1063 Zhukov's Persistence
The booming sound sounded in the early morning on the edge of the farmland in the Kursk region, and the German Tiger tanks painted in camouflage started their engines in the bright sunshine. r?anw?e?n? These terrible tanks have been silent in Kursk for a long time, and today they can finally be activated on a large scale because the German army has received a large amount of fuel supplies.
The German Group G Army, which had been resting in the southeast corner of Kursk, finally changed from a strategic defensive posture to a strategic offensive. Hundreds of tanks spread out across the vast Kursk Plain. Like the first Kursk battle not long ago, the second Kursk battle once again kicked off with hordes of tanks advancing. .
The tracks of a King Tiger tank smashed through a section of the fence that blocked the road ahead, and groups of German grenadiers crossed the village from the farmland with their weapons on their backs. The German offensive had been carefully prepared for several weeks, and from the beginning it showed a forceful momentum.
The artillery fire of the general offensive flooded several positions guarded by the Soviet defenders. Most of the Soviet resistance was vulnerable to crushing superior forces. However, the Soviet defenders still put up the most tenacious resistance they could. German soldiers were attacked head-on by Soviet soldiers in some node areas. After all, Soviet soldiers were also the elite of the elite. The two sides fought frantically in the Songcaiwo area. However, due to the limited reserve force, the Soviet Union began to fail after one day, and the Soviet army was eventually surrounded and annihilated.
Yastrebovka and Tim were quickly captured by the German army. Once these two cities were lost, the defense line on the Kursk flank was on the verge of collapse. If the German army can continue to go north, then those who stay in Kursk and other cities The Soviet army will eventually be completely surrounded.
Gorshechnoye was then occupied by German armored forces, and the local defenders were all wiped out by German armored grenadiers. Although the troops here chose to die rather than surrender, and really resisted to the end, but when their town defense line After being divided and surrounded by the German army, they were not able to fight on their own, but tried to break out of the encirclement, but were chased and killed by the German armored forces all the way and surrounded in the wild.
Guderian's offensive plan was directed at Higre, and the footsteps of the 1st Panzer Army seemed unstoppable. The collapse of the Soviet defense line was faster than Zhukov expected. A huge gap was torn open.
Voronezh, a city that was occupied by the Germans and then recaptured by the Soviets, once again had a large number of German infantry in the suburbs. These infantry responsible for covering Guderian's G Army came from General Küchler's N Army. Under the cover of the 9th Armored Division, they began to try to attack this city, which Stalin called great and unyielding.
When attacking St. Rudolph (that is, Stalingrad), the heavy artillery unit assembled by the German army went into battle in this direction. Dozens of large-caliber artillery easily turned the streets of Voronezh into ruins. The German tanks easily broke through the Soviet defense lines from both sides of the city, and the defending Soviet army fought back hard, holding the city until the 7th day after the start of the Second Battle of Kursk.
The loss of Voronezh,
The defense system in the area south of Moscow completely collapsed. The German army chased and killed the Soviet infantry in the wild, and there were groups of Soviet prisoners everywhere. All were occupied by the Germans. In early July, Guderian's armored forces headed north along the border between Voronezh and Kursk Oblasts, and successively captured Oremsky Kastornoye. Under the cover, Kershenski was captured in one breath.
The Soviet defenders never expected that their defense system would collapse so quickly, let alone that the German army came from behind them. Therefore, none of the bridges west of Kershenski were blown up, and they were handed over to the vanguard of the German army. So the German tanks quickly passed these rivers, and it took only 3 hours to rush ahead of the rout of the Soviet army and occupy Cheremisinov.
Zhukov has already transferred his main force to the area north of Kursk, and he is trying to retreat to Moscow in a covert manner, but the attack speed of the German army is so fast that his attempt to retreat in a covert manner has completely failed. So he ordered the main forces of the 1st Guards Front Army and the 3rd Guards Front Army to go north quickly, but he led the remaining troops to buy as much time as possible for the main force of the Soviet Army going north.
He was not going to die with the rear guard, but hoped that the attitude of leaving last would encourage the remaining troops to fight to the last moment. So when the German forward troops had already begun to attack Cheremisinov, Zhukov stayed in Kursk to preside over the military meeting, asking his troops to hold all the existing defense zones as much as possible.
Hundreds of thousands of Soviet infantry cannot easily withdraw from the Kursk theater, because if they retreat rashly, then with the German attack speed, the Soviet army will soon stage the second Leningrad cluster being wiped out in the wild tragedy. So Zhukov's idea is that all the troops counterattack on the spot, and rely on the fortifications built to delay the German occupation of Kursk as much as possible.
To put it bluntly, since retreating is also a collapse, and defending is also a collapse, it is better to stick to the existing position to annihilate more German enemies. However, because of the loss of a large number of armored forces to coordinate defense, the resistance of the Soviet infantry was not as impenetrable as Zhukov imagined.
"Comrade Marshal!" A staff officer handed the battle report from his hand to Zhukov, who had been speaking less and less recently. He just got the news that the front line of defense was also shaken under the influence of the collapse of the flanks. The frontline town of Oboyan has been surrounded by the Germans on both sides. The defenders are struggling to support and ask for reinforcements: "The defenders of Oboyan called and asked us to support the tank troops and counterattack the enemy's armored forces."
"Where do I have any tank units..." Zhukov opened his dry lips and said, "I have sent the last anti-tank unit to Higre, as you know. And that unit has no What good equipment, most of them are 76mm anti-tank guns modified from T-26 tanks, and it is difficult to deal with Leopard tanks, let alone the German Tiger and King Tiger.”
"If the German tanks capture Oboyan, then our frontal defense system will be difficult to protect..." Of course the staff knew that the reserve team had been sent to the flank by Zhukov, but he still wanted to get some reinforcements for Oboyan's defenders , even some infantry. Because he knew that once Oboyan fell, the next thing that could stop the German army from advancing would be Medvenka, the southern gateway of Kursk.
The number of tanks in the Soviet army has been seriously insufficient. Most of the recently added tanks are self-propelled artillery. Losses, but the acquisition of strategic goals has not been delayed.
You must know that on the west side of Guderian's troops is General Kluge's F Group Army. The momentum of the advance was not very good, but it really put huge pressure on Zhukov's back.
Zhukov glanced at the arrows on the map representing the German offensive route, sighed helplessly, and temporarily forgot that the defenders in the direction of Oboyan asked for reinforcements, and asked an irrelevant question: "Konev Where is Comrade General's 1st Guards Front now?"
"Comrade Marshal! General Konev's 1st Guards Front has now entered the southeastern Orel region and is moving north." An officer hurriedly answered Zhukov's question.
"So, has Comrade General Vasilevsky's 3rd Guards Front Army reached Yelets now?" Zhukov asked his second question. No one knew what he was thinking now. The two front armies were originally the core main force of the Zhukov cluster going south, but now they are placed in the safest position.
"Very good! As long as these two front armies can continue to go north safely, then everything we insist on here is meaningful." Zhukov nodded, and his mood seemed to be better. He stared at the map with his hands behind his back, and finally said: "Send a telegram to the defenders near Oboyan, telling them, for the honor of the motherland, stick to the last soldier! No retreat! No surrender!"
Then he shifted his gaze to several officers in the command office, and then ordered: "You leave immediately, go to Medvenka! Strengthen the defense line there, and supervise the defenders there! Be sure to let them stand firm Until the last moment!"
"Yes! Comrade Marshal!" Several officers stood at attention and saluted, and hurriedly carried out the Marshal's order. They were the most elite and loyal part of the Soviet army, so they were more resolute and reliable in executing orders. Seeing them turn and leave, Zhukov found a chair and sat down, then looked up at the portrait of Stalin hanging on the wall, and murmured: "I have tried my best to buy you time, I hope you can persist in Moscow." to the moment of victory."
The sun is still shining outside the window, and the last few days have been extremely sunny and fine. Zhukov hated the fine weather because he could see far away, where German planes were circling in the sky.
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The next chapter will be very late, you can wait until tomorrow morning to read, don't affect your rest.