Ubolevich's so-called wisdom is actually to lure the enemy deeper. In his opinion, fighting this Battle of Kursk is like fishing for a big fish, if the fish is hooked, don't lift the line immediately, you have to put a long line, you have to fight a war of attrition with the big fish little by little, and the energy of the big fish will be almost exhausted before you can pull it up.

So after commending the performance of the 38th Army and Konev at the first stage, he ordered: "Now we have in front of us a big fish that is very vigilant, and it is easy to scare the fish away if we continue to be tough against tough." So Ivan. Comrade Spantenovitsy, I ask that your army group can begin to show weakness to the enemy, lure the main forces of the enemy army to the vicinity of Kursk little by little, and create an opportunity for the main forces of the front army to rush to the battlefield to fight a war of annihilation! ”

This task is not light, Konev also saw it, Guderian is obviously not strong in combat determination, and it is very likely that he will escape at any time, if he is allowed to escape, then this war of annihilation will naturally become empty.

Is it so easy to lure the enemy deeper? It is difficult to show the enemy weakness without really retreating, not to mention that the opponent he has to face is an old fox like Guderian, and the slightest mistake and being caught by the other party may cause a chain reaction.

This task was really difficult, but Konev took it without saying a word, and he, like Ubolevich, had to prove himself, after all, he, the commander of the army group, seemed to be "not coming from the right way" and gave people the feeling of being promoted through the back door. He can just use this battle to prove his ability and shut the mouths of those who say strange things.

After returning to the headquarters of the 38th Army, he immediately convened a meeting of the three army commanders under his command to discuss and finally made the following arrangements. The 78th Infantry Corps, which held out in the first line, gradually began to retreat. With the cooperation of the 60th Tank Division, he retreated behind the 79th Infantry Corps to rest and build a third line of defense.

Konev's request was: "Be flustered and not distracted." Let the enemy think that we can't hold it anymore, that we are running away. However, the formation of the army is absolutely not allowed to be chaotic, especially not self-defeating! ”

In order to paralyze the German army and make the Germans think that the 78th Infantry Army was really retreating, at the request of Konev, Rybalko's 60th Tank Division would also carry out a counterattack, making the illusion of forcing the Germans to cover the retreat of the infantry.

At the same time, of course. Konev also issued a directive to the 48th Mechanized Corps, requiring the 61st Tank Division and the 105th Mechanized Division of the army to be ready to respond, and once the 78th Infantry Corps was really panicked when it retreated, then they must immediately go up to ensure that the army smoothly withdrew from the line of fire.

"Pavel. Semenovich (Rebalko), or your luck! You can take the initiative and the German guy hard! "The commander of the 61st Tank Division, Rots Mitrov, was very envious of Rybalko's good fortune, he had been engaged in military education before, and he had no chance to fight the Germans, and to be honest, he was a little impatient.

Rebalko smiled bitterly: "Pavel. Alexievich, do you think the work is simple? I'm going to push the Germans back. You can't really scare them away, what's that called! ”

Katukov was also a little unaccustomed to Rybalko's chicken thief behavior. quipped: "You're cheap and good, do you want us to change it!" ”

Suddenly, Rebalko shook his head again and again, it was easy to have a chance to go to the battlefield, how could he let it out, although this battle was not easy to fight, but it was not easy to fight, the harder it was to fight, the more it could reflect his Rebalko's ability No.

Vatujing quietly looked at the three division commanders under his command, to be honest, he was a little envious, if he could, he also wanted to personally lead the 61st Tank Division to entertain the German devils, he had really waited for too long at this moment. However, he is now a military commander, and Konev requires him to have the appearance of a military commander, not to think about being a pioneer all the time, but to coordinate the overall situation.

Of course, Vatuin didn't like the job, and sometimes he really wanted to swap with Rybalko, how nice it felt to charge in a tank!

I have to say that Li Xiaofeng really takes too good care of Konev, don't look at him as just a small group army commander, but there are a lot of elite soldiers and strong generals under his command. Take the 48th Mechanized Army as an example, the commander Vatutin is a fierce man, and he can be regarded as the most skilled general in the Red Army to play armored assault, if it is not unfortunately killed, a Soviet marshal will not be able to escape.

Not only is Vatujing very strong, but the three division commanders of the 48th Mechanized Army are also bulls. Rybalko was later the commander of the 3rd Guards Tank Army, and he was the first to break through to Berlin.

Rotmistrov was no worse either, this was later the commander of the Fifth Guards Tank Army, and in the Battle of Kursk, he performed quite well.

As for Katukov, this was later the commander of the 1st Guards Tank Army, who fought from Moscow to Berlin and was known as the "Slippery Tank General". This is not an ordinary Soviet-style fierce general, he attaches great importance to the casualties of his troops, and will do everything possible to both strike the enemy and protect himself. For this reason, in the Battle of Berlin, he and Zhukov had a complete falling out, and finally they were suppressed and had no will.

Of course, Katukov's talent is unquestionable, and like the above two, he belongs to one of the strongest generals in the armored forces of the Red Army. Especially if you have to take into account that Katukov had only one kidney during the Great Patriotic War, and his health was not good, which is all the more rare. And Katukov's character is also good, after the end of the Great Patriotic War, he was deprived of the honor he deserves because of Zhukov's relationship, and it stands to reason that Zhukov should be hated, but when Zhukov fell, this man did not gloat and fall into the well like everyone else.

Let's take a look, Li Xiaofeng directly threw all the fierce men to Konev, which is to make it clear that he wants to let the old science and technology shine, in other words, if these cattle cooperate, Konev will not be able to make a name for himself, then it is really in vain.

On 30 April, Rybalko and the 60th Tank Division came out of the spur and collided head-on with the Germans, concentrating 240 tanks and charging from two directions towards the center of the battlefield. And this was the first tank battle that broke out in Kursk.

Head-on with the 60th Tank Division was the 2nd SS Panzer Division, also known as the Reich Division. The division is equipped with the more advanced No. 4 F2 tanks. Although compared with other armored units of the German army, it is relatively advanced. But compared to the T-60A equipped with the 35th Tank Division. The performance is still a big step behind.

At this time, the T-35A was replaced with a 100-mm smoothbore gun that the original T-54 was equipped with. The turret armor was also strengthened to 90 mm, and the bow of the hull was 60 mm (30 degrees inclination, equivalent to 120 mm), which basically resisted the attack of the Pzgr.Ptr.39 shells fired by the KWK4075 mm tank gun of the No. 4 tank gun from a distance of 500 meters.

So in this battle, the Germans suffered greatly, let's see how the German tankmen recalled: "I ordered the driver to stop the tanks, although according to the order of the company commander we should continue to advance until the Russians' positions are crushed." But just now. I saw through the binoculars a large group of T-35s coming out of the Russians' positions, well, at least it looked like a T-35, because it was much more beautiful than the T-34 with a turret that was too far up in the turret, and its characteristic pot-shaped turret was very recognizable. ”

"It's not the first time I've worked with the T-35, overall it's about the same performance as the T-34, and if nothing else, my tank can easily destroy it from 1,500 meters away! So I ordered the driver to stop, the gunner could aim well, and then kill all the Russians little by little! ”

"I'm not nervous at all. Even if the enemy does have quite a lot of tanks, there are more than a dozen of them by any count. But I trusted the KWK40 tank gun very much, and the battalion commander told us that by firing live ammunition at the Russian tank, neither the T-34 nor the T-35 could block its thunderous blow! ”

"Gunner John was also in good shape today, grazing the turret of a Russian tank with the first shot fired. I believe that after some corrections, John will be able to achieve results today! After a few seconds, when the loader stuffed another armor-piercing shell into the chamber, John couldn't wait to open fire! ”

"There was a boom, and the hull was shaking, which fully shows how powerful our new main gun is. Of course, even more powerful is John, this shot hit! All of a sudden, everyone in the crew began to cheer, and I could even hear the turret clattering again, and it was clear that John was ready to turn the muzzle to aim at the second target! ”

"'Damn it, stop!' I didn't immediately look for the next prey like John, but continued to look at the T-35 that should have been destroyed, and it turned out badly, the T-35 was still advancing, and a shot on the turret didn't seem to have any effect on it, so I let out the roar above! ”

John soon realized that the enemy had not been destroyed, and he quickly turned the cannon back, muttering and cursing, presumably complaining and cursing the Russians. Soon the hull shook again, and another armor-piercing bullet whistled out of the chamber, once again smearing the Russian tank in the face. This time, we didn't celebrate in advance, and who knows if the outcome will be good or bad? ”

"It turned out badly, the damn Russian tanks are still unscathed! This greatly dampened our morale, and even more so cast great doubt on the real performance of the KWK40 tank gun boasted by the superiors. ”

The ensuing battle was an ordeal for all the German tankers, who basically fired from a distance of around 1,500 meters, but failed to destroy a single Soviet tank when the distance was reduced to 1,000 meters. Some of the grumpy German tankmen have already begun to curse their mothers.

However, the suffering of the German tankers was not over, from 1,000 to 800 meters, they continued to fire tirelessly, but consumed a large number of armor-piercing shells without achieving any results. According to the reaction of the side of the Red Army, during this armored assault, a significant part of the T-35A was hit at least five times, and the largest of them was hit thirteen times. But to the despair of the Germans and the awakening of the Red Army soldiers, not a single T-35A was shot through the main armor during this period.

At a distance of about eight hundred meters, the long-dormant tank assault group of the Red Army began to return fire, and the 100-mm medium-chambered smoothbore gun had a decent hit rate only at this distance, and to be honest, the fighters generally did not like this artillery, calling it a toothpick equipped for heavy knights.

Of course, this is definitely not a problem with the power of the 100-mm smoothbore gun, which fired armor-piercing shells that could destroy all the existing tanks of the German army. Even the Tiger tanks, which the Germans had not yet equipped, could not stop their thunderous blow. The only problem is. The accuracy of this gun was too poor. Quite a few times it's just attacking the air.

The Germans also experienced this, recalling: "Compared to the solidity of the Russian tanks, the Russian gunners were really terrible in their marksmanship, and most of their attacks were mosquito fights." Even if we don't move, it's hard for them to hit us. The only problem, of course, is that we can hit them and there is no ......."

Both German and Russian tankmen on the battlefield probably had the idea that the best tank was a Russian tank equipped with German artillery. It's a perfect match.

Of course, Russia is not without better artillery, for example, the D-34T5 mm tank, which is being prepared to be equipped on the T-85, is fine, at least the accuracy is much stronger than the 100 slip. The General Armament Department and the Directorate of Armored Forces even suggested that the D-5T should also be moved to the T-35, but it was not possible for the time being due to the capacity constraints of the D-5T.

However, NORINCO was not idle, they were well aware of the problems of the 100-mm medium-chambered smoothbore gun, but this gun was originally an expedient measure and an excessive product. Since 1940, NORINCO has been tackling key problems with 100 mm high-bore pressure smoothbore guns, and according to the results of the test firing of the sample gun, the muzzle velocity of this gun has been greatly improved. With the newly developed sub-caliber shell-piercing projectile, the accuracy has been qualitatively improved, and it can at least ensure that the attack can be launched at about 1,200 meters.

Back to the battle itself. The situation began to change when the tanks of the two armies approached about 800 meters, and although the KWK40 was still unlikely to penetrate the frontal armor of the T-35A, it was able to penetrate its side armor. And under the strong call of the tank crew, the artifact 88 gun, which has not appeared for a long time, has also shown its skills again, and it can still penetrate the T-35A.

What followed was a veritable scuffle, with tanks being destroyed and gunfire and shelling filling the ears of soldiers on both sides. However, although the German resistance was fierce, the blow of Rybalko was indeed too fierce, and the oppressive force caused by 200 tanks was unimaginable, at least the SS Second Reich Panzer Division had not experienced such pressure on the Eastern Front, and after an hour of fierce fighting, the Germans began to release smoke and immediately retreated.

Rybalko did not pursue recklessly, and after chasing for several kilometers, and after clearing the German positions, he began to organize a retreat. At the same time, Guderian received news of a large-scale offensive by the Red Army.

At that time, the first thought of the tank monster was: "Could it be that the Russians have concentrated their forces so quickly, and they are preparing to encircle and annihilate me?" ”

To be honest, he was taken aback, bounced straight out of his chair and asked, "How many troops has the enemy invested and how is it going?" ”

When he learned that the Red Army had invested about 200 tanks in the first wave, the tension and urgency intensified, and a few days before he had tried to retreat, thinking that there was no point in continuing Operation Avalanche, but he would not listen. This time, the Red Army has begun a large-scale counterattack, which shows that the Red Army is ready to fight a war of annihilation, and at this moment there can be no more hesitation, and it must retreat quickly!

Without consulting Paulus, Guderian again sent a telegram to the headquarters of Army Group Center, the General Staff and the Wolf's Lair, exaggerating the scale and significance of the Red Army's attack and strongly demanding an immediate retreat.

And his telegram naturally caused great displeasure among the General Staff and the Wolf's Lair, but at that time they did not dare to rashly condemn Guderian, what if someone was really right? So Halder immediately contacted Paulus to ask what was going on. At the same time, the mustache also ordered the Air Force to immediately go to Kursk for reconnaissance.

It should be said that the result was not very favorable for Guderian. Because after the initial panic, the German army quickly regained its foothold, and the reconnaissance troops also reacted, and the Russian army, which was still rushing forward in the morning, was retreating!

So when Paulus replied to Halder in the afternoon: "The scale of the Russian attack in the morning is indeed relatively large, and it belongs to the large-scale assault operation of the Russian army since the beginning of the war." But through reconnaissance in the afternoon, it can be considered that this attack was only the beginning of a series of retreat actions of the Russian army. The enemy forced back our tank units by armored assault, and the main purpose was to cover the retreat of the infantry to Kursk! ”

At the same time, the reconnaissance report of the Air Force also showed that the troops of the Russian army on the first line of Kursk were retreating in a panic, and a large number of troops were pouring towards the city of Kursk. And the city of Kursk is also in chaos, and it is not ruled out that the Russian army may abandon Kursk and continue to retreat!

Paulus's judgment and the air force's reconnaissance made Hitler furious, who scolded Guderian in his office for an hour, and after finally venting his anger, he categorically ordered: "The armored group must unswervingly attack in the direction of Kursk and chase down the fleeing Russian troops as quickly as possible." Don't hesitate at all, you have to give it your all! ”

Although there was not a single word criticizing Guderian in this order, the Fuhrer's characteristic anger was evident between the lines. Obviously, his patience with Guderian has reached a threshold, and if Guderian does not act according to his orders, the consequences will be very bad.

So what was the mood on Guderian's side? It should be said that the tank monster was very disappointed, in fact, he deliberately made a big fuss in the morning, and he also knew that the Russian army was unlikely to be so fast, and it was deliberately putting pressure on the General Staff and the wolf's den, just to get them to agree to retreat. However, Paulus dropped the chain there, and this general who was too loyal to the Führer ruined Guderian's big business, so when Guderian received strict orders from the General Staff and the Wolf's Lair, he was also quite dissatisfied with Paulus's non-cooperation...... (To be continued......)

PS: Bow down and thank you to Nirvana, Chuanliu Huagui, GUNDAM0080, HZWANGDD and Juventus!