Chapter 1141

When receiving my call, vatujing asked unexpectedly, "Comrade oshanina, you are calling at this time. What can I do for you?"

"Yes, Comrade General." Business matters. I didn't care that I was angry with him not long ago. I said frankly, "our scouts found that the German armored forces are driving towards Prokhorovka."

"What, the German Panzer?" After listening to my report, vatukin immediately asked nervously, "have you found out what kind of army it is?"

"I'm sorry, Comrade General." I said with regret: "the intelligence sent back by our reconnaissance team is not complete, and it has lost contact with us. It may be that there was an exchange of fire with the German army in the process of sending the news, which led to the sacrifice of all."

"What are you still doing? Send someone to find out the situation." "Only when you have a clear idea of the strength of the German army, can you deploy your defense in a targeted way," he urged

I can't laugh or cry when I hear him say that. If the scouts I sent at this time can be in time, can I still call you? Seeing that he never thought about sending planes to scout, I had to remind him: "Comrade commander, I would like to ask you to send the air force out to scout the marching route of the German armored forces and figure out their general strength, so that we can make corresponding deployment."

Vatukin didn't make things difficult for me as I thought. He just sighed and said, "well, in the current situation, we can only turn to the reconnaissance of the air force. I'm going to call the air force and ask them to send reconnaissance planes to conduct reconnaissance on the German troops moving into Prokhorovka. "

When I put down the phone, Danilov immediately asked nervously, "Comrade commander, what should we do during this time?"

I took a look at him, and then said, "Comrade deputy commander, immediately send out a battle alarm to the fifth tank army of the guards, saying that a large number of German armored forces are rushing at them, so that they can get ready for all combat immediately."

As for my order, Danilov hesitated and asked, "but before we know the actual strength of the German army, is it appropriate for us to rashly order the close guard tank army to prepare for battle? If the German army didn't rush to our defense area, but wanted to turn to oboyan halfway, wouldn't it confuse our deployment? "

When I saw such a time, Danilov was still indecisive, so he said impolitely: "Comrade deputy commander, no matter where the ultimate goal of the German army is, it is absolutely right to let lieutenant general Kravchenko's troops prepare for war. Even if the German army doesn't attack today, it doesn't mean that they won't attack tomorrow. Only when they are prepared can they be safe. Do you understand? "

Danilov saw that I had signs of anger, so he had no choice but to say, "well, comrade commander, since this is the case, then I will immediately send out a battle alarm to the tank army to make them ready for battle." Then he picked up the receiver from the phone, put it to his ear, and said to the operator, "get close to the fifth tank army and find general Kravchenko."

While Danilov was on the phone, bzikov asked me quietly, "Comrade commander, do you need to transfer our reserve team?"

I shook my head and denied his proposal: "no, the reserves are infantry divisions. It's almost like death to let them deal with German tanks." I turned to look at povsky and said to him, "Comrade artillery commander, how many artillery regiments can be mobilized in our second line of defense?"

Povsky immediately stood up from his seat and reported to me: "at present, there are two artillery regiments, one howitzer, one anti tank artillery regiment and two rocket artillery battalions that can be used in the second line of defense."

"Although the troops are a little less, they are barely enough to deal with the German armored forces." Povsky reported more data than I had. Maybe when I was on the front line, my superior sent us new artillery troops. However, at such a time, even if only one more artillery can increase the chance of winning. Therefore, I said to povsky, "prepare the artillery for battle, and let each artillery regiment send artillery observers to indicate the direction of artillery attack."

After the battle alarm was issued to the fifth tank army and Artillery Force of the guards, I was still not at ease, so I dialed katukov. When I heard his voice, I asked directly, "Comrade General, what's the situation there?"

"General klivoschein's mechanized Third Army has been at war with the German vanguard." Katukov's voice sounded a little hoarse. "At present, the German army is rushing forward regardless of everything. It seems that they want to break through our direction and rush to oboyan. "

"Comrade General, I soon learned from our reconnaissance team that there is a large number of German armored forces rushing to prohorovka." When I mentioned this to him, I specially emphasized: "because our scouts broke off contact before they could give full information back, we have no idea what scale the German armored forces are and where the final assault direction is."

"I see, Rita." As soon as my voice fell, katukov guessed what I wanted to say. "You are worried that the German armored forces will suddenly turn to the West and attack the flanks of the mechanized Third Army, so as to capture oboyan."

"Yes, comrade general, that's what I think." For katukov to be able to pay attention to my intention so quickly and let the stone hanging in my heart fall to the ground, the next words are good: "in order to eliminate the German armored forces, I think so. If they continue to pounce on Prokhorovka, I would like to ask you to send the Sixth Army of tanks to strike their flanks hard; If they suddenly turn west and pounce on oboyan before they reach prohorovka, I will also send tanks to attack from the rear of the German armored forces. What do you think of my proposal? "

Katukov thought a little, then readily agreed: "well, Rita, do as you say. We are friendly forces. We can't fight separately. Only by working together can we defeat the enemy who rushes into our defensive zone. "

While waiting for the reply from watujing, I kept thinking about whether there was anything missing in my mind. The war reports from all over the world came in like flowing water. When bzikov took over the war reports, he was smiling and frowning. From his expression, I knew that the situation on the front line was mixed.

Thinking of the worst situation in the 52nd division of the guards, I asked bzikov, "chief of staff, what's the situation there, Colonel Nekrasov?"

Bezikov handed me a stack of war reports, and said: "the 52nd division of the guards beat back two German attacks, but the casualties of the troops were not small, and each regiment lost more than one third of its personnel. If we don't send them more reserves, we may stick to it for two days at most, and the whole guards Division will be finished

I looked at the war report casually, then divided it into two stacks and handed them to kirilov and Danilov respectively. Then I said to bezikov, "chief of staff, I also know that the front line is hard to fight, but we don't know how long this battle will last. If the reserve team is put into the battle too early, then we will be in the next battle, The pressure is even greater. "

Bezikov said reluctantly, "even if you only send them an infantry regiment with strengthened artillery."

"No, comrade chief of staff." On the issue of the use of the reserve forces of the group army, I firmly said, "not a regiment, not even a battalion. Good steel needs to be used on the blade, and the reserves need to use more important areas in the future. They should not be consumed prematurely. "

Seeing that my attitude was so stubborn, Danilov shook his head slightly, then looked down at the report of the war in his hand, while bezikov stood beside him with a look of depression. In order to divert his attention, I asked, "chief of staff, do you have any news from the 67th division of the guards?"

"Yes," said bezikov, drawing two of the telegrams from the stack on the table and handing them to me. "Lt. Col. chejerikov called to inform me that the division had successfully withdrawn into the forest. He asked whether the troops could be allowed to hide temporarily during the day, and then fight back to the German occupied area after dark. "

"No, absolutely not." Before I could speak, Danilov put down his war report and said solemnly, "we should immediately order the troops to fight back and let them drive the enemy away from the occupied positions."

"Comrade deputy commander," I said without waiting for Danilov to finish his speech. I said to myself, "now the heavy weapons of the 67th division of the guards are almost exhausted. If we order them to attack the German army at this time, it's almost like asking them to die."

"But Comrade commander, in order to defend the motherland, no matter how much you pay, it's worth it." Danilov retorted unconvinced: "I think even though the 67th division of the guards has no heavy weapons, it can still defeat the German army with the bravery and tenacity of its commanders and fighters."

"Our commanders and fighters are very brave and tenacious, but we can't let them sacrifice their lives in vain in such a hopeless counterattack." When I said this, I waved at bezikov and ordered decisively, "chief of staff, send a telegram to lieutenant commander sergeant xijerikov and agree to his request. Tomorrow, after dark, he will immediately gather his troops to launch a counterattack against the enemy occupying our army's positions, and make sure to recover the positions lost during the day. "

After recording my order, bzikov agreed and gave the note full of words to the next director of communications, lophov, to send a message to the 67th division.

Danilov saw that I didn't take his advice, and he issued an order on his own. He suddenly blushed with anger, his neck was thick, and his breathing became short. He felt that as long as he spoke again, he would have a big fight with me. At this time, kirilov came out to be the peacemaker and advised him: "Comrade deputy commander, don't worry. Listen to me, chejerikov is one of the most effective commanders under Rita. He has rich combat experience. I believe his decision to send such a telegram is also based on the actual situation of the battlefield. Believe him, in tonight's counterattack, we will not be disappointed

After kirilov's persuasion for a long time, Danilov sat down in his seat angrily, staring at the map in front of him and began to be in a daze.

After a long wait, watujing finally called. On the phone, he said anxiously: "Comrade oshanina, according to the reconnaissance of the air force, the German armored forces are composed of at least 200 tanks. At present, they have turned to the northwest and directly attacked oboyan in an attempt to help their troops break through the defense line of the third mechanized army."

When I heard that there were more than 200 tanks, I was also nervous. I said that it was very difficult to beat back the German army with the existing forces, so I had to brazenly ask, "Comrade General, since there are many German tanks, I don't know what kind of help the front army headquarters can provide us?"“ There are two things you need to do now, "said vatukin after a moment of silence." one is to contact katukov immediately and let their tank troops attack to block the advance of German armored forces. 2、 Gather the artillery of your group army and bombard the moving tank troops to consume as many enemy tanks as possible. "“ General, I have a request. " I thought of the unexpected air ground cooperative operation yesterday, and I couldn't help saying to watujing, "I don't know whether to say it or not."“ At this time, there is nothing to say. " When vatukin heard me say this, he was a little impatient: "whatever you want to say, just say it. As long as I can do it, I will help you. "“ Can I ask for air force support? " I said cautiously, "you know, our air force made a great contribution in yesterday's battle. Without their support, we could not have defeated the German "Hitler division" and "imperial division" and achieved such great results. "“ Well, "said watujin hesitantly to my request," I can't agree to you for the time being. Because it's not just your army that is under attack at the moment. The 40th group army and the 7th group army are also being attacked by the German army. The limited air force still needs to reinforce them. " After listening to watugen's saying that I can't send air force to me, I want to use the air ground cooperative combat method to deal with the German army again. My plan failed, which made me feel lost. After sighing in my heart, I said helplessly, "senior general, since you can't send air force to support us, can you provide us with other support?" I thought he would find another reason to shirk, but he said frankly: "I have just discussed with Comrade vasilevsky and decided to send three artillery regiments and an automatic air defense regiment to strengthen you. I believe that with their reinforcement, your defense pressure will be greatly reduced."