Aware of the danger, Guderian went on the defensive in response to the impending Soviet attack. He also sent the 3rd Regiment of the 2nd Armored Division to support the 1st Cavalry Division.

"Build a defensive line as much as possible, and I want to find out if the Soviets are really crazy, or if they are bluffing." Guderian pressed the map and said to his chief of staff.

Units of three divisions of the Soviet army, which appeared in three different directions, have already been discovered. The opposing side clearly wants to flank the G-cluster and is prepared to eat Guderian's troops if they can.

Thinking of this, Guderian felt ridiculous, he had 5 divisions of troops in his hands! And behind him, the German army going south is not only 5 divisions!

Despite repeated cuts, the heavy artillery units, rocket artillery units, and self-propelled artillery units that can be subordinate to the Guderian cluster command have not changed!

This time, the troops were accompanied by a separate heavy artillery regiment with 36 150 mm howitzers.

The regiment was completely mechanized, with complete tractors, all shells were mechanized, and the command was very advanced.

There is also a self-propelled howitzer battalion, armed with 30 105 mm self-propelled howitzers adapted from tank No. 2, and 15 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns.

In addition, there is a battalion of self-propelled rocket artillery units, equipped with 15 trucks equipped with organ rocket launchers, as well as matching loading vehicles and ammunition transporters.

In addition to these units, the 501st and 504th and 505th heavy tank battalions, which accompanied Guderian and were placed under Guderian's provisional command, were equipped with 135 Leopard tanks.

If you include the 88 mm caliber anti-aircraft artillery units, logistics support units, and maintenance units directly under the jurisdiction of the cluster, the strength of this cluster is really comparable to a small group army.

Eating a German unit of this size in one fell swoop was simply an impossible task for the Soviet army.

Guderian said that the Soviet army was really crazy, and this is what he said - if the German army could not be annihilated in a short time, the Soviet counterattack would inevitably be frustrated.

The German air force will constantly consume the Soviet army from the sky and destroy the Soviet army's logistical supply routes. And the German troops going south will only increase more and more, and then the Soviet troops will have to be forced to retreat.

If that time really comes, it will enter the pursuit mode that the German army is best at. The Soviet army will be massively annihilated by the Germans in the field, and then Kursk will be occupied by the Germans in an instant.

"Get the artillery ready! As soon as the Soviets launched a large-scale offensive, let them taste the shells! While arranging his defensive ring, Guderian prepared for a large-scale Soviet offensive.

On the other side, Guderian's opponent, General Zhukov, was also deploying troops to deal with the possibility of a follow-up attack by the German army.

"Did the other party stop in Boneri? Although more than 20 German tanks were destroyed, the other side held the position...... "Hearing the feedback on the situation on the battlefield, Zhukov fell into deep thought.

He never had any delusional intention to eat the famous German G-cluster, and his campaign goal was clear, which was to crucify the Germans near Kursk as much as possible before winter arrived.

For this purpose, he organized a counterattack. The purpose of the counterattack was not to eat the Germans, but to drive them out of Kursk.

Originally, he speculated that the German army was insufficient, and under his attack on three sides, he would take the initiative to abandon Boneri and retreat.

As long as the German army retreated, it would be tantamount to confirming the speculation that the German army was insufficient, and at the same time, Zhukov's strategic goal of expelling the German army from Kursk was achieved.

However, the situation is very delicate and strange: the German army behaved on the battlefield very much like it was undertrooped, but the decision of the other side to hold on to Boneri did not look like it was under-armed.

This is worth weighing for Zhukov: whether he will continue to intensify the counterattack offensive, or decisively withdraw his forces and abandon this temptation.

Although Zhukov has a bit of a quick success, and sometimes he is more willing to do whatever it takes to achieve victory, he is not a reckless man.

In his opinion, since he was not prepared to eat the G-cluster from the beginning to the end, there was no need to risk fighting the Germans for the Boneri.

As soon as the Germans reacted and began to fight positional warfare, the German air force would play a role, allowing his troops to continue to bleed and consume, only to increase losses.

"Let the 6th Guards Tank Division retreat...... There is no point in fighting like this any longer! "In the end, Zhukov, two hours after the start of the counterattack, gave the order to retreat.

On the one hand, Zhukov was afraid of the movements of the German army, and on the other hand, he did not intend to waste his elite.

It was already afternoon at this moment, and the Luftwaffe would not have much time to act even if it were to be dispatched.

At night, the Germans generally did not take the initiative to fight, so the Soviet troops had a whole night to leave the battle and hide their whereabouts.

By the next day, the possibility of the Soviet troops being heavily damaged by the Luftwaffe was reduced exponentially.

Just when Guderian deployed a defensive circle, ready to drag down the Soviet army and then consume the living force of the Soviet army, the Soviet army took the initiative to stop the offensive.

The frontal attack of the 6th Guards Tank Division was quickly out of the battle, and despite the interference of German aircraft in the sky, they retreated without hesitation.

After destroying about 40 German tanks of various types, the Soviet tank division left behind the wreckage of more than 70 tanks and fled.

The threat to the flanks of the 1st Cavalry Division was lifted almost at the same time, and the Soviet units flanking the Germans put on a menacing decisive attitude, only to withdraw from the battle without looking back.

After Guderian received the news of the retreat of the Soviet tank units on the frontal defensive line, he received a report from the 1st Cavalry Division before he could figure out whether the other side was reorganizing the offensive or really retreating.

The retreat of Soviet troops on both fronts at the same time made Guderian realize that he might have been deceived.

Ten minutes later, after the 10th Motorized Rifle Division called and confirmed the retreat of the Soviet troops, Guderian knew that he had been put on a position by Zhukov.

The opponent used a simple local counterattack, which allowed the Germans to waste a day of advance time in the same place, and also exposed the weakness of insufficient forces.

What's even more infuriating is that Guderian didn't dare to pursue easily, because the other party took the initiative to retreat, so it was not good that he would turn over and fight another counterattack.

This time he suffered a small loss, and the next time he will suffer some small losses if he doesn't do it well - these losses add up to a lot, and these losses are a waste for Guderian, who is already short of troops......