Chapter 1153

At about 10 a.m., a telegram was received from akhromeyev, saying that the troops of the fifth group army of close guard tanks were moving towards Prokhorovka one after another. Among them, the army headquarters of the mechanized 5th army and an infantry division have entered the city of Prokhorov, and are transferring with the 375TH infantry division in the city.

Seeing such a telegram, the pressure in my heart eased a lot. In the past, I always thought about the tank decisive battle to be launched in Prokhorovka area, so that in the early deployment, I was somewhat constrained. Now that I have more powerful forces to take charge of the defense in this area, I can confidently and boldly use the surplus forces to more critical areas.

In the early hours of the morning, the 67th Division also sent me a telegram, saying that it had now resumed contact with the regiment that had strayed back to the flank of the German army. They were now interposed near butovo and could launch an attack at any time.

When Danilov saw the telegram, he suggested to me, "Comrade commander, you see the remnants of the 10th tank army are not far from the 67th division of the guards. It's better for them to fight back against butovo and try to get the city back from the German."

I looked at the map and thought about it. Finally, I refused Danilov's proposal and explained to him, "Comrade deputy commander, I went to butovo to see that the whole city had almost become a ruin in the early fighting. Even if our troops recover the city, it is difficult to build a solid defense. If the 67th division of the guards is allowed to linger in the present area, it can contain more German forces. "

Bezikov came in with a stack of telegrams from outside the tent and said to me, "Comrade commander, according to the reports of the 51st, 52nd and 90th divisions of the guards, the SS divisions that were in front of their positions have disappeared, and they have been replaced by ordinary national defense forces divisions."

Danilov snatched the telegram from his hand and asked nervously, "Comrade chief of staff, do you know where the enemy is?"

"According to the Scout's report, signs of these divisions were found in the direction of prohorovka." After finishing his words, bezikov immediately added: "but this news has not been finally confirmed."

"No need to prove it, chief of staff." I waved to bzikov and said, "according to my estimation, Prokhorovka will be the focus of the German army's next attack, and Manstein will certainly put the best troops into this area."

"Ah?" My words startled bzikov. He was surprised and said, "in the Prokhorovka area, won't there be a vicious war?"

"Don't worry too much, chief of staff." I saw his face panicked and comforted him: "since this area has been handed over to the friendly forces, we can not worry about it for the time being. At present, our primary task is to find ways to launch small-scale counterattack in places where there are no elite German forces, try our best to consume the effective strength of the German forces and harass their traffic lines, so that the German forces attacking Prokhorovka are in trouble. "

"Comrade commander, how do you think about it?" When I heard that I wanted to launch a counterattack in some areas, Danilov was immediately in front of me, and then couldn't wait to ask.

"Comrade deputy commander, come and see." I called Danilov to the map on the wall, pointed to the oboyan section of the bergorod Kursk highway and said, "the German armored forces are constantly attacking the oboyan area. Although yesterday, with the support of our artillery and tank brigade, the German attack was repulsed. But the German army did not hurt its vitality. After retreating for seven or eight kilometers, they took a rest at the temporary starting point of the attack. This morning, he launched three attacks against oboyan

When I spoke to katukov in the morning and heard him say that the German attacks were more and more fierce, I started the idea of sending troops from the German side to teach the enemy a lesson. I'm taking this opportunity to say what I think: "I'm going to deploy a close guard division from Yakovlev area to launch an attack from the back of the German forces attacking oboyan with the cooperation of the tank brigade, and attack general katukov back and forth. Even if we can't completely annihilate this enemy, we can also severely damage it, so that they have no strength to launch another attack on oboyan in a short time. "

"Which division are you going to transfer?" Asked bezikov modestly.

"The 90th division of Colonel Chernoff's guards." I said lightly: "so far, among the four close guard divisions in the first line of defense, the Chernoff division is the most complete. As long as the tank brigade, let Colonel berey send out the 101st tank brigade. "

"OK, I'll give the order now." Bzikov finished recording my orders, turned around and tried to get out of the tent.

"Wait a minute, chief of staff." I stopped bzikov, who was about to leave, and added: "anyway, now that Colonel bere's tank brigade has been sent out, he is now a bare commander. Let him go back to the headquarters of the group army at the right time."

"I understand." With a brief promise, bzikov lifted the curtain and went out.

Standing in front of the map and observing for a long time, Danilov suddenly asked: "Comrade commander, if the 90th division of the guards is transferred away, then our army's strength in Yakovlev area will not become thin? Do you think it's necessary for the 51st division of Jinwei to withdraw? "

"No, no," I said dismissively about Danilov's proposal, "as long as there is still one position in our first line of defense, it is a threat to the Germans, because they rush to our troops in depth and are in danger of being cut off at any time."

Listen to me, Danilov's face a little better, he nodded and said: "well, since you say so, let the 51st division of the guards stay here and fight. I hope they can hold back the German troops near Yakovlev for a longer time. "

As I intend to send troops to support oboyan, it is necessary to talk with katukov and let him have a clear idea first. When I got through, I asked, "Comrade General, what's the situation there?"

"It's terrible, Rita." Katukov said to me with great worry: "although the German army's attacks were beaten back several times by us, the Germans did not give up and still tried to take oboyan from our hands as the starting point of their attack on Kursk. At present, the city has not only been bombarded by German artillery from a distance, but also by enemy planes. My temporary headquarters has been transferred from the city and set up on a high ground outside the city. "

"Comrade General, I know the situation there is very bad, so I am ready to send troops to support you." I organized the words in my head and said, "I intend to send an infantry division and a tank brigade along the road to attack the rear of the German troops attacking oboyan."

When katukov heard me say this, he asked in surprise, "Rita, I know that your troops are not rich. Where did you send them?"

"According to the reconnaissance, Manstein has transferred the SS troops near Yakovlev to the prokholovka area and replaced them with the ordinary national defense forces." In order to make him feel at ease, I explained the actual situation to him: "to contain these ordinary national defense divisions, I only need one division, and I can transfer the remaining troops to other more important directions."

"Rita, you're taking a risk." After listening to what I said, katukov said sternly, "have you ever thought about what to do if your remaining division can't stop the German attack? Once the German army has captured the position, it is bound to send troops to reinforce the troops attacking oboyan. At that time, your infantry division and tank brigade will fall into a dangerous situation

When I heard that katukov was worried about this, I immediately comforted him and said, "don't worry, Comrade General. Since the headquarters of the front army has sent new troops to take over several defense areas of our department, I have a lot of troops that I can use. Even if the troops in the front are in trouble, I can also send enough troops to reinforce them. "

When I explain this, katukov will say something more. He changed the topic in time and reminded me, "Rita, the German air force still dominates most of the battlefield, so if your troops want to move in, they can only do it at night, so as not to be found by the enemy's planes and suffer unnecessary losses."

"I know, Comrade General." I followed katukov's words and said, "I will order the troops to set out after dark, turn quietly into the enemy's rear, and then take them by surprise."

At the end of the call with katukov, I asked lophov to send a telegram to akhromeyev, asking him to report to me the advance of the fifth group army of close guard tanks by telephone.

After about ten minutes, akhromeyev called me. He asked me respectfully on the phone, "Comrade commander, what instructions do you have?"

"Comrade major," because of the urgency of time, I did not beat around the bush with him. Instead, I asked directly, "are the forces of lieutenant general rotmistrov's tank troops now moving towards Prokhorovka?"

"Yes, comrade commander." Akhromeyev replied positively: "their main forces are marching into Prokhorovka."

I was afraid that I had heard it wrong, so I repeated my question: "are you sure they are making a big push into Prokhorovka?"

"Yes, comrade commander." Although akhromeyev didn't understand why I asked, he patiently replied, "the troops are moving towards Prokhorovka, and the marching line I saw is at least 10 kilometers away."

"The troops march in broad daylight?" I don't understand why rotmistrov's troops march in the daytime. According to the wartime regulations, should not all major troop movements be carried out at night“ Don't they worry about air strikes? "

"No, comrade commander." When akhromeyev heard my question, he immediately understood the reason why I asked, and quickly explained: "over the marching line, there is an air force flying formation to provide cover. On the ground, there is an anti-aircraft artillery battalion every kilometer. Under such strict prevention and control measures, even if the German aircraft flew over, it was estimated that it would not be good. "

Akhromeyev's words give me a wake-up call. Yes, since the fifth group army of the close guard tanks can get the cover of the air force in the process of advancing, there is no reason why our troops defending oboyan can't get the support from the air force. So I said to the microphone, "OK, comrade major, I know all about it. Let me know if you have any information I dialed the headquarters of the front army again. I wanted to find watujing and ask him to send air force support. When vatukin heard my voice, he asked with a smile, "Comrade oshanina, have the troops of rotmistrov arrived at prohorovka?"“ Comrade commander, according to the report of my chief of operations, the headquarters and an infantry division of the 5th mechanized army of the close guard have entered the city of prohorovka and taken over the city's defense from the 375TH infantry division of our group army. "“ It seems that the operation speed of lieutenant general rotmistrov's tank troops is quite fast. " After listening to my report, vatukin said with satisfaction: "as long as they can all arrive in prohorovka by noon tomorrow, then our strength in this area can far surpass that of the Germans." With these words, he suddenly remembered that I had taken the initiative to call him. There must be something for him, so he continued to ask, "do you want to call me? What's the matter?"“ Comrade General. " I respectfully said to him: "at present, the German army has concentrated its superior armored forces and is attacking oboyan. However, general katukov's tank troops are entangled by the German forces in other places and can't escape at all."“ Yes, I know that, "said watujing faintly." what are you trying to say? "“ Chief general, I intend to send troops to support general katukov and use an infantry division and a tank brigade to launch a sudden attack from the enemy's rear and give them a good beating. " I made my plan clear to vatukin, "and then katukov commanded the troops to rush down the road from oboyan. Under our double attack, this German army will suffer heavy losses even if it is not completely annihilated. In this way, in the area south of oboyan, the strength of German armored forces will be seriously weakened. "“ That's good. That's a good plan. " After listening to this, vatukin repeatedly said good things to my plan and urged me to say, "then go and implement this plan quickly."