Soviets BATTLEFIELD DECEPTION 1941 - SS Div REICH (mot.) Pt 26 - Guderian PzG 2

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Episode 192

In this episode using Kurt’s war diary, original OKW situational maps and rare film footage we’ll see how the division though seriously outnumbered rushed in and fought back desperate Soviet attempts to break through the encirclement.

In dem Abendstunden kann die Stadt als “Restlos vom Feinde gesäubert gemeldet werden.
In the evening the city can be declared as cleared of the enemy. Security in the outlying fields around the city is established; there’s no trace of the enemy.

September 19th
At 8.00 hours our vehicles are brought up. We load up and move out in pursuit again.

To put things in perspective, we’ll take a look at the original OKW situational map for Sept 19, 1941 the day Kurt is describing in his war diary. Much of the fighting needed to reduce the Kiev pocket remains to be done.

Soviets formations that have avoided being encircled continue rushing east to gather around the important city of Kharkov to reconstitute.are moving significant force from the north intending to help trapped units break out of the pocket and to stabilize the collapsed South Western front.

It’s against this red wave that the SS Div. Reich is advancing headlong. Also involved in this important blocking maneuver from Guderian’s 46th Army Corps, the Reich Div’s AC, was the 10th mot Inf. Div and 17th PzD. From Guderian’s 14th Army Corps the 4th PzD was involved. This arrow with wheels graphic means that the SS Reich Div was in convoy and not combat formation which means that it was moving rapidly but more vulnerable to attack.

After traveling about 110 km our destination near Romny is reached. The following day while we continue pushing forwards and are attacked for the first time in a long time by Russian bombers. Not daring to set up their run correctly the bombers release their payloads haphazardly. Other than a few lightly wounded soldiers no further damage is sustained and we are able to continue with our advance.

21. September
Back on the hilly region behind the city of Romny the villages are still in the hands of the enemy. It’s into this area that they’ve built up into formidable defensive positions that we attack. A small river below a cliff in front of a town has been reached by our motorcycle troops and they’ve managed to take the only crossing bridge intact. In the evening their position is attacked by ever increasing enemy forces and, only armed with their light weaponry, they take considerable casualties and their line of advance begins to give way. In response our unit is rashly sent forwards in a forced march. We arrive with the sun going down and immediately attack from an unfavorable position. Before reaching the town we first we have to make our way down the cliff and then across the bridge completely out in the open. We then rush forwards in between burning houses which emit an intense heat all while carrying and firing our heavy weaponry.

Finally at about 23.00 the town has been taken and cleared of the enemy. During the intense fighting and moping up actions we continue on towards the rail hub Nedrigailow where broken enemy formations have gathered and successfully concentrate their fire from well prepared defensive positions. With little more than our stubborn will to push on, we continue the advance. Our relentless attacks, all the forced marching and fighting, hill by hill, we occupy the towns and the Russians have lost all orientation. With their lines of communication cut during the battles they’re confused and broken with individual enemy elements left to fight basically on their own.

Through high attrition rates of both dead and wounded our ranks have also been greatly weakened. At best our platoons are only half strength. In order to continue with the attack incredible willpower is needed. Then, again, the Russians prepare another nasty surprise for us as we take a town seemingly without encountering resistance and then take up positions in an open field. Due to the current lack of manpower we had been unable to adequately search through the town and to our surprise realize that a heavy concentration of Russian soldiers had managed to hide themselves in the houses. They suddenly appear and attack us from the rear while another formation simultaneously attacks us from our flank. With two weak companies that are reinforced with a few machine guns and 2 of my mortar crews we are forced to hold off the enemy’s two sided attack. After a short but intense firefight, we manage to silence the enemy in the town destroying most of the houses with our heavy weaponry in the process. Our companies of infantry, having gained their freedom of movement, then storm forwards against the enemy to our flank and kill them in heavy hand-to-hand combat. Although the enemy’s attack had not been successful, it had brought our advance to a complete stop. We dig in where we are and secure the area.