Steel Storm - Waffen-SS Panzer Battles on the Eastern Front 1943-1945

•

Waffen-55 Panzer Battles on the Eastern Front 1943-1945 Tifil Ripley

~ DTpublishing

1V UICompany

This edition first published in 2000 by MBI Publishing Company, 729 Prospect Avenue, PO Box 1, Osceola, WI 54020-0001 USA

© 2000 Brown Partworks Limited All rights reserved. With the exception of quoting brief passages for the purpose of review no part of this publication may be reproduced without prior written permission from the Publisher. The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. All recommendations are made without any guarantee on the part of the author or publisher, who also disclaim any liability incurred in connection with the use of this data or specified details. We recognize that some words, model names and designations, for example, mentioned herein are the property of the trademark holder. We use them for identification purposes only. This is not an official publication. MBI Publishing Company books are also available at discounts in bulk quantity for industrial or sales-promotional use. For details write to Special Sales .Manager at Motorbooks International Wholesalers & Distributors, 729 Prospect Avenue, PO Box 1, Osceola, WI 54020-0001 USA. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available. ISBN 0-7603-0937-X Printed in Hong Kong For Brown Partworks Limited 8 Chapel Place Rivington Street London EC2A3DQ

Editor: Peter Darman Picture research: Antony Shaw Design: Brown Partworks Maps: Mark Walker Production: Matt Weyland

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

7

Key to maps

8

Map list

9

Introduction:

Hitler's Guard

10

Chapter 1:

Winter Tempest

18

Chapter 2:

Wallen-55 - Panzer Elite

28

Chapter 3:

Kharkov

48

Chapter 4:

Kursk

76

Chapter 5:

Death Ride of the Totenkopf

112

Chapter 6:

The Fuhrer's Fire Brigade

126

Chapter 7:

Death on the Dnieper

140

Chapter 8:

Kessel Battles

152

Chapter 9:

Holding the Line

166

Chapter 10:

Spring Awakening

176

Chapter 11:

The Bitter End

194

Appendices Waffen-SS ranks

200

Waffen-SS divisional insignia

201

Armoured fighting vehicle and artillery capabilities

202

I SS Panzer Corps' order of battle

206

Army Group South average tank strength February 1943 208 Soviet order of battle in the Ukraine, February 1943

209

II SS Panzer Corps' order of battle, July 1943

210

Soviet forces at Prokhorovka, 12 July 1943

211

German Sixth Army order of battle, July 1943

212

Soviet order of battle, Mius Front, July 1943

213

German forces in the Kharkov sector, August 1943

214

Soviet order of battle west of Kharkov, August 1943

215

German XXXXIV Panzer Corps' order of battle, November 1943

216

German orders of battle, Cherkassy Pocket, February 1944

217

Hohenstaufen and Frundsberg Divisions orders of battle

218

I SS Panzer Corps LSSAH and Hitlerjugend orders of battle

219

Bibliography

220

md~

ll1

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book is dedicated to the heroes of the Red Army's XVIII and XXIX Tank Corps, who first engaged II SS Panzer Corps at Prokhorovka in the titanic tank battle on 12 July 1943. For the next two years, brave Soviet tank crews of these two fine units would be in the vanguard of driving Hitler's WaffenSS panzer elite back into the heart of the Third Reich, so freeing Europe of Nazi tyranny for good. The author would like to thank the following people for their help during the researching and writing of this study. Neil Tweedie of The Daily Telegraph, for his unique insights into Nazi mentality; the Imperial War Museum records staff in London for their help with research into German World War II documents; the British Army Staff College, Camberley, for allowing me access to rare German World War II records in their possession; Stewart Frazer for proof-reading my text; Pete Darman, of Brown Partworks, for at last giving me the opportunity to fulfil my long-held ambition to write about the Eastern Front; and finally, Mr McAlpine, my history teacher, for beginning my interest in World War II history.

Key to maps Military units - types infantry armoured motorized infantry/ panzergrenadier

Military units - size

Military movements .......

Soviet attack

~

Soviet retreat

I I I

.......

German attack

~

German retreat

I I I

xxxxx

D

army group/front

General military symbols

xxxx

D

Soviet frontline army

xxx

D

Soviet defensive line corps

xx

D

Soviet pocket or position division

III

D

German frontline regiment German defensive line

Military unit colours

D

•

o

German pocket or position

Soviet

Geographical symbols Germany Road

River •

Urban area

U

Urban area

Country boundary

List of maps Eastern Europe and the western Soviet Union

15

The German summer offensive of 1942

20

The offensive of the Soviet Don, Stalingrad and Southwest Fronts, November 1942

24

Strategic situation in the Kharkov area, January 1943

52

Situation east and south of Kharkov, 10-13 February 1943

54

Soviet advances to the north and south of Kharkov, 15 -February 1943

59

Soviet and German attacks south of Kharkov. Position on 24 February 1943

64

Offensive operations of the Grossdeutschland Division, I SS Panzer Corps and XXXXVIII Panzer Corps against Kharkov, 7-10 March 1943

72

Soviet defensive belts in the Kursk salient, July 1943

87

Waffen-SS and German Army assaults south of Kursk, 4-7 July 1943

95

II SS Panzer Corps approaches Prokhorovka, 9-11 July 1943

102

Prokhorovka on 12 July 1943 - the high watermark of Operation Citadel

108

Eliminating the River Mius bridgehead, July 1943

119

The Soviet offensive in_ the Kharkov sector, early August 1943

129

Situation in the Belgorod and Kharkov sectors, 11-12 August 1943

135

Situation in the Kharkov area, 23 August 1943

137

Leibstandarte operations near Radomyschl, November 1943

146

The recapture of Radomyschl, 26 November to 23 December 1943

150

The Totenkopf Division stabilizes the front near Kirovograd, 10-16 January 1944

155

The breakout from the Cherkassy Pocket through the Lyssinka bridgehead, 11-20 February 1944

158

German units in the Kamenets Podolsk Pocket, March 1944-

162

Operation Bagration, June 1944

169-

IV SS Panzer Corps' attempt to relieve Budapest, January-February 1945

180

Soviet offensives in Hungary,

Czechosl~vakia

and Austria, March-April 1945 192

INTRODUCTION:

HITLER'S GUARD The ethos of the Waffen-SS and the war on the Eastern Front. he Eastern Front was the decisive theatre of operations during World War II. The pivotal point came in mid-1943, when the Red Army and Nazi Germany massed the largest tank forces in the history of modern warfare for a titanic clash of armour. At the Battle of Kursk in July 1943, millions of troops and thousands of tanks clashed in an epic engagement. The Red Army's ~efences held and Adolf Hitler's panzer armies were stopped in their tracks. Over the next 21 months, having gained the strategic initiative, the mighty Red Army surged forward into the heart of the Fuhrer's Thousand Year Reich. Standing in the way of the Russians was an increasingly beleaguered and battle-weary Wehrmacht, its divisions understrength and its reserves largely spent. When crises threatened, Hitler turned to the elite panzer divisions of the Waffen-SS. Time and again they were thrown into desperate holding actions and counterattacks to plug gaps in Germany's Eastern Front. As a result, they soon became known as the Fuhrer's "Fire Brigade". As the war progressed, these actions became more forlorn until even the die-hard Waffen-SS commanders could see that their cause was lost. This book tells the story of the actions of the Waffen-SS Leibstandarte, Das Reich, Totenkopf, Wiking, Hitlerjugend, Hohenstaufen and Frundsberg Divisions on the Eastern Front between 1943

T

• Left: Two young crew members of a Hummel self-propelled howitzer belonging to the 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen. The average age of the division, including officers, was 18.

• Right: Two officers who had a major influence on the development of the Leibstandarte Division: 55Oberstgruppenflihrer und Panzer Generaloberst der Waffen-SS Josef "Sepp" Dietrich (left) and SS-Brigadeflihrer Fritz Witt.

and 1945. These include their dramatic successes during the German counteroffensive after the surrender at Stalingrad, along with the preparations for the Kursk Offensive. The key role in Operation Citadel, the codename of the German attack, of the Waffen-SS panzers is explained using newly available original sources which throw fresh light on the course of the battle. During the eight months after the failure at Kursk, the Waffen-SS panzers were deployed again and again to try to prevent Field Marshal Erich von Manstein's Army Group South from being overwhelmed by thousands of Soviet tanks. In battle after battle, the Waffen-SS destroyed hundreds of

T-34s, only to encounter scores of new Red Army tank brigades on the winter battlefields of the Ukraine. While the bulk of the Waffen-SS panzer force was pulled back from the East to counter the D-Day landings in France in June 1944, the Totenkopf and Wiking Divisions remained behind to help defend Poland during the summer and autumn of 1944. After the failed Ardennes Offensive, Hitler ordered the Waffen-SS panzers to mass in Hungary during January 1945 in a bid to break the Soviet siege of Budapest. The subsequent offensive was the death ride of the Waffen-SS panzers, and within a few weeks the morale of the once proud elite

INTRODUCTION armoured force was broken for good. Shattered, they headed west to escape Soviet vengeance. In their brief existence, the Waffen-SS panzer divisions established for themselves a reputation as some of the most formidable formations in the history of armoured warfare. While some historians have tried to att'ribute their battlefield success to their abundant supplies of the best tanks and other material, this is a simplistic analysis. The Waffen-SS panzer divisions may have been new to armoured warfare in early 1943, but their men learnt fast and were soon able to execute many complicated and difficult battlefield manoeuvres. The key to their success was undoubtedly their unique esprit de corps, which enabled them to absorb thousands of casualties and still keep on fighting in the face of overwhelming odds. Time after time, Waffen-SS divisions were rebuilt after suffering sometimes in the region of 75 percent casualty

rates. This amazing feat was due to a number of factors. Principally, it was down to the dynamic leadership of a cadre of junior and senior commanders. Key Waffen-SS company, battalion and regimental commanders were all in their late twenties or early thirties. These men were almost all fanatical prewar Nazi Party members who believed in the racial superiority of the German "master race", and many were proteges of Hitler himself or other senior Nazi leaders. Waffen-SS officers were a breed apart. They were charismatic and vigorous, generating loyalty and unwavering obedience from subordinates. At the same time, they made a point of not displaying fear or nerves in public. Most had been wounded several times in battle, but they managed to generate an aura of indestructibility. No matter how many tight scrapes they got into, these men still made their troops feel that no harm would come to them as long as they stuck close and did not waver. In Nazi

• Below: Superb shot of a Leibstandarte Division Tiger I on the Eastern Front in 1944. It is covered in zimmerit antimagnetic paste to stop antitank charges being placed on the hull.

• Left: Infantry and panzer officers of the Wiking Division on the Eastern Front in 1944. The division, which contained a substantial number of Scandinavian and West European volunteers, maintained a consistently high combat record under commanders such as Felix Steiner, Herbert Gille and JohannesRudolf Muhlenkamp.

Germany, being an officer in the Waffen-55 1943 they were battle hardened from earlier campaigns in the West and Russia. Key combrought with it immense power and privileges. Even junior Waffen-55 officers held the manders moved up the ladder of promotion between the various divisions, and so got to power of life and death over the civilian popknow each other well. Although this meant ulations of occupied countries, and they were not afraid to use that power if the occasion rivalry, it also resulted in senior commanders knowing their subordinates' strengths or merited. The mere sight of an 55 uniform was foibles before units enough to turn even the most defiant entered battle. This Junior Waffen-SS officers Russian civilian into meant that, in the held the power of life and heat of battle, a cowed slave. Away death over the populations Waffen-55 panzer from the frontline, units could be quickWaffen-55 officers of occupied countries and soldiers lived the ly combined or placed under the high life. Their command of different divisions with the Fuhrer may have been a tee-total vegetarian, but his elite troops knew how to live life to the minimum of disruption or confusion. The ability to regroup at short notice on a battlefull. Nazi propaganda broadcasts, newsreels and magazines turned Waffen-55 officers into field to meet a new threat, or begin a new offensive, was often a decisive factor in bringcelebrities, which further fuelled their egos. ing victory. Thus by the summer of 1943, the The result was a heady mix of super confiWaffen-55 panzer divisions had grown into dence, verging on arrogance. well-oiled professional fighting machines. The Waffen-55 panzer leaders learned The elite Waffen-55 divisions soon their trade during the Blitzkrieg years of vicproved themselves to be skilled practitioners tories in 1939-41, so that by the spring of

o

GULF OF FINAND

200

1-1----~--__.fl

O~I

BALTIC SEA

-'-'--"

/'-

3--i~0

Miles Km

eOemyansk \..

-

--.. ".

)

'-

>~ LITHUANIA

/

%