The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Happy Children's Day, brothers. Don't forget to vote for this book during the holiday! One monthly ticket and one little red flower...

Walter, of course, did not accept Kirchner's "help."

From this point of view, Lieutenant General Walter is still a bit immature on the battlefield... A mature general should put his personal emotions aside and consider the entire battle situation to make judgments and choices that are most beneficial to the entire army.

Walter did not do this. His answer was: "No, General! There is still time. We will break through the enemy's defense line and rush to the Yakovlevo Highway as planned!"

But having said that, Walter did not have a good method. He just urged the 2nd SS Panzer Corps to attack desperately... Planes and artillery continued to bomb the Soviet positions, and then "Tiger" tanks brought Other tanks charged towards the Soviet positions again and again.

The SS was Hitler's personal guard. When it was founded, it was responsible for ceremonial and security work. In other words, it was a guard. It could only be regarded as a paramilitary force. Therefore, at first, most people thought that the SS was a "vase" existence.

However, after sending the SS to the battlefield, they found that they dared to fight and fought very bravely. In addition, Hitler trusted more and was more keen to allocate sophisticated equipment to his "private guard", so the SS It gradually grew in size and became militarized, becoming a presence that could rival the German Wehrmacht on the battlefield.

It should be said that the existence of this force further consolidated Hitler's power.

Because a considerable number of people in the rebel organization were jealous of the SS, or were worried about a civil war between the Wehrmacht and the SS, they delayed the plan to assassinate Hitler again and again.

Otherwise, it would not be difficult for the Wehrmacht generals with military power to overthrow Hitler's regime.

However, it is one thing for the SS to be brave in combat. The private guard and its short combat history determine that this unit is not as complete and systematic in strategy and tactics as the Wehrmacht... The SS uses more of a spirit and a force organized with loyalty to the Führer at its core.

This was reflected when the 2nd SS Panzer Corps attacked the third line of defense. They preferred to pile up artillery shells, aircraft and tanks instead of changing tactics.

But the Soviet army is also a force with high numbers, and the Soviet army has even learned some tactics based on high numbers, such as "fire pockets" and "refueling tactics"... In the direction of Bekovka, The German army always came up with a wave of attacks, which obviously made the Soviet defense line collapse, but as soon as there was a pause, the Soviet army immediately came up with reinforcements and even launched a counterattack.

So the two sides went back and forth like this, fighting desperately near the defense line. There was a thick layer of corpses lying on the position, but the 2nd SS Panzer Army still could not break through... In fact, the 2nd SS Panzer Army had already broken through. The original third line of defense was replaced, but the Soviet army continued to build a line of defense after another line of defense, and then another line of defense. The result was a bad battle in which every step forward was the enemy's line of defense.

The reason why the 48th Armored Corps did not encounter this situation was because they quickly... defeated the Soviet 5th Guards Tank Corps in a short time, quickly rushed to the third line of defense and immediately launched an attack, and then only spent one night time to break through the third line of defense.

Such speed made it impossible for the Soviet army to organize a new defense, which was a bit like a "blitzkrieg".

On the other hand, it was Vatutin who was aware of the danger.

If the war situation continues like this, an elite force and 300 tanks (later reinforced by a tank brigade) located between the two roads will be surrounded by the Germans.

So Vatugin immediately issued three orders:

One: Use all your strength to prevent the German 2nd SS Panzer Corps from breaking through in the direction of Bekovka.

Two: Prevent the German 48th Armored Corps from continuing to advance in the direction of Yakovlevo.

Three: Immediately withdraw all troops from the middle zone.

Vatutin hoped to buy time to withdraw the central troops. He had given up hope in countering the encirclement of the German troops and just wanted to minimize losses.

The most troublesome of these is the second command.

Because the first order had been fulfilled, the Soviet army successfully blocked the offensive momentum of the 2nd SS Panzer Army, although it lost many troops.

The second order was to block the German 48th Panzer Corps... The problem was that the German 48th Panzer Corps defeated the 5th Guards Tank Corps within a few hours and quickly advanced. This made the Soviet army in Yakov A vacuum of troops formed in the direction of the Levo Highway, and Vatutin no longer had any troops that could effectively block the German 48th Armored Corps.

Even Vatutin is worried: the German 48th Armored Army will split into two groups, one of which will continue to advance toward the Yakovlevo Highway to threaten the rear of Kursk, and the other group will return to support the 2nd SS Armored Corps to complete the attack on the middle zone. Encirclement.

This will undoubtedly cause a double blow to the Soviet army.

In fact, that was exactly what General Holt planned.

Although General Walter repeatedly emphasized that the 2nd SS Panzer Corps could advance to the Yakovlevo Highway within the scheduled time, judging from the situation at this time, this was almost impossible.

As the commander of the 4th Armored Group, General Hoth would certainly not be as ignorant of the overall situation as Walter, so he ordered the 48th Armored Corps to attack in the opposite direction towards Bykovka immediately after entering the Yakovlevo Highway. On the one hand, it is to "help" the entangled 2nd SS Panzer Corps escape, and on the other hand, it is to complete the encirclement of the middle zone.

However, this order was not implemented.

The reason was that Holt had received a telegram.

"General!" The staff hurriedly reported to General Holt with a telegram: "The air reconnaissance force reported that a large number of Soviet troops and tanks were found in the northeast heading towards Yakovlevo. There are at least 700 tanks. It is expected that in the afternoon Arrive in Yakovlevo around three o'clock..."

Huo Te couldn't help but raised his head in shock when he heard this.

He originally thought that the Soviet tanks had been almost exhausted by now... The main force of the Soviet army was attacking Orel, and there were only more than a thousand tanks in the south. Some of these tanks were scattered along the defense line, while others were occupied by the German two sides. The armored corps was wiped out, and nothing could stop the German army from advancing.

But unexpectedly, another army with 700 tanks suddenly appeared.

It seems that the Soviet army's reserves are much larger than imagined.

Holt's guess was correct. In order to ensure the victory of this battle, Stalin left an entire front army, the Prairie Front Army, as a reserve force.

Therefore, the Soviet army only had a tank group reinforcement at this critical moment.

The designation of this tank group was the 5th Guards Tank Army. The army commander, General Rotmistrov, led this unit to march 100 kilometers to the Yakovlevo Highway in 24 hours.

Then General Hott's eyes were fixed on the midpoint between the enemy and ourselves: Prokhorovka!