Chapter 1257: Close the door and beat the dog (Part 1)
The tank troops led by General Trufanov arrived at the defense zone of the 81st Division of the Guards at five o'clock.
The division commander Malankin was overjoyed when he saw the troops brought by Trufanov. His tongue was a little inflexible due to excitement: "Comrade Deputy Commander, I really didn't expect that you brought so many tanks here. With these tanks, we don't have to hide in the position to defend passively, and we can counterattack the enemy's armored forces at any time."
"General Marantin," Trufanov said with a smile, "You are amazing. You are blocking the attack of two German armored divisions with just one division's strength."
Hearing Trufanov's praise for him, Malankin couldn't help but blush and explained hurriedly: "Comrade Deputy Commander, you've made a mistake. Block the troops of the two German armored divisions, not only our division, but also General Sokov's troops."
"General Sokov?" Trufanov asked tentatively after repeating the name: "Are you talking about Major General Sokov, the commander of the 27th Army?"
"Yes, it's him." Marantine replied affirmatively: "If his troops had not covered my right wing well, maybe my troops would have been defeated by the Germans long ago."
"So that's how it is." Although Trufanov was the deputy commander of the group army, he did not understand many situations on the battlefield because his troops were marching. Until now, he thought it was a division of Malankin, blocking the 6th and 19th Armored Divisions of the German army.
Since there were friendly forces on the battlefield and the position of the other party's commander was higher than that of him, Trufanov felt that he needed to visit the other party, so he asked Malankin: "General Malankin, Comrade Sokov's command center, is it far away from here?"
"Not far," said Malankin, waving his hand, "It is only four or five kilometers away from my command. If you want to see him, I can accompany you."
After obtaining Trufanov's consent, Marantin led a small team and joined Trufanov to the Sokov's troops' defense zone.
When Sokov was wondering when Rotmistrov's troops would launch a full-scale counterattack against the Germans, a staff officer came in and reported to him: "Comrade Commander, General Malankin is here."
"Oh, General Malankin is here?" Sokov knew that Malankin would go to the Three Treasures Hall without any trouble. He came to find him before dawn today. There must be something important. He quickly ordered the staff officer: "Hurry up and invite him in!"
As the staff came in, in addition to Malankin, there was also a general who looked a little handsome. Just as Sokov was trying to think about who the other party was, Malankin had already introduced him: "General Sokov, let me introduce you to you. This is General Trufanov, the deputy commander of our army."
"Hello, General Trufanov." Sokov learned that the person who came was actually the deputy commander of the 5th Army of the Guards Tank, and he immediately understood that the Soviet army's counterattack was about to happen. While shook hands with the other party, he asked tentatively: "Are you here to attack the Germans?"
"You guessed it right, General Sokov." Seeing that Sokov guessed his purpose, Trufanov did not hide it, but replied truthfully: "Our army troops will launch a full-scale attack on the German army at 10 o'clock in the morning. My mission is to lead a hundred tanks to strengthen the defense power in this area."
When Sokov learned of the 100 tanks brought by the other party, he immediately began to think that the tank army under his command now has nearly 100 tanks left. If the 100 tanks brought by Trufanov were added, then there would be 200 tanks. If these tanks were concentrated and used, it would be enough to destroy any resistance of the German army.
However, he did not discuss with the other party rashly: "Do you want to use the tanks of our two troops together?" Sokov knew very well that this time he was a deputy commander of the group army. If the tanks of the two troops were used together, he would definitely compete for the command of the tank troops. Instead, he asked cautiously: "Comrade Deputy Commander, how do you plan to use these tanks?"
"As soon as the sky is dawn, I will prepare to launch an assault on the areas where the Germans are stationed." Trufanov said with some smugness: "The enemy may never dream of us. We will emerge at this time and will be dazzled by us. By the time they come back to their senses, it will be too late."
"Comrade Deputy Commander, are you planning to use these tanks to attack our frontal enemies?"
"Yes." Trufanov said in confusion about why Sokov asked, "I think General Rotamistrov sent me here to prepare me to use the tank troops to teach you a lesson."
"Comrade Deputy Commander, one hundred tanks do sound like a lot." Sokov did not blindly optimistic, but said cautiously: "But if you want to deal with the two enemy armored divisions at the same time, it must be difficult."
From Sokov's words, Trufanov heard the implicit meaning, and he asked tentatively: "General Sokov, do you have any good plans?"
"Leave some old tanks on the position to be used as fixed turrets." Sokov said as usual: "And the rest of the tanks are placed on the second line of defense."
"Put it on the second line of defense?" After hearing Sokov say this, Trufanov asked in confusion: "General Sokov, I want to ask, why do we put our tanks on the second line of defense?"
"The reason is very simple. Our army is about to launch a large counterattack. The German army outside Prokholovka could not stop them at all, and they could only choose to retreat at that time." Sokov explained to Trufanov: "In order to give the enemy attacked by our army a chance to breathe, Manstein may order the 6th and 19th Armored Divisions to strengthen the attack on our positions and try to join forces retreating from Prokholovka."
"It makes sense, it makes sense." Trufanov nodded and said, "The enemy outside Prokholovka will definitely have to choose to retreat when it is attacked by our army. The two German armored divisions that are now confronting us will definitely try their best to break through our army's existing defenses to cover their friendly forces to retreat smoothly."
Seeing that Trufanov understood what he meant, Sokov gave him a thumbs up and then continued: "My idea is to use infantry to hold the position and block the two armored divisions in the west. And our tank troops deployed on the second line of defense can take advantage of the defeat of the German armored division in the east to carry out active attacks and catch them off guard."