofimenko army group" holds a line from the north of Chernobyl to the east of Ovruch, north of the Uzh river. This line then descends southward to the northeast of Korosten. Named after the leader of the 56th Army, this group also includes the remnants of the 57th Army and strong elements of the 5th Army (the latter especially near Korosten) and the 6th Armored Corps, supported by what remains of the armored brigades of the three infantry armies already mentioned. In reserve just behind, the 2nd Guards Armored Corps is licking its wounds, but is ready to fight. The bulk of these forces are deployed towards the western end of the line, where the threat is greatest.
South of Korosten, taken by the Germans and in the heart of a breach created by the enemy, we find two armies oriented north-south, the 4th Shock Army and the 37th Army. Maslennikov and Chuikov are rallied in extremis by the 11th Armored Corps which charges through the eye of a needle through the vanguard of the 5. PanzerDivision. Alexeiev's tanks are massed on the right of the 4th Shock. This second group has two missions: to block the 6. Armee and to threaten Model's right wing.
In Zhitomir, two armies and an armored corps are still trying to clear the city. The 5th Shock Army presses north, the 1st Shock Army south. Leliushenko's 17th Armored Corps, by far the strongest of all the armored corps in the sector, covers Shernyakovsky's 5th Shock Army.
For this precise part of the front, Stalin endorses a decision already more or less taken in response to the facts, by transferring the responsibility of the battle of Zhitomir to the 1st Ukrainian Front, by putting on paper that it is a purely provisional decision. Of course, everyone around the table understands that Vatutin will get the 5th Shock and the 17th Armored Corps back as soon as things calm down again.
That leaves the southern part of the front, where the deployment is the most fragmented.
Manstein having cleanly broken through the Soviet system, the latter is cut in two.
To the north of the main axis of the 8. Armee, east of Berdichev, the "Muzychenko Army Group" brings together the 26th Army and the 4th Guards. Split into several sections by the German thrust, the 5th Guards continued to fight. The four armored corps of Rokossovsky are also dispersed in two masses of almost equal importance: the 1st Guards Armored Corps and 1st Armored Corps in the north, the 4th and 5th Armored Corps in the south.
Having failed to coordinate their attacks due to a lack of experience and reliable communications at their level, these four corps had to operate in pairs, each one covering the infantry on its side and above all having to counter-attack relentlessly the German PanzerKorps which were opposed to them.
Finally, it is necessary to speak about the case of the two armies covering Vinnitsa and which formed, before the beginning of the German attack, the left wing of the 1st Ukrainian Front. More and more overwhelmed by the 8. Armee in the north, but no longer really threatened by the 2. PanzerArmee in front of them, the 13th Army and the 3rd Army can play different roles, according to Stalin's wish. But Stalin has not yet taken a firm decision, waiting to receive sufficiently strong signals on whether von Arnim's troops are willing to go on the offensive against Vinnitsa or not.
Ending his presentation, Antonov waits several minutes while Stalin completes his reading the situation maps on the large table in the middle of the room. Of course, the Nazi press is delighted with the progress of the Ostheer: Model had brought its divisions to seventy-five kilometers in front of its former lines, Manstein is close to eighty kilometers. But Paulus has more difficulty, his 6. Armee is the least well equipped of the three fascist claws. And Zhitomir is a solid bulwark. On the map, the audience clearly sees the two arrows pointing east, around Korosten and south of Kazatin, where the Germans have massed their tanks, and where the Vojd's gaze is regularly focused.
Elsewhere, the army corps of the Wehrmacht repel the Soviet armies head-on. The German advance is stronger where there are Panzers, either directly or by forcing the withdrawal of the neighboring armies, not beaten but isolated. Without their support, it is much more difficult for the enemy infantry to break the blocks set up by the Red Army.
Turning to Antipenko, responsible for the logistics of the 1st Ukrainian Front, and Voronov, grand master of the Soviet artillery, Stalin demands reliable figures. And the two generals answer him. As the Luftwaffe is unable to disrupt the railroads in the long term, the reinforcements continue to flow in. Guns, fuel, tanks, ammunition and soldiers land in the stations of Fastov, Kiev and Malin. The number of tanks destroyed by Tiger and other Ferdinand tanks is very high: each encounter between German and Soviet tanks still ends with a loss ratio of almost 1 to 5, although, according to the direction of the tanks, this figure slowly but steadily decreases to a ratio of 1 to 4.
But each lost tank can be replaced with speed. The factories in Kharkov and Mariupol are running continuously, their teams of workers remaining at their posts twelve hours a day or more. Supplied with American canned food directly from the leased deliveries, their morale boosted by propaganda, the armor production centers beat record after record, exceeding the quotas imposed. It does not matter, in these conditions, that many T-34s or KV-85s are poorly finished or not tested before delivery. The Soviet armoured corps receive every day replacement vehicles, with a limited life expectancy but which have the merit of being there. This is not the case for the enemy! All reports from the field are unanimous: the agents infiltrated by the GRU and the NKVD, the Belarusian partisans, as well as the information transmitted irregularly by the allied intelligence services attest that neither Model nor Manstein receive substantial equipment and reinforcements, even in relation to their losses. The war of attrition seems to have turned to the advantage of the Red Army.
The most important question remains: what should be done now?
Vatutin keeps the 21st and 22nd Armored Corps, not yet engaged, in front of Kiev, as a last insurance. Kiev is undoubtedly the target of the German offensive. Their logistics, lacking infantry, will the Germans have enough means to succeed in their gamble? In the opinion of all participants in the meeting, the fall of Kiev is totally impossible. Hitler would perhaps be satisfied with reaching the Dnieper to the north and south of the city... But how would he do it then, with panzers in the lead, very resource-intensive, an infantry already weakened and behind, and large forces ready to shear the flanks of the German forces to hinder their march?
So, in order to stop Zitadelle, should we launch new counter-attacks? Or should we rush the implementation of the planned offensives in Romania and Belarus? Will the Ostheer still have enough to respond to these attacks, with all the resources committed against Kiev?
The strategic decision can only come from Stalin himself.
.........
Sector of the 3. PanzerArmee - Tensions remain high between the Model corps leaders.
Völckers' mediation prevents Raus and von Scheele from coming to blows, but in the days to come, it will be difficult for these two to get along. Their leader himself is not doing anything to settle matters, accusing von Langermann-Erlencampp to hang around in the north. In his defense, the three divisions of his XXIV. PanzerKorps still suffer from a terrain that makes Eastern Pomerania look like a pleasant holiday camp. Only Eberbach is able to cope with the situation, even if his decision to secure Korosten (still very imperfectly controlled, in spite of Goebbels' proclamations) rather than expanding the controlled territory around the city arouses the criticism of the army staff. What is the point of cleaning up a town if the Soviet artillery could bomb it at will?
Another difficulty worries Model: its offensive means are blunted. The 4. Panzer is in transit from Ovruch and will not be available for the second phase of the offensive. The number of operational Ferdinand has fallen to nothing, forcing the 656. s. PzJ Abt in retreat at Lyginy [Lohyny] the time to repair as many as possible. Very solicited since July 10, the 78. SD is now a shadow of its former self and has to be withdrawn from the front lines. The 10. Panzergrenadier of August Schmidt is the only real reserve still usable. Everything else is now in front, including the 256. ID of General Siry, which is given the task of defending Korosten.
Finally, the river Ouj proves difficult to cross and slowed down the XXIV. PanzerKorps, badly equipped with means of crossing it.
But Model knows that the key to breaking the Soviet front is between Korosten and Malin.
There, he finds the only real paved road in the sector and a large, two-track railroad line, but also the bulk of the Soviet forces. That is why, between Gladkovichi [Hladkovychi] and Korosten, he succeeds in cramming about fifty kilometers of front, from north to south, the LII. ArmeeKorps and most of the XLVII. PanzerKorps. With the exception of the 9. Panzer and the 501. schwere Panzer Abt (maintained in Ovruch), all the armored units are in the south, to break through the defenses of the 5th Soviet Army and push back the two armored corps that are between them and Malin. But this means that Model will find himself in the uncomfortable obligation to attack from fort to fort, panzers against armored corps.
Operations begin late in the morning. Indeed, the IV. FliegerKorps no longer has the means to fight for the airspace of the 3rd Air Army and the Soviet bombardments succeed in disrupting the preparation of the attack. The 2. and 5. Panzer, supported by their accompanying infantry, nevertheless launch themselves against Khotinovka [Khotynivka] and Domoloch. In the north, the three divisions of the LII. ArmeeKorps try to break through the lines of the 56th and 57th Armies to reach Narodichi [Narodytchi]. But infantrymen and tankers, already shelled by the Soviet artillery in their concentration zones before the assault and during their progression, are now targeted by ambushers in the villages still standing or lurking in the thickets and ravines. Trofimenko and Gagen give a single tactical instruction: "Shoot everything that moves, with all available weapons!" In addition, in the air, the dives of the Pe-2, the low-level attacks of the Il-2 and horizontal bombardments hammer the vehicles despite a very dense flak.
Under this barrage of fire, the 3. PanzerArmee moves slowly eastward. The territorial gains are measured in hundreds of meters per hour, far from the requirements of Kluge and Model.
At night, if Khotinovka has practically fallen, Domoloch resists well. But in front, Trofimenko is worried. He needs ammunition as soon as possible, the consumption of the day exceeding by far the most pessimistic estimates.
.........
Sector of the 6. Armee - Paulus has understood the withdrawal maneuver of the 4th Guards and the 37th Army, but he has nothing to prevent it. Deprived of panzers and equipped with only the 210. StuG Abt, the 6. Armee is cruelly lacking in mechanized means and advances primarily at the speed of the foot soldier. The fleet of trucks at the beginning of the campaign suffer greatly and it is not necessary to count on the war catches to replenish it. The sectors occupied since the beginning of Zitadelle are emptied by the retreating Soviets of everything that could have been useful from a military point of view: the localities are burned, the telephone lines and the railways destroyed - they even find time to place some minefields.
In addition, the increasing control of the Soviet air force has already cost him dearly the day before, Jashke refuses to take any initiative that is too adventurous. To advance yes, but not too fast and not without an air umbrella!
This prudence of the 6. Armee grants an additional time to Maslennikov and Chuikov to fortify their new defenses. The shape of the front lines evolves and their two armies now have less area to guard. Of course, the attackers are also advantaged from this point of view... except that they no longer have their initial numbers. A good point for the two Soviet generals.
.........
Battle of Zhitomir - Ulcersed by the resistance of two infantry divisions to his 1st Shock Army, Vlassov persists in attacking everywhere and in a massive way. Reaped by machine gun nests and German mortars, many riflemen die without their sacrifice being really useful. Rokossovsky disapproves of this way of doing things, but it is eating away little by little the ranks of the LIX. ArmeeKorps... and Vlassov being protected by Stalin and Tymoshenko, he can't be too hard on him. Especially since the NKVD still keeps the death sentence of the commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front, signed and never amended since the end of the purges against the Red Army!
But in the end, the Soviet waves start to crack the German rock... In the sector of Golovenka [Holovenka], two companies of the 304. ID cling desperately to a town almost completely destroyed and surrounded by swamps. Sensing an opportunity, Vlassov decides to launch into the fray some reserves, which immediately take the outer perimeter of the defense and enter the village. Sieler, on the other hand, has no reserves and calls Paulus for help: his division is in danger of succumbing. Paulus sends him what he has of the elements of the SS Galizien division. This creates a situation of grating irony, as a Soviet historian explains: "On both sides of the streets of Golovenka, there were Ukrainians who were busy killing each other, but who might have lived in the same villages. Perhaps there were even cousins, some in the SS, others in the Red Army." In any case, the SS manage to restore the situation.
This feat of arms by the Galizien is naturally acclaimed by the SS press, which, however, ignores the fact that the division had only been very weakly engaged in the previous days by Paulus. Questioned by Zeitzler on this precise point, Paulus defends himself by affirming that he thought that the LIX. AK was able to defend itself and that it needed to keep its operational reserve. On the other hand, several high-ranking SS officials did not hesitate to accuse the commander of the 6. Armee of having refused to engage them fully.
With his right wing holds, Paulus can devote himself entirely to Zhitomir itself.
There, the positions of the two camps are globally frozen, neither having the means to do more than hold on. The 5th Shock must maintain the link with the 37th Army, further north, while counter-attacking the XXIX. ArmeeKorps and supporting the remnants of the city garrison. Opposite, the XXIX. AK must supply the 223. ID (whose consumption tables mention a frantic rate of use of cartridges, grenades and shells), to support the 147. ID in the north, to properly engage the 249. StuG Abt, which still keeps some strength and to support the 36. PanzerGrenadier, which is struggling with the 17th Soviet Armored Corps.
.........
Sector of the 8. Armee - A short night of rest is hardly enough to fill the tanks of a part of the I. SS-PanzerKorps. However, the progression of the XXVII. ArmeeKorps allows the SS to finally have a solid left flank and the elements of the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler (LAH) previously left behind are able to join the bulk of the division. But the 305. ID follows the tanks only with difficulty. In total, the salient formed between Berdichev and west of Kalinovka now contains six armored divisions and five German infantry divisions.
From dawn, the front is animated rather quickly. Better covered by the Luftwaffe than the day before, Hausser and his divisional commanders are no less afraid of the Soviet air force. They have to attack as quickly as possible, without giving the defenders time to recover.
The station and the town of Golendry are the first to be targeted. Attacking in a pincer movement, the Totenkopf encircles with speed the places previously crushed by the Nebelwerfers and the Stukas.
Hammered by the firepower of the SS, the garrison has no chance. However, it takes the attackers nearly three hours of fierce fighting to overcome the equivalent of an infantry regiment clinging to its positions and supported by some twenty artillery pieces. When the Germans finally seize the place, out of the eight hundred men present before the attack, not fifty of them remain alive, all of them wounded and prisoners.
To the north, the Das Reich crosses the railroad and throws itself on Floriyanovka [Florianivka], which it seizes with as much difficulty as the Totenkopf at Golendry.
These two locks taken, Eicke launches the Totenkopf towards Samgorodok [Samhorodok], nine kilometers to the east. But the skull division is immediately counter-attacked on its right by Krivoshein's 5th Armored Corps. Marching with cannon, the Soviets gather in Chernyatyne an armored brigade supported by half a motorized infantry brigade and about fifteen SU-85 self-propelled vehicles. Badly informed by too superficial recognitions, Eicke wastes time in turning his right flank to engage the attackers, leaving a dozen tanks in the skirmish. The arrival of the German assault guns allows to calm the threat, but the time lost cannot be recovered, while in front, Remezov takes advantage of this respite to request and obtain some additional reinforcements.
The axis of German attack clearly identified, the Stavka and Rokossovsky do not make any more fuss: the Pogrebishchenskiy sector must be garrisoned as much as possible, by sending a special anti-tank brigade and heavy KV-85 tanks.
For his part, Krüger turns the Das Reich northwards to attempt a second encirclement.
This time, the target is Kazatin. Attacking from the south and east, he relies on the LAH of Dietrich, coming from the west, to push the Soviets to flee. But even less than at Golendry or Floriyanovka, the Soviets have no intention of leaving. Confident in their superiority, neither Dietrich nor Krüger consider for a single second to link their attack with that of the XXVII. ArmeeKorps, further north, even though the 141. ID could have helped by fixing a part of the 4th Guards north of Kazatin. Outraged by this behavior, Weiss decides to concern himself with his own assault against the positions of the 26th Army and the 4th Guards. Let the SS take care of themselves, since they feel capable of it!
What Hausser had hopes for does not happen. Held at a good distance from Kazatin by heavy fire and air support provided by the VVS, the LAH cannot help its sister unit. Like at Samgorodok, the SS fall on a rock. Coming out of Kordyshevka [Kordyshivka], the 1st Guards Armored Corps throws itself on Krüger's vanguard despite the deterrent presence of the Tiger of the 102. schwere Panzer Abt, which cannot be everywhere. And the aerial ordeal continues for the SS. Refusing to be evacuated, Rudenko, the boss of the 16th Air Force, maintained the bulk of his headquarters in Kazatin. His squadrons have numerous officers on the ground capable of guiding the strikes of the Ilyushin and Petlyakov swarms which appear continuously over the city. Using their guns and PTAB* bombs, the Soviet aviators inflict severe losses to the train, to the least well protected vehicles and even the German tanks. Faced with this potential disaster, Krüger orders a limited withdrawal, the time to catch his breath... and to ask Weiss for help. This one does not make much progress on his side, but he has the means to do so, and it would be useful to ask for them.
In the south, Kempf orders his III. PanzerKorps to attack Kalinovka, held by elements of the 5th Guards and protected by the 4th Armored Corps. Still without the 7. Panzer and most of the 323. ID (maintained on its right flank), it engages the 6. Panzer and the 8. Panzer. Refusing to rush headlong into the enemy's entrenchments, von Hünersdorff, of the 6. Panzer, proves to be more clever than his colleagues of the 1. SS-PanzerKorps. A careful study shows that the Soviets did not expect Kalinovka to be attacked from all sides. The defensive perimeter of the city covers only about one hundred and eighty degrees. In the west, Pavlovka [Pavlivka], which is heavily supplied with artillery and infantry, ccan count on a forest and swamps. But by bypassing this strong point by the south, we could fall by surprise on much less strong positions and assault the enemy where he does not expect it. This is why, leaving Fichtner and his 8. Panzer in cover north-east of Kalinovka to fix the 4th Armored Corps, the 6. Panzer comes back westward, crossing the southern Bug at Yanov [Ivaniv] through several fords before following it to Medvedka [Medvidka] and to turn back to the north through Salnik [Sal'nyk]. The additional 30 kilometers are worth it. Totally surprised by the arrival of the German tanks in the southern districts of Kalinovka, the Soviet defense collapses in a few hours. Warned with delay, Kravchenko does not even try to intervene. Kempf succeeded in his bet, he will not fail to make it known. It is time that we stop talking only about the SS, as if they were the only ones fighting in Ukraine.
A few kilometers away, Shumilov receives his neighbor Pukhov as well as Golikov, the leader of the 10th Army, who represents Bagramyan, head of the 2nd Ukrainian Front. The latter has important news to communicate: Stalin agrees with the idea of a massive counter-attack directed against the right wing of the 8. Armee. To prevent any intervention of the 2. PanzerArmee, Bagramyan undertakes to immobilize von Arnim's forces in order to dissuade them from attacking Vinnitsa again and to allow the 3rd and 13th Armies to use all their forces to fall on Kempf's army corps. The counter-attack thus planned will be called operation "Koliuchka" (thorn).
* Clusters of small hollow charges.
