Red Moscow

Sokov called Sameko in front of Trufanov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, this is Sokov. I want to inform you about one thing, immediately let General Poluboyarov The tank corps is ready for battle. They have rested long enough, and now it is their turn to fight."

Sameko took the main force of the army group and stayed on the banks of the Pushol River doing nothing, feeling very awkward in his heart. At this moment, when he heard Sokov give himself a combat order, he immediately asked excitedly: "Comrade Commander, so the time for a decisive battle with the Germans has finally arrived."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov was taken aback by Sameko's words. Don't think that he is commanding an army group, but it lacks tanks and artillery. He fought against the small-scale German armored forces and barely managed it. . If you really want to take the initiative to attack, it will be like hitting a stone with a pebble. In order to prevent his chief of staff from being too inflated and unrealistically head-to-head with the enemy, Sokov quickly reminded him: "With our current strength, we still do not have the ability to fight the main force of the German army. The task I gave the tank army , It is to block the area from the Pushol River to the 188th Division, and prevent the German tanks from escaping in an organized manner."

Sameko felt that Sokov's statement was a bit contradictory. He first told himself that the current strength of the troops could not compete with the large-scale German armored forces; force. He asked inexplicably: "Comrade commander, didn't you say that our troops lack artillery and tanks, and cannot face the large-scale German armored forces head-to-head? Then why did Poluboyarov's tank army go to wipe out the What about the enemy's organized armored forces?"

Realizing that he had misunderstood what he meant and that Sameko had misunderstood what he meant, Sokov explained: "Yes, we are indeed not strong enough to fight against the powerful German armored forces. But in today's battle , the friendly forces will dispatch a large number of tanks to engage in a decisive battle with the enemy's armored forces. What Poluboyarov's tank army intercepted was only the defeated German armored forces. I believe they must be capable of destroying the enemy."

"I understand, Comrade Commander." After listening to Sokov's explanation, Sameko figured out his intentions, and quickly asked for instructions: "I don't know when to let them attack?"

"I think it will have to wait until after three o'clock in the afternoon at the earliest." Sokov said into the microphone: "Chief of Staff, remember to remind General Poluboyarov that the enemy has a lot of Tiger and Panther tanks. They are the nemesis of T-34 tanks. If you encounter these tanks, don’t just rush and rush, but use your brain more to think of ways to destroy the enemy’s tanks. Do you understand?”

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Sameko quickly replied, "I will truthfully relay your words to General Poluboyarov so that he can be more vigilant."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, it is unrealistic to rely solely on the tank army to defeat the enemy, and the cooperation of the infantry is also necessary." Sokov continued to remind Sameko: "Let the infantry build fortifications in some important areas to assist the tank army. Block the enemy's retreat."

"Comrade commander, what about you?" Sameko asked cautiously, "Will you assist the tank army to destroy the enemy?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff, we have other tasks." Sokov continued: "We still have two armored divisions of the German army in front of us. If they know that the German army attacking Prokhorovka was attacked by us After the German army's counterattack, we will definitely attack our defense area desperately, so as to rush over to join forces with the retreating enemy. Therefore, our task is to do everything possible to block the German army's attack, so that the two enemies cannot join forces."

After waiting for Sokov to put down the phone, Trufanov expressed his opinion: "General Sokov, are you not optimistic about our upcoming attack?"

Sokov was taken aback for a moment, and then asked back, "Comrade Deputy Commander, why do you say that?"

"I heard that the attack time you arranged for the tank army was after three o'clock in the afternoon." Trufanov said a little unconvinced: "You know, not counting the 100 tanks I brought, only the 100 tanks in Prokhoro Outside the city of Fuka, our army can mobilize more than 400 tanks, while the enemy only has more than 100 tanks. The ratio of technical equipment between the two sides is 3:1. Our army has such an obvious advantage. Does it take five hours? , can we crush the enemy's resistance?"

Only then did Sokov understand what Trufanov meant, and he quickly argued: "Comrade Deputy Commander, you are right. Our army has several times as many tanks as the enemy. But you forgot that in the tank army There are many outdated T-70 tanks, not to mention the German Tiger or Leopard tanks, even the Panzer IV tanks.

According to the information I have, the enemy has occupied the starting position of your army's planned attack, forcing your tanks to pass through an unobstructed open area before they can engage the German tanks. When your tanks pass through this open field, they are bound to be attacked by Tiger tanks equipped with 88mm guns. At such a long distance, the 76mm artillery equipped by the T-34 tank does not pose a threat to enemy tanks at all. "

As the deputy commander of the tank army, Trufanov naturally knew that the starting position of the attack was occupied by the Germans, and there are a large number of outdated T-70s in the tank army. This is also an irrefutable fact. He was silent for a long time, and asked tentatively: "General Sokov, tell me, will our counterattack outside Prokhorovka today be successful?"

"Comrade Deputy Commander, there is no doubt about whether we can win." Sokov explained to Trufanov: "Don't see that the enemy's tanks are more advanced than ours, but our fighters are better than the enemy's soldiers. Brave, even if their equipment is poor, they will spare no effort to crush the enemies outside Prokhorovka."

Seeing the dejected expression on Trufanov's face, Sokov said again: "Comrade Deputy Commander, don't worry. As long as our army's tanks are running at full speed and passing through the open field quickly, as long as they are close to Enemy tanks, the T-34 can use its excellent mobility to deal with the Germans' cumbersome Tiger tanks."

"General Sokov, what you said makes sense." Trufanov waited for Sokov to finish, nodded his head and said, "I need to report this information to Commander Rotmistrov immediately. Get him mentally prepared."

Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch. It was already 8:20, and he said to Trufanov: "Comrade Deputy Commander, if you want to report to General Rotmistrov, I suggest You have to be as fast as possible. Once the battle starts, some orders are difficult to convey to the grassroots combat units."

"Don't worry, General Sokov." Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Trufanov said carelessly: "We plan to attack the enemy at ten o'clock, and there is still an hour and a half left."

"Comrade Deputy Commander, the situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly." Sokov said with a smile: "Even if it is something planned in advance, it is entirely possible to adjust it due to some accidents."

"You're right." Trufanov looked around, and then asked politely, "General Sokov, can I borrow your radio station?"

Trufanov asked himself to borrow the radio station so that he could relay his opinion to Rotmistrov. Sokov naturally would not object, so he readily asked Koida to lend the telegraph in the division to Trufanov. Farnov used.

Less than five minutes after the telegram was sent, Trufanov received a call back from Rotmistrov, which said: "The call has been received, and I will notify the tank brigade participating in the battle as soon as possible, ordering them to pass through the area. When the ground is open, we must use full horsepower to reduce the loss of tanks. In addition, because the attack time of our army has been mastered by the German army, after research by the group army headquarters, the attack time has been advanced to 8:30 in the morning. "

"Damn it, the attack time has been advanced." After reading the telegram, Trufanov immediately exclaimed in surprise: "You know, the troops I brought haven't deployed yet." He looked up and said to Sokov, " General Sokov, I'm really sorry, the offensive is about to start, and I have to go back and assign combat tasks for the troops."

At 8:30, hundreds of artillery pieces of the Soviet army launched a fierce shelling on the German positions that were about to attack.

After thirty minutes of shelling, a red flare rose into the air, signaling the attack. Seeing the signal, the Soviet tanks immediately drove out from the hidden place, and rushed to the German positions in the distance at full speed.

What happened next, just as Sokov "analyzed" to Trufanov, when Soviet tanks passed through the unobstructed open land, they were blocked by German Tiger tanks and 88mm anti-aircraft guns. Shooting, many tanks on the move were directly hit by the shells and stopped burning on the open ground. For a moment, the black smoke from the burning tanks covered the sky and darkened the sky.

Rotmistrov, who was standing in the observation post, saw his tanks being destroyed one by one by the Germans, and his heart was bleeding. For a moment, the idea of ​​stopping the tank brigade's attack even popped into his mind. But as soon as this idea came up, he was immediately denied it.

Holding the binoculars in both hands, he said to the chief of staff standing beside him without looking back: "Chief of staff, tell the commanders of the tank brigades to order all the tanks to speed up and rush across the open field."

However, the chief of staff had not had time to convey his order to the troops. The first attack launched by the Soviet tanks ended in failure under the enemy's artillery fire.

Seeing that the tanks on his side retreated, Rotmistrov was agitated, but in order not to affect morale, he still tried to speak to the chief of staff in a calm tone: "Chief of staff, and the commanders of the tank army Say hello, let them not blame those tank brigade commanders, the reason for the failure of the attack is that the enemy's firepower is too strong, we must regroup before launching a new attack on the enemy."

After the chief of staff responded, he did not leave immediately, but reminded Rotmistrov in a low voice: "Comrade Commander, the difficulties we encountered during our attack, not long ago, Comrade Deputy Commander once telegraphed mentioned it to you."

"Where is the telegram?" Rotmistrov searched for a while among the many battle reports on the table, found the telegram sent by Trufanov, read it carefully, nodded and said : "Comrade Deputy Commander was very accurate. He felt that when our army's tanks passed through the open area, they would definitely be blocked by Tiger tanks and anti-aircraft guns. Therefore, he suggested that we pass there as quickly as possible to reduce Loss of tanks."

"Comrade Commander, this telegram is sent from the division headquarters of the 188th Division." Seeing that Rotmistrov did not understand what he meant, the chief of staff reminded him: "I think we can find this problem." People should not be Comrade Deputy Commander."

"If it's not the deputy commander, who could it be?" Rotmistrov couldn't help being shocked when he said this, and then he said in surprise: "Chief of Staff, do you mean to say that you found Is the person who asked this question Major General Sokov, commander of the 27th Army?"

"That's right, Comrade Commander, that's exactly what I think." The chief of staff nodded and replied, "Since General Sokov has discovered this problem, he may have already thought of a way to approach it. If you agree, I want to ask him for advice."

The chief of staff's proposal made Rotmistrov feel very embarrassed. Don't realize that he and Sokov are both army commanders, but the other party is too young. Let him, an old commander who has been in the army for more than 20 years, ask someone who is about the same age as his son for advice. He thinks I can't let it go.

The chief of staff noticed Rotmistrov's embarrassment, so he took the initiative to say again: "Comrade commander, I know you think he is too young, and you are a bit embarrassed to ask him for advice. If you feel embarrassed , I don’t need you to come forward to deal with this matter. What do you think?”

"Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff." Seeing that the chief of staff helped him out, Rotmistrov nodded and said with a wry smile, "Then I will wrong you."

"I'm not wronged." The chief of staff waved his hands and said, "As long as it can reduce the casualties of the troops and enable us to win, I am willing to be a student of General Sokov."

In this way, a strange telegram was issued and sent to Sokov's temporary headquarters via radio waves. Sokov couldn't help laughing when he saw the telegram sent from the headquarters of the Tank Army. He felt that Rotmistrov's approach was superfluous. The reason why I didn't take the initiative to tell the other party how to break the German defense was because I was worried that the other party thought I was nosy.

At this moment, since Rotmistrov asked his chief of staff to send a telegram to ask him humbly for advice, Sokov naturally knew everything, and he wrote down all the countermeasures he thought of. on paper. After finishing writing, I checked it twice and felt that there was nothing wrong, so I called Koyda over and told him: "Comrade Colonel, immediately ask the operator to send this telegram to Rotmistrov. General, don't make him wait."