Where the Iron Crosses Grow

Choltitz’s IR 16 was not stopped by the fire from the top of the Stellenberg for very long, and by 0700hrs part of the hill was secured by III./IR 16. Some naval infantrymen from the 5th Company held out for a while on top of the hill, but organized resistance was broken. Later, a few survivors from the Stellenberg managed to evade to the south and reach Soviet lines. While Choltitz continued to advance west across the top of the escarpment toward the Bunkerberg, to help IR 65, two battalions of IR 47 boldly pushed toward Potapov’s second line of defense at the Eisenbahnburg. III./IR 16 soon encountered dense minefields that stopped them cold, but Major Alvermann’s I./IR 47 found a gap in the Soviet defenses and managed to reach the Eisenbahnburg by 0755hrs. Alvermann’s advance was assisted by at least a platoon of StuG IIIs that had crossed the Kamyschly Ravine and made it up the western escarpment and through the minefields – an amazing achievement in less than four hours. Potapov’s mortar battalion was located in this area, plus two reserve rifle companies, but they were apparently stunned by the sudden appearance of German infantry and assault guns at the second line of resistance, and Alvermann’s battalion succeeded in capturing the Eisenbahnburg after just 20 minutes of fighting. In the process, the 9th Battery of Smelkov’s 134th Howitzer Regiment was overrun, along with an observation post with several staff officers.³⁷ Although only a 2-mile advance, Alvermann had cleaved Potapov’s 79th NIB in two.³⁸

After four hours of non-stop attacking, the 22. Infanterie-Division’s regiments paused to regroup before tackling the Ölberg and the Bunkerberg, which controlled both sides of the railroad cut. Haccius’s IR 65 was still tangled up in reducing the 514th Rifle Regiment strongpoint at the Tomato Factory, while IR 437 from the 132. Infanterie-Division conducted a supporting attack against the adjacent Soviet positions in the town of Bel’bek. When the German advance paused, Potapov launched a local counterattack against I./IR 47 on the Eisenbahnburg with two companies of his second battalion, but failed to recover any lost ground.³⁹ At 1200hrs, II./IR 65 and two battalions from Choltitz’s IR 16 conducted a probing attack against the Bunkerberg, which consisted of three bunkers surrounded by a large minefield. Initially, the German infantry had difficulty breaching the minefields, and enemy sniper fire made movement difficult. Nevertheless, IR 16 secured the Bunkerberg by 1330hrs.⁴⁰

In the early afternoon, the Soviet artillery and VVS-ChF began to intervene in the battle. Pairs of Il-2 Sturmoviks from the 18th Ground Attack Aviation Regiment began low-level strafing runs against German troops south of the Bel’bek River. Around 1315hrs, two Il-2s tried to strafe IR 47’s positions at the Eisenbahnburg, but Oberfeldwebel Herbert Kaiser of 8./JG 77 pounced on them and shot both down. However, another pair of Il-2s found one of the 28cm “Schwere Bruno” railroad guns of the Eisenbahn-Artillerie-Batterie 688 and scored a direct bomb-hit on its ammunition wagon; the explosion of 22 rounds of 28cm ammunition damaged the rail gun and caused casualties among the crew.⁴¹ Soviet artillery was also becoming increasingly effective as forward observers came back on line and directed effective fire missions into the Kamyschly Ravine, which hindered German supply columns trying to push ammunition across to their assault battalions. Aleksandr’s Coastal Battery No. 30 managed to fire several 30.5mm rounds during the day, but Major von Collenberg’s two Karl mortars kept lobbing 60cm rounds at the two turrets throughout the afternoon.