Red Moscow

That night, Manstein called Holt and asked bluntly: "General Holt, our fort plan has failed. The troops attacking the right flank at the southern end of Kursk have all withdrawn to Belgorod. You The troops should also be withdrawn as soon as possible, otherwise they will face the danger of being encircled by the Russians."

"Your Excellency the Field Marshal!" Holt waited for Manstein to finish speaking, and said with a sad face: "It is Sokov's troops that block our way. The attack I ordered the Grossdeutschland Division to launch during the day was smashed by him. And our armored troops Under the Russian bombing, I suffered huge losses. Without your help, I think it will be very difficult to return to Belgorod smoothly."

From Holt's words, Manstein heard his overtones: "General Holt, I hear what you mean, it seems that you don't want to lead the troops back to Belgorod?"

"Yes, Your Excellency the Marshal." Seeing that Manstein had guessed his intentions, Huot did not hide it: "Although our location is only 30 kilometers away from Belgorod, if we want to break through and be good at defense And the defense line of the famous Sokov army, we are bound to pay huge casualties."

"So what do you think?" Manstein asked.

"I plan to withdraw the troops to the southwest, take the Red Yaruga, and enter Kharkov."

"No." Manstein glanced at the map in front of him, and rejected Holt's plan without hesitation: "By Red Yaruga, you have to march at least a hundred kilometers. Do you think the rest of the armored forces Fuel, can you still maintain such a long march?"

"Your Excellency, Marshal!" Huot didn't want to go so far in his heart, but judging from today's battle, the Soviet fighter planes are the nemesis of his armored forces, preventing him from investing more tanks in the battle, lest he become a The target of the Soviet fighter jets. "The Russians were too powerful in the air, and if we didn't have enough air force to counter it, we wouldn't have put more tanks into the attack."

"General Holt, you don't have to worry." Manstein finally understood what Holt meant when he heard this. As long as he can get air support, he can invest more tanks to attack the Soviet blocking positions. So he said decisively: "Tomorrow I will send enough planes to cover your breakout to the south. In this way, you don't have to go back to Kharkov via Red Yaruga in the southwest, right?"

Seeing that Manstein offered to send planes to assist the battle tomorrow, Holt felt that his goal had been achieved, and quickly said: "Your Excellency, Marshal, thank you. If you can really send enough fighters to compete with the Russians for air supremacy on the battlefield , we are 90% sure that we can break through the Russian defenses in the morning."

"Don't worry, General Holt." Manstein said to Holt: "When you successfully break through, I will personally go outside the city of Belgorod to meet you."

At dawn the next day, Huot concentrated more than 300 artillery pieces of various calibers, and launched a fierce shelling towards the position defended by the 188th Infantry Division.

Seeing that his position was surrounded by artillery fire, Koyda couldn't help feeling a little anxious. He quickly contacted Sokov who was staying in the headquarters through the newly laid telephone line.

"Comrade Commander, I am Colonel Koyda." As soon as the call was made, Koyda couldn't wait to say: "The enemy artillery is launching a fierce shelling on our division's defensive positions."

"Comrade Colonel," Sokov had expected the enemy to bombard the defensive position, so he was not surprised when he heard Koida say this, but asked instead: "You dug enough Are there any blastholes?"

"Digged," Koida replied, "as soon as my troops entered the defensive position, they began digging a large number of emplacement holes."

"Since there are enough bomb defense holes, what are you worried about, Comrade Colonel?" Sokov said into the microphone: "I will immediately ask my superiors to dispatch the air force to bomb the enemy's artillery positions to relieve your pressure."

After finishing the call with Koida, Sokov immediately ordered the director of the Communications Corps: "Director of the Communications Corps, connect me to the Command of the Steppe Front Army immediately."

A few minutes later, the chief of the communications corps told Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the call has been connected."

Sokov took the receiver and said loudly: "I said Sokov, who am I talking to?"

"It's me, Konev." Konev's familiar voice came out of the receiver: "Major General Sokov, you are in a hurry to call me at this time, is the enemy shelling your position? Shall I dispatch the air force to support it?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander of the Front Army." Seeing that Konev had guessed his intentions before he could speak, Sokov asked with some surprise, "Are you willing to dispatch the air force to support us?"

"It stands to reason that your group army is not under my jurisdiction now, and there is absolutely no need for me to dispatch the air force to support you." Hearing what Konev said, Sokov's heart suddenly became cold. If there is no air force support, let alone stick to it Ten hours, I'm afraid I can't stand it for an hour. But just when he was disheartened, he heard Konev continue to say: "But since Marshal Zhukov personally greeted me and asked me to do everything I can to help you, then I will definitely obey the orders of my superiors. The air force is dispatched to help you."

"Thank you, thank you very much." Sokov was overjoyed when he learned that Konev would obey Zhukov's order and dispatch the air force to support him, and thanked him repeatedly: "With your support, we will be more confident Hold your position. By the way, when will your air force arrive on the battlefield? Now my position has been hit by the enemy's powerful artillery fire. If the air force arrives too late, I am worried that there will be huge casualties..."

"Okay, okay, Major General Sokov, don't complain in front of me." Before Sokov finished speaking, Konev interrupted him without hesitation: "I will order the Air Force Get to the combat area as soon as possible." In order to notify the Air Force to attack as soon as possible, Konev hung up the phone without giving Sokov any chance to complain after saying this.

"Comrade Commander," Sameko asked Sokov worriedly when he saw that Konev hung up the phone so quickly, "Do you think the commander of the Front Army is unwilling to send the air force to support us, otherwise how could he hang up so quickly?" What about disconnecting the phone?"

But Sokov said with a smile on his face: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you are worrying too much. General Konev is a man who does things vigorously. He hung up the phone so quickly in order to contact the Air Force as soon as possible so that they can catch up sooner." to the battlefield."

He put the receiver back on the phone cradle and asked Sameko, "Chief of Staff, is the 1st Artillery Division ready for battle?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Sameko quickly replied: "A few minutes ago, I just talked to Colonel Terenga, the commander of the First Artillery Division. At one command, the guns can be fired."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov waved his hand at Sameko after listening, and said, "I think it's up to Coyda and Terenga to decide when to launch the shelling. After all, our headquarters is far away from the battlefield, so we cannot keep abreast of the situation on the battlefield in a timely manner. If we wait until we receive the battle report from our subordinates, and then designate the bombardment time according to the battle report, it will easily delay the fighter plane."

"I understand, Comrade Commander." Hearing what Sokov said, Sameko nodded hastily, and said, "I will immediately let Terenga and Keda establish contact, and they will negotiate when to start attacking the enemy." Carry out shelling."

When Sameko went to the side to call the First Artillery Division, Sokov felt that it would be difficult for his own army to achieve the intended goal in this battle, and he had to get the support of friendly troops. Thinking of this, he asked the communications director to connect to the headquarters of the Voronezh Front Army.

After the call was made, the person who answered the call was Lieutenant General Ivanov, Chief of Staff. After hearing Sokov's voice, he asked in surprise, "Major General Sokov, is the enemy attacking your blocking position?"

"Report to Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov replied: "The enemy is bombarding my blocking position with intensive artillery fire. I am afraid that the ground attack will not be launched until the shelling is over."

"Is there anything we can do for you?"

"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." The purpose of Sokov's call was to let the front army headquarters urge the friendly troops to start operations, lest only his own troops were singing a one-man show: "I think it is necessary to let the friendly troops in the direction of Oboyan, Launch a counterattack against the enemy, which can disperse the enemy's strength."

"Well, no problem." Knowing that Sokov called to get the defenders in the direction of Oboyan to attack, Ivanov replied without hesitation: "I will immediately notify the First Tank Army, and close The troops of the Sixth Army of the Guards launched a counterattack against the enemy in the Oboyan area in the shortest possible time."

After saying this, Ivanov paused for a moment, and then continued: "The Sixth Guards Army was reorganized from your original 21st Army, and most of the division commanders are your old subordinates. If You two armies can join forces smoothly, I hope you can take the initiative to take over the command."

In fact, even if Ivanov didn't say this, Sokov was going to make a request to his superiors to take charge of commanding the two armies after the two armies joined forces. If there is no unified command, and the two troops operate independently, I am afraid that the effect will be greatly reduced. Hearing what Ivanov said now, Sokov has obtained a Shangfang sword and is in charge of commanding the two armies, which has become justified.

"Comrade Chief of Staff, thank you for your trust." Sokov said gratefully to Ivanov: "I will never disappoint your expectations of me."

…………

The air force sent by Konev arrived over the smoky battlefield a quarter of an hour later.

At this moment, the enemy's shelling has not stopped, and the tanks and infantry responsible for the ground attack are still gathering. So the Soviet fleet that arrived continued to fly forward, and they were going to bomb the German artillery positions and the tanks and infantry that were gathering.

The Soviet planes swooped down from high altitude, dropped bombs and strafed the German tanks and infantry assembled on the ground, and used aerial bombs and bullets to turn the enemy tanks into burning scrap iron and the infantry into cold corpses.

When the news of the bombing of the assembly point of the attacking troops came, the artillery positions that were being bombarded immediately fell silent, and the German artillery officers and soldiers began to move their positions so as not to become the targets of the Soviet bombers.

When Hort learned that his attacking force had suffered heavy losses from the Soviet bombing, and that the artillery had moved their positions in a panic, he was so angry that he stomped his feet and cursed at the headquarters, saying that Manstein had deceived him and promised to provide him with an air force. The support, but now it has not been fulfilled, causing heavy losses to the troops that they are gathering.

Just when Holt was furious, a staff officer ran in from the outside and shouted excitedly at Holt: "Your Excellency, the plane, our plane is here!"

"Our plane is coming?" Holt was scolding Manstein for his words, but now he heard the staff officer say that the plane had appeared, but he still couldn't believe it was true, and quickly asked, "Did you read it right?"

"No, Your Excellency Commander. I definitely did not read it wrong." The staff officer said excitedly: "I clearly saw the cross mark on the wing of the plane."

"Great, this is really great." Knowing that the long-awaited air force finally arrived, Huot felt much more at ease. He called Chief of Staff Mei Linjin to the front and told the other party: "Chief of Staff, after our planes have driven the Russian planes away and regained the air supremacy of the battlefield, we will immediately attack the Russian blocking positions."

"Understood." Mei Linjin replied: "I immediately called several division commanders and asked them to prepare for the assault."

With the arrival of the German planes, the Soviet bombers and attack planes that were bombing the German troops on the ground had to abandon the ground targets and started fighting with the German fighter jets that came.

Hundreds of aircraft of various types flew up and down the battlefield, fighting fiercely. From time to time, a plane dragged a long black smoke belt, flew obliquely towards the ground, and finally landed on the ground, causing earth-shattering explosions, and then rising black smoke with fire.

The air battle between the two sides lasted for more than 20 minutes. Because the Soviet fighters ran out of ammunition, they left the battlefield one after another and flew towards their own airport. The German planes were afraid of encountering an ambush in the depths of the Soviet defense, and did not dare to pursue them. They just hovered over the battlefield, emboldening the German officers and soldiers who were about to break out.

Knowing that the Soviet fleet was driven away from the battlefield by his own fighter planes, Huott immediately said to his chief of staff with joy: "Chief of staff, immediately give the assault troops an order to attack the Russian positions. Be sure to open the road to Belgorod before ten o'clock in the morning."

As the order was issued, the German tanks and infantry, who had been frightened by the Soviet bombers and attack aircraft, began to advance towards the Soviet positions with trepidation.

At the beginning, the tanks and infantry on the ground were still worried about the attack from the air, but after advancing for a certain distance, the German officers and soldiers found that their own fighter planes were hovering in the air, and they could not see the shadow of the Soviet aircraft fleet at all, so they began to become more courageous. . The tank leading the charge in front accelerated its driving speed. The infantry who followed also changed from striding to trotting.

Koyda, who was staying in the observation post to observe the situation on the battlefield, saw that the enemy was only 800 meters away from his position, so he quickly grabbed the phone that was put aside, and said to Telenga on the other end of the phone: "Comrade Colonel, the enemy's attack The troops have entered the fire coverage position, and you can fire."