SS REICH Div (mot) surrounded & almost wiped out attacking PRYLUKY 16/17.9.1941 - Part 25

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Episode 183

Der 17. September

Nach schweren nächtlichen Dorfgefechten erreichen wir am Morgen die Höhenzüge vor der Stadt.

After heavy night fighting in outlying villages, in the morning we reach the high ground situated in front of the city. After the enemy unsuccessfully tries to halt our advance with blocking artillery fire and well camouflaged direct tank fire our attack begins at 04.30. Advancing quickly we comb through the suburbs of the city however reaching a multitude of sunflower fields we are forced to fight meter by meter forwards. The seriously obstructed view limits our ability to use heavy weaponry which means that the majority of the fighting is left to our companies of foot-soldiers. The Russian try to mount a counter attack on our left flank however I’m able to focus the fire of our mortar teams accurately which forces the enemy to break formation and run headlong into a devastating hail from our machine guns which brings them to a halt.

During the hours long battle, civilians begin to creep out of the rubble and craters that they’ve been hiding in and come to us looking for protection. Since the Russians manage to blow the bridge and to accurately bring in artillery fire to the crossing area, for the time being we are forced to take cover at the river’s embankment and in the rubble of some destroyed houses. In an open area at a fork in the road in front of the bridge I organize my men in an abandoned Soviet defensive position. At just this moment the 6th Company that had been sent forward to reinforce out position is ordered back because of an approaching Russian column to our rear containing approximately 200 vehicles and a row of tanks. It seems that they too were hoping to cross the river and enter the city. Later on we’d learn that this was in fact the command and supply elements of BudjennyBudjenny that were trying to escape the advancing thrusts to our right of the SS-Regiment Deutschland to the protection of the city. This sudden chain of events left us completely cut off. With a tremendous firefight raging just behind us we had absolutely no idea what was going on. It turns out that the Russians were just as confused and broke of their attack which almost certainly would have lead to our complete annihilation. With the resupply of ammunition and the hope of reinforcement out of the question, we had to make do with what we had on hand. Hours passed in this completely vulnerable situation.

Stunde um Stunde verrint in dieser stockdunklen Nacht…Hour by hour passed in this pitch black night. It’s critical that we keep the men awake which is made all the more difficult after days of exertion and little sleep that we’ve gone through. And our ever creeping hunger makes the situation worse. The continual harassing fire of Soviet mortars helps to keep our nerves on edge. A few hours into the night I suddenly remember that we’d received a ration of 200 cigarettes and crawling from fox hole to fox hole I divided them up evenly. Unsure when our predicament might be resolved I tell the soldiers to save one of the cigarettes for the morning which they were then to show me. In this moment these 2 or 3 cigarettes that we each now had were more precious that the best Wienerschnitzel.

In the early hours of the following morning, our connection to Battalion is once again established. We were finally resupplied with rations and munitions. SS Sergeant Weiner, the first to arrive, has even brought us food that he’s managed to warm up in canisters over a fire in a house.

Reinforcements from the 6th Company were supposedly on their way. It seems that the Russians had not been able to fully destroy the bridge. Only the central pillar had been knocked out with 2 parts of the bridge lying in the water. It takes us about 20 minutes to scamper across under enemy artillery fire and we manage to bring even our heavy equipment and munitions. Only one of the men is lightly wounded during the process. It’s now that we learn of the heavy fighting that had gone on behind us the night before. The entire Russian column including 200 vehicles and 30 guns had been wiped out. The road is filled with this destroyed equipment and the carcases of 300 dead horses and 2000 fallen Russian soldiers; 30 of these being women. The entire Soviet command apparatus and documents had fallen into our hands.

At this moment two lone Soviet tanks try to force us back towards the bridge but we quickly set our heavy weaponry on them and blow the first to pieces. The second immediately turns and makes a hasty retreat.