Chapter 1245 A Long Day (Part 2)

  Two hours before dawn, the infantry brigade and the marine brigade arrived at Sokov's location.

Sokov waited for the three brigade commanders to salute him, then went up to shake hands with them one by one, and said with a smile: "You guys came in a really timely manner, so we will have enough troops to hold our current position. "

Colonel Chuvashov waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and immediately said impatiently: "Comrade Commander, please give us an order. I assure you, even if our 84th Marine Brigade fights to the last man, It will never give up the position to the Germans."

"You all come to the map." Sokov called the three brigade commanders to the table, pointed to the map spread out on it, and said to them: "I plan to place all three of your brigades on the right flank of the 188th Division. , Well, here it is."

After Chuvashov glanced at the map, he couldn't help frowning: "Comrade Commander, our defense zone is more than ten kilometers away from the troops in charge of the Pshol River defense line. With such a wide front, which one do you plan to let go?" What about troops to defend?"

"I don't intend to arrange troops here for defense." Sukov picked up a pencil, drew a circle at the position where the defense was arranged, and said to everyone: "The task I give you is to hold the existing defense line for two days Above. Are you confident?"

   After Sokov finished speaking, no one agreed to him. The three brigade commanders looked at each other, as if they hadn't recovered from the shock. After a while, Chuvashov said: "Comrade Commander, once we shrink our forces to defend and create a defensive gap between us and the Pusol River defense line, the enemy will be able to pass through here swaggeringly, heading east. To attack the city of Prokhorovka."

"Comrade Commander, in addition to the possibility that Colonel Chuvashov said, there is a worse situation." Lieutenant Colonel Uzakov, the commander of the infantry brigade, continued: "After the enemy passed through the gap between our defense lines, It can turn around to our rear, encircle us, and completely cut us off from our friendly forces. Once we are surrounded by the Germans and the supply line is interrupted, I don’t know how many days we can last.”

Seeing that everyone still had doubts about his order, Sokov did not simply and rudely order the other party to carry out his order, but explained to them: "Three brigade commander comrades, you also know that from our defense zone to The defense line of the Pushol River is more than ten kilometers away. If all three of your brigades are deployed in this area, it means that each of your brigades must be responsible for a five-kilometer frontal defense.

   How many troops do you have left, even if I don’t tell you, you should know it in your heart. Even if each brigade has 1,500 people, only 300 people can be deployed per kilometer. Tell me, in the absence of strong fortifications, can your little force block the attack of an enemy several times your size? "

The three thought about Sokov's words in their hearts, then shook their heads neatly, and replied embarrassingly: "I can't hold it! If each of our brigades has a five-kilometer defense front, it means that every soldier has to be responsible The distance is three to four meters. As long as the Germans concentrate their forces to attack, they can easily tear through our defense line."

  Seeing that the three brigade commanders also realized the seriousness of the problem, Sokov nodded with a smile, and continued: "Since we can't defend, why should we waste our precious troops on these unimportant defensive areas?"

"However, shall we just watch the Germans striding forward to Prokhorovka from the gap in our defense line?" Chuvashov reminded Sukov again: "Once they and the German troops from other directions Confluence, I fear the city is in danger of falling."

"Don't worry, Comrade Colonel." Sokov grinned and said, "As long as we hold our ground, the enemy will not be able to boldly attack the city of Prokhorovka. When necessary, we can Launch an attack in the enemy's rear, beat them head to tail, and hasten their defeat."

Lieutenant Colonel Dobrushin, who had been silent all this time, said, "Comrade Commander, I have an idea. This defensive front, which is more than ten kilometers wide, cannot just be handed over to the enemy. Should we do something? ?”

   "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you are right." Sokov said: "Although we do not deploy a large force for defense in this area, we can leave some small units here to deal with the enemy."

  Sokov's words made everyone's eyes shine. Chuvashov's reaction was the fastest: "Comrade Commander, do you plan to deploy some anti-tank teams here to ambush the enemy's armored forces?"

"Colonel Chuvashov, you are right." Sokov gave the opponent a thumbs up, and then said: "The rockets we are equipped with can attack the enemy's tanks, armored vehicles and Trucks. If we deploy several anti-tank teams in this area, how much damage can you tell the enemy?"

Chuvashov turned his head and glanced at the other two brigade commanders, then turned to look at Sokov and said, "Comrade commander, I think we can send at least ten anti-tank teams with three brigades. Even if one team can only destroy Two or three tanks, but when the numbers add up, the enemy will lose twenty or thirty tanks..."

From the words of Colonel Chuvashov, Sokov realized that the other party planned to use these anti-tank teams to fight against the enemy, so he raised his hand and interrupted him: "Comrade Colonel, I want to correct you. We The anti-tank team sent to this area adopted the guerrilla tactics of shooting one shot for another place, to consume as many enemy tanks as possible, instead of fighting with the enemy.

  So when you send anti-tank teams, each team must equip them with a fire team of equal numbers to provide them with cover. Even if the firepower team is exhausted, we must do our best to protect the safety of the anti-tank team. "

   Regarding Sokov's order, the three fell into confusion again. Koyda, who was present at the meeting, saw that the three did not understand what Sokov meant, so he explained from the side: "Three brigade commanders, comrades, don't you understand what the commander means? The enemy's blitzkrieg relies on the large number of If our anti-tank fighters achieve great results and destroy a large number of their tanks and armored vehicles, then the combat effectiveness of the enemy who loses the cover of tanks and armored vehicles will be greatly reduced.

  It is of course a good thing if all the small teams that went out to perform missions can come back. But if you are entangled by the enemy, you must give priority to letting the anti-tank team retreat, and let the fire team stay behind. As long as the anti-tank team is preserved, they will be able to destroy more enemy tanks in the later battles. "

   "So that's how it is." After Keida's explanation, the three brigade commanders immediately understood what was going on. They all expressed to Sokov that they would definitely send a capable combat team to cover the anti-tank team's attack on the enemy's armored forces.

  …

  Before daybreak, Joseph Dietrich's Banner Guard division came to attack position.

Hausser was overjoyed when he learned that the Banner Guard Division had arrived. He hurriedly invited Dietrich to his command cabin, and said earnestly, "General Dietrich, it's a pity that your troops came a day late, otherwise we It has already torn the Russian defense line to pieces, and then smoothly advanced to the city of Prokhorovka."

   "Your Excellency, Commander," Dietrich said arrogantly, "Although my troops came a day late, the results we achieved today will definitely exceed the results accumulated by the Skeleton Division in two days."

  If it was in the past, Max Simon would definitely refute when he heard Dietrich say this, but yesterday's confrontation with Sokov's troops completely beat him to lose his temper. Seeing Hausser looking at him with worried eyes, he quickly squeezed out a smile on his face, and said to Dietrich: "Your Excellency, then I wish you good luck to rush into the city of Prokhorovka as soon as possible." .”

"My troops will definitely be the first to enter the city of Prokhorovka." On the way here, Dietrich learned more about the bitter battle that the Skeleton Division experienced yesterday, and he put a hand on Simon's shoulder He went up and said in a sympathetic tone: "Yesterday you fought hard all day. Follow us today and head towards the city of Prokhorovka. We will help you clear the enemies on the road ahead and make you It can move forward unimpeded.”

After yesterday's setbacks, Simon became confused about the future of the war. He felt that with his own strength, even if he wanted to break through the defense line of Sokov's army, he would inevitably pay a huge price. A miserable victory. With a few more victories like this, his troops would basically be able to cancel their numbers.

At this moment, when Dietrich volunteered to open the way ahead, he squeezed a smile on his face and said, "General Dietrich, on behalf of the officers and soldiers of the Skeleton Division, I thank you. I wish you all the best. Some reached the outside of Prokhorovka and rushed into the city ahead of the rest of the troops."

  Hauser was very happy to see Dietrich eager to learn. Although he doesn't like leapfrog command, he still wants to know whether the opponent is preparing to organize an attack: "General Dietrich, can you tell me how you plan to attack?"

"Your Excellency, Commander." Dietrich came to the map, pointed to the Soviet defense line above, and said to Hausser: "Before the attack, I intend to concentrate all the artillery fire and bombard a certain part of the Russian defense line." . Ten minutes after the shelling starts, my tanks and armored vehicles will go out, and when they are three or four hundred meters away from the Russian position, the artillery will stop shelling."

Dietrich said triumphantly: "Although the bombardment stopped, the Russians staying in the position were blown out of their heads even if they were not killed by our artillery fire. Before they recovered, our The tanks have already started at full power, ran over their incomplete positions, and continued to rush forward; while the armored vehicles that followed behind them would stop part of the way, allowing the infantry they carried to get out of the vehicles and go to clear the trenches. Russians with their heads turned..."

  Simon couldn't help raising his eyebrows when he heard this, and thought to himself: Isn't this the tactic I used yesterday? I didn't succeed yesterday. Can you use this tactic to break through the Russian defenses? You know, the Russians standing in front of us are our enemy, Sokov, who is not so easy to deal with.

But Simon thought about it again. After yesterday's fierce battle, Sokov's troops had consumed a lot of their vitality. , It is basically impossible, maybe the Banner Guard Division's assault today will feel a huge victory. He was even thinking in his heart, if Sokov was captured alive, what should he do with him?

  When the sky just glowed with white light, the artillery of the Skeleton Division and the 2nd SS Panzer Corps fired at the selected Soviet position. Seeing the flames and gunpowder rising from the distant position, Simon asked Dietrich curiously: "General Dietrich, why did you choose the breakthrough here?"

"After careful observation, I found that the terrain here is flat, which is very conducive to the maneuvering of armored forces, and the Russian defense force is relatively weak, which is the easiest position to break through." Dietrich explained: "So I concentrated all The artillery bombardment must tear a gap in the Russian position."

  Ten minutes passed in a flash, and the tanks of the armored regiment quickly rushed to the Soviet position in a wedge-shaped battle formation, followed by more than forty armored vehicles, and the 2nd Panzergrenadier Regiment followed far behind.

  As soon as the attack started, Simon kept watching the advance of the armored troops through the binoculars. The tanks in front were fully powered, trying to rush into the Soviet defensive position in the shortest possible time. When the tanks rushing to the front were about 500 meters away from the Soviet trenches, the artillery in the rear stopped shelling for fear of accidental injury.

Seeing the tanks of the Banner Guard division gradually approaching the Soviet army's position, but the Soviet army's trench was still silent, Simon couldn't help but frowned, and murmured: "It's strange, why there is no movement until now? Haven't they recovered from the shelling that just ended?"

Soon, the tanks rushing to the front rushed into the Soviet positions where the gunpowder smoke had not cleared, but the Soviets still had no defenses. No gunshots and explosions were heard, only the roar of engines on tanks and armored vehicles could be heard from a distance.

"General Dietrich, I feel something is wrong." Simon turned his head and said to Dietrich: "Your troops have rushed into the Russian position, but they must have not reacted, which is too abnormal. I suspect that they may have some conspiracy, you can remind your subordinates to be more careful."

  (end of this chapter)