By December 5 both battered opponents had drawn breath, committed replacements and reinforcements, buried their dead, brought up ammunition, and were ready to go at it again. The front line was discontinuous, with 60th Army facing IX Corps at Korosten. The Germans were still in possession, but the corps had lost 50% of its troops in November.

On the 5th of December the tough 291st Division received enough replacements to build it up to 2500 infantry, the amount it started the battle with, but some of these had to be detached to reinforce Corps Group "C" which had been wasting away. The riflemen of 60th Army were similarly depleted, and had not been able to hang on to Korosten, partly due to the fact that 60th Army had been forced to spread out to the south to attempt to link up with 38th Army.

The German front had a gap between the 291st Infantry Division south of Korosten and the 208th Infantry Division of XXXXVIII Panzer Corps north of Zhitomir. As to what forces the Soviets had along the Zhitomir-Korosten railroad, the Germans were completely in the dark.

From the panzer corp's right flank, the XIII Corps and most of XXXXII Corps faced 38th Army. XIII Corps consisted of two infantry divisions (340th and 68th) and a security division (213th), while XXXXII Corps fielded the 2nd Parachute (excellent infantry but only one artillery battalion), two panzer divisions (8th and 19th with 22 and 9 tanks respectively), and the SS "DR" division (with 9 more panzers and 25 rocket launchers). The corps front described a rounded right angle, with the paratroopers and SS holding north of the Kiev-Zhitomir road facing north and the panzer divisions facing east against XXI Rifle Corps and XXV Tank Corps of 38th Army and 3rd Guards Tank Army with about 75 tanks backing up 38th Army, straddling the Kiev-Zhitomir highway.

The line then took another 90 degree turn around Fastov, with XXXXII Corps' 25th Panzer Division (41 tanks, and its supply echelon rebuilt to 45% of its authorized strength) facing the very tough L Rifle Corps of 40th Army holding Fastov. Continuing the line towards the Dnepr, the VII Corps with two weak infantry divisions (88th and 82nd) holding its flanks and two fairly strong ones (198th and 75th) holding the center facing north from south of Fastov to west of Tripolye, opposed the five rifle divisions of LI Rifle Corps of 40th Army.

Finally, XXIV Panzer Corps held the Dnepr past Kanev against eight rifle divisions of 27th Army; both sides were content with occasional shellings and sniping, and a gradual transfer of assets away from this front.

Behind the Soviet front line impressive striking power was being built up, not only additional antitank brigades and regiments and ever more independent tank units, but three whole new armies--the 1st Tank of General Katukov with a tank corps and a mechanized corps, the 1st Guards under General Grechko from the recently cleared Taman front, and General Leselidze's 18th. A flood of rebuilt tanks, new guns, rocket launchers, and planes also flowed to the front, along with ammunition, supplies, and the rest. The railroad had been rebuilt as far as Gostomel.

In addition to safeguarding the bridgehead at Kiev, the Soviet intention was clearly to retake Zhitomir and resume their offensive towards the Soviet border. But before they could attack, the Germans struck first.

Maneuver

In a classic example of slick maneuver, XXXXVIII Panzer Corps, somewhat rebuilt from its bloodbath in mid-November, wheeled wide to the northwest of Zhitomir, and curled in against the open Soviet flank along the Zhitomir-Korosten railroad. Von Manstein had prohibited air or ground reconnaissance to avoid drawing Soviet attention to his plans, but sent security troops to suppress the partisans, and German engineers (escorted by armored cars) to repair bridges in the direction of the intended movement.

Why these actions didn't tip off the Soviets is not clear. True, the long line 60th Army was holding made extensive patrolling difficult. And possibly they were just lax since the main German efforts had been towards Kiev along the main highway during the fighting at the end of November.

In any event, over 200 panzers of SS "AH", 1st, and 7th Panzer Divisions fell on the troops of General Lazko's XXX Rifle Corps and rapidly overran it. The SS division made a promising breakthrough on the night of December 7, but was held up more than 24 hours after running out of gas and finding itself stranded. (It is quite possible that after the panzers passed through, the front was reestablished by the Soviet riflemen and the supply trucks found it impossible to get through.)

They then drove north and northeast, forcing the HQ of 60th Army to displace to avoid being overrun. Although hefty reinforcements were sent to 60th Army, it was forced north of the Irscha River.

The Germans claimed the destruction of a Soviet army and the crippling of another so that it "...suffered such heavy casualties that it was at least temporarily rendered ineffective... more than 200 tanks were destroyed ... German losses were light." (German Defense Tactics Against Russian Break-throughs, US Department of the Army). Would you believe at least 111 German tanks lost? General Balck's panzer corps lost 88 panzers in two days (December 5-7) alone!

However, the German pressure was strong enough to force the Soviets to move 3rd Guards Tank Army north to backstop Chernyakovsky's battered divisions. His artillery suffered heavy losses, amounting to 50% of his guns. The new armies remained behind the front, unidentified by the Germans and preparing to return the favor two-fold.

The Battle for Kiev November 1 - December 24, 1943

Prelude to the Onslaught
Breakthrough and Counterstroke
The Second Round
The Meleni Pocket? and Conclusions