Ironfall (Kirov Series Book 30)

by Schettler, John

  So the Spring of 1943 found the German army unbroken, raging through the Middle East, and yet still as strong as ever on the Ostfront . Paulus was alive and well, and his 6th Army had never died the agonizing death it experienced at Stalingrad. That saved 40 German and Axis allied divisions from destruction, and made a major difference in the prospects for 1943. Even as Manstein focused his own attention to the battle in the Caucasus, the Don Front was strongly held by good German divisions, with a few weak spots that had been filled by Luftwaffe Field divisions formed into several Korps. The whole region was still looking for a definitive battle that might form a turning point in this campaign, and both sides were churning through possible offensive plans for the Spring.

  Through the long winter months of January and February, the opposing armies had dug in and worked to replenish their forces. Now the Russians were again ready to go on the attack, and Zhukov had outlined a grand offensive scheme he wanted to launch in April. The plan was both daring and complex, and it would test the limits of the Soviet commanders’ ability to coordinate large mobile forces in the field over multiple fronts.

  He met with Sergei Kirov and his intelligence Chief Berzin at their headquarters in Leningrad to explain the plan. “Kharkov,” he said at the outset. “That is the primary objective.”

  “Not Rostov?” said Kirov.

  “Old hat,” the General replied quickly. “We’ll return to that sector in good time, but we must have Kharkov if we are to ever have any chance of getting over the Dnieper.”

  “The Dnieper? Isn’t that a far reach for us now?”

  “It is, but it must remain the primary strategic objective of our effort this year. We tried to liberate the Donbass last year, but failed; so now we will strike the line farther north. The liberation of Ukraine will begin by seizing one of its greatest cities, Kharkov.”

  “Show me how you want to proceed,” said Kirov, gesturing to the table map.

  “Very well,” said Zhukov. “Manstein is deep in the Caucasus choking Ivan Volkov, and that is a gift we never expected to receive in this war. While the political situation has ruled out alliance with Volkov, given the military reality of the situation, that is what we have now. Our forces cannot coordinate with each other, but we have one common enemy, and so we must take every advantage of that. Last winter, our forces were strongly concentrated here after the reduction of the Voronezh pocket.” Zhukov pointed to the region southwest of Voronezh near Kursk. “We pushed hard for Bryansk, but the winter conditions prevented any real concerted effort. Now, with the Spring, we are ready to try again, only this time, it will be Kharkov.”

  “With Rokossovsky?”

  “Correct… And Vatutin.”

  “Can we manage an offensive from two fronts at the same time?

  “We will soon find out, but I have I have every confidence that we can succeed. To begin with, this is not the army the Germans defeated with their Operation Barbarossa. Both our Generals, and the troops they now command, have gained much experience, particularly in the use of our armor. Last year we enjoyed one advantage in that our tanks were found to be superior to those of the enemy. They hit harder, moved faster over open terrain, and we were able to get them out in sufficient numbers to matter. Our Tank Corps concept was only just being introduced at the time of the Tula operation, now it has been adopted across the entire army. We no longer operate the armor in packets embedded within the Rifle Division armies. Now over 80% are fielded in these new Tank and Mech Corps.”

  “So the task is to learn how to coordinate them in an offensive,” said Kirov.

  “Correct, but we cannot yet fight as the Germans do.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They avoid frontal engagements, concentrate everything at the point of penetration, and often utilize the strategy of the double envelopment to create a battle of encirclement.”

  “Yes,” said Kirov with a shrug, “a million of our soldiers learned that they hard way.”

  “We cannot fight as they do,” said Zhukov. “Our strategy must be adapted to the structure of the army, the capabilities of our soldiers and Generals, the terrain we fight on, and our objectives. So I have begun to attack on a broad front, with multiple thrusts, or perhaps one or two larges offensive pushes. The Germans fight to destroy our forces, and do not mandate terrain objectives. They gain ground only after destroying our armies, as we have seen. By contrast, we are fighting to liberate the Soviet Union, and so recapturing terrain is our principle objective, and we seek to destroy the enemy because he opposes us as we pursue that purpose. They seek a decisive decision with each operation, we instead seek to wear our enemy down by mass and attrition. This is why we pushed to develop more artillery. Now our armies will be supported by two or three times the number of guns in our offensives compared to 1941. We break through with the shock of those guns and the massing of our armor.”

  “But they have managed to stop us at every turn.”

  “True, but they pay a price for that. While they are rapidly introducing new and better tanks, their forces are now fighting on many fronts, and it is no longer easy for them to concentrate for big offensives. So our strategy must be to keep up relentless pressure, and this is why we attack in the south. There the terrain is broken by a series of parallel river barriers, the Don, Donets, and Dnieper. Our plan is to attack on a broad front, but with concentration in key areas to achieve breakthrough and threaten envelopment of their forces. Their natural defense would be to withdraw to the next defensible position—the next river—which then gives us all the terrain between those two walls of water. Our objective here is to move from the Don to the Donets, and liberate everything in between.”

  “We could not do that in the south last year.” Kirov remained understandably skeptical.

  “True, but things have changed. Their invasion of the Caucasus took twenty divisions with it, and many will have to stay there for some time. Last November we tried out the concept of the massed Shock Group—multiple armies focused on a strong concentric thrust. They stopped us, but had to use their very best mobile divisions to do so. This time we play out that strategy with multiple thrusts, aiming to overtax their defense.”

  “Do we have sufficient forces for this?”

  “We do. I have reorganized the offensive power of the army into several Operational Shock Groups. They are generally composed of one Shock Army, and a new Guards Army forged from the veteran divisions of the first two years of fighting. A Tank Army could also be substituted for one of the other armies, or added to an existing group to create more striking power for deeper operations. Three Groups have been assembled for this operation, and renumbered so all the armies assigned to a given group would share the same numeral designation. The front will still be held by the regular field armies, and these Shock Groups will move up just prior to the onset of the attack.”

  “So you will not attack from the Don Bridgeheads?”

  “Only as a feint. The Germans must cover and hold Rostov to protect their position in the Caucasus, so any attack from our lower Don bridgeheads will be certain to produce a strong reaction. I will use that against them this time, and launch a spoiling attack threatening Rostov. Last year we fought hard to reach the Oskol River. That is where our main attack will come from now, and with the objective of liberating all the ground between the Oskol and Donets. Phase II is to then force the upper Donets along a broad front, all with the aim of taking Kharkov. Phase III, should the opportunity present itself, might be a deeper penetration beyond the Donets.”

  “Show me on the map.”

  “Very well, we start where the enemy expects us to come, the lower Don. That attack will only be meant to pull in the enemy mobile reserves, and then it will be withdrawn. But while it is underway, the real operation begins here, east of Prokhorovka. I have planned a series of successive blows against the German. This is the 2nd Army along the Psel south of Kursk, and on its right is their 4th Army defending the line of the Oskol River
. I will attack them both, and with three primary objectives. The first is to eliminate these two German 2nd Army strongpoints at Oboyan and Prokhorovka. This will launch first, conducted by the 5th Shock Group. Initially, it will seem to be a local operation, but a day later we will throw two more shock groups over the Oskol River—here, between Novy Oskol and Valuki, at the southern end of their 4th Army’s line. This is the main push for Kharkov, and it will be further augmented by a special mobile group under General Popov, which will push for the Donets. I am designating this whole operation as Krasny Zvezda. ” (Red Star).

  Kirov cast a wary glance at Berzin, but said nothing. That was an eerie echo of the name given to Popov’s ill-fated operation east and south of Kharkov in the real history, intending to flank that city and drive on to the Dnieper. Called Operation Star, it had overextended itself, and was eventually defeated by a stunning counterattack put in by Manstein, his famous “Backhand Blow.” It was as if Zhukov had read the same “material” that Kirov and Berzin had been using to guide them through the war, though they knew that was clearly impossible.

  “And the third objective?” asked Kirov.

  “Assuming all goes well and the opportunity presents itself, Poltava. After reducing those strongpoints, the 5th Shock Group will move on Kharkov as well, and once it arrives there, all forces will reorganize and form one concerted thrust at Poltava. Kharkov then becomes the forward depot to support our operations against Poltava, and we use that city as a springboard to the Dnieper this summer. This attack will then threaten to cut off everything the Germans have to the east, the Donbass, Donets Basin and the Caucasus. You see? We will not have to fight for the Donbass this year, though I will launch a spoiling attack there, intended only to pull in enemy reserves. Once we have Kharkov and Poltava, the Germans will simply have to give all the rest to us to avoid being cut off. We will not have to grind our way through the heavy built up industrial region of the Donets Basin, because once we reach Poltava in force, that sector is completely flanked. We can go right to Kremenchug, or anywhere east of that city, and threaten to cross the Dnieper.”

  “I see…. And General, what will the Germans do about this?”

  “That remains to be seen, but we will keep considerable reserves in hand to deal with it, the 2nd Shock Group.”

  When the General departed for the front, Kirov gave Berzin a strange look. “Uncanny,” he said. “He comes to us with the same plan—the same name, and even with Popov leading that thrust in the south!”

  “It certainly has a very dark rhyme to it,” said Berzin.

  “And a dark ending as well,” said Kirov. “What if this General Manstein does the very same thing he did in the Material? Popov’s attack becomes a disaster. I don’t see how this attack can succeed. The German 6th Army is still in the Donbass. Shouldn’t we destroy it first, as in the Material?”

  “Zhukov seems to think we can bypass it,” said Berzin. “And he may be correct.”

  “Assuming that, do you believe the Germans will just sit there while we go raging into Kharkov and on to Poltava?”

  “They might do exactly that. You forget Hitler. He went to war with Volkov for a very good reason—he wants that oil, and now that his troops have reached Groznyy, he can smell it. Maykop was just the appetizer. The fields at Groznyy are much bigger, and from there, he can see both Baku and Astrakhan. He won’t give any of that up easily, so he’ll hold on to the Caucasus at any cost.”

  “But that means they will also have to hold the lower Don region to cover Rostov, and the Donets Basin as well. Isn’t Rostov the more important objective now? It was in the Material.”

  “Perhaps,” said Berzin. Rostov was already secured by the time this operation was launched in the Material—but only because of the German defeat at Stalingrad. That was Zhukov’s intention last winter with Operation Saturn. Then he played that wildcard with Operation Jupiter, and it shifted the gravity of the whole campaign further north. The Offensive aimed at Bryansk did the same thing. It concentrated most of our offensive power in the Voronezh sector. Moving those armies about is no simple matter. So Zhukov plays the game from where he stands, and in that light, this plan makes perfect sense. Remember, the army was fairly well spent when Operation Star was launched in February of 1943 according to our documents. That isn’t the case here. General Winter was so severe this year that he forced us all to sit and wait. Now the army is well rested, and with fresh troops and the best tanks and equipment we could give them—not those hand-me-down Matilda’s Popov had from the British Lend Lease Program. Things could turn out differently, and if this plan does work, it would compromise all the German positions to the east of Dnipropetrovsk, just as Zhukov suggests.”

  “Yes…” said Kirov. “If it works. I’m a bit nervous about this one. See if we can scare up something more in the way of a reserve. This General Manstein is not to be underestimated.”

  Chapter 20

  The sector chosen for the northern attack was just east of the city of Prokhorovka, an old Cossack rail station on the Moscow Kharkov rail line that was built by an engineer named Prokhorov. The town was in ruins, many homes and buildings burned out rubble, but it had been fortified by German Engineers, and was protected by a thick belt of minefields.

  About 12 kilometers to the west on the River Psel, was Krasny Oktyabr, (Red October), which was chosen as the breakthrough zone for 5th Guards Army. About five kilometers southeast of Prokhorovka, the heavy defensive works thinned out at another red town, simply called Krasnoye. That was now the nest of KG Schubert an independent unit in Model’s new 2nd Army. His 305th Infantry Division held Prokhorovka, and KG Schubert was the last unit under Model’s direct control at Krasnoye. From there, the German line would stretch southwest to the Oskol, with the 4th Army under General Heinrici. So Schubert was right on the seam between the two armies, commanding a small Kampfgruppe composed of three more battalions, the 161st Panzerjager, 21st Armored Car, and 221st Pioneers.

  Oberst Kristen Shubert had passed an uneasy night, his well-trained ear certain that he could hear the dull rumble of distant vehicles moving in the night. He asked for the latest Luftwaffe recon report, but learned that no enemy forces had been seen on the roads to the north that day. Yet he could not shake the feeling of inner anxiety the morning, after a fitful and restless six hours of sleep. So he resolved to visit the forward edge of the town, touring the bunkers and having a look for himself. It was not long before when he saw the dark lines of Russian infantry emerge from the misty steppe land north of the city, and immediately ran to the nearest command bunker to get to a radio.

  “Artillery!” he shouted. “There are swarms of Red infantry coming at us!”

  The code word launching the attack was very simple that morning, and it was sent in the clear on the radio: “Red, Red October!” It was more than a battle cry hearkening back to the Revolution. In fact, it was announcing the names of the two villages singled out as breakthrough zones. The enemy coming at Schubert was the 5th Shock Army, meant to be the eastern pincer for this initial operation aimed at eliminating the Prokhorovka strongpoint, and 5th Guards Army was moving up to begin the attack to the west at Krasny Oktyabr.

  The Pioneers had no organic artillery of their own, and nothing more than mortars, which were already starting to pop off and range in on the advancing enemy. But Schubert put in a call to 2nd Army Artillery, which he knew was positioned in range. Soon the rounds of 10.5 and 15cm guns were starting to fall, mostly on the 24th Rifle Division. Then calls came in from 10th Luftwaffe Field Division, positioned just outside the town to the west. They wanted help, and Schubert knew this attack was more than a simple poke and prod against the line when stragglers from that unit began filtering into the town near his bunkers. There was power behind this operation. He could feel it in the rumble of the earth, hear it in the dull growl of heavy engines, and the movement of many trucks. The woodland to the north was suddenly teeming with enemy infantry.

  That power was th
e entire 5th Shock Group under General Rokossovsky’s Voronezh Front. Wherever a breakthrough was needed, Zhukov called on the Rock. He would lead with a strong attack from 5th and 15th Guards Rifle Corps, six guards rifle divisions in all, and this was only the leading edge of the storm, meant to find, engage and fix the positions of the enemy on the line. Behind them came the breakthrough wave, Kortzov’s 5th Shock Army, and behind it was Rybalko’s 5th Tank Army, with three tank corps. This last army was not moved up to the front until the night before the attack, and every effort was made to conceal the buildup in the dark woodland east of Prokhorovka.

  There were two other Soviet armies in this sector, Kharitonov’s 6th Army to the west covering the German fortified town of Oboyan, and Kazakov’s 69th to the southeast. These forces were mainly to be tasked with holding the shoulders of the breakthrough zone, but they were strong formations, particularly the 6th, with six rifle divisions and a number of independent brigades and cavalry units. It would begin making attacks along the lines of Model’s 5th Korps to keep it from maneuvering to oppose the breakthrough sector. The rifle divisions made attacks all along the line, as far west as Oboyan, which had been a fortified strongpoint held by the Germans all winter. Once a breakthrough was obtained near Prokhorovka, the main axis of the attack was to be southwest, skirting past Belgorod, and then on to Kharkov. In making this maneuver, the Russians would be threatening all the divisions in Model’s 2nd Army to the west, which was now on the line in a wide arc above Belgorod, stretching all the way to Sumy like a great steel shield.

  As Zhukov had explained, the attack was intended to seem like an isolated event. And it wasn’t Model that Zhukov was really threatening, but 4th Army under Heinrici. Only the western pincer would launch from the vicinity of Prokhorovka. The real danger would come when the second pincer launched from the Oskol, on the southern end of 4th Army, a much stronger attack. At the same time, a second operation dubbed “Operation Comet” would make a strong spoiling attack on the Middle Don to hopefully pull in mobile units behind the front there, and prevent them from moving northwest against Operation Red Star.