Chapter 844 Village
The German army did not launch a counterattack in the end because the air force did not gain final air superiority... At this time, the German Air Force was actually divided into two parts, one part was used to support the 48th Panzer Corps to attack Prokhorovka, and the other part was used to support the 2nd SS Panzer Corps to break through the Soviet defense line.
It should be said that this was intentional by the Soviet army. They used the advantage of the air force in numbers to divide the air battle battlefield into two parts, and the German Air Force had to respond with troops.
The reason is very simple. If there is no air force cover in any direction, the armored forces will be slaughtered by the Soviet Air Force.
But the result is that the German Air Force cannot gain air superiority in both directions, so the 48th Panzer Corps cannot cross the plain to attack the Soviet army on the other side.
Another reason is that the 48th Panzer Corps was already exhausted... The final statistical result was that there were only 85 tanks left in the entire army, which means that the German soldiers were unwilling to continue to advance, both in terms of equipment and psychology.
After discussing with Mansch, General Hoth decided to send a unit to achieve the original strategic goal... to encircle the Soviet army in the middle zone and rescue the 2nd SS Panzer Corps.
This decision was correct. Now only if the 2nd SS Panzer Corps rushed to Prokhorovka and launched an attack on the opposite side with the 48th Panzer Corps, it would be possible to continue to advance.
The only combat-capable unit of the 48th Panzer Corps was the 21st Panzer Division... The 21st Panzer Division, which lost a tank battalion, still had 51 tanks, and the 3rd Panzer Division had only 22 tanks.
So, the 21st Panzer Division set out on the expedition again.
But in this regard, the 21st Panzer Division underestimated the enemy.
This cannot be blamed on the 21st Panzer Division, because they had just defeated the most powerful enemy on the battlefield... an elite Guards Tank Army.
The task at this time was to encircle a fleeing army, which was neither an elite unit nor had many tanks... There were only more than 300 tanks in the middle area, and according to the situation, some of these tanks had escaped the encirclement when the 48th Armored Corps was fighting with the Soviet army.
On the other hand, because of the urgent need to encircle this part of the Soviet army, the 21st Armored Division moved towards the 2nd SS Panzer Corps along the road at full speed.
Qin Chuan led a battalion of troops in a car and followed the 3rd Tank Battalion as the vanguard... In fact, it was called the vanguard, and the 3rd Tank Battalion was almost a quarter of the strength of the armored division, because it had 13 tanks, including 8 "No. 4", 3 "No. 3", and 2 "38T" tanks for reconnaissance.
Two "No. 4" tanks and two "38T" tanks were led by sidecars in front of the road.
This is the standard configuration when marching in dangerous areas such as enemy-controlled areas. The "38T" tank is used to clear the way for the "Panzer IV" tank to some extent. To put it bluntly, it is used to step on mines... Anti-tank mines require a certain weight to crush them, which is difficult for tricycles and cars to do.
The "Panzer IV" tank is used to deal with possible T34 tanks... The "Panzer III" tank is not capable of dealing with T34 tanks. Once the vanguard encounters enemy tanks, the entire team will be unable to deal with T34 tanks.
Therefore, the best configuration is to use the "Panzer IV" and "38T" together.
When the vanguard troops marched to a village called Malivo, five kilometers north of Bekovka, they encountered a large number of Soviet infantrymen who crossed the village and fled to the northeast.
The vanguard immediately reported the situation to the tank battalion commander Major Freyr, who ordered without thinking: "Go full speed and stop them!"
Then more than a dozen tanks "rumbled" and drove towards Malivo Village at full power. Qin Chuan and other infantrymen could only follow closely.
This order should be considered normal. When a tank unit encounters the fleeing Soviet soldiers, it will of course rush up to intercept them and reap the fruits of the battle... and it is expected that this process will be easy and happy, because the Soviet infantry lacks powerful anti-tank equipment, and they often need to hold cluster grenades and artillery packs to resist the attack.
For this, the German soldiers don't have to worry about it after they are equipped with STG44, and their firepower can provide good cover for the tanks.
This is indeed the case. After a burst of artillery and machine gun fire, the German tanks rushed into the village and launched a massacre. The retreating Soviet soldiers were knocked to the ground in groups, and the team soon became a mess and looked for cover everywhere.
But the German army, including Qin Chuan, overlooked one point: this place is only five kilometers away from the SS Second Armored Division.
A distance of five kilometers can be covered in less than half an hour for a tank.
The Soviets would certainly be prepared or have some cover when retreating so close to the front line... The Soviets' cover was the 35 T34 tanks in the open space south of the village.
These tanks were originally heading south, that is, the direction of the 2nd SS Panzer Division, to prevent them from suddenly attacking here. Suddenly, they received a report that enemy tanks had entered the rear, so they quickly turned around and surrounded the village of Malivo.
The Germans had no idea when the Soviet tanks were doing these things. It was not until a 38T tank passed through the village and suddenly saw rows of T34 tanks outside that they realized something was wrong, but it was too late...
With a "boom", the 38T tank was hit by several shells at the same time, and it exploded violently into a pile of flames.
The German tanks hurriedly organized defense, but the problem was that there were still many Soviet stragglers hiding in the corners inside the village, causing trouble for the Germans from time to time, and the outside was surrounded by several times the number of T34 tanks. For a while, they were in a very awkward situation.
Then the situation deteriorated further... Soviet tanks fired at the village, armor-piercing shells easily penetrated the wooden boards and hit the armor of the German tanks, making a terrifying "clang clang" sound, and grenades blew the entire wooden layer into pieces, and the Soviet soldiers hiding in it screamed and cursed in the explosion.
Qin Chuan was accustomed to this. If it could cause a blow to the German army, the Soviet army would not care about this casualties, or it could be said that it was necessary.
On the contrary, the German army was in a very unfavorable situation.
Although the German "Panzer IV" tanks had stronger firepower and more flexible command, they were surrounded by houses. These houses not only blocked the tank gunners' sight but also made it impossible for the tanks to deploy battle formations to fight.
If this continued, Qin Chuan and the vanguard troops would probably be wiped out in this village.