Chapter 58 The Battle of Holliday's Army

During the second half of January, when the Fourth Panzer Army was carrying out its tasks on the south bank of the Don, the work of Holliday's Army in the great bend of the river was equally difficult.As mentioned in the previous chapter, during the past few weeks, the enemy has repeatedly launched violent attacks on the front of the army along the Zill River with an extremely superior force. On a front 125 miles long, from Nizentirskaya to Kamensk and Shakhtinsky, the forces available to General Holliday, including the Mis group now under his command, are in the There are only four infantry divisions (62nd, 294th, 336th and 387th) in total, all of which are dilapidated.Also helping to defend this front were some Alarm units, and an anti-aircraft unit commanded by the experienced Gen. Stahel, which was a very valuable support.As for the two air force field divisions belonging to this group army, there are only a few remnants left, and they finally had to be merged into other army units.The main force of this group army is composed of the Sixth and Eleventh Armored Divisions, plus the newly arrived Seventh Armored Division.The already dilapidated 22nd Armored Division had to be adapted.

With this strength, General He Lide must prevent the enemy in the north from attacking the lower reaches of the Don River, that is, he has entered the rear of the Fourth Panzer Army; In the area south of the Don, it is necessary to prevent the enemy from penetrating into Rostov as far as possible.In addition, this army group had another task, namely, to prevent the forces facing its left flank from advancing to the crossing of the Donets between Vrkhstad and Froshilovgrad, while Threatening Rostov from the northwest.At the same time, however, the army found itself threatened on both flanks.To the west, the Italian Army had been lost on the field, and in its place was a Ferit-Pico battle group retreating from the Mirirov area, fighting and walking towards the Donets.On the east, several corps of enemy troops have already crossed the Don, first at Potmenkinskaya and then at Zamenyanskaya.The attack was blocked only after the 11th Armored Division had been brought into action, and the line of the Mies had been bent to form an eastward front behind the Kagalnik, as we have seen.

Also like the 4th Panzer Army, the He Lide Group Army has fully demonstrated its firm and active leadership in this dangerous and bitter battle.However, the headquarters of the army group still took the final responsibility, ordering it to take great risks, let certain locations be completely exposed, and concentrate its armored forces for short-distance offensive assaults. This army group was finally able to stop the enemy forces on the Donets River, and rescued the Fourth Panzer Army and Army Group A from being cut off. In the area south of the Don River, except for the command of the Army Group First of all, it is due to its infantry divisions and all other units assisting the defensive front, which heroically resisted repeated enemy attacks without retreating.However, if it were not for the frequent rescue of the armored division, their defense line would still be unable to maintain.On one occasion they saved the right flank of the army from being encircled.On another occasion, when the enemy was about to attack the army's northern front in front of Donets, our armored divisions were surprised by rushing all the way into their concentration area.These counterattacks were originally part of the defense mission, and naturally they were the responsibility of the group army itself, but the actual risk-taking responsibility was often borne by the group army group headquarters.In any crisis, the army group was relieved of its responsibility, allowing the army to concentrate its armored forces on orders from the army group headquarters, regardless of the security of other areas.