After learning that the 3rd Armored Division assembled near Kochetovka had been violently shelled by the Soviet army, Hott had to immediately convene an emergency military meeting to discuss how to rescue General Sturm's troops from danger.
"Gentlemen!" After all the division-level and above officers of the 48th and 57th Armored Corps had arrived, Holt said: "A few hours ago, the Russians unexpectedly occupied Kochetovka and seriously threatened them.
to our retreat.
In order to relieve this crisis, I ordered General Sturm's 3rd Armored Division to assemble near Kochetovka and prepare to launch a fierce attack on the Russians after daybreak to drive them away from this area.
Unexpectedly, when they were preparing to launch an attack, the Russian artillery suddenly launched a violent bombardment on the area where they were assembled. Now the 3rd Armored Division suffered heavy losses in the enemy's artillery fire."
On his way to attend the meeting, Commander Balke of the 11th Armored Division heard the rumble of artillery in the distance. When he heard Holt say this, he immediately connected the two things. He couldn't help but interjected and asked: "
Your Excellency, Commander, did you call us together just to rescue the 3rd Armored Division from the current danger?"
"Yes, General Balke, that's what I mean." Because of Balke's glorious achievements in the past, Holt thought highly of him. Seeing him talking now, he even asked him for advice on how to relieve the 3rd Armored Division: "You
Is there any good way to save the current situation?"
"The Russians are shelling the assembly area of the 3rd Armored Division," Balke secretly praised the Soviet artillery for its good timing. At that time, in order to carry out the attack, most of the Sturm troops had left the defenses and stayed behind.
In an open area that is easily attacked, the Soviet army can achieve huge results as long as it fires artillery. If it sends troops into the area being bombarded at this time, it may cause greater losses, so he said cautiously: "If we now
Sending troops for reinforcements may cause unnecessary casualties."
"General Balke," after hearing what Balke said, General Kissina, commander of the 57th Armored Corps, frowned and said, "If there are no reinforcements, once the Russians launch an assault after the shelling ends, do you think the 3rd Armored Corps will suffer heavy losses?"
Master, can you stop them?"
"Your Excellency, Army Commander, I just said that reinforcements cannot be carried out now, not that reinforcements are not allowed." Balk turned to look at Kissina and said politely: "If the troops are sent to the defense area of the 3rd Armored Division at this moment, they will also
They will suffer heavy casualties under Russian artillery fire. So the best thing to do is to wait for the Russian attack to begin before it is too late for us to send reinforcements there."
"General Balck, if according to your statement, it would be too late to wait until the Russian attack begins before sending reinforcements?" Kissina waited for Balck to finish speaking, and then spoke without hesitation.
My own opinion: "I recommend immediately placing a force near the area being bombarded so that it can rush to support the 3rd Armored Division as soon as possible after the Russian bombardment is over."
"General Kissina, we currently have no way of knowing how large the Russian artillery fire area will be, nor whether they will carry out extended fire." Balk said in an unassuming way: "If the troops are deployed nearby, they will happen to be in the area where the artillery fire extends.
, when the Russians launch an attack, it is a question whether they can protect themselves, let alone reinforcements."
Holt stood aside and listened quietly to the debate between the two. At first, he did not speak, but found that the debate between Kissina and Balk was getting more and more intense, and he was afraid that the two would start arguing and affect the meeting.
In the process, he raised his hand to interrupt the two of them, then looked at Balk and asked: "General Balk, do you have any good ideas?"
"Your Excellency, Commander, this is what I think about." Balk turned to face Holt and said: "If we want to support the 3rd Armored Division, we don't necessarily have to send troops there. We can order artillery to suppress the Russian artillery.
At the same time, the air force was dispatched to carry out intensive bombing of Russian artillery positions and ground troop assembly areas."
If Balke had proposed a plan to send the air force to bomb the Soviet artillery positions a few months ago, Holt would have agreed without hesitation. But at this time, he could only sigh and said helplessly: "General Balke
, the Russians have now mastered the air superiority over the Kursk salient, and our air force cannot compete with them at all. Even if we send out to bombard the Russian artillery positions and assembled infantry, it may be difficult to achieve the goal."
"Chief of Staff," after Hott said this to Balck, he turned around and ordered Chief of Staff Merinzin: "Immediately order the artillery to bombard the Russian artillery positions so that they can no longer bombard the 3rd Armored Division as recklessly as they do now.
"
"Understood, Your Excellency, Commander." Merinjin replied: "I will call the artillery immediately and ask them to use artillery fire to suppress the Russian artillery to reduce the casualties of the 3rd Armored Division."
While Merinjin went to call the artillery, Holt continued: "Gentlemen, you should follow the earlier combat orders. The troops of the 11th and 17th Armored Divisions continue to maintain contact with the Russians in the Oboyan area. Greater Germany
The division took the lead in turning towards Yakovlevo and built a defensive line in that area to cover the retreat of the main force..."
"Your Excellency, Commander," before Holt could finish what he said, Merinjin, who had gone to make a phone call, hurried back. He reported to Holt in a panic: "A Russian detachment was discovered in the Yakovlevo area.
troops."
"What are the Russian troops doing in Yakovlevo?" Holt asked in confusion.
"According to reports from friendly forces, a Russian unit attacked a prison camp guarded by Italian troops and rescued all prisoners in the camp."
"Cunning Russians." After hearing what Merinjin said, Hott was so angry that he punched the table hard. "Based on what I know about Sokov, he will definitely integrate these prisoners of war into his army.
"
"Your Excellency, Commander," Etlin, the commander of the 17th Armored Division, asked curiously: "I heard that all Russian officers and soldiers who have been captured by our army, whether they were released by us or escaped on their own, will wait until they return there.
After that, everyone will undergo strict scrutiny. Those who are unlucky will be shot directly or sent to a labor camp; those who are lucky will also be incorporated into their so-called punishment camps and take on the most dangerous tasks on the battlefield. How to be charged
Can the prisoners of war rescued by Cove's troops be directly integrated into the army? I don't understand this."
"General Etlin, you don't know something. If the prisoners of war were rescued by ordinary Russian troops, they might be in the same situation as you. But the troops occupying the prisoner of war camp now are Sokov's men." Merlin
Zin explained to Etlin: "Sokov is an outlier among Russian commanders. The troops under his command have never been defeated. Therefore, his superiors adopted an attitude of appeasement and connivance towards what he did.
The practice of randomly integrating prisoners of war into the army is also turning a blind eye and pretending not to have seen it."
"Your Excellency, Commander," Etlin said with a melancholy look on his face after hearing what Melinjin said: "In the area controlled by our division, there are two prisoner-of-war camps containing nearly 7,000 prisoners of war. If we want to retreat,
What should we do with these prisoners of war?"
Holt was silent, frowning and thinking.
Seeing that Holt was silent, Etlin asked tentatively: "Your Excellency, Commander, in order to prevent the Russians from using these prisoners of war to enrich their troops, I suggest that all these prisoners of war be killed when we retreat."
"General Etlin!" Before Etlin finished speaking, Kissina interrupted him sharply: "Don't you know that according to the Geneva Convention, prisoners of war cannot be massacred at will?"
After being criticized, Etlin curled his lips and said unconvinced: "The Russians did not sign the Geneva Convention, so we do not need to abide by this convention."
"General Etling, let me remind you, we are the National Defense Forces, not executioners." Holt added: "I will never allow the massacre of prisoners of war to occur in my army."
"Your Excellency, Commander," Etlin became a little anxious when he saw that Holt did not agree to kill the Soviet prisoners of war in the prison camp: "If our army retreats, these prisoner of war camps will fall into the hands of the Russians sooner or later. If
They have incorporated so many prisoners of war into the army, which will pose a huge threat to us. For the sake of safety, I think we should kill them all."
Seeing that Ettling was always struggling with this matter, Holt knew that he might not be kind if he did not express his attitude, so he felt that he should blame the matter on the SS: "General Ettling, let me remind you again, we
They are the Wehrmacht, not the executioners. Let the SS do this kind of dirty work."
After saying that, he turned to look at Mei Linjin, the chief of staff standing aside, and motioned for him to say a few words. Mei Linjin, who understood Huot's intention, quickly said: "Your Excellency, the commander, is right. Within our defense zone,
There is a battalion of the 7th SS Cavalry Division, and I think we can hand over the care of these two prisoner of war camps to them."
Seeing that Mei Linjin accurately understood his intention, Holt nodded with satisfaction and said to the other party: "Chief of Staff, this matter is settled. Now you go to inform the artillery and use artillery fire to suppress the Russian artillery positions; at the same time,
, and then arrange someone to be responsible for the transfer of management rights of the prisoner of war camp."
When Holt's order was conveyed to the artillery commander through Merinjin, the Soviet artillery bombardment of the 3rd Armored Division had been going on for forty minutes. The artillery commander quickly ordered his men to take off the artillery hanging on the back of the tractor truck and search for it.
Deploy artillery positions at appropriate locations.
When the German artillery positions were deployed and ready to suppress the Soviet artillery positions based on the parameters provided by the artillery observers, the Soviet artillery bombardment of the 3rd Armored Division had ended, and the infantry, under the cover of tanks, fired at the bombed
Dejin, who was in disarray, launched a charge.
Knowing that the Soviet army had launched an attack, the German artillery commander could only change the shooting target and order the artillery to fire at the attacking Soviet army column, trying to use artillery fire to disrupt the rhythm of the Soviet army's attack.
German artillery shells fell and exploded in the ranks of the Soviet troops. From time to time, soldiers were blown to pieces or overturned by the air waves of the explosion; tanks were also hit by artillery fire and stopped on the battlefield and burned. But the remaining Soviet troops
The tanks and infantry still charged bravely despite the enemy's artillery fire.
They quickly rushed to the gathering place of the 3rd Armored Division. There were destroyed tanks and trucks everywhere, and incomplete corpses of German officers and soldiers could be seen in the craters on the ground. Although some German officers and soldiers survived, they saw
When they saw the rushing Soviet commanders and fighters, they immediately opened fire, but the damage caused was indeed minimal.
Facing these German officers and soldiers who were still tenacious, the tank crews would either stop where they were and fire a cannon at their hiding position, blowing them up into the sky with their weapons, or they would drive directly over and quickly spin and crush them all.
Turn into meat sauce.
The German artillery fire, which had always posed a threat to the Soviet offensive forces, found that the Soviet army and the officers and soldiers of the 3rd Armored Division were mixed together. In order to prevent accidental injuries to their own people, they could only temporarily stop the artillery fire.
As soon as the bombardment stopped, a large number of aircraft appeared in the sky. When the German artillery commander saw that they were all Soviet aircraft, half of them were bombers, he was frightened to death.
But he did not forget his responsibilities, and immediately informed his subordinates by phone: "Attention everyone, the Russian plane is coming, move the position immediately, move the position immediately."
Although the German commander issued a warning in time, it was still a step too late. How could the speed of artillery transfer positions be compared to the flying speed of Soviet fighter planes. When the Soviet fighter fleet rushed to the battlefield, they happened to see chaos on the ground.
The German artillery of the regiment was busy changing positions.
The Soviet pilots received an order to destroy the German artillery positions. When they saw the German artillery on the ground, they all immediately screamed and dived to drop bombs.
The infantrymen covering the artillery saw Soviet bombers, attack planes and even fighter jets swooping down from high altitudes, strafing and dropping bombs at the artillery on the ground, and quickly organized anti-aircraft fire.
In air defense operations, the ones who suffer the most are always the ground units. A group of German soldiers gathered together and fired desperately at the Soviet aircraft in the air. When the unscathed Soviet attack plane flew over their heads, it dropped an aerial bomb.
It fell in the middle of them and exploded. When the smoke cleared, except for a huge crater and the corpses lying around the crater, no living German soldier could be seen.
Holt originally wanted to wait until the Soviet artillery fire was suppressed, then send the Grossdeutschland Division to reinforce the 3rd Armored Division. However, seeing how fierce the Soviet bombing was, he was worried that they would become a target of the Soviet Air Force, so he temporarily changed the order.
, let the Grossdeutschland Division continue to stand by and wait for his next order.
"Your Excellency, Commander," Mei Linjin saw that the air strikes outside were fierce and the 3rd Armored Division had also lost contact. He couldn't help but panic. He quickly asked Holt for instructions: "What should we do next?"
"After the Russian planes flew away, the Grossdeutschland Division advanced toward Yakovlevo as planned. The construction of the fortifications must be completed before dark to ensure that the entire army can retreat safely."
This chapter has been completed!