However, the end of the Battle of Kursk did not begin from Ubolevich's side, the end of the battle actually took place outside the encirclement first, in Konotop, Zhukov's Fifth Army, with the support of brother troops, stubbornly withstood the attack of Manstein's 11th Army and Moder's 9th Army, and nailed to Konotop was the key to the end of the battle.

As mentioned earlier, Paulus was preparing to retreat from Konotop, and the key to retreating from here was to repel Zhukov. If he can't clear Konoptop and reopen this door, Paulus won't be able to escape.

In order to open this door, both Manstein and Moder were allowed to open up, and the battle at Konotop naturally became extremely fierce. At about 2 o'clock on June 30, the Germans launched an attack on time as ordered. The positions of the Red Army north of Konotop were suddenly attacked by the Germans. Hordes of grenadiers charged forward like a tidal wave, and the two sides fought fiercely around the streets, even in a fierce white-knuckle battle.

The red-eyed Reds hid upstairs and threw grenades at the attackers below, while the attacking Germans had to explode to clear the way, blow up the walls house by house, and then rush up to fight hand-to-hand with submachine guns or sappers.

Close quarters of hand-to-hand combat inflicted heavy casualties on both sides. Of course, the German losses in the offensive were somewhat greater, after all, the Red Army had the advantage of the terrain. After a morning of brutal hand-to-hand combat, the Germans suffered heavy casualties and had to find another way. That is, the infantry was used to cover the tanks to break through, and then the tanks destroyed the Red Army's fire points one by one to reduce the casualties of the infantry.

The new tactics had a certain effect, the Germans occupied some of the positions of the Red Army, and at this critical juncture, Zhukov let it go: "Shell, bombard me hard!" ”

Please note. This order is somewhat cruel, firstly, it is a street battle that takes place in the city, and secondly, the attacking side and the defending side have been completely entangled, and the two sides are almost zero contact. Perhaps on the other side of the wall squatted the Germans, and at this end the Reds hid.

At this time, the bombardment with heavy artillery is quite indistinguishable from the enemy, and the best result is that the jade is burned. Is this appropriate?

Zhukov later recalled: "In the conditions of that time, I could only interrupt the enemy's offensive with artillery strikes. Even if the shelling at this time is likely to injure our own fighters and people by mistake, there is no way to do it! ”

The heavy artillery bombardment of the Red Army was indeed effective, and the heavy shelling almost leveled the north of Konotop, and most of the buildings on both sides of the street were gone, leaving only a few broken bricks and tiles. The German devils who rushed up were blown to pieces along with the Red Army soldiers. It also caused a considerable number of German tanks or assault guns to be damaged and withdrawn from the battle.

Zhukov's shelling did interrupt the German offensive, but this did not mean that the fighting was over. Even when houses were razed to the ground, soldiers from both armies fought over the rubble.

You can often see this scene in Konotop: German soldiers with MP38 submachine guns trotting through the piles of rubble, occasionally raising their heads to shoot at the Red Army submachine gunners hiding behind the broken wall, and the two armies fought fiercely until they were exhausted, and it was late at night.

Kuhlmann, a veteran of the German army who had experienced the battle at Konotop, recalled: "Under our feet was the ground plowed by shells of various calibers, and on a long front the various companies moved into their own reserve positions. We cursed the endless shelling as we crawled forward with our hands and feet. We were exhausted and gloomy. From time to time, the people at the front of the line disappeared in the darkness. I don't know how long it took, but finally the order to stop the advance came. I immediately couldn't get enough to close my eyes on the ground and take a nap. ”

"I don't know how long it took. Maybe a few hours? Maybe a few minutes, I was woken up. When I woke up, it was almost dawn, and my comrades around me were silently munching bread or enjoying the last cigarette before the end of this rare and peaceful morning. ”

Soon, the order from above came down. The submachine gun group set off first, followed by us riflemen. What unfolds before us is a hellish scene, and as far as the eye can see, the only thing left is a pile of rubble, and a few walls stand listlessly there. It's as if a gust of wind can blow them down, and the Ivan guards this hell."

"Just when I was terrified, suddenly there was a loud burst of gunfire, and the enemy's machine guns suddenly rang out intensively: one, two, three...... The onslaught of the mortar blasted large chunks of dirt into the air. Prompted by enemy fire, we began to charge at full speed, and from time to time someone tripped in the crater under our feet, then got up and buried our head and continued to charge until the next time we tripped again. ”

"I fell behind very quickly, the high-intensity fighting for several days on a row used up most of my physical strength, and as soon as I started running, I felt weak under my feet, and then I felt black and starry in front of me. Just as I was about to fall, the explosion of a mortar shell splashed me with mud and knocked me off with a fight. ”

"When I fell to the ground, I gasped for breath and even wanted to just close my eyes and sleep. At this moment, a voice came from the front, and I tried to look up, and there was a gray shadow speeding by not far ahead. Soon a gunshot exploded in my ears and almost deafened my ears. As I struggled to raise my gun and search for the enemy, the gunfire suddenly stopped again. This eerie silence couldn't help but hold my breath, and at that moment, the whole company was lying in the field, and we were isolated! ”

"I could see the brothers in the company quickly re-firing, but I couldn't see exactly what they were fighting, and as a Stalin organ (Katyusha rocket) exploded between them, they sprinted forward like horses with a whip on the buttocks!"

"We were panting and sweeping through the pile of rubble, but the Ivan were all gone, and then the main force of the battalion came up, and then we continued to move forward, to the next pile of rubble...... Gunshots rang out in the neighborhood, and we searched every inch of rubble, only to unexpectedly find a dozen Russian civilians in a rare well-preserved cellar, and these poor fellows trembled with fear. It's just that we didn't find a living Ivan, not even a shadow. ”

"Just when I thought I could take it easy, Ivan's fire suddenly became fierce. The overwhelming artillery fire rained down like hail, and many of our unprepared brothers were blown to pieces, and we had to hurry away from the too 'empty' ground and return the way we came. But Ivan's cannonballs looked like eyes, heavy artillery shells whistled over our heads, and the ground trembled! ”

"Thankfully, before being torn to shreds by Ivan's heavy artillery. I ducked back into cover and picked up a life. The only regret is that all the fruits of our day's hard work and desperate assault have been lost. Sitting in the cellar before last night's departure, everyone squatted together and smoked, all of them were silent, and we were all worried: will tomorrow's battle be the same as today's? ”

However, Manstein's side remained cautiously optimistic, believing that Zhukov would not last long, according to the results he received. In just a few days, Zhukov's Fifth Army will shed its last drop of blood.

According to a joint report from Manstein and Moder received from the German High Command on July 3 after the war, "the enemy's positions at Konotop have been completely wiped out by our fierce offensive...... During the three-day battle, more than 4,000 enemy soldiers were killed and more than 700 were captured. 90 tanks were destroyed and 334 artillery pieces were destroyed or captured......"

Among them, Manstein's 11th Army alone claimed to have "destroyed and captured 71 tanks, 45 artillery pieces, 134 anti-tank guns, and confirmed the killing of 2,069 enemy troops." An estimated 850 people were killed and 537 captured. ”

Even the German war correspondents, in their reports from the front, wrote triumphantly: "Once again, the Russians have learned the power of our young soldiers. And the Russian veterans were shocked, even if they had artillery, armored forces and air support, they were no match for us! ”

Was Zhukov's loss so great? It cannot be ruled out that the Germans exaggerated their gains, but objectively speaking, under the siege of two armies, Zhukov's losses were indeed relatively large, according to the data released by the Fifth Army after the Battle of Kursk. A total of 8,800 people were killed and wounded in the fighting.

However, the German side saw only the losses of the Red Army and avoided talking about the losses on their own side. According to the chief of staff of the post-war 11th Army, Fretz. "The 11th Army suffered 2,989 casualties in this battle, including 413 killed and 202 vehicles lost," Clamayr's report recorded. 75 artillery pieces, 60 anti-tank guns, another 57 vehicles were damaged. ”

Note that this is only the casualty report of the 11th Army under the 11th Army, which reported a total of 10,875 casualties during the operation, according to the statistical reports of the 9th and 11th armies after the end of the battle. As for the loss of other vehicles and weapons, due to some technical reasons, the damage report could not be found. In other words, Zhukov's Fifth Army still inflicted heavy casualties on Manstein and Moder.

Of course, casualties are secondary, no matter how big the casualties are, as long as Manstein and Moder complete their mission, knock Zhukov away and save Paulus from the fire pit, it will be considered a success.

So did the Germans do this? Hehe, don't look at the German war correspondents' boasting that they have wiped out all the enemy forces. But in reality, Zhukov's troops were not eradicated, but continued to firmly control the north of Konotop, and cut off the railway and land lines of communication so tightly that Paulus did not even want to escape from here!

Of course, Paulus did not know this at this time, and he continued to retreat to Konotop as originally planned, and on July 2, the third day of Paulus's retreat, an eerie silence hung over the Kursk battlefield. The Germans wrote in their war diaries: "The Kursk front remained as it was, and the Russians did not perceive the retreat of our troops. ”

However, Guderian scoffed at this statement, and as the former commander of the Paulus cluster and the new chief of the armored forces, he inspected his troops again by plane, and after returning to Berlin, he wrote in his diary: "This is the last silence before the storm!" ”

Yes, Guderian was not at all right when he said that Ubolevich had already completed all the preparations, and a battle destined to go down in history was about to begin!

On July 4, according to the original battle plan, the field artillery of the Red Army began to shell the German troops blocking the Kursk front line, nearly two thousand guns opened fire at the same time, and the shells fired directly completely submerged the German positions!

When raining shells fell on German positions. The German non-commissioned officers immediately shouted with all their might: "Alarm! Get into cover now! ）”。 The panicked German soldiers covered their ears and opened their mouths wide to stick their bodies to the ground, and some of the recruits even vomited because the vibration was so violent.

After the artillery fire stopped, the Red Army infantry formed an attacking column of about 500 to 1,500 men, supported by tanks and the Fifth Air Army, and began to attack. For the rest of the day, the fighting continued in a fierce manner, and the German combat diary recorded: "The enemy offensive was unusually fierce. A considerable part of the defense line was occupied by the enemy, but fortunately, the main body of the defense line was still in the hands of our army. In the turn of the day, the enemy's air and artillery attacks became more intense, especially at night, when the enemy's breakthrough appeared unstoppable, and the regiments suffered heavy losses under heavy artillery and mortar strikes. On the third day, the enemy's offensive intensified, and a large number of T-54s appeared on the front of our line of defense ......"

Paulus's remaining blocking forces held out for six days (from 30 June), and they were about one-third the size of his group. Let's be honest. When he learned the news, he was shocked. Because according to his original estimate, these blocking troops can hold out for at least half a month. And half a month was enough time for him to retreat to Konotop with the main force, but now, only six days, the blocking line collapsed, and this little time was simply not enough for him!

Paulus was faced with the dilemma of remaining part of his troops to continue to block. Or do you retreat to Klotop regardless of it?

This is a very serious issue, and the troops continue to fall behind. It is very likely that these troops left behind are still meat buns and dogs. And considering the worst situation, what if the troops of the second wave of blocking do not have much time to fight? Wouldn't that be stupid enough to let the enemy break through each one!

Paulus had to think about this, and as soon as the worst case scenario arose, he would become a sinner in Germany, which he could not accept in any way. Well, since blocking is not a good idea. Then let's not block it, and just flee towards Konotop!

Is this possible? As long as people with a little military knowledge know that this is absolutely not possible, how fast can a hundred thousand troops act together? Unless you throw away all the heavy equipment and logistical baggage in disregard, this can be slightly faster. But the problem is. Does this escape make sense?

Look at Dunkirk, the British Expeditionary Force is this way of escaping, after returning to Britain, these troops have almost no combat effectiveness to speak of, that is, the Royal Navy controls the sea dominance, so that the German army can not land on the British Isles, otherwise, it will be hanged.

Paulus is the same here, the forces under his control can be said to be the best strength of the German army, and a considerable part of the armored forces of Army Group Center and Army Group South are here with him, what is the point if there are only a few large numbers of troops left to run back?

Moreover, after the loss of these valuable armored forces, the German army basically had no ability to attack and assault in Belarus and Ukraine, which was basically equivalent to the complete destruction of Hitler's strategic plan, let alone ending the war in 1942, and there was no play in 1943.

At that time, he Paulus was a sinner, and if he fled back, he would be shot by the Führer, or at least he would not have ended better than Guderian. Paulus didn't want to lose his chances, so in the end, he had only one choice, and that was to continue to divide his forces to block the attack.

Another part of the German army was left behind, but their situation was worse than that of the first group of blocking troops. Fortunately, the first batch of blocking troops still has a ready-made defensive line, which can be defended on the spot, and at most it is necessary to strengthen the position. And what about them? Had to dig trenches and repair fortifications from scratch, and this was easy for the hungry and tired Germans?

"It's not easy at all, for us, it's not just staying that is equal to death, after all, we have all seen the end of the last batch of blocking troops. What's more, most of the supplies and ammunition have been left for the first batch of blocking troops, and there are not many supplies left in the cluster, which means that we have to resist the menacing Russian army in the absence of ammunition and food, do you think this is easy? ”

The morale of the German troops who were left behind to stop the Red Army was low and panicked, and there were even many desertions at one point, which was simply inconceivable for the German army, which had always been known for its willpower and obedience.

Paulus later recalled: "In an extremely bad situation, I had to make a very difficult and painful decision...... It's not hard for me to imagine that in the future, even if the empire wins this war, I will inevitably be nailed to the pillar of shame...... There is no future anymore......"

At that moment, Paulus was very depressed, he had no confidence in the future, even if he said that Germany still had hope of winning the war, but his tone was very uncertain, and it was more likely that he was more pessimistic about whether Germany could still win the war...... (To be continued.) )

PS: Bow and thank you to llkkjjllkkjj, Bao Kuroko, Spike Potato, GUNDAM0080, hzwangdd and Comrade Juventus!