To paraphrase Paulus's description in his post-war memoirs, the whole of Kursk was boiling at this time, and the battlefield was like a boiling kettle of steam, and both the German and Red armies could only suffer in silence.

After several days of heavy assault, Paulus's troops were exhausted, and as a last resort, Paulus could only order his troops to go on the defensive, and hinted that some of the middle and high-ranking officers were ready to retreat. But truth be told, it's too late!

While Paulus was telegraphing the Wolf's Lair, asking the imperious Führer to allow him to retreat, the keen Red Army commander had already sensed a change in the momentum of the German army.

"The enemy has exhausted all their energy, they are lying on the ground like dogs, gasping for breath, it's our turn to strike back!" Konev said. ”

Vasilevsky also said: "The German onslaught has finally come to an end, and after exhausting the last of their energy, it is impossible for them to return to the state they were in before." ”

As for Ubolevich, he is even more in control of everything, and does not need to be reminded by Konev and Vasilevsky, he also knows that it is the turn of the Red Army to counterattack. However, Ubolevich's request for a counterattack was peculiar: "I don't want you to fight hard, let alone how many enemies you annihilate. I have only one request, to attack on all fronts, to attack on the entire front, to stick to the enemy like kraft candy, and not to give the enemy a chance to retreat! ”

Paulus was stunned by Ubolevich's tactics, he expected the Reds to counterattack, but did not expect the Reds' counterattack to be so large. Where is this counteroffensive, it is simply whether it is good to attack on all fronts.

Paulus did not like such a scene at all, for he was desperate to disengage his troops from the Red Army. Then I slowly withdrew it step by step. But before he could begin to retreat. On the contrary, the Red Army took the initiative to attack on all fronts. On the contrary, it is more and more tightly glued to him, how can he retreat?

What's even more terrible is that his lads are exhausted, and there is a big problem with supplies, and there is no way to replenish the consumption in front of them, and under the counterattack of the Red Army on all fronts, the consumption of ammunition is even more like a reservoir that has opened the floodgates, and the speed of consumption. Even Paulus was shocked when he saw it.

"Try to save ammunition and control consumption, the Air Force is also having a hard time now!"

The above was Bock's reply to Paulus's request for more supplies, and the old marshal did not recruit him. Konotop became more and more stalemate, and as the main forces of the Fifth Army gradually arrived on the battlefield, Manstein's 11th Army could not think of moving forward. Especially after the weather improved greatly, air supremacy was completely in the hands of the Red Army, and the Il-2 caused great trouble to the ground forces, and a considerable part of the supplies were destroyed by these roaring Black Death.

The Luftwaffe could do nothing about it, although the Air Force was constantly upgrading the BF-109 and FW-190. But the Red Army was not idle, and the technical performance of the Yak-3 series was also rising. Especially with the massive popularity of the Lager-5FN and the massive Yak-7 and Yak-9 flooding the battlefield, the balance of air superiority was constantly tilted in favor of the Red Army.

The Germans did not know that with the lifting of restrictions on aviation aluminum and some high-precision machine tools by the United States, the Red Air Force would have to go to a higher level both technically and quantitatively, and the Luftwaffe would only become more and more difficult in the future.

The Kursk battlefield also happened to reflect this trend, before the German transport pilots dared to land on the field airfield on the front line to load and unload supplies, but as the air supremacy gradually changed hands, they no longer dared to land, and there was no chance to land, so they could only choose to airdrop. At first, the effect was okay, but after a long time, Goering couldn't stand it. One is that the consumption of parachutes and airdrop boxes is too large, and the other is that the accuracy of airdrops carried out at night is really enough. As mentioned earlier, the fronts of the Red Army and the German army were intertwined, and a considerable part of the supplies were either not found or fell to the side of the Red Army. And with the arrival of the night combat version of the Pe-2 equipped with radar on the Kursk battlefield, the days of the pilots of German transport aircraft were even more difficult.

Note that it was not only the air strangulation and air blockade that gave the Germans a headache, but also the artillery with the Red Army joined in to block them. The 300th Separate Heavy Artillery Brigade, which had just arrived on the battlefield, was armed with an M-46 130-mm cannon with a maximum range of 27 kilometers (ordinary grenades) and a maximum range of 30 kilometers when using the newly developed concave projectile of NORINCO. This is a powerful weapon for counter-artillery and against enemy targets in depth.

Previously, Paulus had set up the field airfield more than twenty kilometers behind his position, which in his opinion was safe enough. But who would have thought that the M-46 would be so perverted. Firing an ordinary grenade is enough to bombard the airfield. When the 54-door M-46 front-line platoon station was heavily bombarded, the field airfield was also unusable.

As a last resort, Paulus could only order the engineers to quickly find another place to build a field airfield. It's just that the progress of the project is very unsatisfactory, on the one hand, because of the interference of the Red Army's air raids, and on the other hand, because of the shortage of materials. All in all, the new field airfield has never been built.

And this directly aggravated the lack of materials of the Paulus group, and after another week, in the face of the increasingly fierce Red Army, the German army seemed to have no power to fight back, and could only concentrate on strengthening and digging more fortifications, and on the other hand.

Some comrades may be surprised, didn't Paulus already want to retreat, and had already hinted that some middle and high-ranking officers were ready to retreat? So why hasn't he withdrawn? The reason is simple, the Führer is not the same!

On the one hand, the mustache could not afford to lose this man, and on the other hand, he also smelled a possibility that if he was repulsed by the Red Army here in Kursk, it would probably mean that the Wehrmacht would turn the whole into the defense.

And going on the defensive means being beaten passively, which is not what the mustache wants to see, he has always wanted to take the initiative to solve the problem, and he has always wanted to get the Soviet Union in 1942. And once the Battle of Kursk is lost, it will mean that the war will enter a long time, which is certainly not a good thing for Germany!

Therefore, the Führer still wants to win a battle in Kursk, preferably to annihilate a considerable part of the Russian army's living forces. So, on the one hand, he ordered Paulus not to retreat. On the other hand, troops are constantly being dispatched in a way that violates military common sense.

The so-called way of dispatching troops in a way that violates military common sense. In fact, it is to tear down the east wall and make up the west wall. As well as forcing the puppet state to increase its troops again. For example, under Hitler's hints and instigation, Hungary gritted its teeth and put together an army group (including Hungary's only armored division) to rush to the battlefield in Ukraine. At the same time, he also ordered the Romanian corps besieging Odessa to suspend the offensive (because it could not be attacked either) and to transfer a considerable part of its forces to the direction of Kiev. In the end, he also transferred part of the army from the Minsk direction again, and cobbled together hundreds of thousands of horses to prepare for a big vote.

Of course, it takes time to assemble this huge army, and like the newly created regiments of the Red Army, the combat effectiveness and equipment of these troops, which are mainly from puppet countries, are quite problematic.

The third stage of the Battle of Kursk turned into a race against time to see who could assemble troops faster. Whoever gets the upper hand. However, the Red Army had a great advantage in this respect, one was more abundant in troops, and the other was closer to the battlefield, and these two points were decisive. In fact, the Red Army had a third advantage: after the United States lifted the trade embargo, the Red Army could directly purchase American products -- such as automobiles and airplanes.

As soon as the trade embargo was lifted, Trotsky, in the name of the Council of People's Commissars, immediately handed over a super-large order to the United States. Including 10,000 trucks, 100 train heads, 1,000 Wright cyclone engines. Had it not been for the fact that the Americans had given priority to the needs of the American armored forces and the British with the M4 tanks, and that the tank units of the Red Army did not look down on such overly tall and fragile tanks, Trotsky would have had to place an order for a thousand bars.

But those 10,000 trucks can solve a lot of problems, even if the Americans only agree to sell civilian models. And they refused to sell trucks of more than 10 tons, but these 6-ton and 8-ton trucks were still much better than the models produced in the Soviet Union. The problem of transportation difficulties in the USSR was greatly alleviated.

Of course, American automakers were also happy, because this deal was real money, and who made the US Congress still refuse to include the Soviet Union in the Lend-Lease Act.

These disappointing words are not mentioned for the time being, back to the battle itself, after entering the middle of June, the decline of the German army is even more obvious, whether it is in Kursk or Konotop, they are stuck in the quagmire, not to mention winning this battle, they have to be thankful for the whole body.

Of course, this does not mean that the Red Army is relaxed, on the contrary, the more times like these, the more carelessness can be achieved, and even less relaxation. As the so-called hundred-legged insect dies but does not stiffen, and the German army is such a hundred-legged insect, and this armored train is deeply aware of this.

The mechanized infantry battalion where the armored train is located has been fighting continuously since it arrived in Konotop, fighting during the day, at night, and in the end even dreaming of fighting. In fact, there are already quite a few people with demons now, for example, a considerable number of ordinary fighters, who are really red-eyed, if it weren't for Yevgeny still doing ideological work as much as possible, some people might go crazy, and some people would be depressed and commit suicide. Of course, the problem of ordinary warriors is not too big, the big problem is that Fat Ivan is also demonic.

After days of fierce fighting, whether it was the death of his comrades or the accumulated fatigue, his nerves had been broken, and at this time he had become a bull with fire-breathing nostrils, and he would rush to play for his life whenever he saw a target that did not please his eyes.

Of course, there is nothing to blame for this. After all, Fat Ivan is also a human being, and if he is a human being, he will have a limit, and after surpassing this limit, he will go crazy. When Fat Ivan tried to pick up the explosives bag and die with the enemy again, the armored train had to stun him with a hand knife, but it was still useless, because after waking up, he once again picked up a PK machine gun and jumped out of the trench and fired at the enemy's tank, as if to say: "Shoot at me, Lao Tzu is tired of life!" ”

This time it was Evgeny who was quick-eyed, and he smashed the dead fat man into the trench with a machine gun. And just as they tumbled into the trenches, a 75mm grenade hit exactly where the dead fat man was. If there is no Yevgeny, the dead fat man will probably be directly bombarded into pieces of fat.

However, the armored train knew that it could not let the dead fat man go crazy for the third time, which would not only make the whole company go crazy together, but more importantly. There is no guarantee that they will be able to save it at the last moment.

"Get a rope. Tie him up! "The armored train commanded.

This order undoubtedly made Fat Ivan very angry. He really couldn't stand it anymore, he couldn't stand this endless exhaustion, he couldn't stand the scene of his comrades falling in a pool of blood, he desperately wanted to end all this, even if he seemed to be a complete optimist before.

"Who the dares to tie me up, Lao Tzu is the company commander!" Fat Ivan yelled with blood-red eyes.

It is true that no soldier dared to tie up Fat Ivan, not because he was a company commander, to be honest. In this company, the armored train is more like a company commander than him, and the fighters are more willing to accept the command of the armored train. However, this does not mean that the dead fat man does not have any prestige in the company, on the contrary, he enjoys the love of the soldiers of the whole company.

Who brought meat and alcohol for the company? It's Fat Ivan. Who is it that fights to resist the incorrect orders of the superiors? It's Fat Ivan. Who is joking with the fighters? It's Fat Ivan. In a sense, Fat Ivan is not like a company commander, but the elder brother of the soldiers of the whole company. He will take care of every soldier in every detail, even if this dead fat man is really not good at commanding the war, and he also likes to take advantage of a little advantage and lip service. But the fighters liked his relaxed tone. If even he is crazy, you can imagine it. What is the condition of the warriors below.

Therefore, no warrior dared to tie up the fat Ivan. No one even dared to meet his eyes. Of course, in addition to the armored train and Yevgeny, the former gave the dead fat man another hand knife, while the latter neatly untied the belt and armed belt of the fat Ivan, tied the dead fat man into a rice dumpling and gagged his mouth by the way.

The whole set of actions cooperated with the continuous flow, and after it was done, the two of them said separately: "The company commander, he is too sad and unsuitable to continue to undertake the command work, communicator, you carry him back, and no one is allowed to untie him without my order!" ”

Fat Ivan was carried down, hoping that after waking up, he would be able to come to his senses. For the time being, the main work of the company could only be carried out by armored trains and Evgeny.

To tell the truth, these two people cooperate quite well, and even without the interference of Fat Ivan, they are a lot easier. In this regard, the armored train was amazed. Why? Because judging from the situation before the outbreak of the battle, he thought that Evgeny could choke, that Evgeny was inexperienced and too immature, that the brutal battle would quickly destroy the young man's body and mind, and that he would most likely die in one battle, or leave the battlefield with a cripple and a broken heart.

However, what the armored train did not expect was that the young commissar was much more powerful than he had imagined. Yes, in the initial battle, Evgeny was a little scrambled, and this was indeed the result of inexperience. But his ability to learn lessons is amazing, and he improves with every fight. From the very beginning of the rigid copy of textbooks, to the later adaptation to local conditions, even the armored train himself could not do better than him.

Of course, the armored train does not deny the existence of some war geniuses, and even he himself belongs to this category of geniuses. They are obsessed with fighting, they exist for the sake of fighting. But what surprised the armored train the most was that even he had an epiphany after a period of unforgettable disappointment or failure.

And what about Yevgeny? He rarely makes mistakes, and he is never arrogant or discouraged when he wins, his improvement is not an epiphany, but a matter of course step by step, there is no need to sharpen at all, and there is never a demon.

This is a hell of a ghost for the armored train, especially after the fat Ivan magic barrier, in contrast, this political commissar who was still very immature before seems to be more and more at ease, this is not scientific!

Anyway, the armored train looks at Evgeny like a Martian, in fact, the armored train doesn't need to be too surprised, Evgeny performed so well, the reason is very simple, he has received the blessing of a certain immortal uncle, and he naturally has an exemption attribute. The demons can't interfere with him, and the blessing can also make him as calm and objective as possible, plus he can be immune to some mortal damage. Do you say that such a person can not be raised quickly?

In other words, without the blessing of a certain immortal, Yevgeny probably would not have improved so quickly, and in terms of actual ability, he might be a head lower than the armored train.

Of course, on this battlefield, armored trains will definitely not be so careful, let alone jealous of pink eye. Because the armored train knows very well that the stronger the ability of your comrades on this battlefield, the better the performance, and the higher the chance of survival with you. Only fools and idiots would be so petty.

In fact, the armored train was very happy to have Evgeny to share the pressure for him, because the situation of their company at this time was really very bad.

"As of 3 p.m., there were still 56 comrades in the company who were able to continue fighting, another 21 comrades had to leave the battle, and the rest had died heroically......

Evgeny did not like to read this kind of statistic, because it was too heavy, and the little note seemed to be soaked in the blood of his comrades, and it was a little red and piercing!

"According to the instructions of the superiors, we need to continue to hold our positions, and according to the intelligence of the battalion headquarters, the enemy in front of us is still strengthening, and it is very likely that they will continue to launch a strong attack in the afternoon, and it is not even ruled out that they will fight overnight......"

Evgeny's brow tightened at every word, and he knew very well that the difficulty was not only the disparity in strength between the enemy and us, but also the fact that the ammunition was running out...... (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you to the lost stars, the dragon god of the bad boy, Liangzi 913, lawlf, hzwangdd, Juventus, honorary DE nostalgia, Hui Hui Weng, Diruo Ruthless and Comrade 435349915!