The Soviets were also feeling the strain of battle by this time. Their third line of defence was holding up - but only just. Zhukov had committed all his local reserves. A final decision was now made to send in the strategic reserve. The three tanks corps of the Fifth Guards Tank Army received orders to move westwards to engage the Waffen-SS, and stop them taking a town called Prokhorovka. It would be three days before they were in a position to strike. In the meantime, the troops at the front would have to hold on.

XXXXIV Panzer Corps

Manstein also realized that the battle was approaching a critical point, and he had prepared orders for XXXXIV Panzer Corps, with the Wiking Division in the lead, to start moving towards Belgorod, ready to exploit any breakthrough by Hausser's spearheads. Reports from the northern shoulder of the Kursk salient were not encouraging. The German offensive was stalled, and Soviet troops were even starting to drive forward.

Amid heavy summer rain showers, II SS Panzer Corps moved forward again in a coordinated attack to crack open the final line of Russian resistance. The Totenkopf Division was now fully deployed to the left of the Leibstandarte, and it was launched forward to seize a bridgehead across the Psel. The Theodor Eicke Panzergrenadier Regiment led the attack, which was preceded by heavy artillery fire. Assault guns provided close support as the panzergrenadiers stormed the heavily defended villages along the Psel. The Soviet XXXIII Rifle Corps held out for the morning, trading artillery and mortar fire with the Germans, as well as launching a number of counterattacks. Totenkopf commanders led their men forward again in the afternoon, and two bridgeheads were established. It took several hours before bridging equipment could be brought up to allow armour to cross the swollen Psel, to press home the advance. Heavy rain delayed the work, which meant the bridge would not be ready to carry tanks for another day.

More artillery was brought forward to soften up the Russians to allow the Totenkopf to expand its bridgeheads. Stukas joined the assault during the afternoon, and by early evening a third breach had been made in the Soviet defence line. At nightfall three Waffen-SS panzergrenadier battalions were over the Psel, and they held off repeated counterattacks as darkness approached.

Heavy Leibstandarte casualties

On the main road to Prokhorovka, the Leibstandarte's 2nd Panzergrenadier Regiment, reinforced with Tigers, assault guns and Marders, prepared for a dawn attack. Panzers, reconnaissance troops and infantry in armoured halftracks stood ready to exploit the breach. All the division's artillery regiment, backed by rocket launchers and Stukas, pounded the Soviet defence lines on a wooded hill. A battle raged on the slopes and in the woods between Waffen-SS panzergrenadiers and Soviet infantrymen. Soviet artillery joined in the battle, directed from the hills along the northern bank of the Psel. The accurate shell fire brought the Leibstandarte's casualties to more than 200 for the day. Dug-in T-34s had to be destroyed individually by the Tigers, to allow the hill to be taken by the late afternoon. More than 50 Soviet tanks were knocked out and 23 assault guns destroyed. By the time darkness returned to the battlefield, there was still no breakthrough and the panzer kampfgruppe had still to be deployed.

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