Chapter 1162 The Most Important Day

The political and ideological education of the troops was the responsibility of Political Commissar Petrov, who led the political workers of the entire brigade. The entire Stalin Guards First Heavy Tank Brigade was forged into a tenacious team with firm beliefs and unyielding will.

Malashenko had reason to believe that no soldier in his army would want to live in disgrace. This was a heroic team with the name of the supreme leader of the Soviet Union. Every soldier and commander who could join was either an outstanding recruit or an experienced veteran who was good at fighting in their original troops.

And when all this was blessed by the political and ideological education that Political Commissar Petrov was responsible for, a troop that could face challenges at all times was born. The indomitable fighting will and the spirit of being ready to fight to the death with the enemy at any time are the most basic guarantee for Malashenko to dare to face any powerful opponent.

Although it may sound a bit pessimistic, at this point in the battle, both Political Commissar Petrov and Lavrinenko understood that Malashenko was just discussing the matter and making preparations for the worst in advance, nothing more.

Political Commissar Petrov, whose face was a little heavier than before, was about to say something, when the communications director, who had been sticking to his post not far away, suddenly ran over in a hurry with a telegram in his hand.

"Comrade Brigade Commander, Comrade Political Commissar, an urgent telegram from the front headquarters!"

Malashenko, who had been lowering his head and pressing his hands on the table, immediately raised his head in a flash when he heard this, as if the unknown content recorded in the telegram indicated the hope of salvation.

"Give me the telegram!"

Malashenko stood up and immediately stretched out his hand. The communications director who was on standby naturally did not dare to be negligent and immediately stepped forward and handed the thing in his hand to Malashenko.

Malashenko snatched the telegram and started reading it quickly. Lavrinenko, who was standing beside him, couldn't help but come over immediately. Even the usually calm Political Commissar Petrov came over to read it together.

There was not much recorded in the telegram, only a few short lines of handwriting.

The general meaning was that the support troops coming from multiple directions had approached the Prokhorovka theater and were currently marching urgently towards the place where Malashenko was surrounded. Some of the troops that successfully broke out of the pocket before the enemy's encirclement was completed were also undergoing unified reorganization, preparing to integrate with the reinforcements into a new powerful breakthrough force.

In short, the content recorded in the first half of the telegram was that Malashenko must not give up, the reinforcements would arrive soon, and he only needed to hold on until the sun rose tomorrow, and he might welcome the hope of comrades coming to rescue him at any time.

As for the air support that Malashenko had always been thinking about and never forgot, why there was no plane in the whole day, the telegram also gave the answer.

Manstein, known as the German God of War, was very powerful! This powerful guy dispatched more than half of the 52nd Fighter Wing, the most elite fighter unit in the entire German Air Force, to rush to Prokhorovka to ensure the air supremacy of the theater.

The battle for air supremacy between the only two fighter aviation divisions in Vatutin's hands and the 52nd Fighter Wing lasted for a whole day.

The Soviet fighter aviation units, which were dispatched in full force, fought fiercely with the German pride of the 52nd Fighter Wing, and neither gave in.

When the battle in the sky was at its most intense, the ground troops even reported that more than a dozen fighter planes were smoking or burning in the sky at the same time, but most of them were Soviet fighter planes.

In the case that there is no generation gap in the quality of equipment of both sides and they are basically at the same level, the 52nd Fighter Wing's superb air combat skills are obviously slightly better. Various dogfight formations with two-plane formations and three-plane cover are used with perfection and incomparable proficiency.

Fighting with such a powerful opponent caused great casualties to the Soviet fighter aviation unit, but the intermittent air battles of varying sizes and scales continued until the evening. When both sides could no longer continue fighting due to limited vision, they finally stopped fighting and returned to the airport.

So even if the battle lasted a whole day, in the key node theater of Prokhorovka, the local air supremacy of the theater was still controlled by the German Air Force.

Everyone knows that it is difficult for the German Air Force, which lacks stamina, to maintain such local air supremacy for a long time.

The support of the Soviet fighter aviation forces continued to arrive like a tide, but the German Air Force, which had already shown signs of fighting on both the East and the West, had already begun to consider how to resist the powerful air force of the Allies in Western Europe.

Under this situation, even the most elite 52nd Fighter Wing of the German Air Force could not guarantee that the battle for air supremacy tomorrow would continue to be as sure as it is today.

To put it bluntly, when the sun sets tomorrow, it is unclear whether it will be the Iron Cross or the Red Five-pointed Star flying in the sky.

The situation in which the Soviet army regained air supremacy would be a terrible situation that could not be ignored for the German army in Prokhorovka. In addition, the Soviet ground support forces were coming in continuously, and the change in strategic defensiveness would be a foreseeable situation in a short time.

But before that, the SS troops fighting in Prokhorovka still had to solve a key and difficult problem: eating up the Soviet troops that had been trapped in the encirclement. Only in this way could they free up their hands to resist the Soviet army's second offensive until they could turn defense into offense, and finally realize the entire strategic intention and achieve the predetermined tactical goals.

The anxious Vatutin was anxiously urging the troops to march faster, while on the other side, Manstein, who also realized that the outcome would only be decided within tomorrow, was also racing against time in his headquarters.

"No need to urge Hoth, he has put all his chips on the line now! Contact Hausser directly, his Second Armored Army must fight quickly tomorrow morning! We have enough intelligence to prove that the Russians trapped in the pocket are less than three divisions of remnants, and the actual strength may be less than half of the apparent strength!"

"His Second Armored Army has three of the most powerful and reinforced Waffen-SS armored divisions, including the Fuehrer's Guard Flag! Eat up the enemy in the pocket, and then immediately turn the guns to deal with the subsequent Russians who rush to die!"

"I have a hunch that tomorrow's battle will be the most important day to determine the entire southern Kursk campaign! We must go all out, and the Russians will do the same. Only those who persevere to the end will be the ultimate winner!"