The 48th Armored Army of the German Army continued to launch an attack in the Oboyan area, trying to break through the Soviet defense here so that it could advance quickly along the highway to Kursk. However, the commanders and fighters of the 1st Tank Army, under the command of General Katukov, stubbornly blocked the German attack, causing them to stagnate in front of Oboyan's defensive positions and unable to make any breakthroughs.
The battle in the direction of Oboyan was fierce, and the battle outside Prokholovka also reached a white-hot level. General Baharov's tank 18th Army established a new defense there after restoring the October Farm north of the 252.2 highland to prevent the Germans from seizing there again.
Manstein, who had lost the reserve team, had to order Hauser's SS Army and Kenf to fight against the Soviet army in order to capture Prokholovka City, to increase the attack on the Soviet army, in order to annihilate one of them first and then seize the city.
After receiving the order, Hauser decided to recapture the October Farm as a breakthrough point and then deviate to the rear of the Soviet army. According to his experience on the Soviet-German battlefield, once the Soviet army was trapped in siege, many troops would fall into chaos. As long as one of them was annihilated, the rest would be no longer enough to worry about.
In order to achieve this combat goal, Simon personally visited the frontier and directed his troops to attack October Farm. He and his chief of staff stayed in an observation center, and saw a battalion of infantry following behind more than 20 tanks and launching an attack on the Soviet positions in the distance.
The Soviet positions were just some temporarily dug trenches, with neither minefield nor barbed wire in front of them. The German infantry could easily rush to the trenches under the cover of tanks. Seeing his officers and soldiers rushing up, Simon began to think about what unit he should leave for defense after seizing the October farm, and then which unit should redirect to the rear of the Russians and encircle them.
However, what happened next shocked Simon. He saw that the Russians who were standing on the position did not have many anti-tank guns, but relied more on anti-tank rifles to snipe their own tanks from a long distance. However, because the tanks that guided the infantry to charge were all leopard tanks, the anti-tank rifles on the position could not penetrate the front armor of the tank at all. The limited number of anti-tank guns was locked by the moving tanks after two shots and quickly destroyed them with artillery fire.
Unexpectedly, as the tank approached the trenches, countless figures jumped from the crater next to the tank. Some of them threw anti-tank grenades at the tanks, some threw moor bottles, and some even tied cluster grenades to rush forward and burned them to the leopard tanks that could not even be destroyed by anti-tank rifles.
Seeing dazzling flames and black smoke rising from the distance, Simon's heart was bleeding. He realized that his tank was being constantly destroyed by the damn Russians. He thought that the infantry following behind the tank could destroy the Russians' anti-tank hands, but he didn't expect that the other party would fight bravely. Unexpectedly, someone rushed into the German infantry's queue with a smoke grenade and died with several or even a dozen soldiers.
Although the Skeleton Division was an elite German division, they still felt frightened when they encountered a life-deserving attack like the commanders and fighters of the 18th Tank Army. At this time, Baharov saw that the infantry brigade had successfully blocked the German attack, so he decisively ordered the 170th Tank Brigade to launch a counterattack on the German army.
The German officers and soldiers who had already developed a desire to retreat were immediately in chaos when they saw the Soviet tanks rushing up. Some officers and soldiers immediately retreated like a tide, while the remaining officers and soldiers hid behind the destroyed tanks or in bullet craters and shot at the rushing Soviet tanks.
While the 18th Tank Army stubbornly blocked the Skeleton Division on October Farm, the 29th Tank Army also fought fiercely with the Flag Guard Division near the 252.2 Highlands. To the south of the city of Prokholovka are several infantry divisions of the 69th Army, fighting against Kenfu clusters in a battle of position warfare in an inch of land.
Rotmistrov, who set up his headquarters in Prokolovka City, called Vatutin after carefully studying the situation outside the city and said to him: "Comrade General, the power of the Germans is more tenacious than we think. If a comprehensive counterattack is launched at this time, it will be difficult to achieve any results, and it will easily consume our living power."
You should know that Vatuting has always advocated offense. Shortly after the Battle of Kursk began, he ignored the situation on the battlefield and threw all the reserves in his hands into a counterattack. As a result, not only did he not crush the German offensive on the southern front, but he also exhausted all the living forces he had accumulated after finally accumulating, and finally had to ask for help from the base camp with shameless face.
If it were a few days ago, when he heard Rotemistov's words, he would definitely get angry at the other party. But after the lessons from the previous few days, he could only suppress the anger in his heart and asked, "General Rotemistov, what did you think about it?"
"Comrade General, this is how I think about it." Rotmistrov stared at the map in front of him and replied: "Let the troops of the 18th and 29th Army of Tanks, defending the October Farm and the 252.2 highlands west of the city, to block the attack of the 2 SS Armored Army. In addition, I intend to divide the 5th Army of Guards into two parts, partly deployed behind the two tank armies, and the other partly deployed behind the 69th Army to prevent the Kenfu Corps from advancing."
After hearing Rotmstrov's idea, Vatuting did not speak immediately. Instead, he looked at Zhukov, who was standing next to him, and sought his opinions with his eyes. Zhukov heard the conversation between Vatutututiv and Rotmstrov, looked down at the map, and felt that such a deployment was very safe, so he nodded slightly and signaled to agree with Rotmstrov's plan.
"Okay, General Rotmistrov." After getting Zhukov's approval, Vatutin immediately said to the microphone: "Just arrange your defense according to your plan."
"Although the Germans transferred their reserve team, the situation is still not very good for us." Huasilevsky took advantage of the call of Vatutin and said to Zhukov: "What measures should we take to resolve the crisis in front of us?"
"Is there any troops we can mobilize?" Zhukov asked without raising his head.
"We are all deployed in the areas of Oboyan and Prokholovka." Vatutin, who had just put down the phone, replied with shame when he heard Zhukov's question: "If the base camp does not send us reinforcements, I think we have no troops to put on the battlefield."
"Comrade Watujing, you are wrong. We still have troops to mobilize." Zhukov raised his head, looked at Watujing with an awkward look in front of him, and said expressionlessly: "Once this force is put into the battlefield, it can deal a heavy blow to the German army."
"Are there any such troops?" Vatujing had just said this and immediately realized which troops Zhukov was talking about, and hurriedly said: "Comrade Marshal, are you talking about Major General Sokov's 27th Army?"
"Yes, it's Misha's troops." Zhukov nodded and replied affirmatively: "He told me on the phone yesterday that the reserve team in Manstein could not enter the battle and would be transferred. I also criticized him. Unexpectedly, his analysis was completely correct."
After hearing Zhukov mentioning the 27th Army, Huasilevsky hurriedly echoed: "For the Germans, the 27th Army is their nightmare. A few days ago, they not only wiped out the Imperial Division that broke through the Oboyan defense line, but also killed the commander of the 6th Armored Division of the German Army. If this unit is put into battle, we can definitely reverse the situation on the Kursk southern line in the shortest time."
At this stage of the battle, it would be a good thing if one side could have a new force on his side to fight. But Vatutin thought that although this unit was stationed in Prokholovka, it was not under his control and he had no right to directly give orders to the other party, he said to Zhukov with some embarrassment: "Comrade Marshal, although the 27th Army is not far from us, it is under the control of the Grassland Front. I cannot mobilize this unit until I obtain the authorization of General Konev."
"Leave this matter to me." Huasilevsky took the initiative to say: "I am the representative of the base camp. I will come forward to talk to General Konev. I believe he will not have any objection."
Seeing that Vasilevsky took the initiative to take on the offending matter, Zhukov said nothing, but nodded, and then said to Vatujing: "Comrade Vatujing, judging from today's battle, the situation of the 69th Army is very dangerous. They may be cut off and surrounded by the Germans at any time. Should you arrange to withdraw them to a safe area?"
Vatutin pointed to the map and said to Zhukov: "In order to avoid the danger of their encirclement, I can withdraw them to the next line of defense. But in the current problem, the troops of the group of troops are not only too scattered, but also all the troops are fighting against the enemy. Once retreating, the enemy will take the opportunity to occupy the area we have abandoned, and the situation in the Prokholovka area will become more unfavorable to our army."
"Comrade Watujing, I think Misha has a few words that are right." Zhukov saw Watujing's surprised look and then continued to say: "As long as the enemy's living power can be eliminated, sometimes there is no need to worry about the gains and losses of a city and a place. As long as we can preserve the living power, even if we give up some places temporarily, when the time is ripe, we can take these places back from the enemy.
On the contrary, if we keep fighting with the enemy, the final result may be that the positions are lost and the troops are exhausted. It will take quite a long time to retake these positions."
Huasilevsky, who called Konev, thought the other party would agree to his request readily, but after he finished speaking, Konev said slowly: "Master Huasilevsky, the 5th Guards Army and the 5th Guards Tank Army, which were originally affiliated with our Front Army, have been assigned to the command of the Voronezh Front. Now you want to place my 27th Army to General Vatujing again. In this way, half of our Front Army's vitality is gone, how can we fight the next battle?"
Vasilevsky did not expect that Konev would oppose the transfer of Sokov's troops to Voronezh Front in Vatutin, and he didn't know how to answer for a moment. Even thinking from the perspective of others, he felt aggrieved for Konev. He had only seven armies in his hands. He had originally assigned two full armies to Voronezh Front, which was enough to suffer. Now he had to transfer Sokov's 27th Army to Vatutin command, and only half of the front forces remained, and his combat effectiveness would definitely be affected.
Seeing Vasilevsky looking embarrassed, Zhukov walked over and took the microphone from his hand and said, "I'll talk to General Konev." Zhukov put the headphones close to his ears and said in a friendly tone, "Is it Comrade Konev? I'm Zhukov!"
Konev served as commander of the Western Front during the Battle of Moscow. Because his troops were defeated, he was removed from his post by the base camp. If Zhukov, who had not taken over as commander, had he not spoken well for him and recommended him to be commander of the Kalinin Front, he might have ended up with General Pavlov. He always remembered Zhukov's kindness. At this moment, he heard Zhukov's voice, he quickly replied politely: "Hello, Comrade Marshal."
"Comrade Konev," Zhukov organized a word in his mind, and then said to the microphone: "I know that the base camp has drawn two armies from your front army to greatly weaken your strength. Now, if you draw Sokov's 27th Army from your organization, it will further weaken your strength.
However, this is also impossible. The situation outside Prokholovka is extremely critical now. Vatutin has used all the power it can be used, but it still cannot crush the German attack on the city. Sokov's 27th Army is stationed not far from the battle area. If his troops can enter the battle, they can completely reverse the unfavorable situation of our army in Prokholovka..."
"Okay, comrade Marshal." Konev patiently listened to Zhukov's words and realized that Sokov's troops were the key to the reverse occupation. Even if he insisted on his principles and firmly disagrees with the command of the Voronezh Front. But if this matter was exposed and a command was made, he could not keep the troops. Instead of stubbornly offending others, it would be better to do a favor and understand this truth. Konev said: "Then follow what you said, temporarily place Sokov's 27th Army under the command of the Voronezh Front."
But Konev was more careful. When Zhukov came forward to talk to him about the 27th Army, he used a tone of negotiation, but through the order issued by the base camp, proving that the troops could continue to be under his command. He said tactfully: "Comrade Marshal, I want to declare in advance that Sokov's troops are only lending them to you. After the Battle of Kursk is over, you can return them to me."
Since Konev agreed to let Vatujing command the 27th Army, Zhukov naturally would not refuse the condition he proposed: "Don't worry, General Konev. As soon as the Battle of Kursk is over, I will personally inquire about this matter and let the troops of the 27th Army be built."