Chapter 835 Crossing the River (Asking for Monthly Votes)

It should be said that Hitler was right on this point. One of the purposes of the Soviet army's reserve force, the 5th Guards Tank Army, was to rescue the Soviet army besieged in the middle zone. It was an elite Guards army plus A tank brigade.

But this is not the most important thing. What is more important is that the Soviet army does not want the German 48th Panzer Corps to run rampant behind Kursk and ruin the entire Soviet counterattack plan.

General Hoth knew this well, and he knew that the truth was not what Hitler said... The Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army was not moving slowly, but was advancing towards Prokhorovka at a very fast speed.

General Holt knew what it would mean if he commanded this battle according to Hitler's orders: the troops rushing to Prokhorovka would soon be overwhelmed by the Soviet army... The gap in strength between the enemy and ours was too great, even if the German army had ME63. exception.

Then, the 48th Panzer Army was indeed able to join up with the 2nd SS Panzer Army, but because the main force of the 48th Panzer Army collapsed, they actually became a lone army. By then, there would be no encirclement, and the German army would still be trapped in the enemy's trap. Unable to extricate himself from the siege.

Therefore, Holt did not hesitate and decided to disobey Hitler's order the moment he received it.

General Holt even complained to his staff: "Yes, because it is the Führer's SS who is entangled. If it is the 48th Armored Corps that is entangled... I don't know if the Führer will be desperate. Such an order!"

General Holt saw some of Hitler's selfish motives in this: the Führer did not want the SS to be outcompeted by the Wehrmacht on the battlefield. Even though both were troops under his command, the former was loyal to Hitler and the latter was loyal to Germany. There is still a difference.

The staff officer didn't object. He just said to General Holt: "Then, we need a reason!"

Reason means excuse.

General Holt and his staff could not find a good excuse, so they could only send a telegram to Hitler: "Dear Führer, I have given an order to the 48th Armored Corps. The 48th Armored Corps is very fast. If they have any more We can reach Prokhorovka in half an hour, so it seems inappropriate to send one of the armored divisions back for reinforcements at this time!"

General Hott did not lie on this point, the 48th Panzer Corps had arrived near Prokhorovka. Even the 3rd Armored Division, which was leading the way, had already started a fierce battle with the enemy... The 3rd Armored Division and the 21st Armored Division took turns taking the lead. Now it was time for the 3rd Armored Division to open the way.

This battle was across the Pushor River. The Soviets blew up several bridges on the Pushor River and then relied on the river banks to set up defenses on the opposite side.

Such a defense was troublesome because the tanks could not drive across the river to cover the soldiers' attack.

Colonel Slain couldn't help but say: "I miss the amphibious tank a little bit!"

This attack did not take much account of crossing the river, so it did not carry the enclosing tents required for amphibious tanks.

However, this seems unnecessary. On the one hand, this is because amphibious tanks are too fragile and will sink in the water once hit by bullets and artillery shells. On the other hand, the Soviet troops stationed on the other side of the river are obviously just some with insufficient combat effectiveness. Strong logistics force.

Qin Chuan's guess was not wrong...the Soviet army deployed its main forces outside the defense line, and the troops stationed inside were engineers for road maintenance and transportation support troops.

The Soviet army on the other side of the Pushor River was no exception. It was a mixed force of the Soviet 691st Engineer Corps and the 28th Transport Group, as well as temporarily armed automobile soldiers and militiamen.

There were a lot of troops, more than 3,000 people... The Soviets were always able to gather considerable troops in a short period of time. They even organized civilians to build an anti-tank trench on the other side.

But these obviously cannot stop the impact of the German regular army, especially the regular army that has experienced hundreds of battles.

The 3rd Armored Division lined up its tanks on the shore and blasted the opposite side with mortars and tank guns for a while. Then the infantry drove rubber boats to attack the opposite side... It is unimaginable to use rubber boats to force the crossing. Because it has no protective effect on soldiers, and even a few rounds of bullets can cause it to deflate and sink into the water, it is undoubtedly very dangerous to use it to forcibly cross.

Therefore, the soldiers of the 3rd Armored Division suffered certain casualties, with more than twenty soldiers killed and more than fifty wounded.

But in the end they crossed the Pushor River and opened a bridgehead on the opposite side. Then the engineering regiment rushed up to set up a pontoon bridge on the river. The tanks "rumbling" drove across the pontoon bridge to cover the infantry and continue to expand the results... So far At that time, the outcome has been decided.

When Qin Chuan and others passed by the pontoon, they saw soldiers of the 3rd Armored Division salvaging dead bodies from the river... They would pick up the bodies and bury them on the spot, and then nail a wooden cross in front of the graves. , that’s all that can be done.

Werner couldn't help but said: "If we were allowed to attack, I don't think there would be such heavy casualties!"

"Oh, really?" Dominic asked, "What are you going to do?"

"I would choose to swim armed!" Werner replied.

Werner is right. The casualties caused by armed swimming will be much smaller than those caused by rubber boats. On the one hand, the target is smaller, and on the other hand, water has a strong blocking effect on bullets...the bullets rotate at high speed. , water will cause its rotation and penetration to decrease exponentially.

"But not every army will be armed to swim!" said the baker.

"But we will!" Werner replied.

"We can't take care of all the battles, Werner!" Qin Chuan replied: "So don't feel guilty about it, this is war!"

Alfredo, who was walking in front, turned his head and looked at Werner, smiled and shook his head, as if he couldn't imagine that there would be such naive people in the war.

But Qin Chuan knew that it was not just Werner, many Germans would have such a mentality. Their attitude towards the enemy and their own people was completely different. This might be the reason why they were more united.

After walking forward for more than ten minutes with the tanks, they saw an anti-tank trench.

It was just that the anti-tank trench was used as a temporary prisoner camp. Teams of Soviet soldiers with their hands raised squatted in it, looking at the German soldiers passing by them in horror. Several guards were guarding with guns next to them. There were also several bodies shot in the back not far away. It was not difficult to guess that they were prisoners who wanted to escape in the chaos.

The German tanks and soldiers continued to move forward from a slope laid by engineers and climbed up some jungles with slightly higher terrain in the north.

Then the order came down: "Prepare for battle, the enemy is five miles ahead!"