Chapter 822 Obstruction

Monthly ticket! Monthly ticket!

While Hott was troubled by the discord between the SS and the Wehrmacht, the Soviet Union was shocked by the offensive launched by the German 4th Panzer Army in the direction of Belgorod.

The staff officer hurried into the office of General Vatutin, the commander of the Voronezh Front, handed the telegram to him and reported: "Comrade Vatutin, both German armored units arrived at the second line of defense before dark!"

Vatutin took a glance at the telegram, put it aside, and then looked at the map with a frown.

Lieutenant General Kazakov, the chief of staff next to him, couldn't help but say: "They will definitely rest when it gets dark, prepare for the attack at night, and then wait until the early morning to launch the attack again!"

"I know that, Comrade Kazakov!" Vatutin replied distressedly: "But we seem to have nothing that can withstand their attack now. All our equipment cannot penetrate the armor of their tanks! Just In one day, we lost more than two hundred tanks to the German attack, while their losses were minimal! "

Lieutenant General Kazakov couldn't help but pick up one of the telegrams, which stated that the Soviet army destroyed 19 German "Elephant" tanks.

(Note: The Soviet army did not know the name of the "Tiger" tank at first. Because of its rough skin and thick flesh, it was called the "Elephant")

Vatutin shook his head and said: "Forget it, I just got the information that the Germans only have 11 Elephants in one armored division, and only about 33 in the entire army. If we really destroyed 19 of them , then we don’t have to worry about it at all... because we can destroy another 14 tomorrow!”

At this time, it became common practice for the Soviet army to lie about their military exploits.

On the one hand, the Soviet top brass turned a blind eye.

The reason is that the Soviet army needs some "achievements" to boost the morale of the army, and sometimes they deliberately exaggerate.

On the other hand, the cost of lying about military exploits is very low.

If you fire a few artillery shells on the battlefield and hit the target, even if it is not destroyed, who can deny it if you insist that you have injured it?

Or simply make something out of nothing, saying that he blew up a "Tiger" at a certain location, and this location was occupied by the Germans. Who can verify it?

Even if it is proven that this does not exist, it can be easily bypassed by using the excuse "I saw it wrong".

As a general, Vatutin certainly knew the truth, so he would not believe these so-called "results."

He self-deprecatingly said to Kazakov: "If we believe in these results, then you will have some illusions... The Germans are about to be finished, and we will win in a few days!"

Lieutenant General Kazakov wanted to laugh, but couldn't.

After a pause, Kazakov said: "Comrade Vatutin, should we withdraw the enemy's troops between the two lines?"

General Vatutin remained silent.

Even though Vatutin knew that the Germans would launch a counterattack, and that they would counterattack from the Belgorod area, he never expected that the Germans would launch attacks at two points on the defense line at the same time.

As a result, the Soviet army was immediately in a passive state after the first line of defense was breached... The 15 kilometers wide troops between the two roads were in danger of being surrounded at any time.

This can be said to have completely disrupted Vatutin's battle plan... Vatutin's original plan was to bring the German army in, and then send troops to outflank its retreat to encircle and annihilate it.

but now……

This way of attacking the German army made it impossible to outflank it. In other words, the German army would surround and eat the Soviet army in the middle before the Soviet army launched a counterattack, so the German army became integrated with its rear.

In order to prevent this situation, the Soviet army had to organize troops in front of the German army to pursue and intercept the German army, so everything was in chaos at once.

To withdraw or not to withdraw?

withdraw.

This means that the German army is given ideal logistics... The 15-kilometer-wide gap, plus the several kilometers wide opened by the two German armored corps, is more than 20 kilometers wide. The German army can safely and quickly cover this gap. Transporting supplies in the gap will make it even more difficult to drive the Germans out.

Don’t withdraw.

In the middle zone, there is an elite unit of the corps, the 22nd Guards Infantry Corps. In addition, a 245th Tank Regiment with 50 tanks has been strengthened.

If they were surrounded, the Soviet army itself would suffer heavy losses, but the gap would still be formed.

After thinking for a while, Vatutin said: "No, we can't withdraw!"

"But, Comrade Vatutin!" Kazakov expressed concern about this: "If we don't withdraw, we will only have to block the way for the Germans. But we have tried various methods..."

"There are things we haven't tried yet!" Vatutin interrupted Lieutenant General Kazakov.

Kazakov looked at Vatutin in confusion. He didn't understand what Vatutin said he hadn't tried.

"I believe that the German troops in the Butovo direction do not have Elephant tanks!" Vatutin said.

"That's true!" Kazakov replied: "Because the one in the direction of Butovo is the German Wehrmacht, and the one in the direction of Tomarovka is the German SS. They usually equip advanced equipment first. To the SS!"

"So why don't we take advantage of that?"

"You mean..."

"If we can't stop the 'Elephant' tanks, then don't stop them!" Vatutin said: "We just need to block them. On the other hand, for the Germans who don't have 'Elephant' tanks... we can concentrate our forces to stop them, so that the two German forces can't meet on the Yakovlev Highway and form an encirclement!"

Kazakov nodded and said: "That's a way, Comrade Vatutin, so that we can continue to threaten the rear of the Germans with the 22nd Army and divide and encircle their two armored forces!"

"Yes!" Vatutin said: "So, not only can we not Withdraw the troops from the middle zone and strengthen their strength, so that they will not be defeated by the Germans and can communicate with each other! "

"But..." Kazakov continued: "How can we stop the 'elephant' tank? Our tanks are simply targets in front of it!"

Thinking for a while, Vatutin replied: "Hide the tanks, I mean... build fortifications for them, leaving only the turrets exposed. In this way, it will be difficult for enemy tanks to penetrate our tanks at a long distance! At close range, our anti-tank guns may be able to play a role!"

Kazakov immediately understood what Vatutin meant.

However, Kazakov was not sure whether this method could really work on the battlefield.