But despite this, the southern front was much better than the situation on the northern front, when the 9th Army on the northern flank had broken through the Soviet line for less than 85 miles before it came to a complete halt. The 4th Tank Army broke through to a depth of 72 miles, but had to advance 60 miles to join up with Moder's forces.

At the beginning of May, when the battle on the Soviet-German battlefield was at a fever pitch, due to the collapse of Italy and the fact that Britain and the United States were actively preparing ships to land in France, Hitler was immediately restless when he received this news, and he decided to immediately abandon the Battle of Kursk and withdraw his troops to preserve his strength. Hitler personally ordered Limer to withdraw these troops from May 15 to 18.

On 13 May, Marshal Limmer was summoned to East Prussia, where Hitler told him that since the Allies were preparing to land in the near future, the Battle of "Bastion" must be stopped immediately and troops must be urgently transferred there from the Eastern Front. But at this time, Li Mo still had about 300,000 armored reserves in his hands, and he hoped to continue the offensive in order to consume the enemy.

Strategically, the Germans could only stop a major Soviet offensive in other areas by destroying the Soviet tank reserves in the Kursk salient, which should have been foreseen before the Battle of Bastion. However, Hitler insisted on an immediate halt to the offensive, and here the German Führer apparently took the Allied landing in France too seriously, and at the critical time he had withdrawn some of the most elite SS panzer divisions, which had a significant impact on the morale and deployment of the front-line soldiers.

According to the analysis of Limer's opinion, he may well believe that the 5th Guards Tank Army of the Soviet Army, which was heavily damaged. It was already the main force of the Soviet army's reserves, but in fact the reserves of the Soviet steppe front also included the 4th Guards, the 5th Guards, the 25th, 45th and 53rd armies. Also included were the 3rd, 5th and 5th Guards Cavalry Corps, the 4th Guards Tank Corps, the 3rd Guards Mechanized Corps and the 1st Guards Mechanized Corps. In addition to the 5th Guards Tank Army, which had already suffered heavy losses, the front also had nearly 520,000 men, more than 800 tanks and self-propelled guns, which was still larger than the German campaign reserve.

However, although Li Mo misjudged the number of Soviet reserves. But in the case of the German launch of the decisive battle of Kursk in May. The successful depletion of Soviet reserves was still a possible campaign goal. In fact, Limer's offensive on the southern front dragged the 5th Guards Tank Army, the ace of the Soviet army's preparations for the counteroffensive, into a war of attrition in advance, and it was successful. It was precisely because of the tremendous pressure from Limer's troops that the Soviet commander-in-chief would take the risk of transferring the formed artillery of the 38th and 40th armies to the Voronezh Front, which was in crisis.

Therefore, Li Mo's opinion is correct. If the 4th Panzer Army carried out assaults continuously. It was possible to destroy most of the tanks of the Soviet army in front of it, and it was also possible to occupy open fields. The Voronezh Front, which then annihilated the Soviet army, if possible, succeeded in achieving attrition of the Soviet Central Front and the Steppe Front, in order to weaken the Soviet offensive after that.

If the SS tank corps was transferred to the Italian theater. But that last chance was lost. Limer absolutely disagreed with Hitler's approach and insisted on finishing the Battle of Kursk, for which Limer had a fierce dispute with Hitler for the first time:

"My Führer, I absolutely do not agree to terminate the Battle of Kursk now, nor do I agree with you to withdraw the SS Panzer Army from the Kursk battlefield, our countless German soldiers fought bloodily, only then did we have a huge advantage in the Battle of Kursk at this time, we are stepping up our efforts, and we can completely annihilate more than one million elite Soviet troops in the Kursk region.

O my Führer! This is the elite of the Soviet army, once they escape the fate of annihilation, when we transfer a large number of troops to France, they will be the vanguard of the attack on us, so even if we want to draw troops to fight the British and American forces, it is not now, but after the Battle of Kursk. ”

"Smack...... Enough, Li Mo, don't think that if you are the heir of the Krupp family, I won't dare to send you to the execution ground, think about it, Britain and the United States have gathered 2.88 million people and are ready to land in France, how many troops are we in France, more than 700,000 second-line troops, just rely on them to resist more than 2 million well-armed Anglo-American coalition forces?

There is no way, if the British and American forces landed in France, they could send planes to bomb the German mainland at will, our factories and cities would be in ruins, and countless German civilians would die in the war, don't you know this? Don't forget that your Krupp company is definitely one of the targets of the British and American bombing.

So you must immediately carry out the order to retreat and keep our best troops. ”

"But our troops have been strangled with the Soviet army, how can we immediately push and retreat, only after we repel the Soviet army can we retreat calmly, otherwise after the Soviet army pursues up, our losses will be immeasurable."

"Well, then give you a time, before May 18th, you must retreat."

"Hey! Hitler. ”

Hitler gave Limmer five days, which was enough time for his troops to advance 60 kilometers, as long as the Soviet army was completely surrounded, and when the time came, he would report it to see if Hitler was moved by the more than one million Soviet troops.

Li Mo flew back to the Kursk front line overnight, and at the same time gave the order to attack on the whole front, and all the reserves were thrown into battle at one time, and the two attack groups in the north and south must advance 60 kilometers in one day, and then converge together to completely surround the enemy in the Kursk area.

At the same time, Stalin also accepted Zhukov's suggestion to withdraw a large number of defenders from the Kursk region and move towards the German offensive line, but by this time it was too late for them to reach the line of defense on time.

Early the next morning, more than 3,000 planes deployed by the German army on the Eastern Front, divided into three groups, continuously launched air attacks on the Soviet army, these huge Soviet troops exposed in the wilderness are undoubtedly the favorite of German bombers, although the Soviet Air Force desperately rescued, but the quality of the German planes and the quality of the pilots doomed the Soviet planes to huge losses, and the air supremacy was still on the German side.

Then the north-south attack group began a full-scale offensive, and General Moder's 9th Army on the northern front also began to move. But since the section that needed to be broken through was judged by Zhukov to be the main direction of the German attack, the Soviets had already put the 13th Army (114,000 people) and the 50th Army (96,000 people) into positions; And behind them was the second echelon of 315,000 men and 840 tanks and self-propelled guns, and there was a reserve of 185,000 men and 390 tanks. A little further in the rear, Konev's steppe front, the more powerful reserves awaited Moder's troops.

…… (To be continued......)

PS: Acknowledgements:

Silent rainy nights

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