Das Reich's panzer regiment and assault gun battalion were posted to the northwest sector of the city to guard the suspected approach route of the Fifth Guards Tank Army through a series of ripe corn and sunflower fields. Heavy air raids by Stuka dive-bombers, and minefields, broke up the tank formations of the Fifth Guards Tank Army's assault on 18 August. Marshal Pavel Rotmistrov called off his attacks, and was forced to reorganize his plan for the next day.

A failed Red Army assault

As dawn broke, small groups of Soviet tanks started to use ravines and stream beds to move through the cornfields to attack the German frontline. Waiting for them were the dug-in 88mm flak guns, along with 71 Panthers, 25 assault guns, 32 Panzer IVs and Tigers of the Das Reich Division. Wave after wave of T-34s tried to charge out of the cornfields to try to cross the few hundred metres to close with the main German defence line. During the course of the day the Germans claimed 184 T-34s destroyed by their guns.

Undeterred by these losses, Rotmistrov drove his men and tanks forward again on 19 August. This time they tried to push down the railway line into the north of Kharkov. The result was the same, with the Panthers and 88mm flak guns destroying scores of tanks at a range of 2000m (6561ft). Few of the Soviet tank crews even got within range to return fire before their T-34s were turned into raging infernos. On this day the Germans claimed 154 Russian tanks destroyed.

Night attack

During the following day, the Red armour laid low and prepared for another attack. Once darkness fell, hundreds of Russian tanks surged forward through the cornfields. The panzer gunners could only see their targets in the light of muzzle flashes from other tanks or anti-tank guns. Soon they were among the German tanks, and the two armoured forces started firing at each other at point-blank range. After dawn the German line was secure, with 80 more Russian tanks burning in front of Das Reich's position. XI Corps, however, had to order tank and infantry sweeps to clear pockets of Soviet troops that had infiltrated its lines. Flamethrower teams and 88mm guns were used to hunt down the dozen or so Soviet tanks that were still loose behind German lines south of Kharkov

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