The assignment of tasks is as follows:

The 48th Panzer Army was responsible for the road offensive from Butovo to Cherkaskoye.

The 2nd SS Panzer Corps attacked from another road, Tomarovka to Bykovka.

There is no point in attacking and not directly sending troops onto the road.

The most important thing in a real battle is not the road, but the commanding heights on both sides of the road, and as long as you capture these heights, you can almost say that you control the road.

Of course, these heights were in the hands of the Soviets, and they also built fairly strong field fortifications waiting for the Germans.

The offensive began at three o'clock in the morning of the next day.

To be exact, this can only be regarded as an early attack...... The first to be sent out were reconnaissance units, engineering units and commandos.

The reconnaissance unit goes out in the dark to find out the situation and design several feasible offensive routes, and then the engineer units will begin demining according to the offensive route designed by the scouts, and the commandos will carry double grenades and assault rifles, submachine guns and pistols along the path opened by the engineers.

All this was done in the dark and even without the enemy noticing, that is, before the battle began, the commandos were already lurking in front of the enemy positions and waiting for the moment when the battle began.

At 5:15 a.m., as soon as a few red flares rose into the air, the whistling of shells sounded in the direction of the German troops, and then one shell after another exploded on the 223.6 heights where the Soviet troops were stationed.

It's easy to misunderstand that a massive shelling operation is about to begin.

But in fact, it was a deception, and while the Soviet troops were hiding in the fortifications to avoid the artillery, the German commandos lurking in front of the position took advantage of this time to rush forward.

Then the artillery suddenly stopped, except for the suppression of artillery fire from the Soviet direction against the German artillery...... In fact, these artillery fires did not do much at all, and they were especially unable to relieve the Soviet troops in the front-line trenches.

At the sound of the order, the German commandos launched an attack on the trenches.

They threw rows of grenades into Soviet trenches, and after the grenades exploded, they rushed into the trenches with assault rifles and submachine guns to engage the Soviets in close combat.

If the Soviet soldiers had resisted stubbornly, a German combat engineer with a fuel bottle would suddenly emerge from the trench, raise his jet gun and pull the trigger, and then a ball of flame would erupt and burn all the Soviet troops into flames.

This is a common offensive method of the German army, the 48th Panzer Army used this method to take the 223.6th height, its focus is on the close cooperation between scouts, engineers, commandos and artillery, plus all the commandos carry weapons and equipment suitable for close combat, so the first time the Soviet army fled in disarray.

The 2nd SS Panzer Corps did not use this method.

They delayed the attack for some time...... In fact, they waited until 6 o'clock, when it was dark, and after a round of heavy artillery fire, the minesweepers opened the road, followed by five Tiger tanks, and the Stuka bombers swooped down from the air to blow up every danger point reported by the aerial scouts, and then the infantry attacked under the cover of the Tiger tanks and bombers.

The SS attack was simple and crude, relying on a large number of modern equipment, especially the "Tiger" tank, the Soviets saw this tank for the first time, and all kinds of anti-tank gun shells hit it just a dent, but the anti-tank guns exposed the target because of the artillery, the "Tiger" adjusted the angle, and then bombed them into the sky with a single shot.

As a result, the SS also quickly broke through the first line of defense.

None of this needs Qin Chuan to care about, what Qin Chuan needs to care about is when the Panzer Army will meet the main force of the Soviet tanks and be blocked.

At Hort's army headquarters, the staff officers constantly reported the progress of the battle situation, and then marked the positions of each unit on the sand table according to these progresses.

"The Tiger tank is indomitable!" Hort looked at the telegram, and then said to Qin Chuan: "But since the start of the war, there have been five 'Tiger types' that have broken down, and they were not destroyed by the enemy, but defeated by themselves!" ”

"We'll fix them, General!" It was Lieutenant General Walter, commander of the 2nd SS Panzer Corps, who spoke: "They will again launch the troops that keep up with the front, and then roll all the enemies in front of them under the tracks!" ”

"Don't be so confident, Lieutenant General!" Hoult replied: "Because we got intelligence, the Soviets had 1700 tanks in this direction, and we have not yet touched them!" ”

The information had just been interrogated from the POWs, but the numbers given by several POWs varied, and Hult believed the number 1,700.

Because he thinks...... If the Soviets had more than 4,000 tanks, then it would be possible for the Soviets to attack Orel and a small part in the salient.

What Hort didn't know was that the total number of tanks in the Soviet army was actually more than 5,000. However, in the direction of Belgorod, the figure of 1700 is still accurate.

This figure was almost twice the total number of German tanks.

"General!" A disdainful smile appeared at the corner of Walter's mouth: "In front of the 'Tiger', all the tanks of the Soviets are just numbers, some meaningless numbers, and they will soon be wiped out in front of us." To consider whether this number is a threat, it should be the 48th Panzer Corps or the 'legendary sergeant'. ”

Saying that, Walter also deliberately turned around and asked Qin Chuan: "I'm not wrong, Lieutenant Colonel?" ”

Lieutenant General Kirchner, commander of the 48th Panzer Corps, asked with anger in his eyes: "Please make your meaning clear, General Walter, are you expressing disdain for the combat effectiveness of the 48th Panzer Army?" ”

"I didn't say that, General Kirchner!" Walter replied: "I'm sorry, but I didn't mean to offend you!" ”

That being said, Walter still had that mocking smile on his face.

This made Lieutenant General Kirchner angry, so he could only grit his teeth and endure it.

SS Lieutenant General, that is someone that even Admiral Hult did not dare to offend easily, let alone Lieutenant General Kirchner.

But Qin Chuan didn't care about this, he replied, "General Walter, what do you mean...... Was it enough for this campaign to require only the 2nd SS Panzer Army? ”

General Hoult also wanted to suppress Walter's arrogance, and he answered: "General Walter, if you really think so, I would be willing to change the plan, or let the 2nd SS Panzer Army go further forward instead of the two armies going hand in hand!" ”

"No, General!" Lieutenant General Walter had to lower his posture when he heard this: "I think the original plan is very good, I obey your command!" ”

As he spoke, he glanced at Qin Chuan and Lieutenant General Kirchner, implying that he was just obeying General Hoth's command.

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