The decisive battle against the Third Reich

It should be said that Hitler was right on this point. One of the purposes of the Soviet Army's deployment of the reserve, namely the 5th Guards Tank Army, was to rescue the Soviet Army trapped in the middle zone. It was an elite Guards Army plus a tank brigade.

But this was not the most important thing. What was more important was that the Soviet Army did not want the German 48th Panzer Army to rampage behind Kursk and destroy the Soviet Army's entire counterattack plan.

General Hoth knew this very well, and he knew that the facts were not as Hitler said... The Soviet Army's 5th Guards Tank Army was not moving slowly, but advancing towards Prokhorovka at a very fast speed.

General Hoth knew what it would mean if he commanded this battle according to Hitler's orders: the troops rushing to Prokhorovka would soon be overwhelmed by the Soviet Army... The gap in strength between the enemy and us was too great, even if the German Army had ME63.

Then, the 48th Panzer Corps could indeed join up with the 2nd SS Panzer Corps, but because the main force of the 48th Panzer Corps collapsed, they had actually become an isolated army. At that time, there would be no encirclement, and the German army would be trapped in the enemy's encirclement and unable to extricate themselves.

Therefore, Hoth did not hesitate and decided to disobey the order the moment he received Hitler's order.

General Hoth even complained to the staff: "Yes, because it is the Führer's SS that is entangled. If it is the 48th Panzer Corps that is entangled... I don't know if the Führer will give such an order regardless of everything!"

General Hoth saw a little selfishness of Hitler in this: the Führer did not want the SS to be compared with the Wehrmacht on the battlefield. Even though both were armies commanded by him, the former was loyal to Hitler and the latter was loyal to Germany. There was still a difference between the two.

The staff did not object to anything. He just said to General Hoth: "Then we need a reason!"

The meaning of reason is excuse.

General Hoth and his staff could not find a good excuse, so they could only send a telegram to Hitler: "Dear Führer, I have already issued an order to the 48th Panzer Corps. The 48th Panzer Corps is very fast and they will reach Prokhorovka in half an hour. It seems inappropriate to withdraw one of the armored divisions to support it at this time!" General Hoth did not lie on this point. The 48th Panzer Corps had already arrived near Prokhorovka. Even the 3rd Panzer Division, which was ahead, had already started a fierce battle with the enemy... The 3rd Panzer Division and the 21st Panzer Division took turns to lead the battle. Now it was time for the 3rd Panzer Division to open the way. This battle was to cross the Psel River. The Soviets blew up several bridges on the Psel River and then deployed defenses on the opposite side relying on the river bank. Such defense was very troublesome because tanks could not drive across the river to cover the soldiers' attack. Colonel Slaine could not help but say: "I miss the amphibious tanks a little bit!" This attack did not consider too much about crossing the river, so the tents needed for amphibious tanks were not carried. However, this seems unnecessary. On the one hand, the amphibious tanks are too fragile. Once hit by bullets or shells, they will sink in the water. On the other hand, the Soviet troops stationed on the other side of the river are obviously just some logistics troops with weak combat effectiveness.

Qin Chuan was not wrong... The Soviet army deployed its main forces outside the defense line, and the troops stationed inside were engineers who repaired roads and troops who ensured transportation.

The Soviet army on the other side of the Psel River was no exception. It was a mixed force of the Soviet Army's 691st Engineers and the 28th Transport Team, including temporarily armed car soldiers and militia.

There were many troops, more than 3,000 people... The Soviets were always able to gather a considerable force in a short period of time. They even organized the people to build an anti-tank trench on the other side.

But these obviously could not stop the impact of the German regular army, especially the regular army that had experienced many battles.

The 3rd Armored Division lined up tanks on the shore, fired mortars and tank guns at the opposite side, and then the infantry drove rubber boats to attack the opposite side... It was a bit unimaginable to use rubber boats to force a crossing, because it did not provide any protection for the soldiers, and even a few bullets could cause it to deflate and sink into the water. It was undoubtedly very dangerous to use it to force a crossing.

So the soldiers of the 3rd Armored Division suffered certain casualties, more than 20 soldiers were killed, and more than 50 were injured.

But in the end they still crossed the Pshor River and opened a bridgehead on the opposite side. Then the engineering regiment rushed up to build a pontoon bridge on the river. The tanks "rumbled" across the pontoon bridge to cover the infantry to continue to expand the results of the battle... At this time, the victory or defeat was determined.

When Qin Chuan and others passed the pontoon bridge, they saw the soldiers of the 3rd Armored Division salvaging dead bodies in the river... They would salvage the bodies and bury them on the spot, and then nail a wooden cross in front of the grave. That was all they could do.

Werner couldn't help but say, "If we were to attack, I don't think there would be so many casualties!"

"Oh, really?" Dominic asked back, "What are you going to do?"

"I will choose armed swimming!" Werner replied.

Werner was right. The casualties of armed swimming would be much smaller than those of rubber boats. On the one hand, the target is smaller, and on the other hand, water has a strong blocking effect on bullets... Bullets rotate at high speed, and water will reduce their rotation and penetration exponentially.

"But not every unit will do armed swimming!" said the baker.

"But we will!" Werner replied.

"We can't handle all the battles, Werner!" Qin Chuan replied: "So don't feel guilty about it, this is war!"

Alfredo, who was walking in front, turned back to look at Werner, smiled and shook his head, as if he couldn't imagine that there would still be such an innocent person after the war.

But Qinchuan knew that not only Werner, but also many Germans had this mentality. Their attitudes towards their enemies and their own people were completely different. This may be the reason why they are more united.

After walking forward with the tank for more than ten minutes, I saw an anti-tank trench.

It's just that the anti-tank trench was used as a temporary prisoner camp. Groups of Soviet soldiers with their hands raised squatted inside, looking at the German soldiers passing by in horror. Several guards stood guard with guns raised. Not far away, there were several corpses shot in the back. It was not difficult to guess that they were prisoners who wanted to take advantage of the chaos and escape.

German tanks and soldiers continued to advance from a slope paved by engineers and climbed up to some higher jungle in the north.

Then the order came: "Get ready for battle, the enemy is five miles ahead!"