On the morning of 7 February the quartermaster at the staff of 8th Army studied the supply situation for Gruppe Stemmermann carefully. He concluded that, at the most, the two corps’ supplies would last until 9 February, but no longer. The critical factor was ammunition; the situation was better with food. General Lieb visited his old unit, the Korpsgruppe B, on 7 February to see how the soldiers fared. Afterward he noted in his diary that there was plenty of sausages, bread, sugar, and cigarettes, at least sufficient for another 10 days. The availability of food was a consolation, but it would not scare away the Red Army.473
It was very difficult to travel by car in the deep mud, and even the small Storch aircraft found it very risky to land on anything but hardened surfaces. Thus it was difficult for the commanders to meet each other. The railroad tracks were not affected by mud and Wöhler decided to take the train to meet von Vormann’s staff. Wöhler wanted to take two of his Panzer divisions out of the line, move them to the extreme left wing of the corps, and attack in a northerly direction. As usual, von Vormann saw many difficulties with the plan, but promised to do everything possible to get the Panzers to the designated area474
Selivanov had hoped that his Cossacks would take Valiava on 6 February, but the stubborn German defense prevented them from reaching their aim as quickly as their commander wished. Early on 7 February Valiava finally fell, after hard house-to-house fighting. The Germans soon staged a counterattack to retake the village, but the results were mixed when darkness fell. Fighting continued to rage in the village during the night, and continued for some days. With the Red Army in Valiava, the threat of splitting the XI and XXXXII Corps was very clear to the German commanders. One option was to evacuate the positions around and southeast of Gorodishche, and concentrate the units of XI Corps in the area currently held by XXXXII Corps. Since it seemed far more likely that III Panzer Corps could get closer to the pocket than the much weaker XXXXVII Panzer Corps, it was realistic to assume that a breakout could be staged from the Shenderovka area. However, giving up the positions along the Olshanka River would also disclose German intentions to their opponents. Neither von Manstein nor Wöhler wanted to hand that knowledge to Konev and Vatutin.475
At this stage of the battle many Soviet units also experienced supply shortages. The mud was not the only cause. Since III Panzer Corps had reached the Gniloi Tikich River, important Soviet formations, such as the 6th Tank Army, found their supply lines much longer than they were previously. On 6 February the 2nd Air Army began to prepare for supplying the ground troops, and on 8 February the 2nd and 6th Tank armies, plus the 40th Army, began to receive supplies from Po-2 aircraft. The air supply operation continued for the remainder of the battle. Even though the quantities delivered were not as great as those the Germans received by air, the contribution was nevertheless valuable.476
At 09.30hrs on 8 February, Speidel went to Mal. Viski, where he met the chiefs of staff of XXXXVII Panzer Corps, 10th Panzer Grenadier Division, 14th Panzer Division, 106th Infantry Division, and 320th Infantry Division. Speidel outlined the forthcoming operations, which required some regrouping. The main effort was to be on the extreme left of XXXXVII Panzer Corps, where the 11th Panzer Division was to be committed. The divisions represented at Mal. Viski would take over longer defensive sectors to release von Wietersheim’s division. Considerable reshuffling would take place, which inevitably would mean further struggle with the mud.477
An example of the difficulties caused by the mud is provided by the war diary of the Panzer battalion of 14th Panzer Division. The battalion had to rely on a flame thrower tank belonging to the regiment staff for its courier services. To get spare parts, a Panzer IV chassis was used to move them forward to the few tanks remaining for the battalion. Indeed, the Panzer IV chassis, which was actually supposed to be used to train drivers, remained the primary means for the battalion to receive its supplies for the remainder of the thaw. Since the Germans first encountered the Russian mud, in the fall of 1941, it had been clear to them that only vehicles using tracks could be relied upon to negotiate it. To build them was another matter. Aside from tanks and halftracks, the Germans built a few transport vehicles, like the Maultier and the Raupenschlepper Ost that used tracks, but such vehicles were expensive to build and maintain, and they consumed more fuel than conventional trucks. Consequently, there was never enough of them. Still, the Germans were at least somewhat better off than the Red Army, which had no domestic production of such vehicles at all.478
February 8 brought two surprises for XXXXII Corps. One was the Soviet call for surrender (described in the prologue); the other was a Soviet attack across the Ross River, upstream from Steblev. Crossing near Nikolayevka, a few Soviet companies entered a forest east of the river before hurriedly scrambled German troops managed temporarily to seal off the bridgehead. Further east, at Valiava, a stalemate ensued, but the situation at Gorodishche remained difficult. Lieb noted in his diary that “vehicles, artillery, heavy weapons from 72nd, 389th, and Wiking, as well as hundreds of wounded, were stuck at Gorodishche. To pull back the present lines would result in unbearable losses of men, weapons and equipment. The lines would have to be held for another 24 hours.”479
The company Meiser served with, composed of artillerymen from his own battery and some infantry from an infantry company, had not seen much action during the preceding day. However, Meiser and an infantry NCO had observed how Soviet troops moved up on the flanks of the Germans. Both were certain that the position was utterly untenable and tried to persuade the company commander to disregard Stelzner’s order. Second Lieutenant Rudel, who commanded the company, had however been sent to the front before completing his training and had virtually no combat experience. As a result he did not force the issue, but stuck to the orders he had received from Stelzner.480
On 8 February, Soviet forces launched an attack that threatened to envelop the German position. As Stelzner and the infantry NCO had predicted, the German force was far too weak to halt the Soviet attack, especially as the position held was too extended. The Germans recoiled, but the infantry NCO managed to turn a threatening rout into a more controlled retreat, although losses had been considerable. When he and his men found an infantry lieutenant with about 30 men, they quickly attached themselves to the officer. They had had enough of being put into hopeless positions by a remote artillery major.481
Meiser continued walking to reach Stelzner’s command post, where he found the major and reported. Meiser did not spare any critique of Stelzner’s orders, and before he had finished, Stelzner became red in the face from anger and shouted, while he took hold of his pistoclass="underline" “Herr Fahnenjunker, you are mad. Go immediately back to your company!”
“Herr Major, you should know that you can not deal with me like that,” Meiser replied. “Herr Major, you seem not to have understood my report; the company does not exist anymore. Check with the other units. And now, Herr Major, I report myself ill! I have had great pains from my old wound.”
Stelzner seemed to be on the verge of losing his composure, but Meiser moved into a nearby house while still keeping an eye on the major. As expected, Meiser found the battalion doctor there, who said that Meiser had done very well, and then he was interrupted by the telephone. It was Stelzner, who said that Meiser should be examined with a very critical eye, to get medical proof that he was trying to shirk away from service. The doctor calmly replied that Meiser was no lazybones and that his wound certainly justified him in staying in the rear. Furthermore, Meiser was so chilled that he would have to be spared from service for a week.