Guderian knew that Zhukov had gone south, and the transfer of troops at this level was completed in such a hurry, and he couldn't hide it from anyone at all. What can be hidden more or less is the number of troops going south, what kind of composition they will make -- and what exactly the Soviet Union wants to do this time.

The simplest means of self-protection adopted by the Soviet army on this way south was to go out by day and night. Although this method made it difficult for the Germans to reconnoitre, it also caused problems for the Soviets themselves, whose southward movement was extremely slow, and there was really no surprise to the Germans who already knew that some of the Soviets were heading south.

So Army Group G did not rush north, but stationed itself in the south-west of Kursk. They were waiting for the Soviet army to move south to prepare for a battle to be fought at ease, and they were also waiting for Stalingrad behind them to decide a winner, after all, having a solid rear is the foundation of the offensive.

The Belgorod region had already been occupied by the Germans, and Guderian's vanguard had already moved north along the banks of the Don River, occupying almost all of Voronezh Oblast, and was only a few days away from Voronezh, the capital of Voronezh Oblast.

"The Soviets left Moscow and headed south, and it seems that they have already made their own judgment. It seems that the matter of our Army Group A's lack of fuel finally leaked, or rather...... Our Mr. Stalin felt that Stalingrad and Baku were more important than the capital, Moscow. Guderian looked at the southward movement of the Soviet army, which was marked in more and more detail on the map, and said to his chief of staff: "How are our troops resting?"

The chief of staff nodded, and told Guderian about some of the rest of the troops he knew: "We did not encounter fierce resistance from the enemy during the attack on the Don, so the troops have maintained a high level of rest. Some units began to be equipped with King Tiger tanks, and on the whole our advantage was very obvious. ”

"Well, the 502nd Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalion, which was temporarily operating with the 3rd SS Panzer Division, is now following the SS units and is stationed near Lisky in the rear. Guderian did not come up with his killer move, but hid all the troops newly equipped with King Tiger tanks.

After unremitting efforts, Germany finally increased the production capacity of tanks with a fully automatic assembly line, and now the production speed of Germany's King Tiger tank is very fast, which is also the main reason why the German front-line troops can be equipped with King Tiger tanks on a large scale. With this new type of tank, Accardo and his generals were confident of gaining an advantage in tank battles.

There were slight discrepancies between the current situation on the battlefield and the German plan, which were basically caused by the southward movement of the Soviet Red Army units. The Germans had planned to use Guderian's Army Group G to continue northward, capture Tambov Oblast, and threaten the Moscow line from the flank. However, now that the Soviet troops are moving south, if Army Group G continues to move north, its flanks will also be threatened, so the Germans revised their battle plan and decided to annihilate the Soviet troops in the Kursk area first, and then continue to attack north.

Therefore, the offensive plan to attack Tambov in the north was suspended, and the Germans could only deal with the Soviet Red Army that counterattacked first. The specific direction was already known, and the Soviets entered the Kursk region, which the Germans had not yet fully occupied, as fast as they could.

Don't think that the Soviet Union's ghost weather and their infrastructure construction, which is known for foolishness, only cause trouble for the Germans, in fact, Zhukov did not realize that he had pitted other people's things until such a large-scale use of his armored forces, and sooner or later he would also be pitted himself! The Soviet armored units went all the way south, and in addition to evading the interference and reconnaissance of German planes, they also had to fight against the damned road.

A heavy rain made Zhukov happy for several hours, but all his follow-up troops were stuck in the mud, and hundreds of thousands of troops advanced in the dark, and with the help of the locals, finally barely reached Kursk.

The Soviet troops were busy preparing to continue the southward war, and the Germans were not idle, and the entire German intelligence services and the reconnaissance units on the front line were very nervous, and everyone wanted to figure out the question of where the Soviets wanted to go to war and where they wanted to fight.

"Hey, hey! Yes! I am the chief of staff of the G Army, is there any news from the reconnaissance plane unit directly under the Group Army...... I need to be accurate about how many enemy troops there are and how many heavy weapons there are...... Yes, yes...... Okay, I got it. On the one hand, the chief of staff was holding the telephone, wanting to get the results from the air reconnaissance force directly under the group army, and on the other hand, a group of telegraph operators were receiving a large number of reports on the situation of various units.

"The 26th Infantry Corps has just arrived, they are exchanging fire with the Soviet army at Rogachovka, the Soviet army number is unknown, it is possible that the Soviet army is the vanguard of the south. An officer pinched the telegram in his hand and reported loudly, and a female officer directly pasted a marker representing an unknown enemy army to the corresponding position on the map.

Guderian muttered, walked over to the map and took a closer look at the location of the city: "Rogachevka...... , well, it should be about the same, it is estimated that they also want to fight us in Voronezh first, to fatigue our army, and to frustrate the spirit of our army. ”

Just behind him, another Air Force liaison officer from the headquarters was communicating with the Air Force about the specific combat plan: "Yes! I hope you can slow down the other side's southward movement by bombing railways and roads! I know you have done this, but I hope you can increase the intensity of the bombing......

I could vaguely hear that the air force officer on the other side of the earpiece was also helpless, because he was directly under the joint operations coordination department of the Eastern Front Air Force, so he did not have much aviation fuel in his hand -- most of the fuel was in the hands of the air force in the southern theater, and now it was the flight unit belonging to the central cluster that was carrying out the task of strangling the Soviet troops.

Although the Luftwaffe has expanded much more than it has historically been, it still cannot achieve coverage bombing on such a long front from Leningrad to Stalingrad, in fact, even the US Air Force in its heyday could not do it. Strategic and medium bombers, even dive bombers, were concentrated in the direction of Stalingrad and Moscow, and a small number of medium bombers did not play a decisive role in delay.

"There are only 20 DO-217 bombers that can take off here, and we will do our best to carry out the obstruction mission, but it is unknown how much it will do. On the other side of the phone, the Air Force contact finally replied.

At this time, in the busy headquarters, an officer walked behind Guderian, handed over the report of the intelligence department to his superior, and then stood up and saluted: "Long live the Führer! General! The intelligence department has confirmed the troops going south, including the 1st Guards Front, the commander of which is General Konev, a fierce general under Zhukov, and another main force of the Soviet Army that jumped out of the encirclement last time, the 3rd Guards Front...... The commander was General Vasilevsky. ”

"Hah!" Guderian showed a decisive expression: "I really look up to me Guderian, and even put two of the most elite fronts up against me." ”

He turned around and read the telegram that had been sent to him, and then he looked up and asked: "Does the Supreme Command know this information? How did the Führer draw up the battle plan? How did the General Staff plan it? Do you want me to continue to maintain an offensive posture?"

"The Supreme High Command has not given a direct order, the Führer has already ordered the General Staff to come up with a contingency plan. The officer immediately replied: "Marshal Brauchitsch is holding an urgent meeting on the matter of our present situation to discuss how to resolve the relevant problems. ”

Guderian knew that the forces that served as a barrier on his flanks were not the main German army, but the Italian expeditionary force (a small part). It was absolutely impossible to expect this group of soldiers to cooperate with the Germans to stop the Soviet attack, and they were already "very trying" if they did not lose their positions to the Soviets.

Of course, there is a Romanian unit behind this force, but this force is not a particularly reliable force, at least they lack tanks and other heavy equipment, if the Germans can't withstand the Soviet attack, then this force will be the same as the Italian troops in front of them, and will not do anything.

"Order the troops to stand by and start building a defensive line!" Guderian didn't think about it, and began to arrange the next combat mission: "We can't wait for others to come to save us, at least at this time, no one can take care of our troops." ”

He put his finger on the map and drew the shortest defensive line according to the area now under German control: "The forces of the salient are rapidly shrinking, maintaining the continuity of the battle line...... Deploy defensive lines, allocate armored forces to strengthen the depth of our defenses. Count the ammunition of the troops, choose a hidden area and set up a supply point......"

"Let the 3rd Panzer Division in the rear assemble and reinforce the Romanian troops behind, I need them to hold out for at least 48 hours while the Soviets are detouring. After Guderian finished arranging his deployment, he sighed before continuing to sigh: "Army G, which is the best at fighting offensive warfare, is going to fight a purely defensive war today. ”

"Assemble the troops! We have a new mission! Check your equipment, fuel, and ammunition! All the commanders go straight ahead to confirm the order! Move faster!" With the shouts of an officer, the German tanks that had been parked in the open space outside the village began to start their engines, and everyone began to get busy.

On the outskirts of Lisky, the most powerful armored units of the German army, receiving a new order for battle, began to march westward, which for all of them was the direction of home, a direction that they all felt close to.