Guderian's counteroffensive succeeded in forcing the Soviet High Command to order Rokossovsky to stop the offensive, the German 1st Panzer Group regained the line of defense on the Donets River, and Guderian began to plan to destroy the Soviet troops west of the Donets River. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

According to the Germans, the German counteroffensive cost the Soviets an estimated 23,000 casualties, 617 tanks and 372 artillery pieces.

While Rokossovsky's Central Front continued the offensive of the German 2nd Army, the 2nd Army had been greatly strengthened by reinforcements from several elite divisions, and he was greatly alarmed by the German offensive on Orel.

At that time, the Greater German Panzergrenadier Division had returned to the front and was responsible for the main attack, dividing the remnants of the Soviet 69th Army and the 3rd Tank Army. The Soviet 69th Army and the 40th Army were divided, and then turned east on the 17th to complete the encirclement, although the Soviet High Command ordered the 19th Sniper Division and the 186th Tank Brigade to intercept the attack, the German offensive continued.

On 17 July, the Soviet 40th Army launched a counteroffensive against the Großdeutsche Panzer Orel Shell Division to restore communication with the 3rd Tank Army, and the 4th Panzer Group ordered the Waffen-SS Panzer Corps to retake Orel as soon as possible.

Commander Paul? Hausser ordered 3 Waffen-SS Panzer Divisions to attack the city immediately, the Waffen-SS 2nd Hohenstaufen Panzer Division from the west, and the 1st Waffen-SS Adolf? The Panzer Division of the Rommel Guard Banner and the 3rd Panzer Division of the Waffen-SS Hitler Youth Division took cover from the north and northwest.

Although Hauser ordered Hausser to go back to his original plan and postponed it for a day due to the stubborn resistance of the defenders, Hausser attacked as planned. Guderian gave the order to besiege the city, but Hauser did not obey the order and continued to attack with his own plan.

According to Guderian's information, the headquarters of the army group intervened several times in order to allow the Waffen-SS Panzer Corps to encircle Orel from the east, instead of attacking the city head-on.

On the morning of July 18, the 1st Waffen-SS Adolf? The Panzer Division of the Rommel Guard Banner launched a two-flank attack to the north of Orel3, and the 2nd Panzergrenadier Regiment attacked from the northwest and advanced in 2 columns along the Belgorod ~ Orel railway to the north of Orel.

The 2nd Battalion, on the right side of the railway, attacked the North Station area of the city, and due to the stubborn resistance, it only advanced to the North Station platform at sunset, and only with the strong air and artillery support of Ju-87 dive bombers and assault guns, the German infantry entered the city, and a flank attack from behind the city allowed the Germans to establish a stronghold in the city.

At the same time, the 1st Waffen-SS Panzergrenadier Regiment launched an offensive with a separate panzer unit, captured the road to Belgorod and repelled a counter-attack from the Orel airfield on its left flank.

After destroying some passing T-34 tanks, the Germans established a foothold in residential areas on the northern outskirts, while in the northeast some German infantry, armoured vehicles and assault guns attempted to take control of the road to Chuguev, which penetrated deep into the city of Orel.

On the same day, the Waffen-SS 2nd Hohenstaufen Panzer Division launched an attack on the western part of Orel, and when it advanced into the city, the attack was stopped by the defenders armed with anti-tank guns in the anti-tank trenches.

After a bloody battle, the Soviet counteroffensive failed, and a detachment of the division attacked south and cut off the road to Meleval.

At about 9 p.m., the commander of the 4th Panzer Corps of Hoth, ordered Hausser to immediately lead the Waffen-SS Hohenstaufen Panzer Division to disengage from the enemy and deploy instead to cut off the retreat of the defenders.

However, Hausser sent a detachment from the 9th Waffen-SS Panzer Division of Hitler's Young Division to complete the task, informing Hoth that it was risky for the 2nd Waffen-SS Panzer Division to carry out the task.

On the night of 19 July, in the early morning of 7 July, a German force suddenly drove through an anti-tank trench to open a gap for the attacking panzer forces, which shocked the defenders there, causing the Waffen-SS 2nd Hohenstaufen Panzer Division to advance to the main railway station in Orel.

The 2nd Waffen-SS Hohenstaufen Panzer Division disengaged from the enemy, using the 1st Waffen-SS Adolf? The passage opened by the armored division of the Rommel Guard Banner advanced north of Orel and deployed in the eastern part of the city.

At sunset, the Germans continued their advance towards the city center, and the division reached a position between two buildings north of Dzerzhinsky Square, where the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Panzergrenadier Regiment fought fiercely with Soviet snipers and defenders that night, and then captured the square at a heavy cost of heavy casualties, after which it was renamed "Guards Flag Corps Square".

That night, the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Panzergrenadier Regiment was in Jochen? Under the command of Colonel Piper, he joined up with the 2nd Battalion at Dzerzhinsky Square and advanced southward, crossing the Orel River and establishing a bridgehead to open the road to Moscow.

At the same time, the left flank of the division reached the junction of the road to Volchansk and another road to Chuguev, where it was defended to stop the Soviet counteroffensive.

The next day, the 1st Waffen-SS Adolf? The Panzer Division of the Rommel Guard Banner headed south to the Orel River and the bridgehead at Piper, in order to clear the Soviet defenses in the building.

In order to clear the defenders of the city center, the 1st Panzergrenadier Brigade re-entered the city using the road to Volchansk, while sending Peer's troops to break south and engage in sporadic fighting with the remnants of the defenders, and to join the left flank of the division at the junction of the roads leading to Volchansk and Chuguev.

Although most of the Waffen-SS 2nd Hohenstaufen Panzer Division had left the city, a separate Panzergrenadier Brigade remained southwest of the city to eliminate the defenders, and by sunset the brigade had cleared the resistance, two-thirds of the city had fallen to the Germans, and by sunset the city had completely fallen to the Germans.

Because of the German victory at Orel, Rommel was faced with two choices, the first way to counterattack was to inevitably relaunch the offensive and carry out actions similar to those in Orel - to allow the Soviets to attack, to retreat themselves, to counterattack and encircle the enemy.

Second, or a preemptive approach, in which Army Group South and Army Group Center jointly launched a large-scale attack on the Kursk salient, and in the end, Rommel chose the preemptive approach.

Despite the heavy cost, the victory in the Battle of Orel helped Guderian to stabilize the positions on the left flank of the German Army Group South and completely avoid the dilemma of the Eastern Front.

Moreover, Guderian personally won the rank of marshal, and shortly after the end of the Battle of Oryol, in the Kursk salient, which was formed as a result of the Battle of Orel, an unprecedented battle will be held that will truly determine the final outcome of the war, and the Battle of Kursk will be a turning point in the fate of both sides.

It is already the middle of July, and Germany is still attacking the Moscow defense circle little by little, and outside the Moscow defense circle of the Soviet Union, there is still the last Soviet heavy army group, as long as the more than 900,000 Soviet troops in Kursk are annihilated, the German army can attack the city of Moscow without any scruples, so Rommel must be in a hurry to launch the Battle of Kursk.

To fight such a large-scale, fateful decisive battle, both sides had to make a lot of preparations, and the Soviet Union was no different.

[Fallen leaves apologize first, these dozens of chapters are a little watery, thank you brothers for not giving up, and I will never irrigate in the future. 】

In my heart, the fallen leaves were full of passion and confidence to write this book, and there are more than 10,000 collections.

The quality of this book declined in the later period, all of them were subscribed to make trouble, more than 10,000 collections, only 700 were set, the heart of the fallen leaves was really cool, a few days ago I chatted with the brothers of the book friend group, the knots in my heart were finally unraveled, and I will continue to write passionately in the future, and the fallen leaves are also a little bit of economic ability brothers, I didn't spend five yuan to automatically subscribe to the next book, QQ wallet, WeChat wallet recharge is convenient, right! Please.

Your subscription, my passion, say okay, oh, no cheating. (To be continued.) )