The Fifth Guards Tank Army is unleashed

With the First Tank Army taking heavy losses, the Soviet High Command ordered Marshal Pavel Rotmistrov's Fifth Guards Tank Army to swing in behind it and then take over the advance. XVIII and XXIX Tanks Corps took the lead on 12 August and pushed southwards, just as III Panzer Corps launched itself forward into what was left of the First Tank Army.

Army Tiger tanks from the 503rd Heavy Tank Battalion joined the Theodor Eicke Regiment to slice into the flank of the First Tank Army, destroying scores of T-34s and forcing the 112th Tank Brigade to retreat northwards. Totenkopf panzers continued to clear out a group of VI Tank Corps troops cut off farther south, and also destroyed a relief column. The Theodor Eicke Regiment's westward advance was now reinforced by the Totenkopf assault gun battalion, which knocked out 25 Soviet tanks that tried to press home a counterattack.

Das Reich and Wiking lend a hand

This advance was joined by the Das Reich Division, which was now attacking in a southwesterly direction. Its 22 panzers and 23 assault guns led a kampfgruppe formed around the Der Führer Panzergrenadier Regiment, which smashed into the lead tank brigade of the Fifth Guards Tank Army moving south to help its beleaguered comrades. The Germans claimed the destruction of 70 Russian tanks and the death of the corps commander in the turret of his burning T-34. Many of these tanks belonged to XVIII Tank Corps, which had joined the battle late in the afternoon.

The Wiking Division also advanced during the day against a prepared Soviet defence line held by infantry units of the Soviet XXIX Tank Corps. SS Panzer Regiment 5 led the attack, but its 24 Panzer IIIs and 17 Panzer IVs could not punch through the strong Soviet anti-tank defence network.

During the early hours of 13 August, the Russians again pressed forward regardless of losses. The fresh V Guards Tank Corps and 6th Motorized Brigade were used to batter their way past the Totenkopf's reconnaissance battalion, and then push even farther south. III Panzer Corps' attack was now gathering momentum, though, as the Totenkopf and Das Reich Divisions pushed from east to west, with the aim of cutting off the Russian spearheads.

Tank graveyard

With Tiger tanks and assault guns in the lead, the Waffen-SS assault columns sliced through the shell-shocked elements of the First Tank Army that barred their way. Scores of T-34s were knocked out to bring the combined "kill" total for the two Waffen-SS divisions in a 48-hour period to 200 tanks. Wiking's panzergrenadiers also advanced, pushing back a Soviet infantry division guarding the western approach to the town.

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