The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Hitler had differences with General Hoth regarding the offensive.

Hitler was never willing to give up any opportunity to remotely command the front line. He did not interfere before just because the 48th Panzer Army and the Second SS Panzer Army were fighting well... Both units were attacking, especially the Second SS Panzer Army. Hitler was very satisfied with the performance of the "Tiger" on the battlefield. He even said to his staff: "Look, who said it is difficult for the 'Tiger' to play its role on the battlefield? It has already dealt a severe blow to the enemy. At the same time, It’s also a slap in the face to those who don’t think highly of it!”

This makes Kruger feel good.

Then, the two people who had high hopes for the "Tiger" even began to discuss whether the "Werewolf" needed to change the defensive strategy and change to an active attack.

At this time, the news from the front line made the two of them choose silence... Seven "Tiger" vehicles were destroyed, 18 vehicles were unable to participate in the battle due to various malfunctions, and only six vehicles could still fight normally.

This moment poured cold water on Hitler.

You must know that at this time, the German army had only penetrated more than 30 kilometers of the Soviet defense line, and more than half of the "Tiger" malfunctioned. It is conceivable that if we attack, all the "Tiger" will be lying on the road.

After a while, Hitler was furious in the office: "We were not defeated by the enemy, absolutely not! It was the engineers who defeated us. They were in a safe and comfortable environment and enjoyed generous treatment as a matter of course, but they could not solve this small problem. It’s a shame, a complete shame!”

What Hitler did not realize was that these "Tiger"s were also developed by these "incompetent" engineers and scientists. What's more, it's normal for new equipment to have many malfunctions, because Hitler was eager to put it into the battlefield.

But Hitler actually knew this. He was just finding a good excuse for his wrong judgment.

To Hitler's satisfaction, the 48th Panzer Army fought very smoothly. They even defeated the elite Soviet tank units whose strength was several times their own at a very small cost.

It was only then that this thing called ME63 came into Hitler's sight.

"You have signed the production of ME63 before, Your Excellency the Führer!" The staff officer replied when Hitler asked: "It was the report submitted by General Manstein!"

Only then did Hitler remember that there was indeed such a report.

But that report was talking about rocket launchers... The German army did have a need to produce various rocket launchers during this period. As mentioned before, the German army only realized that rocket launchers were okay after discovering the power of the Soviet "Katyusha" rocket launcher. In this way, a system of rocket launchers and rocket launchers was developed.

Obviously, Marshal Manstein simply classified the ME63 as a rocket because he didn't know how to name it. Hitler mistakenly thought it was a rocket and signed the document in confusion.

"So, it's not a rocket?" Hitler asked his staff.

"Uh... To be precise, it is indeed a rocket launcher!" The staff officer was not very familiar with the ME63. He flipped through the documents and replied: "The warhead... is a bit like a rocket launcher and can penetrate 150MM thick armor. Yeah, 150MM. Then it can change the trajectory, unbelievable!”

"What do you mean by changing trajectory?" Hitler asked.

"I don't know if that's what I understand!" the staff officer put the document in front of Hitler and said, "Here's the explanation. They are connected to the warhead through a wire, which allows the operator to control the rocket. Run the trajectory until the rocket hits the target!”

Hitler took the document and flipped it through, then ordered the staff with some suspicion: "Go and confirm!"

"Yes, Your Majesty the Head of State!" the staff officer responded.

The staff officer came back after a while. He nodded and said: "Your Majesty the Head of State, it is indeed as we thought, it can change the trajectory. The 48th Armored Corps relied on this rocket to defeat the 5th Guards Tank Corps of the Soviet Union!"

Hitler nodded, and then couldn't help but say: "It's simply a genius. It almost perfectly combines the control technology of V1 with rockets, which solves the problem of low accuracy of rockets very well! More The important thing is...it's easy to make and cheap!"

After thinking about it, he shook his head and sighed.

Because Hitler suddenly realized something: if this kind of rocket is used against the "Tiger", it only takes a few rockets to destroy an expensive "Tiger"... This is also true to a certain extent. Destroyed his dreams.

Soon, intelligence on the massive Soviet reinforcements was placed in front of Hitler.

Also on the desk was General Hott's order, which was to have the 48th Armored Corps rush to Prokhorovka at full speed to seize favorable terrain.

Hitler frowned and sent a telegram to General Holt:

"My general, don't be intimidated by a tank army of the Soviets. As we know, the Soviets are always slow to move. We have full time to surround the Soviet troops in the middle and help the 2nd SS Panzer break free from the Soviets." The entanglement of the army, and then gathered the strength of the two armored corps to give the Soviet tank army a fatal blow! "

Hitler's order made sense.

Because the mobilization of the Soviet army is indeed very slow. Not to mention the distant Barbarossa Plan, the same is true for the just-concluded Battle of Stalingrad... Due to communication, transportation and various problems, a large number of Soviet troops can deploy far away. Failure to meet expectations forced the Soviet army to postpone its offensive again and again.

But this time Hitler was wrong.

This steppe front was deployed by Stalin long ago, and because of previous experiences and lessons, the Soviet army also widened the traffic behind Kursk and improved communications and logistics. This allowed the 5th Guards Tank Army to reinforce Prokhoro A miracle was created during the war in Fka...a tank army marched 100 kilometers in 24 hours.

This march speed is even faster than Rommel's Afrika Korps.

Hitler did not understand this, so he ordered General Hoth to follow the original plan, which was to use one armored division to reinforce the 2nd SS Panzer Army, and another armored division and infantry division to rush to Prokhorovka to meet the enemy.

According to Hitler, this is: "If we ignore the gap in the encirclement and let the entire 48th Panzer Army go to Prokhorovka, then while the 48th Panzer Army is fighting the enemy, the Soviets who are trapped in the middle zone will We will have time to escape from the gap, and our encirclement of the enemy will fail! This is exactly what the Soviets want to see, and we cannot let them succeed!"