"Major General Sokov," Zhukov asked in a stern tone into the microphone: "Tell me honestly, has your position been breached by the Germans?"
When Sokov heard that Zhukov did not call him by his nickname, but called his surname and military rank in a stern tone, he immediately realized that he had betrayed the truth about abandoning his position without authorization, and he could not help but feel guilty and replied: "Comrade Marshal, I The troops are still holding their positions..."
"I'll ask you again." Zhukov didn't wait for Sokov to finish and asked sternly again: "Has your position been breached by the Germans?"
"No, Comrade Marshal." Sokov could tell that Zhukov was angry. If he reported it truthfully at this moment, he might add fuel to the fire, so he decided to play a word game and pick out the words: "My troops are still holding on to the assigned tasks. Not an inch of ground was lost to the Germans on the battlefield.”
Knowing that the Germans had not broken through Sokov's defense line, Zhukov's anger weakened a bit. He slowed down his tone and asked puzzledly: "Since the Germans did not break through your position, then why were they able to appear outside Prokhorovka in an extremely short time? What on earth is going on?"
"Comrade Marshal," Sokov explained to Zhukov, considering that Zhukov might not understand the situation here: "Yesterday the enemy broke through the friendly defense line on our right wing and occupied their position. In order to prevent the enemy from attacking our unit, Forming an encirclement, I organized my troops to carry out a counterattack and restored the lost positions. However, due to the heavy losses of the troops in the battle, I was unable to defend the too wide front, so I shrank the troops to the main position last night, preparing to continue the stalemate with the enemy. .”
"Major General Sokov, as far as I know, didn't you transfer all the troops from the direction of Oboyan?" Zhukov waited for Sokov to finish speaking, then his tone became stern again: "Don't you have enough troops? Are you going to hold your position on the right flank and let the enemy march past you and attack Prokhorovka?"
"Comrade Marshal, I have only added three brigades to the main defensive position. The rest of the troops are placed on the banks of the Pushor River as reserves to prevent the enemy from launching a forced crossing." Sokov knew that he was like this Zhukov's answer was difficult to satisfy, and he specifically added: "Although I do not have too many troops for the defense of secondary positions, I did send ten anti-tank squads equipped with firepower groups. Area attack the enemy.”
"An anti-tank squad equipped with a firepower team?" Sokov's words aroused Zhukov's interest: "Then can you tell me how many people there are in your squad?"
"Ten people, Comrade Marshal." Sokov replied: "A detachment is ten people, and ten detachments are a hundred people. The task I gave them is to use guerrilla tactics to attack enemy tanks, Armored vehicles, as well as trucks transporting troops or fuel and ammunition.”
"Ten squads, one hundred people." After Zhukov repeated the data Sokov said, he said disapprovingly: "What threat can these few people pose to the Germans?"
"Comrade Marshal, although the small team I sent has only a hundred people, the role they played will definitely not be worse than that of a regiment fighting positional warfare." In order to further convince Zhukov, he also specifically mentioned an incident that happened under Stalinger. Battle examples during the Battle of Stalingrad: "During the Battle of Stalingrad, on a small hill south of Kletskaya, four soldiers of the 84th Regiment of the 33rd Guards Division relied on the four anti-tank weapons they carried. The tank rifle destroyed 15 enemy tanks. I believe that the ten anti-tank squads I sent will achieve more brilliant results than them."
The battle examples mentioned by Sokov were seen by Zhukov in the battle reports submitted by the 62nd Army. At that time, he still felt that four anti-tank fighters destroyed 15 German tanks, but he suffered no casualties. This result was too incredible. But after subsequent verification, it was found that this classic battle example was actually true.
Now when Sokov said that the ten anti-tank squads he sent could achieve greater results, Zhukov only thought for a moment before agreeing with the other party's statement. You know, the rocket launchers equipped by Sokov's troops are much more effective against German tanks than anti-tank guns.
"Then let your anti-tank squad take action quickly." Zhukov said into the microphone: "Now the enemy has arrived at the city of Prokhorovka and is engaged in a fierce battle with our army. If your anti-tank squad can hurry up, If it plays its role, it can also reduce the pressure on the defending troops."
The ten anti-tank squads sent by Sokov were scattered on a vast battlefield 15 kilometers wide and 30 kilometers deep. They were like a drop of water falling into the sea and immediately lost their trace. They cleverly used terrain such as ravines, craters, trenches, and woods to attack German tanks and armored vehicles that appeared in front of them with rockets.
The battalion commander of the 1st Battalion of the 84th Marine Brigade was Major Shamrih. After receiving the brigade commander's order to dispatch an anti-tank squad to harass the enemy, he immediately called the platoon leader, Sergeant Hollor, and gave the order. He said: "Comrade Sergeant, according to the order from our superiors, our battalion is going to send out an anti-tank squad to harass the enemy's transportation lines. After discussing with the deputy battalion commander, I decided to hand over this glorious task to your platoon. Done. You immediately select nine soldiers, carry a rocket, and as much ammunition as possible to perform the mission. Remember, the commander asked you to fight guerrillas, not positional warfare, so don’t wait all the time In one place, you have to take a shot to change the place. Do you understand?"
Sergeant Hollor is a veteran who participated in the Battle of Stalingrad and is also an old subordinate of Sokov. Naturally, he knows all about this kind of guerrilla tactics. After hearing Shamrih's question, he quickly and loudly replied: "Understood, comrade battalion commander, when we harass the enemy, we will definitely change our positions at any time so that the enemy cannot find our traces."
After Holor selected the members of the team, he set off quietly before it was dark. Unlike several other detachments, which controlled their activity areas close to their own positions, he moved towards the Pushor River.
At dawn, Holor had already led his team for seven or eight kilometers. The anti-tank soldier carrying the rocket launcher was a little overwhelmed and complained: "Comrade Sergeant, the position where we ambush the enemy is too far from our army's position."
As soon as he finished speaking, the ammunition hand carrying several rockets on his back echoed: "Yes, Comrade Sergeant, we were exhausted after a day of forced march. We could have set up an ambush near the position, so why did we leave? So far?"
When Holor saw his soldiers complaining, he stopped and said to them: "Comrades, I know everyone is tired, but there is a reason why I did not choose to set up an ambush near our army's position."
"Is there a reason?" the anti-tank soldier asked puzzledly: "What is the reason?"
"That's right, by setting up an ambush in an area close to the position, not only do you not have to walk far, but also if the situation is critical, we can quickly withdraw to our position." After Hollor finished talking about the advantages of setting up an ambush close to the position, Then he continued: "Did you ever think about it at that time? It is precisely because it is close to our army's position that the enemy will definitely not choose to pass there in order to avoid conflict with us. Even if there are enemies who want to pass here, they will definitely maintain a very high altitude. vigilance, which brings a certain degree of difficulty to our ambush. On the contrary, if we choose the location of the ambush far away from our army's positions, the enemy will relax their vigilance when passing through these areas, allowing us to easily Destroy them."
After the soldiers heard what Sergeant Hollor said, although they were still dubious, they, who were used to obeying their superiors, stopped talking and followed Hollor and continued to walk forward.
After walking another kilometer or two, the rumble of cannons was heard in the distance. Sergeant Hollor looked in the direction where the gunfire came from. Knowing that the German army was preparing to attack, he decided to find a suitable place nearby to hide. He looked around and found that the simple road passed by a forest, and there was a long ravine outside the forest. Seeing such terrain, Sergeant Hollor couldn't help but be overjoyed, and hurried over with his people to conduct a careful survey.
After getting closer, Hollor discovered that the ravine was about fifty meters away from the road, and one end of it extended into the woods. After seeing the terrain clearly, Hollor nodded secretly. He thought to himself: This ditch is only more than fifty meters away from the road. Anti-tank soldiers hiding in the ditch can easily destroy the German tanks on the road. Moreover, this ravine is connected to the woods. If the battle does not go well, he can lead his people to retreat into the woods along the ravine.
Thinking of this, he immediately ordered everyone: "Comrades, we will choose the ambush location here. I think everyone must be very tired after such a long march, so we should seize the time to have a good rest before the enemy comes over." "
Everyone hid in the ravine, some began to close their eyes and rest, while others began to eat and drink. The anti-tank soldier sitting next to Hollor quietly listened to the rumble of artillery in the distance, and whispered to Hollor: "Comrade Staff Sergeant, tell me, how long will it take for the enemy to reach us?" "
"I just took a look. It's about eight to ten kilometers away from the position that was bombarded." Hollor replied: "Even if the enemy launches an attack on the position immediately after the shelling stops, it must be done quickly." The longest wait to get to our place is two to three hours."
However, Hollor was just an ordinary sergeant, and he was not qualified to know many things. For example, he was not aware of Sokov's order to abandon secondary positions and concentrate all troops on the main positions. According to his idea, after the bombardment ended, the German army would need to spend at least an hour to break through the position, and then get here, at least two or three hours would have passed.
But what he did not expect was that the attacking Flag Guard division was attacking an undefended position. Since there was no resistance, the tanks naturally advanced towards the depth of the Soviet defenses after breaking through the position.
When Hollor saw the large number of German tanks appearing, he was dumbfounded. He didn't expect that only forty minutes had passed from the time he ordered the ambush position to the time the German armored troops appeared.
Seeing Holor's stunned look, the anti-tank soldier on the side was also frightened. He asked in a panic: "Comrade Sergeant, the German tanks are coming, should we take action?"
"Do it, why do you do it?" Holor glared at the anti-tank man and said sternly: "You didn't see that there were twenty or thirty tanks coming. Do you think you can destroy them with just one rocket launcher you carry?" So many tanks?”
"Then what should we do?" the anti-tank man asked.
"The enemy is powerful and we cannot confront them head-on." Holor quickly ordered the members of the squad: "Everyone listen to my order and immediately move along the ravine to the woods to avoid being discovered by the enemy coming over."
Thinking of this, he immediately ordered everyone: "Comrades, we will choose the ambush location here. I think everyone must be very tired after such a long march, so we should seize the time to have a good rest before the enemy comes over." "
Everyone hid in the ravine, some began to close their eyes and rest, while others began to eat and drink. The anti-tank soldier sitting next to Hollor quietly listened to the rumble of artillery in the distance, and whispered to Hollor: "Comrade Staff Sergeant, tell me, how long will it take for the enemy to reach us?" "
"I just took a look. It's about eight to ten kilometers away from the position that was bombarded." Hollor replied: "Even if the enemy launches an attack on the position immediately after the shelling stops, it must be done quickly." The longest wait to get to our place is two to three hours."
However, Hollor was just an ordinary sergeant, and he was not qualified to know many things. For example, he was not aware of Sokov's order to abandon secondary positions and concentrate all troops on the main positions. According to his idea, after the bombardment ended, the German army would need to spend at least an hour to break through the position, and then get here, at least two or three hours would have passed.
But what he did not expect was that the attacking Flag Guard division was attacking an undefended position. Since there was no resistance, the tanks naturally advanced towards the depth of the Soviet defenses after breaking through the position.
When Hollor saw the large number of German tanks appearing, he was dumbfounded. He didn't expect that only forty minutes had passed from the time he ordered the ambush position to the time the German armored troops appeared.
Seeing Holor's stunned look, the anti-tank soldier on the side was also frightened. He asked in a panic: "Comrade Sergeant, the German tanks are coming, should we take action?"
"Do it, why do you do it?" Holor glared at the anti-tank man and said sternly: "You didn't see that there were twenty or thirty tanks coming. Do you think you can destroy them with just one rocket launcher you carry?" So many tanks?”
"Then what should we do?" the anti-tank man asked.
"The enemy is powerful and we cannot confront them head-on." Holor quickly ordered the members of his squad: "Everyone listen to my order and immediately move along the ravine to the woods to avoid being discovered by the enemy coming over."
What happened next proved that Holor's decision was completely correct.
