Before the plan was about to succeed, Volkov was immediately transferred when he saw that Stalingrad almost no longer needed him. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info transferred to Leningrad to relieve the siege, and at this time he came here again, not to participate in the celebrations, he came to solve the problem, and by the way, the woman who came to pick him up and go with him. Yes, Yelena came to Stalingrad at the height of the fighting to do her work as a doctor. Pity the four sons, all of them were sent to Kuibyshev, and Lai Sha even wanted to come back, but after all, it still didn't make the trip, and it was Vanatina who took care of it. And, of course, Volkov's mom and sister, nieces.

Attending the party was supposed to be a very accidental thing, but the delicate woman who was still snuggled in his arms, as soon as she heard that she was going to attend the banquet as the marshal's wife, or at worst, the marshal's woman, directly refused and showed no mercy, and the reaction almost kicked Volkov out of bed. No matter what Volkov said, Yelena was not happy, and said that she was just a marshal, not a gold medal for avoiding death, thinking about how the previous marshals died, thinking about whether she was as great as the previous marshals, thinking about whether she was the only capable person, and if she went out with him now, she would become a target for attacking him, and maybe it would affect their mother and son in the future! Because Volkov was obviously too happy.

Hearing this, could Volkov be happy? He could only attend by himself with a cold face, but he got an unexpected gain. I'm afraid no one thought of this, right?

From the time the Germans completed the blockade of Leningrad by land on September 8, 1941, until the beginning of 1943, the heroic Leningraders, in the face of extreme hardship, had always held the hope that reinforcements would come, and that the Red Army would find a way to rescue them.

Month after month, thousands of people died, many from starvation and exhaustion in one of the most appalling conditions humanity has ever faced. The German encirclement almost failed to reach Hitler's insane goals.

On December 2, 1942, the Supreme High Command ordered the commanders of the Volkhov Front and the Leningrad Front to prepare for the breakthrough of the German blockade. The campaign, codenamed "Spark", required the formation of an assault group on each of the two fronts. One group consisted of the 2nd Shock Army of the Volkhov Front, and the other was formed mainly by the 67th Army of the Leningrad Front. The two assault groups, which were less than 10 miles apart in some sections, were to carry out opposite assaults - the Volkhov Front to the west and the Leningrad Front to the east and southeast.

On the morning of January 12, when the thermometer reading was still minus 23 degrees Celsius, more than 2,000 artillery pieces and mortars of the Red Army broke the silence of the harsh winter. In the days that followed, especially between 14 and 18 January, Soviet units tried to break through the German defenses that had been painstakingly managed for the past year, and the fighting was extremely fierce.

The 12th Ski Infantry Brigade made a bold maneuver and was ordered to cross the frozen Lake Ladoga and attack the village of Lipka. Assault the Germans from behind. This action clearly demonstrated the resourcefulness of the Soviet command.

On 18 January, the units of the Leningrad Front and the Volkhov Front finally joined forces in workers' villages No. 1 and No. 5, and the blockade of Leningrad was broken.

The battle was a success, although it could not be said that all the enemies in Leningrad were completely solved, but the blockade was broken, and the inhabitants and defenders of the city would never go hungry again, and at that moment, Yelena, like the others, burst into tears, but unfortunately before she could finally celebrate with her friends and old colleagues, she was dragged onto the plane by Volkov and became a 'military lady'

After the loss of so many large corps, it was no longer possible to get large numbers of troops to launch another offensive of the same magnitude as in 1941 and 1942. But what Zhu might have done was that if the German side had the right leadership, it would be able to wear down and exhaust the Soviet Union to such an extent that it would be tired of the excessive sacrifices it had already suffered, and ready to accept a state of stalemate. At the time, the idea was anything but fanciful.

Manstein believed that the command staff and combat units of the German army were still superior to their Red Army counterparts:

As a result, the German High Command had little time to try for a draw on the Eastern Front. If only it could be within the scope of strategic defense, which was inevitable at the time. This can only be achieved by inflicting a number of powerful local blows on the enemy - first and foremost by capturing the enemy forces and depleting them to a decisive degree.

On the Soviet front, a huge salient was formed that stretched from a point south of Orel to the south to Belgorod. For the German High Command, this wide salient posed a serious threat, as it could serve as a starting point for an attack on the flanks of the two German push regimental corps stationed in this section. The Germans decided to eliminate this salient, believing that an attack could be launched fairly early enough to catch the Red Army units off guard and have to throw into battle the Panzer units, which had been battered at the end of the winter campaign.

For the implementation of the battle, codenamed "Bastion", Army Group South was to provide two armies, the 4th Tank Army and the "Combat" Task Force, which consisted of eleven Panzer or Tank-Grenadier Divisions and five Infantry Divisions. In order to provide these forces, the deployment of German troops on the Donets and Mius rivers had to be weakened. Army Group Center would provide the 9th Army, which would consist of a large armoured or tank grenadier division, as well as five infantry divisions. This army group would have to assemble in the salient around Orel, where the Soviets would be able to attack behind it from the east and north.

Volkov believes that it is necessary to create a solid, echelon-in-depth configuration of defense in all important directions, and, first of all, in the territory of the Kursk salient. Accordingly, we gave corresponding instructions to the commanders of the various armies. The troops began to dig fortifications on the winter line. It was decided not to use the strategic reserve of the Supreme Command, which had completed its training, and to assemble it closer to the threatened area.

For the rest of April, the Soviet High Command continued to plan and prepare for the upcoming battle.

In early May, Volkov returned to the Supreme High Command after a mission to the North Caucasus Front. At this time, the General Staff basically completed the planning work for the summer and autumn campaigns. At the same time, the Supreme High Command organized meticulous espionage and aerial reconnaissance, which were very reliably ascertained. A large number of enemy troops and military supplies are being delivered to the Orel, Kromé, Bryansk, Kharkov, Krasnograd and Poltava regions.

This confirms his inference in April. In the Supreme High Command and the General Staff, the opinion that the Germans could turn to the offensive in recent days prevailed. ”

At about the same time, the commander of the Voronezh Front and the military councillor Nikita Khrushchev proposed to Stalin a preemptive assault on the German army group in the Belgoro-Kharkov region. Volkov, Vasilevsky and Antonov, as well as some members of the General Staff, did not approve of this proposal, so Volkov reported the situation to Stalin.

To Volkov's disappointment, Stalin hesitated as to whether to meet the enemy with a strong defense or to make a surprise attack to thwart the enemy's attack. Stalin feared that the Soviets would not be able to withstand the German assault, as they had been in 1941 and 1942, and he did not believe that the Soviets would be able to crush a strong, well-fortified enemy. This hesitation lasted until mid-May. After many discussions, in the end Stalin agreed to wear down the enemy with a deep echelon defense, and then launch a powerful counteroffensive in the Belgorod-Kharkov and Orel directions to strike at the enemy.

The situation with the Germans was quite bad. In early May, Hitler decided to postpone the Battle of the "Bastion" until June. He hoped that by that time his various armored divisions would be equipped with new tanks. However, by the time the new tanks arrived, the start of the campaign had been postponed to early July. Before the Soviets could recover from the losses of the winter campaign, the opportunity to launch a surprise attack on it was lost forever.

At Volkov's suggestion, the Supreme High Command began to rapidly assemble troops in order to block the German offensive. The Central Front and the Voronezh Front were to withstand the main assault of the enemy. As a reserve and counterattack force, the Supreme High Command established the Reserve Front Army, which was composed of several multi-arm composite armies and a number of tank and mechanized corps. The terrain of the area in which these troops were to enter the battle was an open steppe with few ravines and valleys, which was very suitable for the use of a large number of tanks.

Five tank groups, a number of tank and mechanized corps, and a number of infantry corps and infantry divisions were incorporated into the reserve of the Supreme High Command and the second echelon of the various armies. Not only can these mobile corps be quickly redeployed to plug any gaps that may arise on the front. And it is a huge counter-offensive force that can be put into battle at the right time.

The High Command assigned the Western Front and the Bryansk Front to plan an offensive campaign against the Germans in the Orel area, but the campaign was not to be carried out until the initial German offensive was stopped.

For the first time since the beginning of the war, the number of artillery regiments exceeded the number of infantry regiments among the Soviet forces on the defensive, with a ratio of 1.5 to 1. In the directions most likely to be attacked by the enemy, the artillery configuration was also the most dense. For example, the 13th Army of the Central Front, which was covering the Orel-Kursk railway line in the most threatened area, was supported by about 148 artillery pieces and mortars per mile of frontage, far more than the Germans could have pieced together for an offensive.

During the implementation of defensive preparations, the Central Front and the Voronezh Front received more than nine thousand artillery pieces and mortars. A total of ninety-two artillery regiments were allocated from the reserves of the Supreme Command to strengthen the two fronts. More than 1,000 anti-tank guns were deployed, and about 400,000 mines and explosives were laid in relatively important directions.

Stalin ordered Volkov to remain in Kursk and was responsible for coordinating the actions of the Central, Bryansk and Western armies, while Vasilevsky was responsible for directing the Voronezh Front.

At 3 p.m. on July 4, after a short period of artillery fire and aerial bombardment, the Battle of Kursk broke out. According to General von Melentin, in the evening of the same day, German grenadiers and infantry, supported by assault artillery and engineers, broke through to the front of the Red String defenses. Melentine writes:

On the second day of the offensive, we suffered our first setback, and despite all our efforts, the troops were unable to break through the Russian lines. The "Großdeutschland" division (a very strong division, with about 180 tanks), which was in dense formation, attacked in a swamp directly in front of it, and was therefore heavily bombarded by Russian artillery, and many of the tanks fell victim to the Red Army aviation - despite the superiority of the Luftwaffe. But the Russian planes fought bravely and tenaciously. Even in the territory occupied by the Germans on the first day, the Russians suddenly fainted out of nowhere, so the reconnaissance units of the "Großdeutschland" division had to deal with them. Streams and swamps could not be crossed from the night of 5 July to the end of 6 July.

On the left flank, the offensive of the 3rd Tank Division on Savidovka, like the offensive of the "Großdeutsch" Division against Alekseevka and Lucianino, was unsuccessful. The entire area was riddled with mines, and the defense of the entire defensive line was supported by tanks placed in a condescending vantage point.

The fighting throughout the Kursk region was fought hard and without interruption. After a week of fierce fighting, the Germans came to a conclusion. The reserves of the Russian army are inexhaustible. By 14 July, the more astute German leaders, including Mellentin, had recognized that "the timetable for the German offensive had been completely disrupted." So there are many reasons why this happens.

During an unusually fierce battle around Prokhorovka, the German army suffered extremely heavy losses in armored vehicles and personnel. According to Soviet records, in just one day of fighting, the Germans lost three hundred and fifty tanks and 10,000 officers and men.

The fighting on the southern side of the salient was also fierce, as evidenced by the severity of the losses. For example, the 19th Tank Regiment of the 73rd Tank Division, by the fifth day of the offensive there were only two companies left. The 332nd Infantry Division lost 3,700 men, while the 6th Tank Division also suffered heavy casualties, leaving only forty-seven tanks.

It was at this time that Volkov and Vasilevsky, in their capacity as representatives of the Supreme High Command on the ground, ordered the Western Front and the Bryansk Front to launch an offensive. Three days later, on July 15, the Central Front launched an offensive in the direction of Orel.

The German High Command was faced with an urgent decision on whether to withdraw the troops that were attacking in the direction of Belgorod-Kursk to their original positions. If the original positions were consolidated, the Germans could count on the use of a unit of troops fighting at the Orel bridgehead. Thus, on July 16, the German 4th Tank Army and Task Force "Combat", under the cover of strong rearguard units, began to retreat.