The Death Dash. 8th of December 1943, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine. 🇺🇦

“The village of Ljachowaja was still burning. Large flecks showed up in the night, visible form a long way off. They shot up into a bright red when collapsing roof timbers sent a rain of sparks into the dark, dying out only slowly, and then finally vanishing as morning arrived.” Paul Kurbjuhn, the war correspondent accompanying the Kampfgruppe Peiper, wrote. [1]

The way to the east is still dark and gloomy. Even though their former opponents, such as the 148th, 322nd and 121st Rifle Divisions, were either routed or surrounded, the newly introduced troops – mostly the 107th Rifle Corps of 1st Guards Army – had already entrenched in the area along the west bank of Teterev River, waiting to grant them another reception.

At about 2100 hours on 7th of December 1943, the attack on the village of Chodory (Khodory Ходори) began. It did not go well at the outset. According to Rotenführer Walter Kühn’s account, the armored column set a suspicious village [very likely to be Horodchyn] on the half left side alight on its way towards Chodory. There was no return fire. But when the column silhouetted against the glow from the village to the left behind it, the bursts of antitank fire suddenly hit the column from another village [allegedly to be Chodory] emerged from the half right side in front of the column. A leading Panther of the 1./SS-Panzer-Regiment 1 took a direct hit, killed three of its crewmen, before Kühn’s SPW of the 14. (Pionier)/SS-Panzer-Regiment 1 suffered the same fate, leaving all its four crewmen badly wounded.

The column was only able to withdraw from out of the light of the destroyed tanks, burning like torches, before enemy’s antitank fire inflicts more damage on it, thanks to the rearguard action of Obersturmführer Hans Stübing, commander of the 2./SS-Panzer-Regiment 1 and the decisively fire support of the 4./SS-Panzer-Regiment 1 from the right flank. After a Panther initially followed him was hit, Stübing commanded his Panther to lure the enemy’s antitank fire, covering the withdrawal of other vehicles. He and Obersturmführer Ernst Otto, commander of the 4./SS-Panzer-Regiment 1 were both recommended for award of the German Cross in Gold by battalion commander, Strumbannführer Kuhlmann.

At 0345 hours on 8th of December 1943, the village of Chodory was eventually taken [2] and Hans Stübing’s company allegedly destroyed fifteen heavy antitank guns, five trucks, twenty antitank rifles, fourteen heavy machine guns, and some one hundred and fifty enemy soldiers. [3]

At 0815 hours, the Kampfgruppe Peiper resumed attack from Chodory towards south against Sabolot (Zabolot’) and took the town from the troops of the 271st Rifle Division at 1015 hours. [4][5]

The attack was allegedly led by Peiper himself. The Panthers provided covering fire, while the Panzer-IV’s attacked from the right in a broad wedge formation. The antitank fire was so violent that Peiper, who attacked with only a few tanks, had to race into the village at top speed to avoid its fire. On the other hands, Hans Stübing, once again took the initiative, tore forward with his company and broke into Sabolot, before his Panther was hit three times by antitank fire and burst into flames. The Russians fled. Their antitank guns stand abandoned or lay with burst barrels amidst their dead crews, who had fired up to the last second. The commander of the 7./SS-Panzer-Regiment 1, Obersturmführer Herbert Sprunk, was killed in action, along with the commander of the 5./SS-Panzer-Regiment 1, Obersturmführer Gerhard Scharke, who stood upright, exposing his upper body out of the turret all the way down to his belt during the attack. Hans Stübing was severely burned, but still managed to save his badly wounded gunner when he bailed out of his burning Panther. [6] One of confirmed knockouts was Unterscharführer Erich Langanger’s Tiger, which was hit at Sabolot and immobilized, when Russians mounted the tank, the Unterscharführer shot himself. He was buried by the church of Sabolot. [7]

The heavy lifting of the house-to-house combats had been carried by the Panzergrenadiers of the III. (gep.)/SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 2 during these days. For Chodory on 7th of December and Sabolot on 8th of December, Rottenführer Werner Kindler of the 14. (s.gep.)/SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 2 received the grant of his 44th and 45th confirmed Close-combat Days respectively. [8]

At 1400 hours, after regrouping from the exhausted night march, the Kampfgruppe Kraas, consisting of the bulk of the SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 2 attacked the village of Kotowka (Kotivka). The village fell by 1445 hours and the leading elements of the II./2 continued its movement towards Sabolot in order to clear the way for Peiper’s supplies to come through. [9]

Meanwhile, the Kampfgruppe Frey, consisting the bulk of the SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 1 also launched attack towards southeast after taking Ljachowaja [10] and forced the 328th Rifle Division to retreat by 1600 hours. [11][12]

The 1 Guards Army estimated it was attacked by up to two hundred tanks during this day. [13] The 1105th Rifle Regiment [of the 328th Rifle Division] allegedly suffered the greatest losses during the combat, but the 107th Rifle Corps claimed that it destroyed twenty-one enemy tanks and eliminated four hundred enemy soldiers and officers during the combat. [14]

On the other hands, the Leibstandarte claimed that from Chodory to Sabolot it captured or destroyed one T-34, eight field guns, one 4.5cm antitank gun, sixty-one 7.62cm antitank guns, twenty-one light antitank guns, fifty-five MGs and five lorries. Nine hundred and thirty Soviet soldiers were killed, only three were taken prisoners. [15][16] Aforesaid figures should consist of the scores of Hans Stübing’s company in Chodory.

Another booty report announced on the next morning: Fifty-four s.Pak, one m.Pak, two pieces of artillery, four antitank rifles, seven mortars, nine trucks about five hundred and eighty enemy dead…, etc. [17]

As for the relative few figure of the prisoners of war, we can only speculate the reasons through the memories of Paul Kurbjuhn: “There still might be a number of Red Army stragglers crouched in the snow behind a wall, each one desperately wondering if he should fire the last round out of his machine pistol into someone’s back or surrender. Every shadow was still an enemy to us, and no one wanted to try guess what as in an armed enemy’s mind…”

The speculated routes taken by the Kampfgruppe Peiper to approach village of Chodory (Khodory) during the night of 7/8th of December 1943. Due to difficult terrain and enemy resistance, Kampfgruppe Kraas did not take the village of Kotowka (Kotivka) until the noon of 8th of December, causing a certain extent of difficulty on resupply the Kampfgruppe Peiper. The Kampfgruppe Frey was actually operating in the further south area out of this map.

The speculated location where the encounter took place at the night of 7/8th of December 1943. The armored column approached while the 1. (Werner Pötschke) and 2. (Hans Stübing) Kompanien took point while the 4. (Ernst Otto) Kompanie covering their right flank. The armored column was hit (explode icon) when it was leaving the burning village of Horodchyn, exposed its silhouette to the enemy entrenched in Chodory. The commander of the I. Abteilung (Herbert Kuhlmann) witnessed the whole event.

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Citations:

[1] Paul Kurbjuhn, Die eisernen Särge (The Iron Coffins) in Das Schwarze Korps, excerpt from Patrick Agte (1999), Jochen Peiper.

[2] NARA T-314, Roll-1173, Frame-134. Tagesmeldung an Pz.A.O.K. 4., announced at 1900 on 8.12.43

[3] Patrick Agte (1999), Jochen Peiper, pp. 258-259.

[4] NARA T-314, Roll-1173, Frame-134. Tagesmeldung an Pz.A.O.K. 4., announced at 1900 on 8.12.43

[5] TsAMO, Fund 456, Inv 6850, Case 226, Sht 36. Military Report of the 107th Rifle Corps, Doc. No 064 issued at 1600, 8.12.43.

[6] Patrick Agte (1999), Jochen Peiper, pp. 258-259.

[7] Wolfgang Schneider (2005), Tigers in Combat 2, Kindle, 1417-1420.

[8] Werner Kindler (2014), Obedient Unto Death, p. 116.

[9] NARA T-314, Roll-1173, Frame-134. Tagesmeldung an Pz.A.O.K. 4., announced at 1900 on 8.12.43.

[10] Allegedly located on the southwest of Kotowka and three kilometers west of Sabolot, but the name “Ljachowaja” is unable to be identified nowadays.

[11] Rudolf Lehmann (1990), The Leibstandarte III, p. 353.

[12] TsAMO, Fund 456, Inv 6850, Case 226, Sht 36. Military Report of the 107th Rifle. Corps, Doc. No 064 issued at 1600, 8.12.43.

[13] TsAMO, Fund 236, Inv 0002673, Case 0084, Sht 4. Operational Summary of the 1st Guards Army, Doc. No 0552, issued at 2330, 8.12.43.

[14] TsAMO, Fund 456, Inv 6850, Case 226, Sht 36. Military Report of the 107th Rifle Corps, Doc. No 064 issued at 1600, 8.12.43.

[15] Werner Kindler (2014), Obedient Unto Death, p. 115.

[16] Patrick Agte (2006), Michael Wittmann volume one, p. 183.

[17] NARA T-314 R-1173, Frame 143. Morgenmeldungen der Divisionen, recorded at 0400 on 9.12.43.

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