While part of the Viking Division fought for Belorechenskaya, another combat group tried to outflank the defenders by forcing a crossing of the Laba River to the east of town. Tough Kuban Cossack horsemen of the 12th Cavalry Division, a regular unit of the pre-war Red Army, barred their path. Viking Division's command used its typical answer to such provocations: it called in its Finnish storm troopers.

Suffering heavy losses, the Finns led the German assault across the Laba, successfully forcing a bridgehead to unhinge the defense of Belorechenskaya. However, by the time they had secured their positions, the rest of the division had already begun its bloody frontal assault on the town. Poor decision-making led to the SS suffering all the losses of an opposed river crossing and the house-to-house conquest of a large town, when only one of these operations had been necessary. Fighting on their home ground, the Kuban Cossacks remained combat-ready and would face the SS again the next day.