Colonel Burke and his men took Hornerdorf's body and left the exchange place. Unexpectedly, only five hundred meters away, the scream of a cannonball piercing the air suddenly came from the air, which scared Burke to death.
, he thought it was Sokov who ordered the artillery to fire on them.
But the cannonball flew over their heads and landed directly at the exchange place not long ago, blowing it up into a sea of flames. Burke looked in that direction and couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. He thought to himself.
: If I hadn’t left there by now, I would have been blown to pieces by the shell.
Returning to the command cabin at Knobelsdorf, Burke asked sternly, regardless of the fact that the other party's military rank was much higher than his own: "General Knobelsdorf, why did you fire the artillery? Don't you know where we are with the Russians?"
If we exchange people, are you going to blow us and the Russians to pieces?"
"Colonel Burke, don't worry." Unexpectedly, General Knobelsdorf said with a normal expression: "I ordered the artillery to fire after I knew you had left the exchange place."
"Why?" Burke asked angrily: "Why fire?"
"I am also under orders." If it were an ordinary colonel who dared to ask such a question, he would have been kicked out by General Knobelsdorff. But now the person who asked this question was Manstein's adjutant, Knobelsdorf.
Bersdorff had to explain patiently: "By order of Marshal Manstein."
"By the order of the marshal?" Burke said confusedly: "But when the marshal gave me this task, he didn't say that he would bombard the Russian positions?"
"That was an impromptu decision made by His Excellency Marshal." Knobelsdorff explained to Burke: "He could not tolerate the Russians using General Hornadorff's body to blackmail us. Therefore, in exchange for
After the corpse is removed, crazy revenge will be carried out against the Russians."
"If you really want to retaliate against the Russians, your Excellency, Marshal, should tell me about it in advance." Burke said unhappily: "This can also give me peace of mind."
"I think His Excellency the Marshal was absolutely right in not telling you this matter." Knobelsdorff said with a straight face: "If you knew about His Excellency the Marshal's plan in advance, you would inevitably reveal flaws when performing the exchange mission.
If the Russians detect it, our revenge plan will fail."
"General Knobelsdorf, I think the Marshal's plan may fail." Burke thought of Sokov, who was sitting and drinking with him, and immediately realized that the other party might be aware of Marshal Manstein's plan. Otherwise, how could it happen?
Why did he treat himself to a drink out of nowhere? He said he wanted to know more about Marshal Manstein's deeds, but when we sat and chatted, he almost kept talking, and it seemed that he didn't even have much chance to speak.
He smiled bitterly and said, "I think General Sokov saw through the Marshal's plan."
"What, you said Sokov saw through the Marshal's plan?" Knobelsdorff heard this and said in an unbelievable tone: "He is not a god, how could he guess the Marshal's plan?"
"General Knobelsdorf, I think our biggest mistake is that we should not have exchanged so many wounded people for the body of General Hornadorf." Burke said: "According to my estimation, General Sokov may be
When he saw that the prisoners of war we were about to hand over to them were all wounded, we realized that something was wrong, so we adjusted our tactics in time. He personally came to hold me back so that the wounded and sick could get more.
Transfer time."
"Colonel Burke, if things are really what you said, this General Sokov is too terrifying." Knobelsdorf said in shock: "He can actually see through the Marshal's trick and do it in the shortest possible time."
Within the time required, the most appropriate response measures were taken.”
"General Knobelsdorf, if you believe me, please listen to me and immediately order the artillery to stop shelling the Russian positions." Burke reminded Knobelsdorf: "The area our artillery is currently shelling is
, there are not many Russians at all, they should have all been moved to safe places."
"Is this really the case?" Knobelsdorf said hesitantly: "If it is true, as you said, that there are no Russians in the shelled area, and the shelling stops, the marshal may not blame me. But if the situation
On the contrary, stopping our bombardment will give the Russians a chance to breathe. When the Marshal investigates, who should bear this responsibility?"
"General Knobelsdorf, I will return to the Marshal's headquarters immediately." Seeing that Knobelsdorf had no intention of ordering the artillery to stop the artillery, Burke stood up and said to him: "I believe you will receive the call soon.
Order to stop shelling."
Burke returned to Manstein's command cabin, and Manstein couldn't wait to ask: "Has General Hornerdorf's body been successfully brought back?"
"Yes, Your Excellency Marshal, I have fulfilled my mission and have brought back the body of General Hornerdorf." After reporting his mission, Burke raised his own question: "But Your Excellency Marshal, we
On the way back, I suddenly saw the artillery under General Knobelsdorf launching a fierce bombardment at the place where we were conducting the exchange."
"This is my order." Manstein thought that Burke did not understand the reason for the sudden bombardment, and patiently explained to him: "I cannot tolerate the Russians using the body of General Hornedorff to attack
I continue to blackmail. Therefore, I must take revenge. In order to ensure your safety, I ordered General Knobelsdorff to shell the Russian positions after you reach the safe area. I think the Russian positions should change at this moment.
It became a sea of fire."
"Your Excellency, Marshal, the Russian position has indeed turned into a sea of flames under the shelling of our army." After organizing the vocabulary in his mind, Burke continued: "But when it comes to how much damage it can cause to the Russians,
I hold the opposite opinion."
"Why do you say that?"
"Marshal, you don't know something. Your plan may have been discovered by Sokov, and he took the correct countermeasures."
"What's going on?" After hearing what Burke said, Manstein realized that there might be something wrong in some aspects, and quickly asked: "How could Sokov see through my plan?"
"The reason is very simple. The prisoners of war we exchanged with them were all wounded. Sokov may have seen this situation, so he ran out to preside over the exchange ceremony."
"What, is it an exchange ceremony presided over by Sokov himself?" Manstein asked in surprise: "What second lieutenant? Doesn't it mean that the Russian commander who presided over the exchange ceremony is just the commander of the 564th regiment?"
"This is the problem," Burke explained to Manstein: "General Sokov may have noticed that the prisoners of war to be exchanged were all slow-moving wounded, so he realized that something was wrong, so he
He came up with a way to delay me on the position so that General Knobelsdorf's artillery did not dare to fire at will."
"Tell me, what method did he use to hold you back for such a long time?"
"Drinking, he invited me to drink." When Burke said this, seeing that Manstein looked unhappy, he quickly added: "Originally, I rejected his kindness, but he said that he admires you and wants to know more from me.
Some things about you. Without thinking much about it, I agreed to sit down and drink and talk to him about you."
"Talk about me?" Manstein asked curiously: "What did he say?"
"He said, "Burke has realized at this moment that he has fallen into Sokov's trap. If he does not sit there and drink for a long time, but takes the people back immediately after completing the exchange, maybe Knobelsdorf's artillery
A round of fierce bombardment might kill Sokov and most of the wounded. In order to make up for his fault, he had to take the initiative to change the topic to the conversation between himself and Sokov: "He
"If it were you, not Paulus, who had blocked the Sixth Army's attack on Stalingrad, the city might have fallen into our hands long ago..." He parroted what Sokov said.
He repeated it to Manstein.
Manstein never expected that an enemy commander would praise him so highly. If it was an ordinary Russian commander, that would be fine. The key point is that this person is an opponent who gives his own officers at all levels a headache. He praises him so much.
, the gold content is much higher.
Thinking of this, Manstein, who always liked to have a straight face, showed a faint smile on his face. He did not bother to hold Burke accountable, but continued to ask: "What else did he say?"
"After Paulus's Sixth Army was completely destroyed, the Russians used two or three front armies to launch a counterattack against our army at the same time." Burke carefully observed Manstein's expression and felt that he was very worried at the moment.
Well, he couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief and continued: "General Sokov said that at that time, our army was at an absolute disadvantage in terms of strength and equipment. If a different commander were to direct the battle, our troops would definitely be defeated.
Rush to the right bank of the Dnieper River and form a confrontation with the Russians across the river. It is precisely because you are commanding the troops that you can reverse the disadvantage on the battlefield and ultimately win this battle."
Hearing that Burke's words were all words of praise for him, Manstein couldn't help but feel a little carried away. He waited for Burke to stop and then continued to ask: "Then did he say that this Battle of Kursk
What’s the final outcome like?”
However, Burke did not answer Manstein's question for a long time. Seeing that his adjutant did not speak, Manstein couldn't help being a little angry: "Colonel, why don't you continue? Could it be that he couldn't have foreseen this battle?"
Who is the final winner?"
"said."
"who is it?"
Burke replied hesitantly: "General Sokov said two possibilities."
"What two possibilities?"
"First, our army will continue to attack according to the pre-determined goals and routes with its existing forces, then the final victory must belong to us." Burke said slowly: "The other possibility is that the head of state wins.
Alzheimer's disease, at the most critical moment of the battle, transfer the elite troops from your hands. This will cause the balance of victory to tilt towards the side of the Russians."
"Nonsense, simply nonsense." When Manstein heard this, he couldn't help but get angry: "Operation Fortress was personally formulated by the head of state. In order to eliminate the Russians entrenched in the Kursk salient, he wanted to use more
A lot of troops have been invested in this area, how can it be possible to transfer troops from us?"
Originally, Manstein wanted to hear what Sokov had to say, but at this moment he suddenly lost interest. He waved his hand, indicating that Burke could leave, and he did not want to listen to him anymore. Burke understood what Manstein had said.
Because of his thoughts, he raised his hand to salute him, turned around and left the command cabin.
After Burke left, Manstein thought about what he said carefully, and felt that it still seemed to make some sense. According to the news he had just received, Britain and the United States landed on the Italian island of Sicily on July 9.
Attempting to occupy the entire Italy. Even though Italy has a lot of troops, it is simply impossible to expect them to block the Allied offensive. Although Germany also has many troops stationed in Italy, most of them are second-rate garrison troops.
It is basically impossible to repel the Allied attack. In this case, it is really possible that the base camp in Berlin will draw troops from itself as Sokov said.
Manstein thought to himself: If this happens, should he obey the order and hand over the troops; or should he disobey the order and continue to use these troops to fight fiercely with the Russians entrenched in Kursk?
After repeated deliberation, Manstein finally figured out a truth. If he wanted the base camp not to draw troops from him, the best way was to keep the troops in a state of fierce fighting. The base camp saw that all its troops were in a state of fighting.
, they are embarrassed to draw troops from themselves again.
After thinking about this, Manstein asked the communications soldier to connect to Hauser's command post. Soon, Hauser's voice came from the earphone: "Your Excellency Marshal, I am Hauser, may I ask you
Any instructions?"
"Hausser, I order your Second SS Panzer Corps to immediately attack the Russian positions on the front. We must break through their defenses and reach the banks of the Pushor River in the shortest possible time."
"Your Excellency, Marshal," Hausser said with some embarrassment after hearing Manstein's order: "My armored corps currently only has the Skeleton Division in the offensive position, and its strength is too weak. If an attack is launched in a hurry, I am worried that it will be very serious.
It is difficult to achieve the desired results. It is better to wait for two more days, and wait until the standard guard division has also entered the attack position, and then launch the attack again."
