Tsouras - Panzers on the Eastern Front : General Erhard Raus and His Panzer Divisions in Russia 1941-1945

The new main-attack army, which had been detached from the troops besieging Stalingrad and had been reinforced by reserves from the eastern bank of the Volga River, assembled in the northern hills and in the valley east of Bolshaya-Vasilevka for an all-out attack against the 6th Panzer Division. Thousands of Russians filled the snowfields, slopes, and depressions of the endless steppe. No soldier had ever seen such multitudes advance on him. Their leading waves were thrown to the ground by a hail of high-explosive shells, but more and more waves followed. Any attempt on the part of the Russian masses to reach the German lines was thwarted by the fire of machine guns and guns. The frontal attack was blocked.

A few hours later, however, the Russians poured into the village from the east like a stream of lava, pushing the flank of the 4th Panzergrenadier Regiment back some 100 meters. A short time later, they pushed through the gap to the 23rd Panzer Division and rolled forward toward the rear of the troops in the bridgehead. The eastern part of the village and the vicinity of the cemetery were lost. But the division stood unshaken like a rock in the surging sea. It was only when the encirclement of the division seemed on the point of becoming complete that the Russian masses were mowed down by a sudden thunderous concentration of the German artillery and were at the same time caught in the flank by 150 tanks coming from the village, and in the rear by 42 assault guns. As a result, they were overwhelmed. Even the strongest nerves of the enemy were unequal to this eruption of fire and steel. The Russians threw their weapons away and tried like madmen to escape the infernal crossfire and the deadly armored envelopment. This was a thing which rarely happened in World War II. In mobs of several hundreds, shelled even by their own artillery and their own rocket launchers, they ran west toward the only open spot and surrendered to the German covering parties stationed there.

Generaloberst Erhard Raus
To Liberate Stalingrad, November 1952