Chapter 1257 The trend of closing the door and beating the dog (Part 1)

  The tank unit led by General Trufanov reached the defense area of ​​the 81st Guards Division at five o'clock.

  Division Commander Marankin was overjoyed when he saw the troops brought by Trufanov. Because of his excitement, his tongue was a little stiff: "Comrade Deputy Commander, I really didn't expect that you brought so many tanks. With these tanks, we don't have to hide in the position and passively defend, and we can attack the enemy at any time." Enemy armor counterattacks."

  "General Malankin," Trufanov said with a smile on his face, holding Malankin's hand, "you are really amazing. With only one division's strength, you blocked the onslaught of two German armored divisions."

Hearing Trufanov's praise to himself, Marankin couldn't help but blushed, and hurriedly explained: "Comrade Deputy Commander, you made a mistake, blocking the troops of the two German armored divisions, not only ours, but also ours. General Sokov's troops."

   "General Sokov?" After repeating the name, Trufanov asked tentatively, "Are you talking about Major General Sokov, commander of the 27th Army?"

   "That's right, it's him." Marankin replied affirmatively: "If it wasn't for his troops to cover my right wing well, maybe my troops would have been defeated by the Germans long ago."

"So that's the case." Don't look at Trufanov as the deputy commander of the group army, but because his troops have been marching, he doesn't understand many situations on the battlefield, so that until now, he thinks it is A division of Marankin blocked the German 6th and 19th Panzer Divisions.

Since there were friendly troops on the battlefield, and the commander of the opponent was higher than himself, Trufanov felt that it was necessary to pay a visit to the opponent, so he asked Marankin, "General Marankin, Comrade Sokov's headquarters, Is it far from here?"

   "Not far, not far," Marankin said, waving his hands, "It's only four or five kilometers away from my headquarters. If you want to see him, I can accompany you there."

   After obtaining Trufanov's consent, Marankin led a small detachment, together with Trufanov, to the defense zone of Sokov's troops.

   When Sokov was thinking about when Rotmistrov's troops would launch a full-scale counterattack against the Germans, a staff officer came in and reported to him: "Comrade Commander, General Marankin is here."

"Oh, General Malankin is here?" Sokov knew that Malankin would go to the Three Treasures Hall for nothing, so he came to look for him before dawn today. There must be something important, so he quickly ordered the staff officer: " Invite him in quickly!"

  The people who walked in with the staff, in addition to Ma Lanjin, there was also a general who looked a bit unfamiliar. Just as Sokov was trying to figure out who the other party was, Marankin had already taken the initiative to introduce him: "General Sokov, let me introduce you. This is General Trufanov, deputy commander of our army group."

   "Hello, General Trufanov." Knowing that it was the deputy commander of the 5th Guards Tank Army who came, Sokov immediately understood that the Soviet counterattack was imminent. While shaking hands with the other party, he asked tentatively, "Are you here to attack the Germans?"

"You guessed right, General Sokov." Seeing that Sokov had guessed his purpose, Trufanov did not hide anything, but replied truthfully: "The troops of our army will arrive at ten o'clock in the morning. Launch a full-scale attack on the German army. My task is to lead a hundred tanks to strengthen the defense of this area."

Knowing the one hundred tanks brought by the opponent, Sokov immediately began to ponder in his heart. Now there are nearly a hundred tanks left in his tank army. If the one hundred tanks brought by Trufanov are added tanks, then there are two hundred tanks. If these tanks were used together, they would be enough to destroy any German resistance.

However, he did not discuss with the other party rashly: "Should we use the tanks of our two troops together?" Sokov knew very well that this time the team was led by a deputy commander of the group army. Tanks are used together, and he will definitely compete for the command of the tank force. Instead, ask cautiously: "Comrade Deputy Commander, how do you plan to use these tanks?"

"As soon as the sun breaks, I'm going to let these tanks launch an assault on the area where the German troops are stationed." Trufanov said somewhat complacently: "The enemy may never have imagined that we will emerge at such a time. They will be beaten dizzy by us. By the time they recover, it will be too late."

   "Comrade Deputy Commander, are you planning to use these tanks to attack the enemy in front of us?"

"Yes." Trufanov didn't know the reason for Sokov's question, and said in a daze, "I think General Rotmistrov sent me here to let me use tanks. Troops, come and teach the two German armored divisions blocked by you."

   "Comrade Deputy Commander, a hundred tanks does sound like a lot." Sokov was not blindly optimistic, but said cautiously: "But it must be very difficult to deal with the enemy's two armored divisions at the same time."

  From Sokov's words, Trufanov heard the overtones, and he asked tentatively: "General Sokov, do you have any good plans?"

   "Leave some of the old tanks on the position as fixed turrets." Sokov said with a normal expression: "The rest of the tanks are placed on the second line of defense."

"Put it on the second line of defense?" Hearing what Sokov said, Trufanov asked a little puzzled: "General Sokov, I want to ask, why are our tanks placed on the second line?" What about the line of defense?"

"The reason is very simple. Our army is about to launch a major counterattack. The German army outside Prokhorovka can't stop them at all. At that time, they can only choose to retreat." Sokov explained to Trufanov Said: "In order to give the enemy attacked by our army a respite, Manstein may order the 6th and 19th Armored Divisions to strengthen their attacks on our positions and try to retreat from the direction of Prokhorovka. The troops gathered."

"It makes sense, it makes sense." Trufanov nodded and said, "The enemy outside Prokhorovka must have no choice but to retreat when they are being attacked by our army. Those who are confronting us now The two German armored divisions will definitely try their best to break through the existing defenses of our army in order to cover the smooth retreat of their friendly forces."

Seeing that Trufanov understood what he meant, Sokov gave him a thumbs up, and then continued: "My idea is to use infantry to hold the position and block the two armored divisions to the west. And we deploy The tank units on the second line of defense can take advantage of the defeat of the German armored divisions in the east to launch an active attack and catch them by surprise."

  (end of this chapter)