Battle For Narva Bridgehead - Destruction of Soviet Bridgeheads North of Narva

Destruction of Soviet Bridgeheads North of Narva

The Estonian Division arrived at the week following 13 February, at the height of the fighting around Narva. To strengthen the German defence in the north, the division, reinforced by newly conscripted Estonians, were attached to the III SS Panzer Corps. They were to defend the line against the 378th Rifle Division, the 340th Machine-Gun Battalion, and the 803th Zenith Artillery Regiment at the Riigiküla bridgehead seven kilometres to the north of Narva town. Steiner threw the division into battle on 20 February. The Soviet units with ample experience from the Siege of Leningrad had a significant number of women within their ranks. Retreat was forbidden under the penalty of death. As this was the main Soviet direction of attack for the moment, the Estonians frantically fortified the line with mine fields, barbed wire, and a large number of artillery pieces across the river north of the bridgehead. The terrain was well known to some of the Estonians, as an army rifle practice field was located on the exact spot before the war.
For there first in Narva the Estonian Division had the Waffen-Grenadier Regiment der SS 45 and the Waffen-Grenadier Regiment der SS 46 separate the Riigiküla bridgehead from the Siivertsi bridgehead on 21 February. The failure of their following attacks made it clear that direct attacks were impossible because of the batteries across the river. Instead, the "rolling" tactics were applied learned by the Estonian officers in the Estonian National Defence College before World War II. This meant piercing small shock platoons into the Soviet trenches which were impossible to spot by the artillery. It was considered a matter of national honour to annihilate the Soviet bridgehead by 24 February, the Estonian Independence Day. The Soviet bridgehead was reinforced with the 1078th Rifle Regiment increasing the number of the defenders to 776 with 14 assault guns. The Red Army command was convinced in the well-placed artillery fire hitting back every possible attack. The II.Battalion, Waffen-Grenadier Regiment der SS 46 led by Hauptsturmführer Rudolf Bruus and the German artillery appeared as if committing a direct assault while a platoon of the 6th Company led by Rein Oskar Männik threw themselves into the Soviet trenches. At first, the Soviets resisted the assault but after running out of hand grenades, they were forced to retreat over the frozen river.

The next task was the destruction of Siivertsi–Vepsküla bridgehead four kilometres north of Narva defended by 1,100 troops of the 378th Rifle Division with 20 assault guns. The attack was commanded by Standartenführer Paul Vent. The Waffen-Grenadier Regiment der SS 45 made a direct assault at the bridgehead on 29 February. Simultaneously, the Waffen-Grenadier Regiment der SS 46 in their attempt to attack from the left flank ran into the Soviet fortifications and crossed a mine field. As the I.Battalion, Waffen-Grenadier Regiment der SS 46 lost almost all of its officers, the Unterscharführer Harald Nugiseks stepped in as the leader of the attack. He immediately changed tactics, loading the supply of hand grenade onto sledges so the attackers would not have to crawl back for the supplies over the mine field. With the hand grenades being passed on along the trenches, the bridgehead was squeezed in from the north by the "rolling" tactics. The SS Panzergrenadier Regiment 24 Danmark took the Siivertsi cemetery attacking from the northern suburbs of Narva but could not destroy a Soviet machine-gun strong point inside a massive granite monument erected to the honour of the perished soldiers of the Northwestern White Army in the battle of Narva, 1919. Eventually, the machine-gunners were killed by a flamethrower. Another machine-gun strong point was in the wreck of a Tiger tank, which was destroyed by Ago Loorpärg shooting at it from a trophy Soviet 45 mm gun.

The Soviet bridgehead was squeezed into a few hundred metres of river bank around the ruins of Vepsküla settlement by 5 March. In a surprise attack of the I.Battalion, Waffen-Grenadier Regiment der SS 45, the bridgehead was split into three parts and "rolled" down by hand grenades. A small Soviet bridgehead still left on the west bank was cleared by the II.Battalion, Waffen-Grenadier Regiment der SS 46 on 6 March.

The setbacks on Narva front came as an unpleasant surprise for the leadership of the Leningrad Front blaming it on the arrival of the Estonian Division. Both sides rushed for reinforcements. The 59th Army was brought to Narva and the 8th Estonian Rifle Corps placed under command of the Leningrad Front.