As the Totenkopf advance gathered pace, its small panzer kampfgruppe stalked the shattered remnants of the Soviet tank brigades through sunflower fields. The Russians usually fled before the rampaging panzers. During the afternoon, a group of 30 T-34s tried to take on the panzers head-on. In a brief engagement the German Tigers and Panzer IVs formed a firing line, while the Totenkopf's Panzer IIIs manoeuvred against the enemy's vulnerable flanks. The Soviets didn't realize the danger they were in and charged straight into the killing zone. None of the T-34s escaped the battle.

SS panzer victory

Over the next two days the Totenkopf and Das Reich Divisions completed the encirclement of the 52nd and 90th Rifle Divisions, along with the remnants of V Guards Tank Corps. Some 4500 corpses, along with the remains of 21 T-34s and scores of artillery pieces and trucks, were found in the "pocket" as it was being combed for survivors by the Waffen-SS.

Now the Waffen-SS divisions were ordered to turn north to chase away the remnants of the First Tank Army's shattered brigades. Both the Totenkopf and Das Reich Divisions used their last remaining Tigers to spearhead the drive. Wiking Division's panzergrenadiers could not hold off the strong Russian infantry attacks, so Das Reich had to send a panzergrenadier kampfgruppe to close a 1.6km (1-mile) breach in its sister division's front.

On 20 August, the Totenkopf's panzer kampfgruppe forced a crossing of the river line and then turned westwards to start rolling up the Russian defences blocking the advance of the rest of III Panzer Corps. Now the Totenkopf Division moved north to link up with the army's Grossdeutschland Panzergrenadier Division that was pushing west. This move trapped two Soviet rifle divisions and a tank corps in a mini pocket. Most of the trapped Soviet tanks were eventually destroyed, but almost all the infantry were able to escape into the forests.

In the swirling tank battles west of Kharkov, two Soviet tank armies had been all but destroyed, losing a combined total of more than 800 tanks in a two-week period. Soviet infantry divisions between Belgorod and Kharkov could now put only 4000 men into the frontline. III Panzer Corps' counterstroke had succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of its commanders.

Kharkov in danger

With its attack to the west of Kharkov thwarted, the Soviet High Command now decided to switch the main effort of its offensive to the city itself. The Seventh Guards and Fifty-Seventh Armies were launched forward with support from the First Tank and Fifth Guards Tank Armies. They boasted a combined armoured force of more than 500 tanks, and had soon pushed the five weak infantry divisions of the German XI Corps back into a narrow horseshoe-shaped defensive line around the outskirts of the city. To protect the vulnerable flanks of the city, every available 88mm flak gun and assault gun was deployed to hold off the Soviet assault.

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