After learning that the 19th Armored Division was annihilated by the Soviet army, Manstein fell into a state of madness. In less than a week, his most elite Imperial Division, the Skeleton Division and the 19th Armored Division, were killed by Sokov
The troops were annihilated, and even the 6th Armored Division, which had participated in the battle, suffered huge losses.
"This Sokov is simply my nemesis." Manstein murmured: "Wherever he appears, it means that our troops will be annihilated by him. The strength of an army group he commands is no less than
A front army."
"Mr. Marshal," Adjutant Burke couldn't help but interjected after hearing Manstein's soliloquy: "Actually, Sokov is not invincible. Even though his troops just annihilated the 19th Armored Division, they are also
We paid a huge price. If we deploy an armored division from the direction of Oboyan at this time and launch a fierce attack on his defense area, we may have unexpected gains!"
"Colonel, please pay attention to your identity!" Unexpectedly, after listening to his words, Manstein immediately straightened his face and said in a stern tone: "You are only my adjutant, not my chief of staff. Your responsibility is to
My orders should be conveyed truthfully, rather than giving me blind ideas like a staff officer. Do you understand?"
"Understood, Your Majesty Marshal." Burke, who was scolded by Manstein, suddenly turned red with embarrassment. He lowered his head and said sheepishly: "I will not make a similar mistake next time."
"If you do it again next time, I will send you to the front line." Manstein threatened the other party: "I will let you command a regiment and fight face to face with the Russians. Then you can command however you want. I will never do it."
will interfere with you."
After teaching his talkative adjutant a lesson, Manstein stood up and walked to the chief of staff and asked: "Chief of staff, do you have any good suggestions?"
The chief of staff glanced at Burke, who was silent next to him, and said with some concern: "Your Excellency, Marshal, I wonder if you will be furious after listening to my suggestion."
"Say whatever comes to mind." Manstein said impatiently: "Since you are my chief of staff, you should provide me with useful suggestions."
"I agree with what Colonel Burke just said," the chief of staff waited for Manstein to finish speaking before summoning up the courage to say: "Deploy an armored division from the direction of Oboyan to launch an assault on the area defended by Sokov's troops.
Now the main force of the Russians is being restrained by us in the two directions of Oboyan and Prokhorovka. Even if Sokov's troops are attacked, I think the Russians will not be able to mobilize forces to support them. In this way
, our chances of winning will be much greater.”
"Chief of Staff, if they were ordinary Russian troops, even if they had a group army, I would only need to dispatch two armored divisions to defeat them." Manstein said expressionlessly: "But now, what we have to deal with is the Russian army.
If Kokov, rather than an ordinary Russian, continues to direct operations according to the past thinking, he will suffer a big loss. Don't say that no progress has been made by then, but instead add another army."
Manstein's words shut up the chief of staff completely. He knew that what the marshal said was the truth. When encountering a monster like Sokov, those generals who had repeatedly made military exploits on the Russian battlefield seemed to not know how to fight, even if they were
Even though he had the advantage, he was not Sokov's opponent at all. This Sokov, who was different from other Russian generals, seemed to be a messenger from hell.
"Chief of Staff," Manstein waited for a while. Seeing that his Chief of Staff was silent, he took the initiative and said, "Do you know why I don't plan to use the troops in the direction of Oboyan?"
The chief of staff shook his head quickly, and then asked cautiously: "Why?"
"According to recent intelligence, the Russian Southern Front and Southeastern Front are gathering troops and seem to be preparing to launch an attack on the flanks and rear of our army." Manstein said to his chief of staff: "If we consume more troops in the direction of Oboyan
Too much, and you will become very passive in the next battle. Do you understand?"
"I understand, Your Excellency Marshal." Although the Chief of Staff saw information about the Soviet Southern and Southeastern Fronts from the intelligence received, his attention was focused on the two directions of Oboyan and Prokhorovka.
There is no time to care about the enemies behind us who may threaten our retreat: "We must leave enough troops to deal with the Russians who may give up the attack from our rear."
"Yes, it is indeed like this." Manstein nodded and said: "I contacted Model on the northern front today. He said that he had given up the plan to attack and was preparing to concentrate his forces to protect Orel. He could not let it go.
The Russians retook the city."
"So, we are all fighting alone now?" the chief of staff asked cautiously.
"Yes, if the head of state does not transfer the 24th Armored Corps in my hands, I am absolutely sure that I will deal with the Russians on the southern front in these two days, and then send my troops north to capture Kursk." When talking about being transferred.
When the 24th Armored Corps left, Manstein felt sad: "A combat force of 50,000 people, 50,000 people, and 381 tanks and assault guns of various types. If the Führer had not mobilized this force,
Let's go, I can definitely use them to deliver the final blow to the Russians and completely crush all their defenses in the Prokhorovka area."
"Your Excellency, Marshal, let me ask you a cautious question." The chief of staff asked cautiously: "Why did the head of state transfer the 24th Armored Corps from our hands?"
"The British and American coalition forces landed in Sicily. The head of state believed that relying solely on Italy's own strength could not resist the attack of the Western Allies. In order to protect Italy and the Balkan Peninsula, troops had to be transferred from the Eastern Front to support the Italian front line." Mann.
Stein said with a bitter look on his face: "I feel that the head of state has completely lost confidence in the victory of the fortress operation. He feels that the victory we achieved in the Kursk salient cannot offset the victory achieved by the British and American coalition forces in Italy.
victory."
"Then what should we do next?" After hearing what Manstein said, the chief of staff realized that this battle was unwinnable. Even Mustache, the supreme commander, had lost confidence. How could the officers and soldiers below fight? Therefore,
He cautiously asked Manstein for instructions: "Should we continue the attack, or withdraw from the Kursk salient in an orderly manner and return to the original starting point of the attack?"
"The attack continues." Although Manstein knew in his heart that Mustache was no longer willing to waste troops on the Kursk salient, but before receiving a formal retreat order, he could only choose to continue fighting, so he could only
Against his will, he issued an order to the chief of staff: "No one will withdraw from the existing combat area without my order."
…………
At dawn the next day, thousands of artillery pieces of different calibers outside the city of Prokhorovka fired at the same time. They continued to bombard the German positions for an hour and a half.
After the shelling ended, the Soviet army did not launch an attack immediately, and the entire battlefield fell into silence. The German officers and soldiers who emerged from the shelter looked at the open space in front of the position in confusion through the thick smoke.
Unexpectedly, no trace of the attacking Soviet troops was found, and not even the familiar sound of "Ula" was heard.
Just when they were puzzled, a strange sound came from the air. Soon, the German officers and soldiers saw countless arrow-like fires appearing in the sky. "Concealed," most of the German officers and soldiers had seen the power of the Soviet rocket launchers.
When they saw the fire in the sky, they knew that the Soviet Katyusha rockets had been launched, so they quickly scattered and hid in nearby shelters or bomb shelters.
After the rockets drew beautiful arcs in the air, they disappeared into the German defensive positions, and then there was a terrible roar. Huge explosions came one after another, making the entire earth tremble. The German troops hiding in the shelter
The officers and soldiers felt the thick soil above their heads falling down like rain.
After Katyusha completed a salvo, three red flares appeared in the air, which was the signal for an attack.
Tens of thousands of commanders and soldiers who crowded into the trenches and communication trenches leading to the enemy's positions suddenly heard the melody of "Holy War" when they saw the signal flares rising into the sky.
At first everyone thought it was their own hallucination, but when they saw the confused expressions on the faces of the comrades on the left and right, they realized that this was not their own hallucination, but the radio playing ""Sung by the Alexander Red Flag Song and Dance Ensemble""
Holy war".
Hearing this passionate song, the commanders and soldiers jumped out of the trenches and traffic trenches one after another, shouting "Ula" and bravely rushed to the German position. Soon after the infantry attacked, they hid in the rear
The tanks and self-propelled artillery were also launched one after another, crossing the trenches at full speed and rushing towards the enemy's position.
Colonel Shechtman's 254th Division, covered by the tanks of General Baharov's 18th Tank Corps, also rushed towards the position of the Flag Guard Division. Don't look at the several consecutive attacks launched yesterday.
They failed, but today, both Colonel Shechtman and General Baharov felt that it was entirely possible for the infantry-tank coordinated troops to break through the standard guard's defensive position.
The 181st Tank Brigade covers the 762nd Regiment of the 254th Division. The target of the attack is the positions of the German 101st Heavy Tank Company and the 1st Assault Artillery Battalion. Before the attack began, no one would think that this would be a hard nut to crack.
I thought that as soon as the tanks rushed forward, the German defense would immediately collapse.
But the Soviet commanders and fighters never dreamed that in this seemingly weakly defended area, ten huge Tiger tanks with German military flags on the back were deployed, as well as ten 88mm Rhino self-propelled anti-tank guns.
.These tanks and anti-tank guns are hidden in pre-dug tank trenches or bomb craters.
When the Soviet tanks were still 1,200 meters away from the position, the German Tiger tanks and Rhino self-propelled anti-tank guns started firing. The tank crews and gunners did not feel panic at all when faced with the influx of Soviet tanks and infantry.
It was just like usual training, shooting in a measured and deliberate manner, destroying the rapidly advancing Soviet tanks one after another.
The Soviet tanks, which suffered huge losses, not only did not retreat, but continued to advance despite enemy artillery fire, trying to shorten the distance between the two sides and then use artillery fire to destroy the enemy tanks.
But the following facts disappointed the commander of the 181st Tank Brigade. Even if his tanks advanced to a distance of 500 meters from the enemy tanks, they still could not destroy the enemy tanks. Because the enemy tanks were hiding in tank trenches or
Only a turret and barrel were exposed in the shell. The shells fired by the Soviet tanks were either empty or hit the turret and were unable to penetrate it.
Seeing this situation, the tank brigade commander could only ask for help from the army commander, General Baharov: "Comrade Commander, the tanks of our brigade were attacked by German Tiger tanks and Rhino self-propelled anti-tank guns, causing heavy casualties. Please support me. Please support me."
support."
After Baharov learned that his troops were not making good progress, he immediately replied: "Colonel, order your tanks to continue rushing forward. As long as they get close to the German tanks, the enemy's tank advantage will be gone. Don't be afraid of casualties, don't
Afraid of losses, I will immediately send the 170th Tank Brigade to support you."
Seeing the Soviet tanks rushing toward them regardless of casualties, the numerically disadvantaged German tanks and Rhino self-propelled anti-tank guns could only choose to alternate cover and retreat toward the rear in an orderly manner.
The 170th Tank Brigade, which came to support from the left wing, saw that the enemy began to retreat, so they rushed towards the enemy's position, trying to destroy the retreating German tanks. However, unexpectedly, they were blocked by a line in front of the enemy's position.
A wide anti-tank trench blocked the way.
Seeing that this road was impassable, the brigade commander could only order his men to find another road to pass through this area. Unexpectedly, while they were looking for a road, several Rhino self-propelled anti-tank guns came over again and hid in the crater.
They fired again at the Soviet tanks that were trying to detour.
The tanks of the 170th Brigade were preparing to take a detour. They were already crowded together, but they did not expect to be suddenly attacked by the German Rhino anti-tank gun. They were caught off guard. Those tanks with shooting sights were unable to do so due to the nervousness of the tank crews.
Fired back fire in a timely manner; but those tank crews who reacted quickly were unable to fire due to the obstruction of friendly tanks.
The crowded tanks of the 170th Brigade became the best shooting targets for the German Rhino self-propelled anti-tank guns. Most of the shells fired by the anti-tank guns hit the target. For a time, the Soviet tanks in front of the anti-tank trenches were attacked one after another.
Destroyed, countless tanks were burning and smoking. Except for a few tank soldiers who escaped from the tanks in time and ran towards the rear, the remaining people either died in the tanks or were cut by shrapnel produced by the explosion after they came out.
fall.
Fortunately, the German self-propelled anti-tank guns did not carry much ammunition. After firing their ammunition, they retreated back one after another and rushed to join the Tiger tanks.
Major General Baharov, who was staying in the command post, stamped his feet angrily when he saw that his tank was beaten by the Germans and was unable to fight back. He walked to the walkie-talkie, grabbed the transmitter, and loudly called the 170th Tank Brigade.
The brigade commander: "Hey, colonel, what's going on with you? Why did you place your troops in front of the enemy's position and let the enemy use you as a target?"
Unexpectedly, it took a long time before a heavy-toned voice came from the earphones: "Comrade Commander, the brigade commander has died in the battle just now."
After hearing the bad news, Baharov thought he had heard wrongly and shouted into the microphone: "What did you just say? Repeat it again."
"Report to the commander, the brigade commander died in the battle a few minutes ago."