Chapter 1172

The new day's sun rose slowly, and the warm sunshine spread all over the earth. General Kravchenko's Fifth Army of close guard tanks is building a new defensive position to the southwest of Prokhorovka.

Kravchenko chose a good terrain. He arranged the defensive position of the sixth brigade of the close guard motorized on the hill covered with bushes. The dense bush can provide the best cover for the anti tank artillery position, so that the German tanks passing in front of the hill can not detect our ambush in advance. The main force of his tank army was hidden in the open land behind the hills and was cleverly disguised.

Kravchenko and I were standing on the high ground, looking in the direction of Prokhorovka, where the smoke of gunfire and the faint sound of explosion came from, where the tanks of the Soviet and German sides were fighting fiercely. But unfortunately, after watching it for a long time, I couldn't see anything clearly except smoke.

Kravchenko asked me anxiously: "general oshanina, do you think general rotmistrov's tank group army can defeat the German 2nd SS armored army?"

Instead of answering his question, I thought about the ongoing tank war in Prokhorovka. For a long time, it has been famous for the largest tank battle in the history of human war. It is said that 1500 tanks from both sides fought fiercely here on July 12, 43.

No matter what the scale of this tank decisive battle is in real history, at this moment, I clearly know that the number of tanks involved in the battle by both sides is absolutely not up to that number. After all, in the recent battle, the strength of the German 2nd SS Panzer Army was greatly weakened by us. In my defense area alone, they lost more than 200 tanks. Before they were supplemented with new tanks, their strength was much weaker than in history.

Kravchenko thought I didn't hear him, so he repeated the question again: "general oshanina, do you think we can defeat the second SS armored army of the German army with our strength?"

I turned my head to Kravchenko and said in a positive tone, "Comrade General, I think general rotmistrov's tank army can defeat the enemy. According to my information, there are close guard tanks in Prokhorovka. The 18th and 29th armies of the fifth group army have more than 400 tanks. Compared with the German army, they have a certain advantage in number; In addition, they are also equipped with a lot of new tanks. To deal with the German Tiger tanks, No. 4 tanks, No. 3 assault guns and weasel destroyers, the problem is not too big. "

"I hope so." Perhaps Kravchenko didn't want to pour cold water on me. After listening to what I said, he sighed softly, then reluctantly agreed: "as long as general rotmisterov doesn't make any mistakes in his command, we still have a lot to grasp in our final victory."

I recognized that he had something to say, and I was not optimistic about the prospect of the decisive battle of tanks in Prokhorovka. I could not help but ask curiously, "Comrade General, I hear you speak as if I have no confidence in general rotmistrov?"

"Comrade oshanina, you may not know that the fifth group army, as a reserve force, is not equipped with any new tanks at all." When he saw the surprised expression on my face, he continued word by word: "the two tank armies you just mentioned are also equipped with a considerable number of obsolete light tanks. T-34, which can really pose a threat to German tanks, only accounts for half of this army."

Kravchenko's words startled me. Originally, I was full of confidence in the victory of the tank battle against rotmistrov's troops, but now when I know the equipment of the fifth group army of the close guard tanks, my heart suddenly sank like a sinkhole. Although I was shocked in my heart, I still had to say, "general rotmistrov can completely use those light tanks as battery. When the German forces attack them, they can attack them with artillery fire."

As soon as I finished, I found that Kravchenko's face had completely changed. He said bitterly: "general oshanina, just before you came to me, my scouts reported to me that the German army had occupied the attack starting position of rotmisterov. In other words, if we want to have a decisive battle with tanks, our tanks must first attack the enemy's positions. " At this point, he took out a map, pointed to a position on it and said to me, "general rotmistrov's troops have to go through an open area to attack the German army, which just enables the German army to exert the long-range lethality of the 88mm guns of its Tiger tank and the 75mm guns of its No. 4 tank, No. 3 assault gun and weasel destroyer. At the same distance, the 76mm guns on our T-34 tanks can't do much damage to German tanks. "

"Then what should we do? Should we watch our friendly forces be annihilated by the enemy?" Although I know the result of Prokhorov's decisive battle with tanks, I can't help but panic when I hear Kravchenko say this: "can you send a tank brigade to reinforce them?"

Kravchenko shrugged his shoulders and said helplessly, "I'm sorry, general oshanina. Please forgive me for not being able to complete this task."

"Why?" His answer surprised me, so I asked, "are you really going to watch the friendly troops frustrated and not reach out to them?"

"You are mistaken, general oshanina." In response to my accusation, Kravchenko calmly explained: "in the meeting a few hours ago, I told you that the supporting shells of my new tank had already been exhausted. If we don't supplement as soon as possible, we can't take part in the battle at all. You can't let our tankers drive the tanks to hit the enemy's tanks, can you

After listening to Kravchenko's explanation, I couldn't help but look up and sigh. I didn't expect that a tank battle, which seemed to be a sure victory, had unexpected variables. But Kravchenko can't help. It's understandable. Who makes the output of supporting shells of new tanks too low to meet the needs of the army. The shortage of ammunition directly leads to the fact that many troops equipped with new tanks are unable to carry out normal combat tasks, or can only use the previous T-34 tanks to compete with the Tiger tanks with better performance.

Seeing my dejected face, Kravchenko suddenly said, "by the way, general oshanina, if you want to help general rotmistrov, there is no way at all."

"What, comrade general," I asked excitedly, seizing him by the shoulder. "Have you come up with any good way to help general rotmistrov?"

Kravchenko nodded and said: "in fact, it's very simple. At present, there are many new tanks in Colonel bere's army with sufficient ammunition. If they join the war, I think the fighting situation will become very favorable for us."

"Can you contact Colonel berey here?" At the moment, if I want to contact bere, I can only use radio communication. Although it is possible to leak secrets, I can't care much about it in order to win the decisive battle of Prokhorov's tanks. "I need to contact him immediately and ask him to deploy new tanks to support general rotmistrov."

However, to my surprise, Kravchenko had a direct phone call with berey, which saved me from the risk of German eavesdropping when I used wireless communication with berey. When I heard berey's voice coming out of the receiver, I asked frankly, "Comrade Colonel, how many new tanks you have with sufficient ammunition can be pulled out now?"

Berey didn't know why I asked such a question, so he asked, "Comrade commander, are you..."

Although he only said half of what he said, I understood what he meant. He wanted to understand the real purpose of my asking this question. So I specially explained to him: "Comrade Colonel, I just learned that general rotmistrov's tank army was not equipped with new tanks at all. Moreover, before today's battle, the German army had preempted their offensive starting position, forcing general rotmistrov's troops to pass through an open area, To attack the German Panzer. In the distance of charging, they will be attacked continuously by German Tiger tanks, No.4 tanks, assault guns and destroyers, and they are bound to pay a high price.... "

"I see, comrade commander." Without waiting for me to finish, Colonel berey knew where I was calling and asked, "how many tanks do I need to send for support?"

Because I didn't know the situation of the tank army, I didn't give an order casually. Instead, I asked him, "how many tanks can you deploy at present?"

"I can get captain shamrih's Third Battalion of tanks to lead 15 new tanks to reinforce." It's probably to reassure me that the tank commanders he sent are all familiar to me. After finishing this sentence, he specially stressed: "because of the time constraint, we can't wait for the fuel truck, so I can only let captain shamrih and them go to general Kravchenko's area and replenish the necessary fuel there."

After hearing this, I didn't make a statement immediately. Instead, I turned to Kravchenko next to me for consultation. Seeing that he nodded his head and agreed, I said to berey, "well, comrade Colonel, let captain shamrih come as soon as possible. General Kravchenko can supply them with enough fuel."

As soon as I put down the phone, I saw Kravchenko calling his chief of staff and asking him to arrange for some oil tankers to be prepared at the foot of the mountain. When the friendly tank battalion arrived, they would be refueled immediately.

After half an hour, someone came in and reported to Kravchenko: "Comrade commander, the tank battalion of the friendly army has arrived, and now it is fueling at the foot of the mountain. Now their commander is at the door. Do you need to see them? "

Kravchenko did not answer immediately, but turned his eyes on me, meaning to let me make up my mind. It occurred to me that I had not seen him for a long time. I just took this opportunity to see him. Otherwise, if he had any problems in the next battle, he would not have seen him.

When Kravchenko saw that I agreed, he immediately told the other party, "go and ask the commander of the friendly army to come in."

Soon, the figure of shamrih appeared at the door. When he saw that I was also in the headquarters, he was stunned at first, but soon recovered. He raised his hand and saluted me, and said aloud, "report to commander comrade, Captain shamrih of the Third Battalion of the 101 brigade of the 33rd Army of tanks. I am ordered to come here to accept your order. Please give me instructions!"

"This is general Kravchenko, the commander of the 2nd and 5th army of the guard tank." After a salute, I introduced Kravchenko, who was standing next to me, to shamrih, "the man he arranged is replenishing fuel for you." After shamrih and Kravchenko said hello, I called them to the simple wooden table, pointed to the map above and said to shamrih, "Comrade captain, at present, the fifth group army of our close guard tanks is fighting against the German tanks in Prokhorovka area. My mission to your battalion is to reinforce the friendly forces. " After staring at the map for a while, shamrih tentatively asked, "Comrade commander, I don't know which direction we should launch a surprise attack from the German army?"“ Comrade captain, I think you misunderstood me. I asked you to reinforce the friendly forces, not to force you to attack the enemy. You should know that although your tanks are superior to the German army in performance, they are too few. Even if they are exchanged according to the ratio of one to five and one to six, you will lose out in the end. " In order not to make shamrih hot headed and rush to the Prokhorovka area to fight the war of attrition, I specially pointed out to him: "what you have to do is to wander around the battlefield of war, see the enemy's weakness, and rush up and hit them. After causing losses to them, they move to other directions and continue to harass. In a word, the Germans should not be allowed to concentrate their forces and engage in a war with general rotmistrov's forces. Do you understand? " Shamrih hesitated for a moment, and then answered decisively, "I understand, comrade commander. I'm sure I'll make the Germans care about one thing and lose the other."“ Very well, comrade captain. You understand very well. " I am very satisfied with his understanding ability. I said to him with a smile: "as long as you fight this battle well, I will suggest to the superior that your tank 22nd brigade be reconstituted again, and that you be equipped with the best tanks and the most experienced tankers."