Just as Zhukov and others deployed the counterattack the next day, Manstein, who was sitting on the plane to Berlin, looked sad and gloomy. The calm and keen observation marshal made a judgment based on his consciousness. The bearded man urgently summoned him at this moment, and there was absolutely nothing good.
His mind was like a movie, looking back at many details since the beginning of the Fortress Campaign. Although Tansen's imperial division was once again devastating, his troops under his command still achieved great results. Perhaps in a day or two, or tomorrow, the troops gathered outside Prokorovka, they could successfully defeat the Russians with the dominant numbers and thus take the city.
Although Rokosovsky's troops to the north of Kursk are attacking Oryor's protrusion, threatening the retreat of Model's 9th Army, with Model's strength, I believe that he is fully capable of resolving this crisis. Moreover, once his troops successfully occupy the city of Prokorovka, the strategic intention of the Russian troops who detour from the north and south wings and encircle the Kursk's protrusion can still be realized.
He shouted in his heart: "If we really draw troops from Kursk to reinforce Sicily at this moment, we will lose the victory that is within our reach."
A few hours later, when Manstein came to the wolf's den, he unexpectedly saw Kruger, the commander of the Central Army Group. The other party was sitting in a spacious room, drinking coffee expressionlessly. Seeing Manstein's arrival, Kruger stood up and asked in surprise: "Master Manstein, I didn't expect the head of state to recall you from the front line as well."
"Yes, Mr. Marshal." Manstein said absent-mindedly while shook hands with Kruger: "I also hurriedly left the front line after receiving the order from the head of state."
"Do you know the reason why the Head of State summoned us?"
"I think this emergency summons may be related to the landing of Britain and the United States in Sicily." Manstein said expressionlessly: "In order to ease the situation there, troops may be drawn from the Eastern Front to reinforce."
"Draw troops from the Eastern Front?" Kruger said in surprise: "Will we reduce our strength in Russia?"
"Two marshals," before Manstein could express his opinion again, a SS officer appeared in front of the two and said respectfully: "Please follow me to the conference room, the meeting is about to begin."
The two followed the officers to the conference room, where Manstein saw many familiar faces: General Zeitzler, Chief of the Army General Staff, Marshal Keitel, Chief of the General Staff of the Command, and his deputy Chief of Operations, Yodel. Of course, the Air Marshal Gore, who was wearing a white uniform full of medals, was bound to be missing.
The two marshals who returned from the front line were obviously much more enthusiastic about Manstein. After all, the other party was the "Sevastopol conqueror" and the merits he made were enough to cover everything Kruger did in Russia.
Shortly after the two sat down, they heard an officer shouting loudly at the door: "Here is here, Master!"
Hearing this shout, everyone stood up in unison, straightened their bodies and turned their eyes to the door. Soon, everyone saw the familiar mustache. He lowered his head, his hands behind his back, and walked in expressionlessly.
When the generals present and the marshals saluted him, he just raised his hand casually. After he sat down, his eyes turned to the Chief of Staff of the Army on the side: "Zezler, let me introduce you to the current situation."
Zeitzler, who was named, stood up, walked to the wall, pointed to the map on the wall with his explanation stick, and said to everyone: "Gentlemen, Britain and the United States carried out landing operations in Sicily on July 9. Their intention was to eliminate us and Italy's air and maritime forces from the island, control the Mediterranean, and oust the Italian Prime Minister Mussolini, and establish a powerful offensive starting point for the future attack on Italy.
In order to crush the attempts of Britain and the United States, the Sicily defenders began to counterattack under the command of Lieutenant General Guzoni of the Italian army. Our 15th armored division was transferred from the west of the island to the east coast to prevent the British 8th Army in Montgomery from moving to Augusta in the north; the Gorene Armored Infantry Division and the two motorized infantry divisions of Italy launched a counterattack against the US 7th Army in Patton. In order to ensure the success of the counterattack, the Air Force also dispatched 481 various aircraft to provide necessary air support to the ground forces."
When Manstein heard this, he couldn't help but look at Golin, thinking that the fat man's face must be full of pride. After all, not only his air force was dispatched in the counterattack, but also an armored infantry division. Unexpectedly, he unexpectedly saw the other party closing his eyes and resting expressionlessly.
Zeitzler continued: "It is not regrettable enough that our counterattack did not succeed. Although our tanks advanced to less than two kilometers from the US beachhead, they were furiously counterattacked by the Americans, and even their warships bombarded our tanks with ship guns.
The battle lasted until the evening. After losing a large number of tanks, our army had to choose to retreat, while the US army took the opportunity to occupy the city of Gera. The 15th Armored Division in the east could not stop the British, and Sirakuza was lost."
Manstein was in a particularly heavy mood when he listened to Zeitzler's report. The failure of Sicily's counterattack meant that elite troops must be drawn from other battlefields to strengthen the defense there. It seemed that the head of state urgently summoned him to transfer the elite troops in his hands to the most critical area of the war.
"Marrior Kruger, Marshal Manstein." Just as Manstein frowned and thought hard, he suddenly heard the voice of Xiaomou calling him and Kruger, and quickly stopped thinking and stood up to listen to Xiaomou's instructions. Seeing that both the marshals stood up, Xiaomou said expressionlessly: "Given that the British and American coalition forces landed in Sicily, the situation in Italy has become very unstable, and relying on the strength of our ally Italy itself, it cannot resist the invasion of the Western Allied forces. In order to protect Italy and the Balkans, I decided to stop the fortress battle and draw troops from the Eastern Front to support the Italian front."
"My Head," Kruger laughed and said, "Your decision is so wise. Russian General Rokosovsky's troops are attacking Orel's protrusion, seriously threatening the 9th Army's retreat. In order to avoid letting General Model's troops fall into the Russians' siege, we should indeed terminate the attack and turn to defense on the spot."
"My head," Manstein, after Kruger finished speaking, immediately raised his objection: "Although our army encountered some obstacles in the attack, I am still full of confidence in our army's victory in the Kursk prominence. Today's Russians have long been defeated under the powerful offensive of our army. As long as we persist for a little longer, we can win.
I strongly suggest that the Central Army Group and the Southern Army Group should continue to launch an offensive against the Kursk prominence as planned to achieve the initial strategic goal.”
Hearing Manstein's statement, Zeitzler's face showed a surprise expression, and he asked a little out of control: "Mr. Marshal, what are you going to do next?"
"Now the Russians have put all their reserves in Kursk," Manstein said according to his own ideas. "And I have the 23rd Armored Division and the Vikings. As long as these two troops are put into battle, we can completely crush the Russian resistance and win the final victory."
"Mr. Marshal, you are so optimistic." Unexpectedly, as soon as Manstein finished his words, Marshal Kruger jumped out to refute him: "Under the current circumstances, the Central Army Group cannot participate in any plan to continue the attack, because the Russians are launching an attack. Once they conquer Orel's outskirts, Model's 9th Army will be trapped in a heavy siege, and it will become the second Stalingrad. Therefore, the top priority of our Central Army Group is to withdraw the 9th Army safely, and any attack will be outside our consideration."
When Kruger mentioned Stalingrad, his bearded face suddenly turned pale. After Paulus's troops were trapped in the encirclement, more than one person persuaded him to agree that Paulus' troops would jump out of the Russians' encirclement, but he ruthlessly refused. Now Model's 9th Army is also facing being surrounded by the Russians, and he absolutely does not allow such a thing to happen. Therefore, his thought of ending the fortress operation in his heart became stronger and stronger.
"Enough, stop talking." The beard interrupted Kruger's later words and said irritably: "Now we are fighting on two fronts at the same time, so we must not put the final reserve team into the protracted battle. Therefore, the termination of the fortress operation is necessary, and we must draw troops as soon as possible to reinforce Italy."
"My head, I don't agree to draw troops from the Kursk region to reinforce Italy." Manstein knew the temper of the beard very well and knew that if he had the upper hand in any debate with the head, he would inevitably be ruthless revenge. But in order not to let the victory at hand, he could only say with a sloppy tongue: "The Russians are almost unable to support them now. As long as we invest in the final reserve team, they can completely crush their resistance."
If someone else had confronted the beard like this, the beard would have been furious. But the person who spoke at this moment was Manstein, the conqueror of Sevastopol. The marshal successfully smashed the powerful offensive of the Russians when his troops and equipment were at a disadvantage at the beginning of the year. Since he said that he could destroy the Russians in the Kursk prominence, this possibility must exist.