Chapter 1175

When general Gutman arrived, the artillery commander of the group army, Colonel povsky, came with him. In order to prevent the German army from launching another fierce attack on oboyan these two days, povsky usually stayed in oboyan, so that he could command the artillery of the group army there and provide artillery support for katukov's mechanized Third Army.

Seeing that all the people had arrived, I coughed and then said, "comrades, before announcing today's combat mission, I would like to talk about the current situation between ourselves and the enemy. The 2nd SS Panzer Army of German army occupied a certain advantage in prohorovka area, wedged two to three kilometers into the defense area of the 5th group army of close guard tank, and broke through the defense line of the 69th group army, which posed a threat to the flank of prohorovka.

In order to reverse this unfavorable situation, I concentrated the 71st and 89th divisions of the guards and the 375TH division of the infantry, as well as the 101st brigade of the tanks and the artillery units of the group army to counter the German forces in Yakovlev. " At this point, I took a look at gertman, continued with a smile, "of course, there are general gertman's tanks, the Sixth Army with our action."

"Comrade commander, may I ask you a question?" As soon as I finished, the commander of the 71st division of the guards, Colonel sivakov, stood up.

"Yes, comrade colonel." I said to him in a friendly tone, "you ask!"

"Comrade commander, our 71st and 77th guard divisions have always been responsible for covering prohorovka's right wing. Now we have transferred our division away. Once the German forces attack the 77th guard division from prohorovka, can they block it?"

"Don't worry about that, comrade colonel." After listening to sivakov's question, I said with a smile to him and to all the people, "maybe you don't know. I have deployed general Kravchenko's close guard tank Fifth Army in the southwest of Prokhorovka. As long as they are there, the German army will never enter our defense area again.

When general Kravchenko was setting up a defensive position, the German army sent out a tank unit in an attempt to destroy our troops who were building fortifications. But this time they met the iron plate. First, the tank battalion of the 101st tank brigade destroyed several of their tanks. Then, the tank military anti tank guns and tanks saturated the German army and completely wiped them out. In other words, it is absolutely safe for us to attack the left wing of Yakovlev's forces. "

"Comrade General," general Guttman said immediately, "on your right flank, with our mechanized Third Army and your 90th division, your flank must be safe."

"I have consulted the headquarters of the front army and obtained authorization for this counterattack." In order not to let you have any bad ideas about this hasty counter offensive, I have specially explained it. Then I looked at povsky and asked, "Comrade artillery commander, I'd like to introduce you to those places that will be your priority targets before preparing for artillery fire."

Povsky stood up, went to the map beside the wall, picked up the stick, pointed to it and began to explain: "comrades, according to our reconnaissance, the German troops are assembling to the state farm east of the oboyan highway, and a lot of German troops are also stationed in several villages nearby. In our artillery preparation, these places will become our key targets. " At this point, he raised his hand and looked at his watch. "The artillery preparation time is 30 minutes, and then the artillery will carry out extended firing."

"Wait a minute, comrade colonel." When he just said this, I couldn't help interrupting him and put forward my own suggestions in public: "I think our shelling effect is not good, which may be related to the fact that the Germans have mastered our shelling rules. So I ask you to adjust the muzzle and re fire the earliest area after five minutes of extended fire, so as to eliminate as many enemies as possible who have just come out of the blast hole

After listening, povsky pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "Comrade commander, your idea is good. When the German troops saw the extension of the artillery fire, they must have thought that the artillery fire had passed, and they would run out of their hiding place and be ready to stop our army. At this time, if we suddenly cover this area with more artillery fire, it will certainly cause them a lot of losses. "

After the artillery preparation, I turned to Gutman and said, "Comrade General, your tank troops will charge the enemy's defensive operations five minutes before the end of the artillery attack. When we rushed to the enemy, the shelling was just over. Before the German who had evaded the shelling had time to enter the positions, our tanks had torn open their defense lines, and then the infantry swarmed up again to encircle and destroy the enemy in these positions. "

"Comrade General," gertman asked tentatively, "I don't know whether our tanks are used centrally or scattered in the infantry companies for support fire?"

"It's no use saying that, Comrade General." I am very surprised at his question. Is his fighting style different from that of katukov“ It must be to concentrate all the tanks and use wedge formation to rush into the enemy's position. In this way, even if there were one or several anti tank guns in the German position, it would not be very useful. After our tanks rush past, we can crush these anti tank guns with tracks. "

After the assignment, I raised my hand and looked at my watch. Then I said to all the commanders, "everyone hurry back to their respective troops immediately and start to transfer them to the designated starting point of attack. Our attack will start in two hours

The commanders who attended the meeting stood up to salute me and left the headquarters one after another.

Looking at everyone's back as they left, kirilov asked anxiously, "Rita, are you sure this counterattack will work? You know, it's only four hours before and after the plan was made and the troops launched the attack. It's a large-scale operation of tens of thousands of people. No mistakes can be made. "

"Don't worry, comrade military Commissar." For kirilov's concern, I nodded gratefully and said with a smile: "although the counterattack is a little hasty, it can surprise the German. As for the next battle process, you can rest assured that commander watujing will never let us suffer losses. Maybe he will send air force or new troops to supplement us when he sees the war getting stuck. "

An hour later, sivakov called me and complained to me: "Comrade commander, our division is the farthest away from the starting point of the attack. It is estimated that we can't arrive within the specified time. Do you think you can give us some time?"

"Comrade Colonel, since there is not enough time, why didn't you say that at the meeting? Seeing that the battle is about to start, you told me at this time that you can't move the troops to the designated position within the designated time. " I was not famous for sivakov's words. I couldn't help yelling at him: "if your troops can't arrive at the designated place within the specified time, you will be dismissed as division commander..."

"Rita!" Seeing that I was furious, kirilov on the other side reminded me in a low voice: "don't forget that you are now the commander of the group army. You should keep calm at all times, otherwise you will make irreparable mistakes in commanding the battle."

After hearing kirilov's persuasion, I took a deep breath and waited for my mood to stabilize a little, then I said to sivakov, "Comrade Colonel, I can give you half an hour more, but if your troops can't attack with general Gutman's tank army on time after the artillery preparation, I will still withdraw you. Do you remember? "

"Remember, comrade commander." Sivakov replied somewhat flustered.

In order to prevent similar incidents, I also made a special phone call to sheiliujin and govorunanko to ask whether their troops could arrive at the starting point of the attack on time. They both assured me on the phone: "Comrade commander, you can rest assured that our troops will arrive at the starting point of attack on time."

After listening to the two people's reply, my heart immediately became more solid. As long as these two divisions can enter the position on time, the 71st division of sivakov's close guard will not have much influence on the war situation even if it enters the position later.

There are many people who are concerned about the counterattack process. For example, vatukin and katukov have been paying attention to my preparation. The first one who called was vatukin. He said to me on the phone: "Comrade oshanina, the operation of Kursk bulge has aroused the attention of the Soviet people. They listen to the radio carefully and read newspapers. They stuck to their posts, worked hard and made great contributions to the war. Today, trains full of tanks, fuel, ammunition and food are constantly on their way to Kursk, and a newly formed army is also on foot to Kursk. Our army consumes a lot of ammunition in the battle, especially artillery shells. The Soviet logistic forces are very busy in automobile transportation. They are transporting ammunition to various positions by truck... "

After listening to what watujing said, I muttered to myself that if you could supply us with the supporting shells of the urgently needed new tanks earlier, the next battle would be much easier. In particular, the Fifth Army of close guard tanks, equipped with all kinds of new type tanks, may smash the enemy's line of defense as long as they rush towards the enemy in formation.

Then katukov called again. He asked bluntly, "Rita, are you strong enough to fight back?"

After hearing his question, I hesitated for a moment, and then said carefully: "the troops participating in the counterattack, including three infantry divisions, one tank army and another tank brigade, plus a large number of artillery regiments, can still form an advantage in some areas."

"No, No." At the moment, katukov said to me in an unconventional way: "your counter attack force is still too weak. If you can't defeat the enemy quickly, the battle will soon be stuck."

I didn't understand the purpose of katukov's sudden remark, so I had to say vaguely, "Comrade General, there's no way. Our group army can only transfer so many troops at present. The rest of the troops are entangled by the German army and can't be transferred for the time being."

"Well, in order to strengthen your counterattack strength, I'll give you a little more support." Katukov forthrightly said: "in the south of oboyan, there is your 90th close guard division. With the arrival of the new troops, our strength has been strengthened. Even without the help of the 90th close guard division, we can still hold oboyan. If you want, I'll let this unit go back and you can use them as reserves. "

"Great, that's great." To tell you the truth, before considering the counterattack plan, I also considered the 90th division of the close guard deployed in the south of oboyan, but I was worried that once this unit was withdrawn, it would weaken the strength of the katukov defense zone, so I had to selectively ignore the existence of this unit. Now that katukov has offered to let them return, I will not show any affectation, so I immediately agreed. The commander of the 90th division, Colonel Chernoff, arrived at my headquarters five minutes before the shelling began. He gave us a ring salute after entering the door, and then said in a loud voice: "commander Chernoff of the 90th division of the guards has come to report, please give instructions!" Recently, bezikov had a good relationship with the following division commanders. After a simple greeting, he pulled Chernoff aside and pointed out the area where the troops should be stationed immediately on the map. After looking at the map, Chernoff looked back at me and asked, "Comrade commander, won't our division take part in this counterattack?"“ Don't worry, comrade colonel. Don't worry about no war. " Seeing his anxious face, I immediately comforted him and said, "as your division has just had a fierce battle two days ago, I don't intend to let you take part in the attack as the first echelon for the time being. But as the reserve of the group army, when the counterattack is stuck, we will put you into the battle. " Danilov then said thoughtfully: "Comrade commander, since the goal of our counterattack is to restore the front to the state before July 5, why not tell this plan to the 51st, 52nd and 67th divisions of the guards who stay in the first line of defense? If we can get their cooperation, the German army will lose faster under our double attack. "“ Yes, comrade commander. " As soon as Danilov's words were finished, bzikov echoed: "why didn't we expect the three divisions to stay in the first line of defense? Even if they only sent out one regiment, it would be enough to bring the German army into complete chaos. " At this point, he stopped for a moment and asked me tentatively, "do you want me to send telegrams to the three teachers?"