"The troops of the second battalion have come up and will soon take over our defense." Guchakov said to Narva: "I have an important task now that I want to leave to you to complete."
Narva knew that when the situation was so critical, Guchakov called him to the command post. He thought that the task that had to be completed was extremely arduous, so he quickly asked: "Comrade Battalion Commander, what is the task?"
"Not long ago, the division called me and said that there was a destroyed German tank in front of your company's position, and there might be some important German figures in it." Guchakov said: "I gave it to you. The mission is to find a way to get close to that tank and find out who the big shot is inside?"
"Comrade Battalion Commander," Narva became a little excited when he learned that there was a big shot of the German army in the destroyed tank. But after a moment, he frowned again: "There are many destroyed tanks in front of our position. Which one do you want us to scout?"
"According to reliable intelligence, the big shot was in the destroyed Panther tank."
"Panther tank?!" Narva thought for a moment and frowned more tightly: "Comrade Battalion Commander, I remember that tank was about 120 meters away from our position."
"It's more than 120 meters away from your position, that's really far away." In normal times, this 200 meters is nothing at all, but at this moment the enemy is attacking crazily, more than 50 meters away from the position From the beginning, there were traces of Germans. At this moment, sending a troop to carry out reconnaissance deep into the midst of the enemy, braving the hail of bullets, would simply mean sending them to death. But since it is an order from a superior, even if you know it is difficult to complete, you must still try hard. "I will organize machine gun fire to cover your approach there."
"What should we do if we find the body of a big shot in the German army?"
"If you really find the body of a big shot in the German army, you will have to find ways to drag the body back. Do you understand?"
"Understood, Comrade Battalion Commander." Narva asked with a solemn expression: "Do you allow me to carry out the mission now?"
"Wait a minute, comrade captain." Guchakov happened to see Kopetu come in from the outside, so he stopped Narva and added: "Your company has too few troops. I will take Kopetu's The security squad is placed under your command."
When Narva returned to his position with Copetuo's guard squad, the troops of the second battalion happened to rush over to take over the defense. Captain Grisa, the fourth company commander, stepped forward to hold Narva's hand and said enthusiastically: "Narva, from now on, your company's position will be officially handed over to us. You have worked hard, please withdraw and rest first."
"Grissa," Narva and Grissa are old comrades in arms, so they naturally spoke casually: "The position can be handed over to you, but we can't withdraw for the time being?"
"Why?" Grisa asked in surprise.
Narva did not answer the other party's question immediately, but pointed to the tank a hundred meters away: "Have you seen that Panther tank that is still smoking?"
"I saw it." Grisa nodded and asked in confusion: "But what does this have to do with you not being able to retreat to the rear for the time being?"
"I just received an order from the battalion commander, Captain Guchakov, to take people to conduct reconnaissance at the Panther tank. Only after completing this task can we withdraw to the rear to rest."
Grisa looked around the Panther tank and suddenly said in shock: "Narva, are you crazy? Didn't you see that there were at least dozens of Germans near the tank? Are you planning to bring them with you?" Are your people going to die?"
"This is an order from my superiors, and I can only carry it out. Please provide us with the necessary fire cover when we leave the position."
"Don't worry, I will organize all the machine guns in the company immediately to provide you with fire cover."
With the fire cover provided by Guchakov and Grisa, Narva was confident that he could lead his men close to the tank and figure out who the German big shot was who died inside. During the attack, Narva left all the wounded behind and led only 16 people, including the guard squad, to crawl toward the wreckage of the Panther tank on hands and feet.
From the moment Narva led the men out of the trench, the machine guns organized by Guchakov and Grisa shot at the German officers and soldiers entrenched near the tank regardless. The Germans did not expect that at this stage of the battle, there would be such fierce machine gun fire on the position. Some were killed on the spot, while others quickly moved their positions and hid in safer places.
Seeing that the enemies near the Panther tank were driven far away by machine gun fire, Narva couldn't help but feel secretly happy and quickly accelerated his advance. When he was less than twenty meters away from the tank, he stopped, and then shouted to the back: "I need one person to follow me, and the rest will stay here to cover."
Copetuo immediately crawled to Narva's side and volunteered: "Comrade Captain, I will go with you."
The two approached the Panther tank cautiously. Coppetto was impatient and couldn't wait to get in through the hole at the bottom of the tank. Unexpectedly, as soon as his hand touched the body of the tank, he was immediately burned to the point of grinning. He gritted his molars and said to Narva: "Comrade Captain, the temperature on the surface of this tank is too high, and there is no way for people to get in."
Knowing that he could not enter the tank, Narva couldn't help but feel anxious. If he could not enter the tank, how could he complete the task assigned to him by the battalion commander? Just when he was worried, he suddenly heard Copetuo say in surprise: "Comrade Captain, look quickly. There seem to be several corpses of German tank soldiers in the open space behind the tank."
Narva looked in the direction of Copetuo's finger, and sure enough he saw the bodies of three tank soldiers in the crater not far away. Judging from the positions of the three people lying on the ground, it seemed that two tank soldiers were supporting the person in the middle, trying to stay away from the destroyed tank, but they were killed by bullets flying from the position.
"Could it be that the big shot we are looking for is among these three corpses?" Narva thought as he crawled towards the corpses. When he crawled in front of the corpse, he pushed the corpse on the left side away, then turned over the corpse in the middle, and found that it was a corpse with the chest blown to pieces. When Narva saw the opponent's military rank clearly, he couldn't help but be pleasantly surprised. He never dreamed that he would easily see a fallen German general. It seemed that this was the person the battalion commander asked him to find out.
"Oh my God." Copetuo, who crawled over later, couldn't help but said in surprise after seeing the rank of the corpse clearly: "The big shot our superiors asked us to find must be this German general."
"I think it must be." Narva said hesitantly: "But how are we going to get his body back? You know, there are Germans all around. If they see us carrying the body and running toward the position, they will definitely They will shoot at us. No matter how fast we run, we can't outrun the enemy's bullets."
"Comrade Captain, I have a way." Copetuo said, took off his poncho, spread it on the ground, turned the body over, put it on the poncho, and then said to Narva: "We One person grabs one end of the poncho and drags him to crawl towards the position, so that the possibility of being discovered by the enemy is very small."
In this way, the two of them dragged the body on the poncho and moved little by little in the direction of the position. When the two of them climbed hard to the position where the troops were waiting, they were already exhausted. A soldier ran over and said to Narva: "Comrade Captain, this is not far from the trench. As long as we run faster, we can return to the position soon."
Before Narva could speak, the soldier called to a companion to take action first. After the two stood up, they each grabbed a corner of their ponchos and ran towards the direction of the position with their waists bent. But their actions were soon discovered by the Germans not far away, and several guns immediately shot at the two men. The two of them ran forward for less than ten meters before being shot and fell to the ground one after another.
Seeing that his soldiers were sacrificed so costlessly, Narva quickly said to those soldiers who wanted to get up and continue dragging their ponchos: "Everyone is here, follow my order, no one is allowed to get up, we all take turns dragging the bodies. Climb back into position."
The Germans noticed something strange about this small force and immediately concentrated their firepower to block their retreat. At the same time, another group of enemies circled around from the side and tried to eliminate them. Fortunately, the machine gun firepower on the position was relatively powerful, and the enemies encircling the side were suppressed and unable to move.
In this way, Narva's small force finally successfully dragged the bodies back to the trench after sacrificing five more soldiers. Grisa came forward, looked at the body placed on the trench floor, and asked curiously: "Narva, whose body did you snatch back?"
"I don't know." How did Narva know Hornerdorf? He could only shake his head and said: "He should be the big shot in the German army that his superiors are looking for."
After learning that the body had been snatched back, Guchakov quickly came out to check. He knew some German, and he immediately identified the deceased through the dog tag hanging around the body's neck. He stood up, patted Narva on the shoulder, and said excitedly: "Comrade Captain, you have done a great job. If I am not mistaken, this is the body of General Hornerdorf, commander of the German Sixth Armored Division."
"What, he is the commander of the German Sixth Armored Division?" Narva stared at the corpse on the ground with an expression of disbelief on his face. He did not expect to kill a German division commander so easily. At the same time, he suddenly realized why the Germans launched an attack like crazy. Could it be to get back the body of their division commander?
The body was quickly sent to the division headquarters. After the identity of Hornadorf was confirmed through the body's uniform and dog tags, Sokov ordered Koida: "Comrade Colonel, order someone to find a coffin."
"Comrade Commander, where can I find a coffin for you at this time?" Koida said with a wry smile: "We are marching and fighting, and it is impossible to carry a few coffins with us. And all the people in the collective farms in the nearby villages have fled. , let alone find a coffin.”
"If you can't find a coffin, immediately cut down the wood to make one." Sokov said in a stern tone: "Although General Hornadorf is our enemy, the dead man is the most important, so he should be buried in peace. .”
"Okay, Comrade Commander." Koida thought that there were carpenters in the army and it would be no problem to ask them to make a coffin, so he readily replied: "I will arrange for someone to customize the coffin immediately."
After confirming Hornadorf's identity, Sokov felt that he should report the matter to his superiors immediately, and quickly ordered the telegraph operator he brought with him: "Send a report to the front army headquarters, saying that our 562nd Regiment of the 188th Division is holding on. During the battle at the position, General Hornerdorf, commander of the German 6th Armored Division, was killed."
After Konev received the telegram from Sokov, he was shocked. He said to Susaikov and Zakharov who were sitting at the table: "Major General Sokov telegraphed that his troops were on the defensive. During the battle, General Hornerdorf, commander of the German 6th Armored Division, was successfully killed."
Susaikov took the telegram and asked cautiously: "Comrade Commander, do you think the credibility of this telegram is high?"
"I believe Major General Sokov." Konev said without hesitation: "It is absolutely impossible for him to joke about this kind of thing. And at the end of the telegram, he also specifically mentioned that the body of General Hornadorf was in In his hands."
"So, the inner days in Major General Sokov's telegram are true?" Susaikov said in surprise: "This is an amazing victory. I suggest that the matter be reported to the Supreme Command immediately."
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Zakharov agreed: "We should report such results to the Supreme Command."
Seeing that his two partners were eager to report Sokov's results to the Supreme Command, Konev only thought for a moment and nodded in agreement: "Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, then you will report it in person. Antonov reports.”
Antonov received Zakharov's report and repeatedly confirmed the accuracy of the results before reporting the matter to Stalin. At the same time, the news was notified to Vatutin.
After listening to Antonov's words, Vatutin asked in an unbelievable tone: "Comrade Chief of General Staff, did General Sokov's troops really kill Honorov, the commander of the German Sixth Armored Division?"
"Of course it's true." Antonov replied affirmatively: "How can such a thing be a joke?"
"The strongest attack in the Prokhorovka area now is the German Sixth Armored Division. Their division commander was killed, which will have a fatal blow to their morale." Vatutin asked anxiously: "When does the Supreme Command plan to launch a counterattack against the enemy?"
"Don't be anxious, Comrade Vatutin." Antonov replied: "The time for counterattack is not yet mature. Our army's current strategy is to rely on the existing defenses and consume a large amount of the German army's effective strength. Wait until the enemy becomes When we are exhausted, our army will choose the right time to launch a comprehensive counterattack."
