Chapter 834 Disagreement (Monthly Ticket, Monthly Ticket...Monthly Ticket)

Hitler had differences with General Hoth regarding the offensive.

Hitler was never willing to give up any opportunity to remotely control the front line. He did not interfere before just because the 48th Panzer Army and the Second SS Panzer Army were fighting well... Both units were attacking, especially the Second SS Panzer Army. Hitler was very satisfied with the performance of the "Tiger" on the battlefield. He even said to his staff: "Look, who said it is difficult for the 'Tiger' to play its role on the battlefield? It has already dealt a severe blow to the enemy. At the same time, It’s also a slap in the face to those who don’t think highly of it!”

This makes Kruger feel good.

Then, the two people who had high hopes for the "Tiger" even began to discuss whether the "Werewolf" needed to change the defensive strategy and change to an active attack.

At this time, news came from the front line that the two of them chose to remain silent... Seven "Tiger" vehicles were destroyed, 18 were unable to participate in the battle due to various malfunctions, and only six were still able to fight normally.

This moment poured cold water on Hitler.

You must know that at this time, the German army had only penetrated more than 30 kilometers of the Soviet defense line, and more than half of the "Tiger" malfunctioned. It is conceivable that if we attack, all the "Tiger" will be lying on the road.

After a while, Hitler was furious in the office: "We were not defeated by the enemy, absolutely not! It was the engineers who defeated us. They were in a safe and comfortable environment and enjoyed generous treatment as a matter of course, but they could not solve this small problem. It’s a shame, a complete shame!”

What Hitler did not realize was that these "Tiger"s were also developed by these "incompetent" engineers and scientists. What's more, it's normal for new equipment to have many malfunctions, because Hitler was eager to put it into the battlefield.

But Hitler actually knew this. He was just finding a good excuse for his wrong judgment.

To Hitler's satisfaction, the 48th Panzer Army fought very smoothly. They even defeated the elite Soviet tank force that was several times stronger than itself at a very small cost.

It was only then that this thing called ME63 came into Hitler's sight.

"You have signed the production of ME63 before, Your Excellency the Führer!" The staff officer replied when Hitler asked: "It was the report submitted by General Manstein!"

Only then did Hitler remember that there was indeed such a report.

But that report was talking about rocket launchers... The German army did have a need to produce various rocket launchers during this period. As mentioned before, the German army only realized that rocket launchers were okay after discovering the power of the Soviet "Katyusha" rocket launcher. In this way, a system of rocket launchers and rocket launchers was developed.

Obviously, Marshal Manstein simply classified ME63 as a rocket because he didn't know how to name it. Hitler mistakenly thought it was a rocket and signed the document in confusion.

"So, it's not a rocket?" Hitler asked his staff.

"Uh... To be precise, it is indeed a rocket launcher!" The staff officer was not very familiar with the ME63. He flipped through the documents and replied: "The warhead... is a bit like a rocket launcher and can penetrate 150MM thick armor. Yeah, 150MM. Then it can change the trajectory, unbelievable!”

"What do you mean by changing trajectory?" Hitler asked.

"I don't know if that's what I understand!" the staff officer put the document in front of Hitler and said, "Here's the explanation. They are connected to the warhead through a wire, which allows the operator to control the rocket. Run the trajectory until the rocket hits the target!"

Hitler took the document and flipped it through, then ordered the staff with some suspicion: "Go and confirm!"

"Yes, Your Majesty the Head of State!" the staff officer responded.

The staff officer came back after a while. He nodded and said: "Your Excellency, your Excellency, it is indeed as we thought, it can change the trajectory. The 48th Armored Corps relied on this rocket to defeat the 5th Guards Tank Corps of the Soviet Union!"

Hitler nodded, and then couldn't help but say: "It's simply a genius. It almost perfectly combines the control technology of V1 with rockets, which solves the problem of low accuracy of rockets very well! More The important thing is...it's easy to make and cheap!"

After thinking about it, he shook his head and sighed.

Because Hitler suddenly realized something: if this kind of rocket is used against the "Tiger", it only takes a few rockets to destroy an expensive "Tiger"... This is also true to a certain extent. Destroyed his dreams.

Soon, intelligence on the massive Soviet reinforcements was placed in front of Hitler.

Also on the desk was General Hott's order, which was for the 48th Armored Corps to rush to Prokhorovka at full speed to seize favorable terrain.

Hitler frowned and sent a telegram to General Holt:

"My general, don't be intimidated by a tank army of the Soviets. As we know, the Soviets are always slow to move. We have time to surround the Soviets in the middle and help the 2nd SS Panzer break free from the Soviets." The entanglement of the army, and then gathered the strength of the two armored corps to give the Soviet tank army a fatal blow! "

Hitler's order made sense.

Because the mobilization of the Soviet army is indeed very slow. Not to mention the distant Barbarossa Plan, the same is true for the just-concluded Battle of Stalingrad... Due to communication, transportation and various problems, a large number of Soviet troops can deploy far away. Failure to meet expectations forced the Soviet army to postpone its offensive again and again.

But this time Hitler made a wrong judgment.

This steppe front was deployed by Stalin long ago, and because of the previous experience and lessons, the Soviet army also expanded the traffic behind Kursk and improved communications and logistics, which enabled the 5th Guards Tank Army to create a miracle when reinforcing Prokhorovka... A tank army marched 100 kilometers in 24 hours.

This marching speed was even faster than Rommel's African Corps.

Hitler did not understand this, so he ordered General Hoth to follow the original plan, that is, to reinforce the 2nd SS Panzer Corps with one armored division, and another armored division and infantry division to rush to Prokhorovka to meet the enemy.

In Hitler's words, "If we ignore the gap in the encirclement and let the entire 48th Panzer Corps go to Prokhorovka, then when the 48th Panzer Corps fights the enemy, the Soviets trapped in the middle will have time to escape from the gap, and our encirclement of the enemy will fail! This is exactly what the Soviets want to see, and we can't let them succeed!"