Tank Warfare on the Eastern Front 1943-1945: Red Steamroller

…With all our power we sped toward the Pakfront… I ran over a Pak. Under our wheels and treads the metal crunched. We halted behind the enemy gun and raked every movement with the turret [coaxial] machine gun… I saw three T-34s moving to our left. ‘Turret! 11:00 o’clock, range 400 meters, Panzergranate 39, tank!’ the gunner calls out. ‘Ready! Fire!’ The shell hit the first T-34 under the turret. The turret hatch flew open but no one jumped out as white smoke rolled out of the hatch. The next round was loaded and ready. The second T-34 literally exploded into pieces. The next shell hit and penetrated the motor of the third T-34. It also caught fire and a black column of smoke rose high into the air.¹⁴⁹

In the south, the XXIV Panzerkorps achieved a major breakthrough and advanced toward the Mius. By evening, the Soviet defence crumbled and the remaining units began retreating across the Mius. On 2 August, Hollidt’s forces advanced to the river and crushed the last resistance in the bridgehead. Tolbukhin’s forces had suffered a major defeat, leaving behind 17,895 prisoners, but the remnants of 2 GMC and 4 GMC escaped across the river. Although a tactical success, the Mius River fighting was extremely costly for the Germans. Overall, AOK 6 suffered 21,369 casualties in the 17-day battle. Hausser’s II.SS-Panzerkorps was virtually burnt-out: Totenkopf suffered 1,458 casualties in its four-day attack and was reduced to just 23 operational tanks, while Das Reich suffered nearly 1,000 casualties and was left with 22 tanks.¹⁵⁰ While many damaged tanks would be repaired in time, losses in Panzergrenadiers and pioniers were particularly crippling and not easy to replace. The 3. and 23.Panzer-Divisionen were also reduced to a very depleted condition and 16.Panzergrenadier-Division was wrecked (3,957 casualties between 17–31 July) by the Battle for the Mius Bridgehead. Tolbukhin’s short-lived Mius bridgehead succeeded in causing von Manstein to disperse his armour after Zitadelle and then crippling his strongest formation, II.SS-Panzerkorps.

Operation Rumyantsev , 3–23 August 1943

After the failure of Zitadelle, von Manstein believed that the Soviets would eventually mount a major offensive to retake Kharkov, as this had consistently been an objective for them. Once Hoth’s and Kempf’s forces withdrew to their original start lines, this possibility became increasingly likely. However, von Manstein also believed that it would take Vatutin’s Voronezh Front at least a month or more to recover its strength after the Battle of Kursk. In particular, he over-estimated the amount of damage that Vatutin’s two tank armies had suffered and he underestimated the ability of Soviet field workshops to repair damaged tanks. In fact, it took Vatutin just two weeks to refit his armies and prepare his own offensive, which the Stavka had designated Operation Rumyantsev.[35]