Chapter 1295 Prisoner-of-war camp in the distance

At the beginning of the Battle of Kursk, Manstein on the southern front divided his troops into two. The left wing was the 4th Panzer Army commanded by Hoth. The attack target was the Oboyan defense line on the left wing. After trying to break through the defense there, he directly Rush to the city of Kursk; while the right wing is the combat group of Kenfu, they attack from south to north, trying to capture the city of Prokhorovka and open the road to Kursk.

  Because Vatutin failed to accurately judge the main attack direction of the German army, he did not concentrate the scattered troops. Later, seeing Huot's troops rushing straight towards Oboyan, they hurriedly drew some troops from nearby to stop them. The troops were put into the battlefield one by one, and were defeated by Huot's troops one after another. One tank army lost its combat effectiveness because of the indiscriminate bombing by the German Air Force before it even entered the designated combat position. .

  General Katukov’s 1st Tank Army, although considered a powerful unit in the Voronezh Front Army, their forces are too scattered, and it is very difficult to block the German attack. If it weren't for Sokov's troops to block the gap opened by the German army in the direction of Oboyan in time, I am afraid that Hoth's armored army has already rushed outside the city of Kursk.

Seeing that the attack in the direction of Oboyan was not going well, Hoth took the initiative to transfer Hausser's 2nd SS Panzer Corps to the right flank to support the Kenf combat group attacking Prokhorovka, trying to annihilate the main force of the Soviet army there. Re-open the passage to the north.

Now the Kenff combat group is repelled by the superior Soviet army, and the 2nd SS Panzer Army that I sent to support, there is only one flag guard division with an incomplete organization, and the Kenff combat group retreats to Belgorod Germany. Huot found that he was still in the Kursk area, and only his own troops were still fighting the Soviet army, so he couldn't help thinking of retreating.

  Hoth and his chief of staff, General von Melinzin, stayed up all night and began to discuss what to do next? It is obviously impossible to continue fighting. If the Kenfu combat group really retreats to Belgorod, the Russians can mobilize more troops to besiege themselves, but their own troops are in danger of being encircled.

   Choose to retreat, whether Manstein agrees or not is still unknown. Even if he agrees, now that he and the Russians are intertwined, once he wants to retreat, he will definitely be discovered by the Russians. If he is actively pursued by the Russians standing on the Oboyan line of defense during the retreat, another army will cut off the retreat in front. Your own troops will fall into a situation of being surrounded.

  Sometimes the more you worry about something, the more it will happen. In the early hours of the morning, Huot received a call from one of his division commanders, saying that the Soviet army had suddenly launched an attack on the Kochetovka area, and the troops standing there had been defeated.

   Knowing that Kochetovka was lost, von Melinzin quickly lowered his head to check the map to confirm whether it would threaten the rear of the 4th Panzer Army. After seeing the location clearly, he raised his head and frowned and said to Holt: "Your Excellency, the Russian occupation of Kochetovka not only threatens our rear, but also threatens to cut off our retreat at any time. I suggest that the Russians occupy Kochetovka immediately. Your Excellency the Marshal reported this situation and asked him to allow us to retreat."

Huot commanded troops to stay in the Oboyan area for a long time, attacking the Soviet army's positions every day. Although no progress was made, the Soviet army as the defender was unable to launch a counterattack due to heavy losses. The war between the two sides has been in a stalemate. Huot was very unwilling to retreat at this time.

"Chief of Staff," Holt said, staring at the troops: "Isn't Herman Sturm's 3rd Armored Division the closest to Kochetovka now? Order them to launch a counterattack there immediately, and try to get rid of it before dawn." Kochetovka was taken back from the Russians."

"Your Excellency, Commander," Melinzin objected to Huot's proposal: "If we put in armored forces at night, I am afraid that a large number of tanks will be destroyed by Russian anti-tank fighters. You know, all of us They are facing Sokov's troops."

When Meilinjin mentioned that the enemy his army was going to face was actually Sokov's army, the muscles on Holt's face twitched violently a few times, and he said through gritted teeth: "It's this **** Sokov again, He is really lingering. Chief of Staff, tell me, what should we do?"

"As far as I know, Sokov's army has no artillery, only a tank army with more than one hundred tanks, but after such a long battle, I believe that there are not many tanks left. If it is a head-on confrontation, it will definitely Not our opponent." Meilinjin said to Hot: "We can order the 3rd Armored Division to move to the vicinity of Kochetovka, wait for dawn, and then launch a surprise attack to catch the Russians by surprise."

"Well, what you said makes sense." Hott nodded, and said: "Chief of Staff, then do as you said, immediately notify General Sturm, and let him hurry up and move the armored regiment to Kochetov Ka, and as soon as day breaks, attack the Russians occupying Kochetovka."

  After the two reached an agreement, Mei Linjin picked up the phone and called Sturm, commander of the 3rd Armored Division. After the call was made, a lazy voice came from inside: "This is the duty room of the 3rd Armored Division. Where are you?"

   "Let Mr. Sturm answer the phone." Meilinjin said briefly into the microphone.

   "I'm sorry, sir." The officer in the duty room said disapprovingly: "The division commander is resting. If you have anything to do, please open it after dawn." After speaking, he hung up the phone without waiting for Mei Linjin to speak again.

  Mei Linjin held the microphone that heard the blind tone, and was stunned for a while before realizing that the other party had hung up his phone. He quickly ordered the communications staff to help him connect to the division headquarters of the 3rd Armored Division again. This time, as soon as he heard someone talking, he immediately identified himself: "I am the chief of staff of the army group, General Meilinjin. I don't care whether Commander Sturm is sleeping or drinking, I will call him over immediately to answer the phone."

  The officer on duty was startled when he heard Mei Linjin's self-report, and hurriedly said: "Understood, Your Excellency Chief of Staff, I will ask the division commander to answer the phone immediately."

   Two or three minutes later, the voice of Sturm, the commander of the 3rd Armored Division, came from the receiver: "This is Herman, Chief of Staff, call me so late, what's the matter?"

   "General Sturm, Kochetovka is lost, do you know?"

   "Ah, Kochetovka is lost?" Sturm couldn't help being surprised when he heard the news: "When?"

"Half an hour ago, Sokov's troops occupied Kochetovka, which seriously threatened the rear of our army." Mei Linjin said into the microphone: "The commander ordered your division to immediately dispatch troops to the Kochetovka Chetovka area, after dawn, drive the Russians out with armored forces."

   "Understood, Chief of Staff." Sturm quickly and loudly replied: "I sent the armored regiment there to attack the Russians at dawn."

  As soon as the combat order was issued here, Colonel Burke, Manstein's adjutant, called Holt. He asked respectfully on the phone: "General Huot, Your Excellency the Marshal ordered your troops to disengage from the Russians after dawn, and retreat back to Belgorod using alternate cover."

   "I see." Although the other party was only Manstein's adjutant, Huot still said politely: "I will make a retreat plan with the Chief of Staff, General Mei Linjin as soon as possible, and then report to the Marshal."

   "Your Excellency, Commander," Mei Linjin saw that Huot put down the phone, and quickly asked him for instructions: "Marshal Manstein ordered us to retreat, what should we do next?"

After staring at the map for a while, Holt said, "Chief of Staff, if we immediately withdraw all our troops from Oboyan, those Russians standing firm will definitely come out to pursue them, which may cause confusion in our army. Therefore , we must withdraw our troops from the battlefield in batches.

  First of all, the Grossdeutschland Division took the lead in leaving the battlefield and retreated to Yakovlevo, where a new line of defense was established to prepare for subsequent retreating troops;

  Second, after the Grossdeutschland Division arrived at the designated location, the 11th and 17th Armored Divisions continued to maintain contact with the Russians, and the rest of the infantry divisions withdrew to Yakovlevo;

  Third, after the infantry division reached Yakovlevo, the 11th and 17th Armored Divisions broke away from Russian contact and moved in the direction of Yakovlevo. After they passed Kochetovka, the 3rd Armored Division began to retreat. "

  Holt finished his retreat plan in one breath, and asked Mei Linjin: "Chief of Staff, do you have any different opinions on my retreat plan?"

   "No, Your Excellency Commander." Mei Linjin shook his head and said, "Your plan is perfect, and I don't see any flaws."

"Since you have no objection, then pass my order to the commanders of the divisions." Holt said to Melinzin: "The time to retreat should be when the 3rd Armored Division recaptured Kochetovka. .”

"Your Excellency, Commander, you are very thoughtful." Melinzin nodded and said, "If the Russians are allowed to occupy Kochetovka, they can use artillery to bombard our retreat route, and they can also use tanks to attack the enemy on the road. Vehicles and marching formations carried out assaults. Although Sokov did not have these weapons and equipment in his hands, we had to guard against them."

  Just as Huot and Meilinjin explained the retreat to their subordinates, a reconnaissance team under Sokov had already appeared in the forest near Yakovlevo. The team was led by an old sergeant in his fifties named La Curry. He had been in the army for more than 30 years, had participated in many battles, and had rich experience in combat and reconnaissance.

  He had led a five-member reconnaissance team to move in this area. After receiving the telegram from the Group Army's reconnaissance office, he immediately brought his own team to the forest here to conduct reconnaissance.

Watching Sergeant Rakuli lead the reconnaissance team into the forest, a young Sashiko soldier asked curiously: "Comrade Sergeant, why did you take us into the forest? There won't be any German soldiers there." Some important military stronghold of the people."

   "Sashiko, who told you that we are looking for a German military stronghold?" Rakury turned to look at the young soldier and said to him, "We are looking for a more important target."

  Hearing that Rakury said that he was looking for an important target, Sashiko's eyes lit up and he couldn't help asking curiously: "Is it Manstein's headquarters?"

When Rakuli heard Sashiko ask this question, he was really angry and funny. He raised his hand and slapped the other party's helmet, and said uninterestedly: "Do you think a big man like Manstein would hide in the forest?" ?”

"Is there anything impossible?" Sashiko said unwillingly after being slapped: "As far as I know, the wolf den that Mustache likes to stay the most is in the forest? Since their head of state likes It's no surprise that Manstein has his headquarters in the forest."

  Lakuli shook his head with a wry smile, and decided to tell the soldiers of the reconnaissance team the latest order he had received, so that they would know it well. Thinking of this, he stopped and said to the soldiers following him: "Everyone, take a break, and I will explain to you the order that the superior just gave us."

  Although the fighters in the reconnaissance team knew that La Curry had received a new order from his superiors, everyone knew nothing about the content of the order. At this moment, when they heard that he said that he would announce the order of his superiors, they all surrounded him.

"Comrades," seeing the members of the reconnaissance team surrounding him, La Curry said in a low voice, "I recently received a telegram from the Reconnaissance Office of the Army Group, ordering us to go to the reconnaissance team near Yakovlevo In the forest, look for the prisoner-of-war camp where our army commanders and fighters are held."

   "What?!" Sashiko exclaimed in surprise after hearing La Curry's words: "Let us look for a prisoner-of-war camp in the forest?"

   "Quiet!" Rakury slapped Sashiko's helmet again with his hand, and said displeasedly: "Your voice is so loud, if there are Germans nearby, we will all be exposed."

  For a while, everyone was listening, trying to figure out if there were still enemies hiding nearby. But after listening for a while, all they heard was the murmur of a nearby stream and the rustling of leaves as a gust of wind blew through the trees.

   "There are no enemies nearby, we are really lucky." After La Currie finished speaking, he looked at the crowd and said, "Comrades, how do you think we should find a prisoner-of-war camp?"

  After a short silence, Sashiko raised his right hand and asked in a low and cautious voice: "Comrade Sergeant, may I speak?"

   "Let's talk, Sashiko." Seeing that Sashiko was the only one in the scouting team raising his hand, Rakuli said lightly, "I hope your proposal is constructive."

"Comrade Sergeant, I think if the Germans want to set up a prisoner-of-war camp in the forest, they will definitely choose near a water source." Sashiko said: "I just heard the sound of a stream running nearby. Maybe we should go along Xiaoxi looks forward, and there may be unexpected gains."

  (end of this chapter)