After learning that the 19th Armored Division had been annihilated by the Soviet army, Manstein fell into a state of madness. In less than a week, his most elite Imperial Division, Skeleton Division and 19th Armored Division were annihilated by Sokov's troops. 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."
"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 hearing what he said, Manstein immediately straightened his face and said in a stern tone: "You are just 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 blushed with shame. He lowered his head and said embarrassedly: "I will not make similar mistakes 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 to 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 don't know 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 it 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 faced with 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 if he has the advantage, he is not Sokov's opponent at all. This Sokov, who is different from other Russian generals, seems 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 Front and Southeastern Front from the intelligence received, his attention was focused on the two directions of Oboyan and Prokhorovka. There is no time to take into account 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 The Russians retook that city."
"So, we are all fighting alone now?" the chief of staff asked cautiously.
"Yes, if the Führer does not transfer the 24th Armored Corps in my hand, 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 heartbroken: "A combat force of 50,000 people, 50,000 people, and 381 tanks and assault guns of various types. If the head of state had not mobilized this force, Let’s go, I can definitely use them to give the Russians a final blow and completely crush all their defenses in the Prokhorovka area.”
"Your Excellency, Marshal, let me ask 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 Balkans, troops had to be transferred from the eastern front to support the Italian front." 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 should we 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. Youdestined Book Bar
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 blankly at the open space in front of the position through the thick smoke. They found no trace of the attacking Soviet troops, and did not even hear the familiar "Ula" sound. arrive.
Just when they were puzzled, strange sounds came from the air. Soon, the German officers and soldiers saw countless arrow-like fires appearing in the sky. "Concealed," most German officers and soldiers have seen the power of Soviet rocket launchers. As soon as they saw the fire in the sky, they knew that the Soviet Katyusha rockets were launched, and they quickly dispersed and hid in nearby shelters or anti-guns. Hole.
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 whole earth tremble. The German officers and soldiers hiding in the shelter felt the thick soil above their heads falling like rain.
After Katyusha completed a salvo, three red flares appeared in the air, which was the signal for the 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 towards the German positions as if they were on fire. Soon after the infantry attacked, the tanks and self-propelled artillery hidden in the rear also started to move at full speed across the trenches and rushed towards the enemy's position.
Colonel Shechtman's 188th Division, covered by the tanks of General Bakharov's 18th Tank Corps, also rushed towards the position of the Flag Guard Division. Despite the fact that several attacks launched in succession failed yesterday, today, both Colonel Shechtman and General Baharov felt that it was entirely possible for the troops coordinated by infantry and tanks to break through the defensive positions of the flag guard.
The 181st Tank Brigade covered the 564th Regiment of the 188th Division. The targets of the attack were the positions of the German 101st Heavy Tank Company and the 1st Assault Artillery Battalion. Before the attack started, no one would think that this would be a tough nut to crack. They all thought that as soon as the tanks rushed up, the German defense would immediately collapse.
"Your Excellency, Marshal, let me ask 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 Balkans, troops had to be transferred from the eastern front to support the Italian front." 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 should we 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 blankly at the open space in front of the position through the thick smoke. They found no trace of the attacking Soviet troops, and did not even hear the familiar "Ula" sound. arrive.
Just when they were puzzled, strange sounds came from the air. Soon, the German officers and soldiers saw countless arrow-like fires appearing in the sky. "Concealed," most German officers and soldiers have seen the power of Soviet rocket launchers. As soon as they saw the fire in the sky, they knew that the Soviet Katyusha rockets were launched, and they quickly dispersed and hid in nearby shelters or anti-guns. Hole.
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 whole earth tremble. The German officers and soldiers hiding in the shelter felt the thick soil above their heads falling like rain.
After Katyusha completed a salvo, three red flares appeared in the air, which was the signal for the 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 towards the German positions as if they were on fire. Soon after the infantry attacked, the tanks and self-propelled artillery hidden in the rear also started to move at full speed across the trenches and rushed towards the enemy's position.
Colonel Shechtman's 188th Division, covered by the tanks of General Bakharov's 18th Tank Corps, also rushed towards the position of the Flag Guard Division. Despite the fact that several attacks launched in succession failed yesterday, 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 covered the 564th Regiment of the 188th Division. The targets of the attack were the positions of the German 101st Heavy Tank Company and the 1st Assault Artillery Battalion. Before the attack started, no one would think that this would be a tough nut to crack. They all thought that as soon as the tanks rushed up, the German defense would immediately collapse.
