Sokov called Samyko in front of Trufanov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, this is Sokov. I will tell you something now. Let General Polubyarov know immediately.
The tank corps is ready for battle. They have rested long enough, and now it is their turn to fight."
Samyko, with the main force of the group army, had been sitting on the banks of the Pushor River doing nothing. He still felt very uncomfortable. At this moment, when he heard Sokov giving him a combat order, he asked excitedly: "Comrade Commander, what do you say?
, the moment of decisive battle with the Germans has finally arrived."
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov was startled by Samyko's words. Even though he was commanding a group army now, it was extremely lacking in tanks and artillery. He had fought against a small German armored force and was barely able to make do.
.If we really want to launch an active attack, it will be like hitting a stone with an egg. In order to prevent his chief of staff from being too arrogant and unrealistically confronting the enemy head-on, Sokov quickly reminded him: "With our current strength, we can't attack the enemy head-on."
It has the ability to fight decisively with the main force of the German army. The task I gave the tank army is to block the area from the Pushor River to the 188th Division and prevent the German tanks from escaping in organized form."
Samyko felt that Sokov's statement was a bit contradictory. He first told himself that the current strength of the troops was not able to compete with the large-scale German armored forces; but then ordered the tank army to attack and eliminate the organized German armored forces.
Troops. He asked in confusion: "Comrade Commander, didn't you say that our troops lack artillery and tanks and cannot go head-to-head with the large-scale German armored forces? Then why do you want Polubyarov's tank corps to
How about destroying the enemy into organic armored forces?"
Sokov realized that he had not spoken clearly, which caused Samyko to misunderstand what he meant, so he explained: "Yes, our strength is indeed not enough to confront the powerful German armored forces. But in today's battle,
, friendly forces will dispatch a large number of tanks to engage in a decisive battle with the enemy's armored forces. What Polubyarov's tank army intercepted was nothing more than defeated German armored forces. I believe they will be able to destroy the enemy."
"I understand, Comrade Commander." After listening to Sokov's explanation, Samyko understood his intention and quickly asked for instructions: "I don't know when to let them attack?"
"I think it will have to wait until after three o'clock in the afternoon at the earliest." Sokov said into the microphone: "Chief of Staff, remember to remind General Polubyarov that the enemy is equipped with many Tiger and Panther tanks.
They are all the nemesis of T-34 tanks. If you encounter these tanks, don’t just hit them hard, use your brain more and think of ways to destroy the enemy tanks. Do you understand?”
"Understood, Comrade Commander." Samyko quickly replied: "I will truthfully convey your words to General Polubyarov and ask him to be more vigilant."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, it is unrealistic to rely solely on the tank corps to defeat the enemy. The infantry must also cooperate." Sokov continued to remind Sameko: "Let the infantry build fortifications in some important areas to assist the tank corps.
Block the enemy's retreat."
"Comrade Commander, what about you?" Samek asked cautiously: "Will you assist the tank army to destroy the enemy?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, we have other tasks." Sokov continued: "We still have two German armored divisions in front of us. If they learn that the German troops attacking Prokhorovka have been attacked by us,
After the German army's counterattack, they will definitely attack our defense area desperately so that they can rush over to join the retreating enemy. Therefore, our task is to do everything possible to block the German attack and prevent the enemies in the two places from joining together."
Trufanov waited for Sokov to put down the phone and expressed his opinion: "General Sokov, are you not optimistic about our upcoming attack?"
Sokov was stunned, and then asked: "Comrade Deputy Commander, why do you say that?"
"I heard that the attack time you arranged for the tank army is after three o'clock in the afternoon." Trufanov said with some dissatisfaction: "You know, not counting the 100 tanks I brought, just in Proholo
Outside the city of Fka, our army can mobilize more than 400 tanks, while the enemy only has more than a hundred tanks. The comparison of the technical equipment of the two sides is 3:1. Our army has such an obvious advantage, does it take five hours?
, can we crush the enemy’s resistance?”
Only then did Sokov understand what Trufanov meant, and quickly defended: "Comrade Deputy Commander, you are right, the number of tanks in our army is several times that of the enemy. But you have forgotten that in the tank corps
There are many outdated T-70 tanks in it. Not to mention the German Tiger or Panther tanks, even the Panzer IV tanks cannot defeat them.
According to the information I have, the enemy has occupied the starting position of your group army's planned offensive, forcing your tanks to pass through an unobstructed open area before they can engage with the German tanks. Your tanks are passing through this open area.
At this time, it is bound to be attacked by a Tiger tank equipped with an 88mm gun. But at such a long distance, the 76mm gun equipped on the T-34 tank poses no threat to the enemy tanks at all."
As the deputy commander of the tank group army, Trufanov naturally knew that the offensive starting position was occupied by the Germans, and that there were a large number of outdated T-70s in the tank army. This was also an irrefutable fact. He was silent for a long time, and tentatively
Question: "General Sokov, tell me, will the counterattack we launched outside Prokhorovka today be successful?"
"Comrade Deputy Commander, there is no doubt whether we can win." Sokov explained to Trufanov: "Don't see that the enemy's tanks are more advanced than ours, but our soldiers are better than the enemy's soldiers.
Brave, even if their equipment is inferior, they will crush the enemy outside Prokhorovka at all costs."
Seeing the frustrated expression on Trufanov's face, Sokov added: "Comrade Deputy Commander, don't worry. As long as our tanks run at full power and pass through the open area quickly, as long as they get close
For enemy tanks, the T-34 can use its excellent maneuverability to deal with the heavy German Tiger tanks."
"General Sokov, what you said makes sense." Trufanov waited for Sokov to finish, nodded and said, "I need to report this information to Commander Rotmistrov immediately.
Let him be mentally prepared in advance."
Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch. It was already eight-twenty, and said to Trufanov: "Comrade Deputy Commander, if you want to report to General Rotmistrov, I suggest
You have to do it as quickly as possible. Once the battle starts, some orders will be difficult to convey to the grassroots combat units."
"Don't worry, General Sokov." Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Trufanov said carelessly: "We plan to attack the enemy at ten o'clock, and now we still have one and a half hours."
"Comrade Deputy Commander, the situation on the battlefield is ever-changing." Sokov said with a smile: "Even if things are planned in advance, it is entirely possible to make adjustments due to some accidents."
"You make sense." Trufanov looked around and then asked politely: "General Sokov, can I borrow your radio station?"
Trufanov asked him to borrow a radio station so that he could relay his opinions to Rotmistrov. Naturally, Sokov would not object, so he readily asked Koida to lend Trufanov the division's telegraph machine.
Used by Fanoff.
Less than five minutes after the telegram was sent, Trufanov received a reply from Rotmistrov, which read: "The call has been received. I will notify the tank brigade participating in the war as soon as possible and order them to pass through that area."
When in open areas, full power must be used to reduce tank losses. In addition, since our army's attack time has been mastered by the Germans, after research by the Army Group Headquarters, the attack time has been advanced to 8:30 in the morning."
"Damn it, the attack time has been advanced." After reading the telegram, Trufanov immediately shouted in surprise: "You know, the troops I brought have not been deployed yet." He raised his head and said to Sokov, "
General Sokov, I'm so sorry, the attack is about to start, I have to go back and arrange combat missions for the troops."
At 8:30, hundreds of Soviet artillery shelled the German positions that were about to attack.
After the artillery bombardment lasted for thirty minutes, a red signal flare rose into the air, which was the signal for an attack. Upon seeing the signal, the Soviet tanks immediately drove out from their hiding place and rushed towards the German position in the distance at full speed.
What happened next, just as Sokov "analyzed" to Trufanov, was that when the Soviet tanks passed through the unobstructed open space, they were blocked by German Tiger tanks and 88mm anti-aircraft guns.
During the shooting, many moving tanks were directly hit by artillery shells and stopped burning in the open ground. For a time, the black smoke emitted by the burning tanks covered the sky and made the sky dim.
Standing in the observation post, Rotmistrov saw his tanks being destroyed one by one by the Germans, and his whole heart was bleeding. For a moment, he even thought about letting the tank brigade
The idea of stopping the attack. But as soon as this idea came up, he was immediately rejected.
He held up the binoculars with both hands and said to the chief of staff standing beside him without looking back: "Chief of staff, tell the commanders of each tank brigade to order all tanks to speed up and rush across the open field quickly."
However, before the chief of staff had time to convey his order to the troops, the first wave of attacks launched by Soviet tanks ended in failure under enemy artillery fire.
Seeing his own tanks retreating, Rotmistrov was irritated, but in order not to affect morale, he still tried to say to the Chief of Staff in a calm tone: "Chief of Staff, and the commanders of the tank corps.
Say hello and ask them not to blame the tank brigade commanders. The reason for the failure of the attack is that the enemy's firepower was too strong. We must regroup before launching a new attack on the enemy."
After the chief of staff responded, he did not leave immediately. Instead, he reminded Rotmistrov in a low voice: "Comrade Commander, the difficulties we encountered during the attack were not long ago reported by Comrade Deputy Commander in a telegram.
I mentioned it to you."
"Where is the telegram?" Rotmistrov rummaged through the many war reports on the table for a while, and found the telegram sent by Trufanov. After reading it carefully, he nodded and said
: "Comrade Deputy Commander saw it very accurately. He felt that when our tanks passed through that open area, they would definitely be blocked and shot by Tiger tanks and anti-aircraft guns. Therefore, he suggested that we pass there as quickly as possible to reduce the number of
Loss of tanks."
"Comrade Commander, this telegram was sent from the headquarters of the 188th Division." Seeing that Rotmistrov did not understand what he meant, the Chief of Staff reminded him: "I think this problem can be discovered.
People should not be comrade deputy commander."
"If he's not the deputy commander, who can he be?" When Rotmistrov said this, he couldn't help but trembled, and then he said in surprise: "Chief of Staff, do you mean to say that you found out?
Is the person who asked this question Major General Sokov, commander of the 27th Army Group?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander, that's exactly what I think." The chief of staff nodded and replied: "Since General Sokov can discover this problem, maybe he has already thought of a way to get closer. If you agree,
I want to ask him for advice."
The proposal of the chief of staff made Rotmistrov feel very embarrassed. Although he and Sokov were both commanders of the group army, the other party was too young, so he, who had been in the army for more than 20 years, was so embarrassed.
The old commander went to ask a man who was about the same age as his son for advice. He felt a little embarrassed.
The chief of staff noticed Rotmistrov's embarrassment, and took the initiative again: "Comrade Commander, I know that you think he is too young, so you are embarrassed to ask him for advice. If you feel embarrassed,
, you don’t need to come forward to deal with this matter, I will handle it. What do you think?"
"Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff." When Rotmistrov saw the Chief of Staff helping him to rescue himself, he nodded and said with a wry smile: "Then I'll wrong you."
"No grievance." The chief of staff waved his hands and said: "As long as it can reduce the casualties of the troops and enable us to win, I am willing to be General Sokov's student."
In this way, a strange telegram was issued and sent to Sokov's temporary headquarters via radio waves. Looking at the telegram sent from the tank army headquarters, Sokov couldn't help laughing. He felt that Rotmister
Love's approach was simply superfluous. The reason why he did not take the initiative to tell the other party how to break the German defense was because he was worried that the other party would think he was nosy.
At this moment, since Rotmistrov asked his chief of staff to send a telegram and humbly ask him for advice, Sokov naturally talked about everything he knew. He wrote down all the countermeasures he thought of.
After finishing writing on the paper, I checked it twice and felt that there were no mistakes, so I called Koida over and ordered him: "Comrade Colonel, immediately ask the telegraph operator to send this telegram to Rothemis.
General Troff, don't keep him waiting."
This chapter has been completed!