While Zhukov and others were planning the counterattack for the next day, Manstein, who was sitting on the plane flying to Berlin, looked gloomy. This calm and observant marshal made a decision based on his own consciousness. Having made a judgment, Mustache summoned him urgently at this moment, which was definitely not a good thing.
It was like playing a movie in his mind, reviewing many details since the beginning of the Battle of the Fortress. Even though Tansen's Imperial Division suffered another devastating blow, his troops still achieved great results. Perhaps in another day or two, or even tomorrow, the troops gathered outside Prokhorovka will successfully defeat the numerically superior Russians and capture the city.
Although Rokossovsky's troops north of Kursk are launching an attack on the Orel salient, threatening the retreat of Model's 9th Army, but with Model's strength, I believe he is fully capable of resolving this battle. crisis. And once his troops successfully occupy the city of Prokhorovka, the original strategic intention of detouring from the north and south wings and encircling the Russian troops in the Kursk salient can still be fully realized.
He shouted in his heart: "If we really transfer troops from Kursk to reinforce Sicily at this moment, then we will lose the victory that is within easy reach."
A few hours later, when Manstein arrived at the Wolf Lair, he unexpectedly saw Kruger, the commander of Army Group Center, sitting in a spacious room, drinking coffee expressionlessly. Seeing Manstein's arrival, Kruger stood up and asked with a surprised look on his face: "Marshal Manstein, I didn't expect that the Führer would recall you from the front line."
"Yes, Mr. Marshal." Manstein said absently while shaking hands with Kruger: "I also hurriedly left the front line after receiving a temporary order from the head of state."
"Do you know why the Führer summoned us?"
"I think this emergency summons may be related to the landing of Britain and the United States in Sicily." Manstein said expressionlessly: "In order to ease the situation there, troops from the Eastern Front may be mobilized for reinforcements."
"Deploying troops from the Eastern Front?" Kruger said in surprise: "Wouldn't this reduce our strength in Russia?"
"Two marshals," before Manstein could express his views again, an SS officer appeared in front of the two men and said respectfully: "Please follow me to the conference room. The conference will begin soon. It’s about to begin.”
The two followed the officers to the conference room, where Manstein saw many familiar faces: Army Chief of Staff General Zeitzler, Chief of General Staff Marshal Keitel, and his deputy Chief of Operations Jodl. Of course, Air Marshal Göring, wearing a white uniform full of medals, is indispensable.
For the two marshals who returned from the front line, everyone's attitude towards Manstein was obviously much more enthusiastic. After all, the other marshal was the "Conqueror of Sevastopol" and his achievements were enough to overshadow what Kruger had done in Russia. everything.
Shortly after the two sat down, they heard an officer at the door shouting loudly: "His Excellency the Head of State is here!"
Hearing this shout, everyone stood up in unison, straightened their bodies and looked at the door. Soon, everyone saw the familiar mustache. He lowered his head, put his hands behind his back, and walked in expressionlessly.
When the generals and marshals present saluted him, he just raised his hand casually. After he sat down, he turned his eyes to the Chief of General Staff of the Army beside him: "Zeitzler, let me introduce the current situation to everyone."
Zeitzler, whose name was called, stood up, walked to the wall, pointed to the map on the wall with the explanatory stick in his hand, and said to everyone: "Gentlemen, Britain and the United States implemented the plan in Sicily on July 9. For the landing operation, their operational intention was to eliminate our and Italian air and sea power from the island, control the Mediterranean and remove Italian Prime Minister Mussolini from power, and establish a powerful starting point for future attacks on Italy.
In order to defeat this attempt by Britain and the United States, the Sicilian defenders began to counterattack under the command of Italian Lieutenant General Guzzoni. Our 15th Armored Division was transferred from the west of the island to the east coast to prevent Montgomery's British 8th Army from moving to Augusta in the north; the Goering Armored Infantry Division and the two Italian motorized infantry divisions moved towards Patton's The US 7th Army launched a counterattack. In order to ensure the success of the counterattack, the Air Force also dispatched 481 aircraft of various types to provide necessary air support to ground forces. "
When Manstein heard this, he couldn't help but glance at Goering, thinking that the big fat man's face must be full of pride. After all, among the troops participating in the counterattack, not only his air force was dispatched, but there was even a Armored Infantry Division. Unexpectedly, he unexpectedly saw the other person closing his eyes and concentrating with an expressionless expression.
Just listen to Zeitzler continue: "It is regrettable that our counterattack was not successful. Although our tanks advanced to a position less than two kilometers away from the US military beachhead, they encountered a crazy counterattack by the Americans. Even their warships used naval guns to bombard our tanks.
The battle lasted until evening. After losing a large number of tanks, our army had to choose to retreat, and the US military took the opportunity to occupy the city of Jela. The 15th Armored Division to the east failed to stop the British, and Syracuse fell. "
Manstein felt particularly heavy as he listened to Zeitzler's report. The failure of Sicily's counterattack meant that elite troops had to be transferred from other battlefields to strengthen the defense there. It seemed that the head of state summoned him urgently because he wanted to take his hand. The elite troops were transferred to the most critical areas of the war.
"Marshal Kruger, Marshal Manstein." Just as Manstein was frowning and thinking hard, he suddenly heard Mustache calling him and Kruger. He quickly stopped thinking and stood up to wait for Mustache. instruct. Seeing both marshals standing up, Mustache said expressionlessly: "In view of the fact that the British and American coalition forces landed in Sicily, the situation in Italy has become very unstable, and our ally Italy cannot resist the West with its own strength. Allied invasion. In order to save Italy and the Balkans, I decided to suspend the fortress operation and transfer troops from the Eastern Front to support the Italian front."
"My head of state," as soon as Mustache finished speaking, Kruger said with a smile: "Your decision is really wise. The troops of Russian General Rokossovsky are attacking the Orel salient. , seriously threatening the retreat of the 9th Army. In order to avoid General Model's troops being surrounded by the Russians, we should indeed terminate the attack and switch to defense on the spot."
"My head of state," Manstein waited for Kruger to finish and immediately raised his objection: "Although our army encountered some obstacles during the offensive, I won the victory against our army in the Kursk salient. We are still full of confidence. Today, the Russians have been defeated by our army's powerful offensive. As long as we persist a little longer, we can win.
I strongly suggest that Army Group Center and Army Group South should continue to launch an offensive toward the Kursk salient as planned to achieve the original strategic goal. "
Hearing Manstein's statement, Zeitzler showed an expression of surprise on his face. He asked a bit gaffefully: "Marshal, what are you going to do next?"
"Now the Russians have invested all their reserves in Kursk," Manstein said according to his own thinking: "And I still have the 23rd Armored Division and the Viking Division in my hands. I just need to put these two units into battle. , we can completely crush the Russian resistance and enable us to win the final victory."
"Mr. Marshal, you are so optimistic." Unexpectedly, as soon as Manstein finished speaking, Marshal Kruger jumped out to refute him: "Under the current circumstances, Army Group Center cannot participate in any plan to continue the offensive, because The Russians are launching an offensive. Once they capture the Orel salient, Model's 9th Army will be trapped in a tight encirclement. It will become the second Stalingrad. Therefore, the top priority of our Army Group Center is how to With the 9th Army safely withdrawn, any attack will be out of our consideration."
When Kruger mentioned Stalingrad, Mustache's face suddenly turned livid. After Paulus's troops were encircled, more than one person tried to persuade him to agree to Paulus's troops jumping out of the Russian encirclement, but he ruthlessly refused. Now Model's 9th Army is also facing being encircled by the Russians. He will never allow this to happen, so his decision to terminate Operation Fortress has become stronger.
"That's enough, stop talking." Mustache interrupted Kruger's last words and said angrily: "Now we are fighting on two fronts at the same time, so we must not invest the last reserves in the protracted battle. Go in the middle of the battle. Therefore, the termination of Operation Bastion is necessary, and we must mobilize troops to reinforce Italy as soon as possible."
"My head of state, I do not agree to deploy troops from the Kursk region to reinforce Italy." Manstein knew Mustache's temper very well and knew that in any argument with the head of state, if he prevailed, it would be inevitable. to bring about ruthless revenge. But in order to prevent the easy victory from slipping away in vain, he could only bite the bullet and said: "Today's Russians can hardly hold on any longer. As long as we put in the final reserves, we can completely crush their resistance." .”
If someone else had contradicted Mustache like this, Mustache would have been furious. But the person speaking at this moment was Manstein, the conqueror of Sevastopol. This marshal successfully crushed the powerful Russian offensive at the beginning of the year when his troops and equipment were at a disadvantage. Since he said that the Russians in the Kursk salient could be eliminated, then this possibility must exist.
