G. Novikov, also led Defense Sector I. The 773rd and 778th Regiments were holding the area around the village of Kamary, while the 782nd had been redeployed to the Sapun Heights. On the first day part of the 782nd was attacked, but held. By June 10 German forces had driven a wedge into the Soviet lines in the area of the Mekenzievy Mountain railway station and the nearby barracks. The 778th was ordered north to take part in a counterattack that followed an artillery barrage at 0800 hours on June 11. What followed was savage fighting at about 50m range, but the Red Army forces were outnumbered two-to-one and unable to regain the ground. On the same day the German XXX Army Corps began more active operations against Sector I. A two-battalion attack near Kamary gained a few hundred yards before being stopped by counterattacks from the 782nd Regiment. The village was held by two battalions of the 778th, which came under heavy artillery fire on June 12, causing significant losses, before being attacked from the east and south. General Novikov decided the regiment was in poor shape and ordered a relief-in-place overnight, but German troops detected the movement and the 778th didn't leave sufficient rearguards to cover the barbed wire and mines in front of the village. A surprise attack at 0430 hours on the 13th cleared the obstacle belts by 0700 while artillery fire disrupted the relief effort. Novikov's line was beginning to buckle. Late that afternoon the 401st Infantry Regiment was massed north of Kamary with armor support facing the veteran 602nd Rifle Regiment of 109th Division, which was soon overwhelmed and forced to fall back. This soon turned into a rout and by 1745 hours German forces reached the outskirts of Fort Kuppe, which contained the headquarters of both the 602nd and 782nd Regiments. By nightfall both the village and the fort had been captured and a huge salient had been driven into the center of Sector I's lines, while the flanks held firm. Over the next two days XXX Corps continued its advance, albeit at a slower pace, and on the 16th Novikov had no choice but to withdraw 1 - 1.5km to a shorter line centered on Kadykovka. In the course of this fighting his forces lost about 6,000 men, including 1,800 captured, and the 388th was "virtually demolished". XXX Corps also incurred well