The decisive battle against the Third Reich

The city of Orel is located on the banks of the Oka River, with convenient transportation and only 380 kilometers away from Moscow. The famous Frunze Tank School of the Soviet Union was once here. Of course, due to the German occupation, it had been relocated to Moscow.

Orel was also an important node in Manstein's defense plan.

Because Manstein hoped to use Orel and Belgorod to block the throat of the Kursk salient so that the Soviet army could not attack or could not attack with confidence.

This is the most common defense method used by the German army... giving full play to the role of the German mechanized forces to attack instead of defend. Rommel did the same thing in Africa. In the later period, he laid a large number of landmines and roadblocks to build a defense line known as the "Devil's Garden". This was also done because of serious shortages of fuel and supplies.

Manstein deployed two armies in Orel: the 2nd Armored Army and the 9th Army.

The main force is of course the 2nd Armored Army, which built defensive positions along the line from Kirov to Zmiyovka.

However, it is said that it is building a defensive position, but in fact it is more about preparing for an attack... To attack instead of defend means not to defend but to attack, and the armored group army has always been used to attack rather than defend.

Therefore, after General Rudolf Schmidt, commander of the Second Armored Group, arrived in Orel, he had been studying how to launch an attack on the map with his staff in the headquarters.

To be precise, it should be deducing over and over again the offensive plan of the Second Armored Group once the Soviet army launches an offensive from the front of Kursk.

The attack plan is: use the two weaker armored corps, the 41st and 46th Armored Corps, as the first attack. After they advance 10 to 12 kilometers... this time is estimated to be five days, and the strongest The 47th Panzer Army rejoined the battle and dealt a fatal blow to the Soviet army. Then the 9th Army followed the Panzer Army and broke through to the east of Kursk, joining the German 4th Panzer Army heading north from Belgorod to cut off the Soviet army. line of defense.

This offense is very reasonable.

Among the three armored corps affiliated to the 2nd Armored Group, 3 of the 4 divisions under the 41st and 46th Armored Corps are infantry divisions and only 1 armored division.

They are suitable for opening roads, breaking obstacles, or consuming part of the enemy's strength.

The 47th Armored Corps is different from other armored corps in that it is composed of 3 armored divisions and only one infantry division.

In other words, the 47th Armored Corps has more tanks than the 41st and 46th Armored Corps combined.

In particular, the 47th Armored Corps is also equipped with 30 "Tiger" tanks... As mentioned before, although the "Tiger" tank has advantages in defense and firepower performance, it has problems with mobility, which also determines its Other troops are needed to clear the way for it.

Then, the "Tiger" tanks can advance through the gaps opened by other armored corps to the most important place on the battlefield...east of Kursk.

General Schmidt, like Marshal Kruger, was very confident in the "Tiger" tank. He even said to his staff: "Even if the 'Tiger' engine and transmission are prone to failure, so what?" ? Its rear armor has 82MM, and it is difficult for the enemy to penetrate it from any direction. We only need to bring it to the most important place. Even if it cannot be moved, it can be used as a bunker! "

In a way, Admiral Schmidt was right, because this offensive was a little different...their mission was to seize eastern Kursk and hold it there in order to cut Kursk off from the Soviet Union.

Therefore, the German army needs some "bunkers", even if these "bunkers" cannot be moved.

But what General Schmidt did not expect was that his offensive plans would not be used at all...

Admiral Schmidt debated with his staff whether the Tiger should be facing Kursk or the Soviet Union.

This is also a difficult decision, because some people believe that the Soviet Union has deployed its main force in Kursk, so once the 2nd Armored Army penetrates into the east of Kursk, the enemy's counterattack should come from Kursk.

General Schmidt believed that the main force of the Soviets should be in the direction of the Soviet Union, so the direction should be east.

While the two factions were arguing, there was suddenly a whistling sound of artillery shells in the sky, followed by "rumbling" artillery shell explosions, one after another, and several artillery shells even landed near the headquarters, shaking the roof. The dust fell "swish".

After a while, the staff officers and communications soldiers reported one after another:

"The 29th Artillery Regiment was attacked by enemy artillery!"

"The 81st Artillery Regiment was attacked by enemy artillery and suffered heavy losses!"

"The 7th Flying Squadron reported the loss of 21 fighters and the airport was bombed!"

"Radar Warfare Under Fire!"

"We found a group of enemy aircraft flying towards us!"

…

At this moment, Schmidt suddenly realized that his unit, Orel, was the main direction of the Soviet army's attack.

Schmidt guessed correctly, Zhukov's main attack direction was Orel.

The first and most direct point is...the troops located in Orel belong to the German Army Group Center.

This is the secret in Zhukov's heart. Since the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of the Caucasus, Zhukov has deliberately avoided Army Group South.

To be precise, Zhukov wanted to avoid Qinchuan... Because in these two battles, Zhukov could be said to have done his best. But even so, he was still beaten badly by the enemy.

There is a saying that "the higher you climb, the harder you fall." Zhukov was almost a "military god" in the Soviet Union, but this "military god" was repeatedly defeated by an unknown soldier... Of course, Qin Chuan was by no means "Nobody" describes only the difference in military rank between the two: one is marshal and supreme deputy commander, while the other is only lieutenant colonel.

Therefore, even if others don't think so, Zhukov himself will regard it as a shame.

He desperately hoped to get a victory to prove himself, even if this victory was to avoid Army Group South.

Secondly, Orel is indeed suitable as a breakthrough point for the Soviet army.

Orel does not have a large number of defense lines, mines and fortifications like the front of Kursk. At the same time, Army Group Center has not launched a large-scale battle for a long time since the failure of the Moscow Battle. At the same time, most of this Army Group is new recruits with no combat experience. .

The other end of the 4th Army stationed on the line from Belgorod to Kharkov is exactly the opposite... It belongs to Army Group South. It has just won several victories in Stalingrad and the Caucasus, and its morale is high.

There is no reason why the Soviet army would choose Belgorod instead of Orel, even though Belgorod has only one army group and Orel has two.