Chapter 1246: long day (below)

  Chapter 1246 A Long Day (Part 2)

"Max, I think you are scared out of your wits by the Russians." Seeing that his troops advanced so smoothly, Dietrich said disapprovingly: "I have observed carefully, those Russians hiding in the simple fortifications People, after being hit by the powerful artillery fire of our army, it is estimated that there are not many people alive. Moreover, our tank assault is so fast, even if there are still a few Russians who were not killed by the bombing, it is estimated that they are not fully awake at this time. It is perfectly normal to be unable to organize a decent resistance."

  The tanks of the armored regiment rumbled over the Soviet positions without encountering any resistance; the armored vehicles that followed them also rushed in, but still did not find any resistance from the Soviet troops. When the infantry was almost approaching the Soviet position, there was still silence, and Dietrich, who was originally arrogant, realized that there was a problem.

   "What the **** is going on?" Dietrich murmured, "Why didn't the Russians fight back?"

"General Dietrich." After careful observation, Simon finally came to a conclusion that he couldn't believe: "The reason why your troops have not encountered resistance may be that the Russians have given up on this matter." Block position."

"Impossible, it's absolutely impossible." Hearing what Simon said, Dietrich immediately retorted loudly: "It's not the first day for you and me to deal with the Russians. Facing the powerful offensive of our army, their The commander will only issue an order not to retreat a step. If any commander dares to order the troops to abandon their positions and wait for his fate, he will be sent to a military court."

Regarding Dietrich's statement, Simon shrugged his shoulders and said with a wry smile: "General Dietrich, don't forget that our opponent in front of us is General Sokov. He is different from other Russian commanders. I don’t think there’s anything he’s afraid to do.”

   "Come here!" Dietrich turned his head and shouted behind him, and soon his adjutant came in front of him. Dietrich told the other party: "Get in touch with the troops in front immediately, let them find out the situation of the Russian positions, and see if there are no defenders inside."

Before the adjutant could figure out the situation ahead, Hausser called Simon: "Hey, General Simon, General Dietrich's Banner Guard Division has successfully tore through the Russian defense line, you immediately put your The troops are thrown into battle, and the Russians must not be given any respite, and they must be completely defeated."

Simon originally wanted to tell Hausser that the Soviet army might have given up their position, but he opened his mouth and swallowed what he wanted to say. Dietrich's investigation has not yet come to fruition. This incident told Hausser that not only would he not believe such unscrupulous things, but he would even feel that he was a coward. So I could only bite the bullet and replied: "Understood, Your Excellency, Commander, I will immediately send troops into attack."

  The troops have already assembled, and following Simon's order, they rushed forward along the road opened by the Banner Guard Division. Looking at the attacking troops, Simon thought to himself: Since Sokov's troops have given up the frontal defense, it only takes a few hours for his Skeleton Division and Banner Guard Division to reach the outside of Prokhorovka.

Shortly after the Skeleton Division was dispatched, Dietrich received a report from his subordinates: In the occupied Russian positions, except for a few long-dead corpses, no living person was found, which means that the Russians had long since abandoned the area. position.

  After hearing the report from his subordinates, Dietrich put down the phone and said to Simon: "General Simon, you are right. The Russians really abandoned this position. We only occupied an empty position."

"But I don't understand." Dietrich frowned and said, "The Russians abandoned the position in front of us, which is equivalent to opening the road to the city of Prokhorovka. What is their intention in doing this? ?”

Simon naturally had his own thoughts on what was happening before him, "I think Sokov didn't have any extra troops in his hands after yesterday's fierce battle to defend this vulnerable area, so he put all his The troops are all concentrated on the main positions for defense. Even if we bypass their defense zone, the troops staying behind us will always pose a threat to us, preventing us from concentrating all our strength against Proho Attack on Lovka City."

"General Simon, you are worrying too much." After hearing what Simon said, Dietrich said disapprovingly: "As long as we leave a troop to monitor them, they will not dare to act rashly. When we capture Proholo After Fuka City, just turn around and destroy them."

  Dietrich's words sound reasonable, but Simon always has an ominous premonition in his heart. He feels that there may be some unknown conspiracy behind Sokov's voluntary abandonment of some defensive positions. He cautiously reminded the other party: "General Dietrich, Sokov is not a simple Russian commander. When fighting with his troops, you must maintain a high degree of vigilance, otherwise unexpected accidents will happen. matter."

Seeing that Simon was so afraid of Sokov, Dietrich didn't take it seriously. He remembered that Simon, who was still a colonel at the time, was captured by the troops commanded by Sokov a few months ago. On the way, I happened to encounter a disbanded squad attacking the convoy. It is estimated that they are planting potatoes in a prisoner-of-war camp in Siberia at the moment.

"General Simon, don't think too much. Sokov doesn't have much available troops now, and he doesn't pose any threat to us at all." Dietrich comforted the other party and said, "As long as we quickly advance to Proholo Under the city of Fuka, I assisted the friendly army to capture the city. When the time comes, I will turn around and attack Sokov's troops, and they will be wiped out. Don't worry, I will definitely give you the honor of personally capturing Sokov, let you come Shame on you."

Being captured by Sokov's troops has always been a problem in Simon's heart. If it weren't for Manstein and Hausser to protect himself, let alone continue to serve as the commander of the Skeleton Division, I am afraid that he would have been transferred back to the rear and let himself To watch the concentration camp. At this moment, when Dietrich said that he could give the honor of capturing Sokov to himself, his heart suddenly felt a sense of excitement.

   Manstein was still very happy when he learned that the troops of the Banner Guard Division and the Skeleton Division had successfully broken through the defense line of Sokov's troops and were advancing eastward towards the city of Prokhorovka. In order to destroy the defense line of the 2nd Soviet Tank Army in front as soon as possible, he immediately ordered the bomber formation to take off and bombed the Soviet defensive positions with unprecedented violence.

  The troops of the 2nd Soviet Tank Army did not have any decent fortifications. When they were attacked by enemy planes, they suddenly became chaotic. After finally waiting for the enemy plane to fly away, the commander was ordering his subordinates to count the casualty data, but found that the German tank unit appeared in front of him, and he could only order those tanks that survived the bombing to counterattack the German army.

  The small number of tanks of the Soviet Army, without organization, hastily launched an attack on the tank group of the Banner Guard Division. As a result, in less than a quarter of an hour, the more than 20 tanks participating in the attack were all destroyed by the German army, and the Banner Guard Division lost only three old-fashioned No. 4 tanks.

   After destroying the resistance of the 2nd Tank Corps, the armored regiment of the Banner Guard Division continued to advance. After more than three hours of the situation, they finally arrived at the outskirts of Prokhorovka at ten o'clock in the morning.

  The commanding height outside the city is 252.2 Heights, which is defended by the 2nd Battalion of the 26th Guards Paratrooper Regiment. Facing the tide of enemies, the paratroopers put up a tenacious resistance and repelled eleven German attacks. Burning tanks and armored vehicles were piled up in front of the position, as well as dead bodies.

  Although the tenacious resistance of the paratroopers caused huge casualties to the German army, their own casualties were not small. In the paratrooper battalion with a full staff of 450 people, after several hours of fierce fighting, there were only more than 20 people left, including five wounded. Major Upitz, the battalion commander, called the regiment headquarters over and over again: "Comrade Commander, I am Major Upitz. Now there are less than 30 people left in our battalion, and there is not much ammunition left. Request Help, ask for help."

   "Comrade Major," the head of the paratroopers also knew in his heart what consequences would be brought if Height 252.2 was lost. But now he is also powerless, because the enemy blocked the road from the regiment headquarters to the high ground with artillery fire, he sent two companies of reinforcements in a row, and before he could reach the high ground, he was killed by the German artillery fire. "The enemy's artillery fire was too fierce, and the reinforcements I sent couldn't pass through the artillery blockade at all. You must find a way to hold your position, and you must not take a step back..."

   Before the commander could speak, the telephone line was cut off by artillery fire. Major Upiz, who didn't know it, shouted into the silent microphone: "Hey, Comrade Commander! Hey, hello, hello, Comrade Commander, can you hear me?..."

   "Comrade Battalion Commander, Comrade Battalion Commander." A soldier with a bandaged head and a rifle rushed in and shouted at Upiz: "The enemy, the enemy is coming up!"

   Knowing that the enemy is coming up again, Upiz threw the microphone, grabbed the submachine gun on the table, shouted: "Follow me!" and rushed out first.

After Upiz rushed into the trench, he was very relieved by the scene he saw before him. Although there were hundreds of German infantrymen rushing into the trench, the commanders and fighters who were at a disadvantage in numbers did not panic. , but bravely launched a hand-to-hand battle with the enemy. Even the wounded who couldn't move sat where they were, raised the weapons in their hands, and shot at the enemies within sight.

  Upiz raised his submachine gun and shot at the German soldiers who appeared beside him, knocking them down one by one. He ran out of bullets, and instead of changing the magazine, he threw the gun away, bent down to pick up the submachine gun next to the German corpse, and continued to shoot at the enemy. Two bullets hit his abdomen, and he threw away the weapon in his hand, covered his abdomen with his hands, staggered forward two steps, and then fell limply to the ground.

   But Upiz did not die immediately, he was only seriously injured. A wounded man struggled to crawl to his side, approached him and shouted loudly: "Comrade battalion commander, there are too many enemies, we can't stop them at all..."

  Upiz recognized the speaking soldier as one of his engineers, so he tried to force a smile on his face and asked, "Are you all ready?"

The soldiers understood Upiz's intentions. As early as a few hours ago, in order to prevent the Germans from occupying the high ground, Upiz ordered the engineers to line up in many places in the trenches and plant explosives. Once the positions could not be held, they would fight with the enemy Come and die together. The soldier nodded vigorously, and said firmly, "Comrade Battalion Commander, as long as you give the order, I will detonate it immediately."

  Upiz turned his head and looked to the side, seeing more and more German officers and soldiers jumping into the trenches, while there were very few commanders and fighters on his side who were still fighting. He nodded to the soldier, indicating that he could detonate the explosives buried in the trench.

As the order was issued, the wounded engineer slammed down the detonator, and an explosion without warning exploded from the feet of the officers and soldiers on both sides who were still in the melee. Shrapnel and falling debris intertwined with each other, like a sweeping storm, tearing apart the officers and soldiers in the trench, and the rising black smoke and flickering flames enveloped the entire hilltop position.

  The head of the paratroopers at the foot of the mountain couldn't help crying like rain when he saw that the mountain was blown up into a sea of ​​flames. He beat the wooden wall with his fist hard, feeling extremely annoyed that he could not help his subordinates.

   On the other side, Dietrich, who came to watch the battle nearby in a tank, couldn't help being stunned when he saw his troops rushing up to the high ground, engulfed by gunpowder smoke and flames. After a long time, he murmured: "Crazy, crazy, these Russians are simply crazy. Seeing that the position cannot be held, they died with our soldiers."

After a brief sigh of emotion, Dietrich immediately issued a new order despite the thunder still rolling on the mountain top and the pervasive gunpowder smoke: "Immediately send new troops to occupy the 252.2 highland, and hurry up to repair the fortifications." , to prevent a possible attack by the Russians."

  Dietrich's analysis is correct, the 252.2 highland is crucial to the Soviet army. When the commander of the 33rd Guards Infantry learned that the highland had fallen, he immediately called the head of the 26th regiment and asked in a stern tone: "Comrade commander, why did you lose the 252.2 highland? Don't you know that once the enemy occupies This commanding height outside the city, can we build artillery positions on it, and bombard our defensive positions inside the city condescendingly?"

"Comrade Commander," the regiment commander replied in a panic, "the enemy blocked our road leading to the high ground with artillery fire. I once sent two companies to reinforce them, but they were all killed and wounded by the enemy's artillery fire. I watched helplessly as the second battalion standing on the high ground was completely wiped out by the enemy."

"Comrade commander, I don't want to hear any reason." The army commander raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then said: "It is now 13:40 on the 11th, and I hope to hear the news that you have taken back the high ground before 15:00. "

  For the head of the regiment, this order from the army commander is simply an impossible task. Among other things, if the enemy's artillery fire was not suppressed, no matter how many troops he sent to counterattack the high ground, they would all be wiped out under the enemy's artillery fire. But he hesitated for a moment, and decided to obey the order: "Understood, Comrade Commander, I will organize a counterattack as soon as possible."

  (end of this chapter)