Chapter 1287 Dying Struggle

"Comrade Commander, are you a little nervous when the war is at this level?" Sameko just stepped aside to make a phone call, when Lunev walked up to Sokov and took out a cigarette from the case. The cigarette was handed to him: "Come on, have a cigarette and relax."

   Sokov took the cigarette in Lunev's hand, put it in his mouth, and wanted to light it with a match, but found that his pocket was empty, and the box of matches used to light the cigarette had long since disappeared. Fortunately, Lunev struck a match in time and helped Sokov light his cigarette.

"That's right, it's a little bit." Sokov said to Lunev after taking a puff of cigarette, "If the Germans act quickly, before we annihilate the 19th Armored Division, the reinforcements will rush over and cut off the enemy at that time." The troops in the rear of the German army are in danger of being surrounded by anti-encirclement. Then the situation will develop in an unpredictable direction."

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander. I believe our troops will be able to annihilate the 19th Armored Division before the German reinforcements arrive." Lunev said with a smile, "I have such confidence, don't you?" ?”

Sokov hesitated for a moment, then bit the bullet and replied: "Of course I am sure. But the situation on the battlefield changes rapidly. When we, as commanders, make plans, we must take the worst case into consideration. When travel is unfavorable, you will not panic.”

"Look, let me tell you that you are confident that you can wipe out the 19th Armored Division before the enemy reinforcements arrive. Then there is nothing to worry about." Lunev raised his hand and lightly placed on Sokov's shoulder. He patted the ground twice, and reminded him: "I think you should still consider how we should deal with the enemy in the direction of Oboyan after the 19th Armored Division is annihilated."

Regardless of the start of the Battle of Kursk, Sokov's troops won the first battle in the direction of Oboyan, but if the 19th Armored Division was really wiped out, the superior ordered himself to assist the friendly forces and repel the enemies gathered in this area. A daunting task. Thinking of this, Sokov couldn't help frowning again, his eyes fixed on the map in front of him and he began to think.

   Schmidt, the commander of the 19th Armored Division, thought that with his own strength, he could completely repel the attack of Sokov's troops, but as the battle progressed, he found that his estimation of the situation was too optimistic. Facing the tenacious defense of its own troops, the Soviet army's offensive not only did not weaken, but became more violent.

When the shell fell and exploded near Schmidt's headquarters, the division chief said to him anxiously: "Your Excellency, our army's positions have been lost one after another under the Russian attack, and now our remaining troops are being compressed by them." In a narrow area. With our current strength, it is impossible to smash their attack."

  Schmidt was also at a loss at the moment. Hearing what the chief of staff said, he quickly asked: "Then what else can we do to save the situation in front of us?"

  When the Soviet army launched a full-scale offensive, the division chief of staff persuaded Schmidt to report directly to Manstein the situation facing his troops. But Schmidt stubbornly believed that with the combat effectiveness of his troops, he would pay attention to crushing the Soviet attack, so he rejected the chief of staff's proposal without hesitation.

   Seeing that he had reached a desperate situation, Schmidt knew that if he continued to resist, he might not be able to escape the fate of being annihilated. So he could only accept the chief of staff's opinion and confess the truth to Manstein: "Okay, chief of staff, please help me get through to the headquarters. I want to report the war here to Your Excellency the Marshal in person."

  At this moment, Marshal Manstein, who was staying in his command cabin, was drinking coffee. Because not long ago, the Kenf Combat Group and the Banner Guard Division successfully crushed the Soviet counterattack outside the city of Prokhorovka, which made him very happy, diluting the pain caused by the annihilation of the Skeleton Division. troubles come.

  At this moment, Colonel Burke, the adjutant, came to his side, leaned over and said to him, "Your Excellency, General Schmidt, the commander of the 19th Armored Division, called and has something important to report to you."

Hearing that it was Schmidt's call, Manstein's mood became more and more cheerful. This armored division successfully contained several divisions of the Russians, preventing the Russian commander from throwing them outside the city of Prokhorovka. battle. He looked up at Burke and said to him, "Colonel, could you please bring me the phone? I think General Schmidt may have brought me good news."

  Burke agreed, and soon came to Manstein with the microphone and the phone base. Manstein took the microphone and whispered in his ear with great interest, "Schmidt, did you bring me any good news?" He picked up the coffee cup and began to think in his heart that once Proholo was captured, After the city of Fuka, whether to transfer some of the troops to flank the pinched Russian troops with the 19th Armored Division.

"Your Excellency Marshal, I'm sorry, I may bring you bad news." Schmidt said hesitantly: "My troops were attacked by Sokov's troops, and most of the positions have now been lost. The corps is gradually being compressed into a narrow area. If you don't send reinforcements soon, I think in a few hours, the designation of the 19th Armored Division will cease to exist."

  This bad news made the smile on Manstein's face freeze instantly, and the whole person seemed to be immobilized, holding a coffee cup in one hand and a microphone in the other, like a marble sculpture.

This is impossible! Manstein screamed in his heart. Although he knew that there were two of Sokov's divisions in the confrontation with the 19th Armored Division, he still felt that Sokov would not take the initiative to attack the 19th Armored Division until the battle outside Prokhorovka was completely over. The 19th Armored Division, after all, the elimination of the Eastern Banner Guard Division is of greater significance.

  Once the 19th Armored Division is annihilated, the troops in the two directions of Oboyan and Prokhorovka will be divided by the Russians into two parts that are not connected to each other. In this way, Sokov's troops, who were originally pinned down, can launch attacks in these two directions at will, completely disrupting their own offensive deployment.

  At this moment, Manstein, as if suffering from Alzheimer's disease, forgot the coffee cup in his hand, and let the coffee flow down the corner of his mouth, dripping on the military uniform and trousers.

"Your Excellency, Marshal, your coffee has spilled." Seeing that Manstein suddenly entered a state of trance, Burke hurriedly called out to him, grabbed the coffee cup from his hand, and frantically took a cloth to wipe it for him. Coffee stains on clothes and pants.

Manstein, who was sober, pushed Burke away, and asked angrily into the microphone: "General Schmidt, what is going on? When did Sokov's troops launch the attack? How did it happen in such a short time?" Within a short period of time, have you defeated your teacher?"

"Your Excellency the Marshal," Schmidt dared not hide any more since it was at a critical moment, so he could only honestly report to Manstein in detail about the fact that he sent troops to attack last night and captured the Sokos and his wife alive. Finally said: "I thought that sending his wife back, maybe my defense zone would be peaceful for a while, but I didn't expect him to launch an attack so soon. And his attack was not just for show, it was really hard, Almost all of my elite troops have been spent in battle."

  After listening to Schmidt's narration, Manstein scolded the other party in his heart: It's not good for you to provoke anyone, and you actually provoke Sokov's troops. What's even more outrageous is that your people actually arrested Sukov's wife, it's no wonder he isn't angry. But now that things have happened, no matter how angry I am, it will not help. The current priority is to immediately dispatch reinforcements, hoping to save the 19th Armored Division from the brink of destruction.

   "How long can you hold on?" Manstein asked coldly.

  Schmidt hurriedly covered the microphone and asked his chief of staff: "Chief of staff, how long can we last?"

   "Two hours at most." The chief of staff of the division said with a bitter face, "No matter how long it is, there is no guarantee."

   "Your Excellency Marshal," Schmidt quickly removed his hand covering the microphone after receiving the reply from the division chief of staff: "We can hold on for another two hours."

"What, you can only persist for two hours?" Hearing Schmidt say this, Manstein couldn't help frowning: "Is this the combat effectiveness of your 19th Armored Division? Facing the Russian attack, you can only Support for two hours?"

"Your Excellency the Marshal," Schmidt quickly defended himself: "In order to destroy us, the Russians dispatched at least seven infantry divisions, five tank brigades, and powerful artillery. And we, after passing through this After a few days of fighting, nearly half of the soldiers and weapons and equipment were lost. With such a disparity in strength between the two sides, how can we stop their attack?"

"I will send troops to support you as soon as possible." Manstein did not talk nonsense with Schmidt, and said in an orderly tone on the phone: "You must hold on to me for another five hours." After finishing speaking, he did not give Schmidt Given the chance to speak, he hung up the phone directly.

  After hanging up the phone, Manstein got up and walked to the map, and asked the chief of staff standing aside: "Chief of staff, the situation of the 19th Armored Division is very critical now. Which troops can we send for reinforcements?"

"Your Excellency Marshal, we only have the seriously damaged Sixth Armored Division in our hands. I think it is obviously unrealistic to reinforce the 19th Armored Division in their current situation." The chief of staff said respectfully: "I think it can be done." The Grossdeutschland Division was dispatched to reinforce the 19th Panzer Division, and with their strength, they could completely defeat the Russian troops besieging General Schmidt."

"Isn't the Great German Division fighting against Katukov's troops?" Manstein couldn't help frowning as he looked at the situation of the enemy and us on the map: "Removing them will not affect our efforts in the Oboyan area. strength?"

   "There will definitely be a certain impact." The chief of staff replied: "But if under the current circumstances, the Grossdeutschland Division is not mobilized for reinforcements, it means that we can only abandon the 19th Armored Division."

After listening to the chief of staff's words, Manstein thought for a long time, and said: "Okay, let's dispatch the Fusiliers and a tank battalion to support them. As long as they can tear a gap in the Russian encirclement, the 19th Armored The division will not be wiped out by the Russians. In addition, order the air force to dispatch to bomb the Russian troops besieging the 19th Armored Division."

   Half an hour later, the first batch of German bombers appeared on the battlefield. They first carried out a violent bombing of the position of the 384th Infantry Division, which cut off the retreat of the 19th Armored Division, causing considerable casualties to the Soviet army.

Major General Gritsenko saw the enemy plane appearing in the sky, and quickly ordered the troops to stop the attack and search for a suitable location for air defense. At the same time, he called Sokov and asked Sokov for help: "Commander Comrade, our division was attacked by the Luftwaffe, and there were a lot of casualties, so we ask our superiors to provide us with air support."

The group army commanded by Sokov, before the outbreak of the battle, was a reserve force, so the equipment of heavy weapons was unsatisfactory. Except for the artillery regiments owned by each division, there was no artillery directly under it. Troops, let alone anti-aircraft troops. Facing the sudden appearance of the Luftwaffe, Sokov was also helpless, but in order not to cause panic in the troops, he comforted Gritsenko on the phone and said: "Comrade General, don't worry, you first order the troops to carry out air defense, and I will immediately Request superiors to dispatch air force support."

   Having said that, after finishing the call with Major General Gritsenko, Sokov faced a dilemma: Should he ask for air force support, should he ask Vatutin or Konev?

   Now that his troops are under the command of the Voronezh Front Army, it seems that he should find Vatutin. But now, whether it is Oboyan or Prokhorovka, the fighting is fierce. The fighter planes of the Air Force Group Army of the Front Army are fighting fiercely with the German Air Force in these two areas to compete for air supremacy on the battlefield. I am afraid they will not be able to mobilize their forces. Support yourself.

  Konev's front army still has an air force group army, but now he asks him for help, will he help him? With this question in mind, Sokov asked the director of the Communications Corps to get through to the grassland front army.

  Konev, who answered the phone, recognized Sokov's voice, and said nonchalantly, "Hey, isn't this General Sokov? How is it? You're doing well in the Voronezh Front, right?"

"Comrade Commander of the Front Army, look at what you said." Sokov is not stupid, such words can always be heard good or bad. He knew that there was a resentment in Konev's heart, so he quickly said with a smile: "My The troops are only temporarily assigned to the command of the Voronezh Front Army, but I am actually a member of the Steppe Front Army. If there is anything wrong with my work, you can just criticize me, but don’t send me to another front army.”

  Hearing what Sokov said, Konev couldn't help but smile, thinking that the word "投" was used extremely well. He asked in a slow tone: "Comrade Sokov, you called me, is there anything important?"

"That's right, Comrade Commander of the Front Army." Sukov heard Konev's tone soften, and he couldn't help but feel secretly happy. The armored division launched the final attack. Seeing that the enemy was about to be annihilated by us, they dispatched the air force and bombarded our attacking troops indiscriminately, causing us a lot of casualties.

  In order to quickly destroy the 19th Armored Division, I would like to ask you to dispatch the air force to provide us with air support, drive the German planes out of the sky, and ensure that our battle to destroy the 19th Armored Division proceeds smoothly. "

"Comrade Sokov," Konev tentatively asked on the other end of the phone, "You called me because you want me to dispatch the air force to provide you with air cover so that you can successfully destroy the 19th Armored Division. ?”

   "Yes, Comrade Front Army Commander, that's what I mean."

  (end of this chapter)