A Waffen-SS defeat

By the middle of the day, the Soviet defence was holding firm and the battlefield was being obscured by the smoke from dozens of burning German tanks. A rare Stuka dive-bomber attack in the early afternoon allowed the Totenkopf Regiment's combat engineers to clear two lanes through the minefield. Some of the few remaining panzers were brought up to support the panzergrenadier attack. The Russians now staged a counterattack with half a dozen T-34s, but it was quickly beaten back by the panzers. By the time it started to get dark, the Totenkopf Division had made no serious impression on the main Soviet defence line. Its panzer regiment had lost almost all of its tanks, although many would be repaired over the coming days, and just under 500 men had been either killed or wounded. The division's panzergrenadier companies were devastated, some losing more than 60 combat soldiers out of an original strength of 90 men.

Das Reich is repulsed

The Das Reich Division's attack on Stepanovka was equally unsuccessful. It had two kampfgruppen available for action, because most of the Der Führer Panzergrenadier Regiment was stuck on muddy roads far to the north. The Deutschland Panzergrenadier Regiment was to storm into Stepanovka, backed by the division's assault gun battalion. Panzer Regiment 2, the reconnaissance battalion and the armoured personnel carrier battalion of the Der Führer Regiment would make a sweep to the south of the village, to take the key hill that dominated the whole region.

Preceded by a snap artillery barrage from Das Reich's self-propelled artillery battery, the Deutschland Regiment successfully charged into the town, but then its problems began. The Soviets had fortified every building and the Waffen-SS men soon found themselves fighting for their lives. Mines, booby traps and snipers were waiting for them in large numbers. The attackers barely managed to push into the town deeper than a few streets. Das Reich's panzer kampfgruppe fared slightly better than the Totenkopf's tanks, though. In spite of losing 25 tanks in minefields, it was able to capture two hill-top strongpoints before its attack got bogged down.

Slaughter at Stepanovka

German casualties in Stepanovka were mounting at an alarming rate, with many companies now commanded by junior lieutenants or senior noncommissioned officers due to losses among senior officers. Not even the deployment of the reconnaissance battalion's 20mm flak guns in the direct fire role was able to dislodge the Soviet defenders from their bunkers and tunnels.

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