Ivangorod, the Red Army troops annihilated the SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Regiment 49 De Ruyter, 5th Company and broke in the regiment's rear. SS regimental headquarters troops assaulted the 150-man Soviet force, destroying them in heavy fighting, and retaking the regiment's trenches. By the end of the Narva offensive on 24 March, the 2nd Shock Army had lost its combat-readiness for larger operations. According to an Estonian estimate, it had also suffered a toll of around 150,000 troops in dead and wounded. On 24 March, Govorov asked the Stavka for permission to switch the mode on Narva front from offense to defense. Army Group Narwa had suffered the loss of around 30,000 men. Strachwitz offensive The High Command of the German Armed Forces were designing an offensive after a long while at the Eastern Front, choosing Narva as the location. Exploiting the favourable situation, commanders of Army Group Narwa regrouped, planning to destroy the Krivasoo bridgehead. On 26 March, the Strachwitz Battle Group (the German 170th, 11th, and 227th Infantry Divisions and tanks) targeted the flanks of the Soviet 109th Rifle Corps south of the Tallinn railway. The assault was supported by an air strike. Tank commander Hyacinth Graf Strachwitz von Groß-Zauche und Camminetz considered the heavy Tigers useless for operating in the swamp, exploiting the lighter Panther tanks instead. The East-Prussian grenadiers followed, penetrating the fortified positions of the Soviet Rifle Corps. The "Armoured Count" was out cheering the attackers on personally, driving his offroad vehicle to decorate the bravest with Iron Crosses, chocolate and cognac in the middle of the heaviest combat. By the end of the day, the Soviet 72nd and parts of the 109th Rifle Corps in the "west sack" of the bridgehead were encircled. As Strachwitz had predicted, the Rifle Corps counterattacked on the following day. It was repelled by the 23rd East Prussian Grenadier Regiment, inflicting heavy casualties on the Soviet Rifle Corps. Small tank units in two groups broke through the lines of the Rifle Corps in several places, splitting the bridgeheads in two-halves. Fierce air combat followed, with 41 German dive bombers shot down. Attacking in small platoons the west half of the bridgehead was destroyed by 31 March, claiming 6,000 Soviet riflemen dead. The "east sack" defenders of the Krivasoo bridgehead, defended by the Soviet 6th and the 117th Rifle Corps, were confused by Strachwitz Battle Group's deception attack on 6 April,