That night, Manstein called Huot and asked directly: "General Huot, our fortress plan has failed. The troops attacking the right wing at the southern end of Kursk have all withdrawn to Belgorod. You We should also withdraw our troops as soon as possible, otherwise we will face the risk of being surrounded by the Russians."
"Your Majesty Marshal!" Hott waited for Manstein to finish and said with a sad face: "The one blocking our way is Sokov's troops. The attacks I ordered the Grossdeutschland Division to launch during the day were all crushed by him. Moreover, our armored forces We suffered huge losses under the Russian bombing. Without your help, I think it would be very difficult to return to Belgorod smoothly."
Manstein heard the implication from Huot's words: "General Huot, I hear you don't seem to want to lead the troops back to Belgorod?"
"Yes, Your Excellency Marshal." Seeing that Manstein had guessed his intention, Holt did not hide it: "Although our location is only thirty kilometers away from Belgorod, if we want to break through, we must be good at defense. We are bound to pay huge casualties on the defense line of the famous Sokov Force.”
"Then what did you think about it?" Manstein asked.
"I plan to withdraw the troops to the southwest, via Red Yaruya, and enter Kharkov."
"No." Manstein glanced at the map in front of him and rejected Holt's plan without hesitation: "By way of Red Yaruja, you will have to march at least more than a hundred kilometers. Do you think the remaining armored forces will Can the fuel still sustain such a long march?”
"Marshal!" Holt never wanted to go that far in his heart, but judging from today's battle, the Soviet fighter planes were the nemesis of his armored forces, preventing him from investing more tanks in the battle, lest he become a The attack target of Soviet fighter planes was reached. "The Russians' air power was too strong, and if we didn't have enough air force to counterattack, we didn't put more tanks into the attack."
"General Huot, you don't have to worry." After hearing this, Manstein finally understood what Huot meant. As long as he could get air support, he could invest more tanks and launch an assault on the Soviet blocking position. Therefore, he said decisively: "I will send enough planes tomorrow to cover your southward breakout. In this way, you don't have to return to Kharkov via Red Yaruja in the southwest, right?"
Seeing that Manstein offered to send planes to assist in the battle tomorrow, Holt felt that his goal had been achieved. He quickly said: "Your Excellency, Marshal, thank you. If you can really send a sufficient number of fighter planes to compete with the Russians for air supremacy on the battlefield, "We are 90% sure that we can break through the Russian defenses in the morning."
"Don't worry, General Hott." Manstein said to Hott: "When you successfully break through, I will personally go to the outside of Belgorod to greet you."
At dawn the next day, Huote concentrated more than 300 artillery pieces of various calibers and launched a fierce bombardment at the positions defended by the 188th Infantry Division.
Seeing that his position was shrouded in artillery fire, Koida couldn't help but become a little anxious. He quickly contacted Sokov who was staying at the headquarters through the newly laid telephone line.
"Comrade Commander? This is Colonel Koida." As soon as the call came through, Koida couldn't wait to say: "The enemy's artillery is carrying out violent shelling on the defensive positions of our division."
"Comrade Colonel?" Sokov had long expected that the enemy would shell the defensive positions. So when he heard Koida say this, he was not surprised at all. Instead, he asked: "Did you dig enough numbers on the position?" Are there any bombproof holes?"
"Dig it." Koida replied: "As soon as my troops entered the defensive position, they began to dig a large number of anti-gun holes."
"Since there are enough anti-gun holes, what are you worried about, Comrade Colonel?" Sokov said into the microphone: "I will immediately ask my superiors to dispatch the air force to bomb the enemy's artillery positions to reduce your pressure."
After ending the call with Koida, Sokov immediately ordered the director of the communications corps: "Director of the communications corps, please connect me to the headquarters of the Steppe Front immediately."
A few minutes later, the director of the communications corps told Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the call has been connected."
Sokov took the phone and said loudly: "I mean Sokov, I wonder who I am talking to?"
"It's me, Konev." Konev's familiar voice came from the receiver: "Major General Sokov, you are in a hurry to call me at this time. Is the enemy shelling your position? Do you want to Shall I send out the air force to support?”
"Yes, Comrade Commander of the Front Army." Seeing that Konev guessed his intention before he spoke, Sokov asked with some surprise: "Are you willing to send out the air force to support us?"
"It stands to reason that your group army is not under my jurisdiction now. There is no need for me to send out the air force to support you." Hearing what Konev said, Sokov's heart suddenly went cold. Without the support of the air force, let alone holding on. Ten hours, I'm afraid I won't be able to withstand even one hour. But just when he was frustrated, he heard Konev continue: "But since Marshal Zhukov personally greeted me and asked me to do everything possible to help you, then I will definitely obey the orders of my superiors. The air force is dispatched to help you."
"Thank you, thank you so much." Sokov couldn't help but be overjoyed when he learned that Konev would obey Zhukov's order and dispatch the air force to support him. He thanked him repeatedly: "With your support, we will be more confident. Hold the position. By the way, when will your air force arrive on the battlefield? Now my position has been hit by the enemy's powerful artillery fire. If the air force arrives too late, I am worried that there will be huge casualties..."
"Okay, okay, Major General Sokov, don't complain in front of me." Before Sokov could finish speaking, Konev interrupted him without hesitation: "I will order the air force to Get to the fighting area as soon as possible." In order to notify the air force to attack as soon as possible, after Konev said this, he hung up the phone without giving Sokov another chance to complain.
"Comrade Commander," Seeing Konev hanging up the phone so quickly, Samyko asked Sokov worriedly: "Do you think the commander of the front army is unwilling to send the air force to support us? Otherwise, how could he hang up so quickly? What about disconnecting the phone?"
But Sokov said with a happy face: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you are worrying too much. General Konev is a man who works vigorously and resolutely. He hung up the phone so quickly in order to contact the Air Force as soon as possible and let them hurry up. To the battlefield.”
He put the phone back on the phone base, and then asked Sameko: "Chief of Staff, is the First Artillery Division ready for battle?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Samyko quickly replied: "A few minutes ago, I just spoke with Colonel Terenga, the commander of the 1st Artillery Division. He said that all the artillery has locked the target and is only waiting for you. With a single order, the cannon can be fired.”
"Comrade Chief of Staff," who knew that after listening, Sokov waved his hand towards Samyko and said, "I think it is up to Koida and Telenga to decide when to carry out the artillery bombardment. After all, our headquarters is far away from the battlefield and cannot understand the situation on the battlefield in a timely manner. If we wait for the battle report from our subordinates and then designate the bombardment time based on the battle report, it will easily delay the fighter plane."
"I understand, Comrade Commander." After listening to what Sokov said, Samyko nodded quickly and said: "I immediately asked Terenga and Koida to establish contact, and they will negotiate when to start attacking the enemy. Carry out shelling."
When Samyko went to the side to call the 1st Artillery Division, Sokov felt that this battle was just a group army operation, and it would be difficult to achieve the predetermined goal. It must be supported by friendly forces. Thinking of this, he asked the director of the communications corps to connect to the headquarters of the Voronezh Front.
After the call was connected, the person who answered the phone was Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Ivanov. After hearing Sokov's voice, he asked in surprise: "Major General Sokov, did the enemy attack your blocking position?"
"Report to Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov replied: "The enemy is bombarding our blocking position with intensive artillery fire. I am afraid that we will not launch a ground attack until the shelling is over."
"Is there anything we can do for you?"
"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." The purpose of Sokov's call is to let the front army headquarters urge the friendly forces to take action, so as not to have his own troops perform a one-man show: "I think it is necessary to let the friendly forces in the direction of Oboyan, Launch a counterattack against the enemy, which can disperse the enemy's strength."
"Well, no problem." Knowing that Sokov had called to let the defenders in the direction of Oboyan attack, Ivanov replied without hesitation: "I will immediately notify the First Tank Army and the nearby The troops of the Sixth Guards Army launched a counterattack against the enemies in the Oboyan area in the shortest possible time."
After saying this, Ivanov paused for a moment and then continued: "The Sixth Guards Army was adapted from your original 21st Army, and most of the division commanders are your old subordinates. If If your two armies can successfully join forces, I hope you can take the initiative to take over the command."
In fact, even if Ivanov didn't say this, Sokov was planning to make a request to his superiors to put himself in charge of commanding the two armies after the two armies joined forces. If there is no unified command and the two armies work independently, the effectiveness will be greatly reduced. Now that Ivanov said this, Sokov was given a Shangfang sword and was responsible for commanding two armies, and it became justifiable.
"Comrade Chief of Staff, thank you for your trust." Sokov said gratefully to Ivanov: "I will never let down your expectations of me."
…………
The air force dispatched by Konev arrived over the smoke-filled battlefield a quarter of an hour later.
At this moment, the enemy's shelling has not stopped, and the tanks and infantry responsible for the ground attack are still gathering. So the arriving Soviet planes continued to fly forward, preparing to bomb the German artillery positions and the tanks and infantry that were gathering.
Soviet aircraft swooped down from high altitudes, dropped bombs and strafed at the German tanks and infantry assembled on the ground, using aerial bombs and bullets to turn enemy tanks into burning scrap metal and infantry into cold corpses.
When the news came that the attack force assembly point had been bombed, the artillery positions that were being bombarded immediately fell silent. The German artillery officers and soldiers began to move their positions to avoid becoming targets of Soviet bombers.
When Holt learned that his offensive troops had suffered heavy losses under the Soviet bombing, and that the artillery had also hurriedly moved their positions, he was so angry that he stamped his feet and cursed in the headquarters, saying that Manstein had deceived him and promised to provide him with air combat. The support was not fulfilled, causing heavy losses to the troops he was gathering.
Just when Holt was furious, a staff officer ran in from outside and shouted excitedly to Holt: "Your Excellency, Commander, plane, our plane is here!"
"Our plane is here?" Holt was scolding Manstein for not telling the truth. Now when he heard the staff member say that the plane had appeared, he still couldn't believe it was true and quickly asked: "You read that correctly, right?"
"No, Your Excellency, Commander. I am definitely not wrong." The staff officer said excitedly: "I clearly saw the cross mark on the wings of the aircraft."
"Great, this is really great." Knowing that the eagerly awaited Air Force finally arrived, Holt felt much more at ease. He called Chief of Staff Merinjin to him and told him: "Chief of Staff, after our planes drive away the Russian planes and regain air superiority on the battlefield, we will immediately launch an attack on the Russian blocking positions."
"Understood." Mei Linjin replied: "I immediately called several division commanders and asked them to prepare for the assault."
With the arrival of German aircraft, Soviet bombers and attack aircraft that were originally bombing German troops on the ground had to abandon their ground targets and start a battle with the approaching German fighter jets.
Hundreds of aircraft of various types were flying up and down on the battlefield, fighting fiercely. From time to time, planes would drag long black smoke ribbons, flying diagonally towards the ground, and finally land on the ground, causing earth-shattering explosions, and then rising into the sky with plumes of black gunpowder smoke. "Our plane is here?" Holt was scolding Manstein for not telling the truth. Now when he heard the staff member say that the plane had appeared, he still couldn't believe it was true and quickly asked: "You read that correctly, right?"
"No, Your Excellency, Commander. I am definitely not wrong." The staff officer said excitedly: "I clearly saw the cross mark on the wings of the aircraft."
"Great, this is really great." Knowing that the eagerly awaited Air Force finally arrived, Holt felt much more at ease. He called Chief of Staff Merinjin to him and told him: "Chief of Staff, after our planes drive away the Russian planes and regain air superiority on the battlefield, we will immediately launch an attack on the Russian blocking positions."
"Understood." Mei Linjin replied: "I immediately called several division commanders and asked them to prepare for the assault."
With the arrival of German aircraft, Soviet bombers and attack aircraft that were originally bombing German troops on the ground had to abandon their ground targets and start a battle with the approaching German fighter jets.
Hundreds of aircraft of various types were flying up and down on the battlefield, fighting fiercely. From time to time, planes would drag long black smoke ribbons and fly diagonally toward the ground. Finally, they would land on the ground and explode with earth-shattering explosions, followed by plumes of flaming black smoke.
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