Conveniently located on the banks of the Oka River, the city of Orel is only 380 km from Moscow, where the famous Soviet Frunze Tank School was once located. Of course, because of the German occupation, it was relocated to Moscow.

Oryol was also an important node in Manstein's defense plan.

Because Manstein hoped to be able to jam the choke point of the Kursk salient with Orel and Belgorod, so that the Soviets could not attack or could not attack safely.

This was the most common method of defense used by the German army...... Give full play to the role of the German mechanized troops to replace defense with offense. Rommel did the same in Africa, and later laid a large number of mines and roadblocks to build a line of defense known as the "Devil's Garden", which was also forced to do so because of the severe shortage of fuel and supplies.

Manstein deployed two armies in Orel: the 2nd Panzer Army and the 9th Army.

The main force of this was, of course, the 2nd Panzer Army, which was building defensive positions along the line from Kirov to Zmiyovka.

However, it is said that it is to build a defensive position, but in fact, it is more about preparing for the attack...... The meaning of substituting offense for defense is not defense but offense, and armored armies have always been used to attack rather than defend.

So, the commander of the 2nd Panzer Army, Rudolf. After Admiral Schmidt arrived in Orel, he was in the headquarters and worked with his staff on the map to study how to launch an attack.

To be exact, it should be deduced over and over again the offensive plan of the 2nd Panzer Army once the Soviets attack from Kursk head-on.

The plan of attack was to use two weaker armies, the 41st and 46th Panzer Corps, as the first attack, after they had advanced 10 to 12 kilometers...... This time is estimated to be five days, the strongest 47th Panzer Army will enter the battle again to deal a fatal blow to the Soviet army, and then the 9th Army will follow the Panzer Army to break through to the east of Kursk, and join the German 4th Panzer Army fighting north in the direction of Belgorod to cut off the Soviet defense.

This attack is quite reasonable.

Of the three armored corps under the 2nd Panzer Army, three of the four divisions under the 41st and 46th Panzer Corps were infantry divisions and only one was an armored division.

They are suitable for opening paths, breaking obstacles, or depleting part of the enemy's strength.

Unlike other armoured corps, the 47th Panzer Corps consisted of three Panzer Divisions and only one infantry division.

That is, the 47th Panzer Army had more tanks than the 41st and 46th Panzer Corps combined.

In particular, the 47th Panzer Army was armed with 30 Tiger tanks...... As mentioned earlier, the Tiger tank, although superior in defense and firepower, had problems with mobility, which also determined that it needed other units to open the way for it.

The Tiger tank was then able to advance through the gaps opened by the other armoured armies to the most important points of the battlefield...... East of Kursk.

Admiral Schmidt, like Field Marshal Kruger, was so confident in the Tiger tank that he even said to his staff officer: "Even if the Tiger engine and transmission are prone to failure, what can be done?" ITS REAR ARMOR IS 82MM, AND IT IS DIFFICULT FOR THE ENEMY TO PENETRATE IT FROM ANY DIRECTION, WE JUST NEED TO TAKE IT TO THE MOST IMPORTANT PLACE, EVEN IF IT CAN'T MOVE, IT CAN BE USED AS A PILLBOX! ”

In a way, Admiral Schmidt was right because the attack was a little different...... Their task was to occupy the eastern part of Kursk and hold it there in order to cut off Kursk from the Soviet Union.

As a result, the Germans needed some "pillboxes", even if they could not be moved.

But what Admiral Schmidt didn't expect was that his offensive plans would not be used at all......

General Schmidt argued with his staff officers about whether the "Tiger" should be directed in the direction of Kursk or the Soviet Union.

This was also a difficult decision, as some people believed that the Soviets had already deployed their main forces in Kursk, so once the 2nd Panzer Army moved into the east of Kursk, the enemy's counteroffensive should come from Kursk.

Admiral Schmidt believed that the main force of the Soviets should be in the direction of the Soviet Union, so the direction should be to the east.

While the two factions were arguing, there was a sudden whistling of cannonballs in the sky, followed by the explosion of "rumbling" cannonballs, one after another, and even a few shells fell near the headquarters, shaking the dust on the roof to fall down.

After a while, the staff officers and communications corps reported one after another:

"The 29th Artillery Regiment is under enemy shelling!"

"The 81st Artillery Regiment was attacked by the enemy and suffered heavy losses!"

"The 7th Flight Squadron reported the loss of 21 warplanes and the airfield was bombed!"

"Radar warfare is being shelled!"

"Spotted enemy planes, flying towards us!"

……

At this moment, Schmidt suddenly realized that his troops, that is, Orel, were the main direction of attack of the Soviet army.

Schmidt guessed correctly, Zhukov's main direction of attack was Orel.

First of all, the most straightforward point is...... The troops located in Orel belonged to the German Army Group Center.

This was a secret in Zhukov's heart, since the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of the Caucasus, Zhukov deliberately avoided Army Group South.

To be precise, Zhukov wanted to avoid Qin Chuan...... Because of these two battles, Zhukov can be said to have done his best. But even so, he was beaten by the enemy.

There is a saying that "the higher you climb, the harder you fall", Zhukov was almost a "god of war" in the Soviet Union, but this "god of war" was repeatedly defeated by a nobody on the other side...... Of course, Qin Chuan is by no means a nobody, what is described here is only the difference between the two in military ranks: one is a marshal and the supreme deputy commander, and the other is only a lieutenant colonel.

Therefore, even if others do not think so, Zhukov himself will take it as a shame.

He was desperate to prove himself with a victory, even if it was to avoid Army Group South.

Secondly, Orel is indeed suitable as a breakthrough for the Soviet army.

Orel did not have a large number of defensive lines, mines and fortifications like the Kursk front, and Army Group Center had not conducted a large-scale campaign for a long time since the defeat in the Battle of Moscow, and most of this army group were recruits with no combat experience.

On the other hand, the 4th Army, which was stationed on the line from Belgorod to Kharkov, was the opposite...... It belonged to Army Group South and had just won several victories in the direction of Stalingrad and the Caucasus, and its morale was high.

There is no reason why the Soviet army would pick Belgorod without picking Orel, even though Belgorod had only one army group and Orel two.