It was now the turn of the Totenkopf Division to enter the battle, and try to close down the Soviet breakthrough. During the night of 8/9 August the division deployed across VI Tank Corps' axis of advance, ready to stop it in its tracks. The Totenkopf Panzergrenadier Regiment was to form the centre of the defence, with the reconnaissance battalion screening its left flank and the Theodor Eicke Panzergrenadier Regiment digging in on the right. In reserve was a company from SS Panzer Regiment 3 with 12 tanks. The remainder of the regiment's 14 Panzer IIIs and 27 Panzer IVs were still en route.

The Soviet 112th Tank Brigade charged at the front of a German-held village during the afternoon, with hundreds of "tommy gun"-armed infantry riding on the hulls of dozens of T-34 tanks. A furious battle raged in the streets of the village, at the centre of the Totenkopf Regiment's position, as small groups of Waffen-SS men destroyed the Soviet tanks with hollow-charge mines and machine-gun teams dealt with the tank-riding infantry. As this battle raged, two more Soviet tank brigades pushed west of the village, forcing back the Totenkopf's reconnaissance battalion.

More German forces were arriving all the time, with the Wiking Division turning up to bolster the 3rd Panzer Division's front on the right flank of III Panzer Corps. It arrived just in time to meet an all-out offensive along the whole of the corps' front on 10 August. In furious fighting, the 3rd Panzer and Das Reich Divisions held their lines, claiming 46 and 66 Soviet tanks destroyed respectively.

A desperate struggle

Although the Totenkopf held its front, three Soviet tank brigades swept past its left flank, pushing 16km (10 miles) forward. SS Panzer Regiment 3 now intervened in the battle to cut off the Soviet spearhead. In a desperate battle in vast cornfields, the Waffen-SS tanks sliced into the flank of the Soviet 1st Tank Brigade. Two panzer kampfgruppen fought throughout the day, knocking out scores of tanks and machine-gunning hundreds of Soviet troops. These interventions brought the Russian drive south to a halt - just. More disjointed and desperate fighting continued during 11 August, as the small Totenkopf units tried to establish a continuous front.

The Wiking and Das Reich Divisions remained on the defensive, dealing with direct enemy frontal attacks across open cornfields by groups of 25-30 tanks and hundreds of infantry. Their panzers broke these attacks up with long-range fire. The Totenkopf Panzer Regiment and combat engineers continued their desperate counterattack, accounting for 134 tanks of the 268 with which the First Tank Army had started the day.

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