advance along the river to Narva was faced by the 2nd Battalion, Waffen Grenadier Regiment of the SS 47. Major Alfons Rebane had saved the detachment from the Soviet bombardment by ordering them to dig into new trenches the night before. Aiming at the 2nd Battalion's positions according to their data, the artillery of the 2nd Shock Army had hit empty trenches. Inflicting heavy casualties to the 191st Rifle Division, the battalion stopped the Soviet from getting to Narva. As the 131st Rifle Division threatened to cut between Rebane's battalion and the 46th SS Regiment five kilometres to the west, Rebane shifted his front segment a kilometre towards the left. The assaults by the 556th and 546th Rifle Regiments were repulsed with great casualties by the Estonians rounded up to defend the highway by the Olgina estate. In Peeterristi estate nine kilometres from Narva, Major Friedrich Kurg reassembled the 180 troops remained of the 2nd Battalion, Waffen Grenadier Regiment of the SS 46 to keep the 131st Rifle Division away from the highway and counterattacked. Luftflotte 1 was sent into the air to provide cover for the withdrawing III SS Panzer Corps. Despite their efforts, the 137 German aircraft were overwhelmed by the 800-plus Thirteenth Air Army. Suffering the near destruction of the Waffen-Grenadier Regiment der SS 46, the joint Estonian defense line with the 2nd Battalion, Waffen-Grenadier Regiment of the SS 47 some four kilometres to the west held the Soviet attack, while the III SS Panzer Corps withdrew across the Narva bridge to the Tannenberg Line. Behind them, the Corps destroyed the highway with road destruction machinery. The German units that failed to retreat exactly on the agreed timetable, immediately faced heavy Soviet assaults. The main German casualty of the retreat to the Tannenberg Line were the 700 troops of the SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Regiment 48 General Seyffardt. In the night before 26 July, the regiment was the last to leave Narva, while the Soviets were already gaining control of the highway behind them and Soviet armoured vehicles were crossing the Narva bridge. The Dutchmen of the 2nd Battalion, SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Regiment 49 De Ruyter; covering the retreat of SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Regiment 48 General Seyffardt, were rescued from encirclement by the 1st Battalion, SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Regiment 49 De Ruyter. Encircled in the swamps between the highway and the railway, the withdrawing General Seyffardt were pinned