"What exactly is going on inside the German army? Why did their tactics and strategies start to change? Did it have anything to do with Hitler's internal purge? ”

After a long time, Zhukov muttered to himself. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

"Forget it! Don't want to! No matter how the Germans deploy and fight, I will win! Because this is our land, I must drive out all the German invaders! It's even better to be able to hit Berlin and let these damned Germans try what it's like to be attacked on their homeland! ”

Then, Zhukov suddenly muttered angrily.

After scolding, he fell silent and continued to think about his next combat action.

At this moment, under the cover of the fierce artillery fire of the Soviet army, the Soviet 27th Army Group quickly broke through the second line of defense of the German army with the 163rd and 166th Infantry Divisions, as well as the 206th Infantry Division, assisted by the 4th Guards Tank Group.

And quickly overcoming their operational terrain, as well as the stubborn resistance of the German troops, they drove straight in.

In just a few hours, the German defensive line was broken through for as many as 13 kilometers.

In this tragic offensive and defensive battle, although the German 11th Panzer Division and the 48th Panzer Corps, and the 167th Infantry Division, as well as the 225th and 322nd Infantry Divisions desperately resisted.

But in the end, it was the Soviets who put the 40th Army Group and the 5th Guards Tank Army into battle, and they began to be gradually routed.

Just as the frantic offensive of the Soviet Froniz Front achieved certain successes, the 53rd and 69th Army Groups of the Soviet Steppe Front also launched a large-scale offensive from the right flank of the German army.

And the most important thing is that the 3rd Guards Tank Army of the Soviet Army, with the cooperation of the 208th Infantry Division, also launched a harassing tactical attack on the left flank of the German army.

Faced with the sudden and dangerous situation of the battle, Manstein's brow was also deeply furrowed.

Because what he didn't expect was that when Moder's 9th Army Group inflicted heavy losses on the Soviet 13th Army Group very smoothly and killed the opponent's group commander Bukalov, he thought that he could temporarily stop the Soviet army from launching a large-scale campaign.

Who knew that Zhukov's style of play was very unexpected, when a major battle had just stopped a few days later; He began to launch a larger-scale counterattack.

What Manstein even more unexpected was that the total strength of the German army on the Eastern Front was only more than 3 million troops at best, and less than a few thousand tanks and assault vehicles.

Even if the less than 200,000 troops of the German servant countries were added together to conduct defensive battles, they were not as many as the Soviet army.

At least according to the report of Chen Yanlong's reorganized intelligence network, the total strength of the Soviet army in the country is at least above 59 million, and the tanks and artillery are still more than 10,000 to calculate, not counting the support of the US army.

Although the current Soviet army has only dispatched more than 5 million troops to Kursk, it will fight against the German army and fight a large-scale counterattack.

But such a force was enough for the German army in Kursk to suffer.

In particular, after Chen Yanlong evacuated all the elite of the SS to Sicily, the combat effectiveness of Manstein's troops was significantly weakened.

Even if Chen Yanlong had already dispatched 300,000 reserve troops to him, it would be useless to replenish them in the past.

It is thought that the combat effectiveness of these reservists cannot be compared with the combat effectiveness of the SS at all.

The comparison of strength between them is simply that of a strong adult, and the competition with a small child is not at the same level at all.

With the large-scale counterattack of the Soviet army, wave after wave became stronger and stronger.

In just one week, the Germans were able to stubbornly resist the ferocious attack of the Soviet army while quickly retreating back to their initial starting point south of Kursk.

But even so, the Soviet reinforcements came like a raging storm, and the coming was endless.

Although in this counterattack, the number of Soviet casualties was also very huge.

But the Germans, as the defenders, did not say that there were not many casualties; Although the Germans had stepped up to build up a lot of defensive fronts, they stopped many Soviet attacks, and killed and wounded many Soviet soldiers and tank groups.

However, because the time for the construction of the defensive front was too short, there were still many places where the minefields of the German defensive front and other fortifications were not established.

Therefore, the Soviets quickly broke through these areas, launching wave after wave of intense offensive warfare against all the weak points of the German army, as well as artillery coverage and large-scale air raids.

At the same time, Zhukov also launched his carefully planned Kutuzov counteroffensive battle in advance.

When, after days of fierce and fierce fighting; with the consent of the Supreme High Command of the Soviet Army; Zhukov sent the Western Front, which had not yet been thrown into battle, and the Bryansk Front Army Group to the southern end of the Orleans landing ground to launch a surprise attack.

At the same time, the Soviet Army's Army Group Center also joined the operation, and was also preparing to join the 11th Guards Army Group, which was engaged in an offensive battle in the north, in order to prepare to separate and encircle the German forces in the entire Orel salient.

The Voronezh Front and the Steppe Front coordinated with each other and launched a violent counterattack against the Belgot-Kharkov and other areas where the Germans were stationed.

And in support of their attack were massive Soviet aviation units, which attacked the Germans with carpet bombing.

At the same time, the Supreme Command of the Soviet Army also ordered Zhukov to assemble and deploy the 11th Army Group and the 4th Tank Army Group, which were in reserve, and to use fleeting good fighters at any time to expand the results of the battle.

In the face of the menacing large-scale counterattack of the Soviet army, Manstein also landed Orel on the battlefield and carried out defensive battles, as well as the 5th and 8th armored divisions of the reserve, as well as the 305th and 707th guard divisions responsible for rear guard tasks, a total of almost 200,000 troops, and hurriedly dispatched them to various battlefields for defensive operations.

Although in the face of the increasing ferocity of the Soviet army, and the arrival of large-scale reinforcements; When Manstein first started, he didn't have much to worry about.

Because they had already built very strong field fortifications at the Orel landing ground in accordance with Chen Yanlong's instructions at that time, as well as a large number of minefields, anti-tank trenches, and all kinds of defensive obstacles.

It's just that the only bad thing that Manstein didn't count was that the German aviation units were not even dispatched to support their air defense operations.

For this reason, all units of the German army were subjected to large-scale air raids by Soviet aviation units, and many soldiers were killed and wounded; And quite a few fortifications and minefields have been destroyed.

Even the German assault vehicles and tanks were bombed and destroyed by the sudden air raids of the Soviet army.