Farther to the east, the Leibstandarte's panzers were now attacked from two directions by more than 70 tanks of XVIII Tank Corps. An advance guard of seven panzers was overrun in the charge, losing four tanks to point-blank fire as the T-34s surged past. The remaining three panzers were ignored by the Russian tanks, which were now heading directly for the main panzer kampfgruppe. The "lost" panzers turned to follow the T-34s, picking off 20 of them before the main panzer line opened fire with a mass volley. Stunned by the sudden burst of fire, the Russians halted to trade fire with the Germans. The 33 tanks of the panzer kampfgruppe now counterattacked, moving into flanking positions and raking the mass of confused Russian tanks with gunfire. After three hours of swirling action, the Germans claimed to have knocked out 62 T-70s and T-34s.

Climax at Prokhorovka

The Totenkopf Division continued to be pressed by XVIII Tank Corps, which committed its 32nd Motorized Infantry Brigade at 10:00 hours to another battle in the Psel valley. Some 50 tanks, including T-34s, T-70s and Churchills, were again driven off by the Totenkopf, which claimed 20 kills. At almost hourly intervals, Soviet infantry attacks were launched against all sides of the Totenkopf's bridgehead to keep the pressure on the German left flank. Harassing artillery fire was also regularly directed at the two tank bridges to try to prevent reinforcements moving into the bridgehead.

The Leibstandarte's commander, Theodor Wisch, was forward monitoring the battle from a hill just behind the panzer kampfgruppe. He watched as a group of T-34s managed to break free from the battle with the Totenkopf and swing right into the Leibstandarte's flank held by its reconnaissance unit. A handful of Russian tanks managed to get past the reconnaissance battalion's anti-tank guns, and charged forward into the division's rear area, shooting up trucks and small groups of Waffen-SS men until they were put out of action by the Leibstandarte's artillery regiment firing its guns in the anti-tank mode.

By early afternoon the battle in front of Prokhorovka reached its climax, first with Russian infantry supported by tanks advancing directly out of the town towards the Leibstandarte's panzergrenadiers. A panzer counterattack broke up the infantry formation, and 40 tanks were claimed destroyed at long range. An hour later, the panzer kampfgruppe was moved northeastwards to clear out the 100 or so Soviet tanks believed to be hiding in the Psel valley. The Leibstandarte's three remaining Tigers were then placed at the front of the panzerkeil. The force had only moved a few hundred metres when directly ahead more than 100 T-34s could be seen charging towards the German formation. This was the last hurrah of Rotmistrov's XVIII Tank Corps, and would see the destruction of the whole of the 181st Tank Brigade.

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