The 2nd Waffen-SS Panzer Army, advancing towards the Prokhorovka area, met with stubborn resistance from the Soviet troops. As the vanguard of the "Flag Guards Division", in the Battle of Kharkov at the beginning of the year, it single-handedly defeated several Soviet Guards Divisions, and it was an armored division with extremely strong combat effectiveness that made the Soviet Army talk about it.

However, in order to block the "Banner Guard Division" advancing along the road to the Prokhorovka area, the Soviet commanders and fighters who blocked along the way paid a great price, and they used all the weapons they could use to destroy the German tanks.

Although the Flag Guards Division advanced 40 kilometers in one day, they also paid a lot of casualties, and there were only 70 tanks left in the division. A state farm on the edge of Prokhorovka was occupied by the Germans as early as noon, but the fighting of the surviving Soviet commanders and fighters on the farm continued into the night.

When Vatutin heard that the vanguard of the German army had reached the vicinity of Prokhorovka, he immediately panicked, and he hurriedly asked the chief of staff, Ivanov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, do we have any troops near the farm, transfer them over, and resolutely block the German attack." ”

"The 9th Guards Paratrooper Division, about five kilometers from the farm." Ivanov replied: "They lack heavy weapons and will have a hard time dealing with the armored forces of the Germans." See if you order them to temporarily retreat to a new line of defense, where they will build fortifications for defense. ”

"No, no, no." As soon as Ivanov's words came out, he was met with resolute opposition from Vatutin: "Not only must they not retreat, but they must immediately counterattack the German troops occupying the farm, and they must take it back from the enemy before dawn." ”

Hearing this order from Vatutin, Ivanov was a little dumbfounded. After a while, he calmed down and said euphemistically to Vatutin: "Comrade commander, I have already said that this unit is a lightly armed division and has no heavy weapons, and if it does not retreat to the follow-up defense line of our army, they will not be able to stop the German attack at all, let alone counterattack. ”

"Alright, Comrade Chief of Staff, you don't have to say any more." Vatutin stubbornly said: "You immediately send a telegram to the 9th Guards Paratrooper Division, ordering them to immediately organize forces to counterattack the German troops occupying the farm, and be sure to take the farm from the enemy's hands before dawn." ”

Seeing Ivanov standing still and not moving, Vasilevsky, who had remained silent, spoke: "Comrade Chief of Staff, didn't you hear the order from the commander?" In order to convince the other side, he continued, "If we do not counterattack, the Germans, after having been well rested, will advance in depth to the Prokhorovka area tomorrow, and if they approach the city of Prokhorovka before the arrival of the 5th Guards Tank Army, then our line is in danger of being cut apart by the Germans, so we must slow down their advance." ”

Seeing that Vasilevsky also said this, Ivanov could only say helplessly: "I understand, Comrade Marshal, it seems that a counter-assault is completely necessary, and I will immediately send a telegram to the 9th Guards Paratrooper Division, ordering them to take the farm from the enemy overnight." ”

"Wait a minute, Comrade Chief of Staff." Just as Ivanov was about to send a telegram to the commander of the paratrooper division, Khrushchev, who had been ignored by everyone, walked to the map and said to everyone: "Comrades commanders, although the Germans have occupied the state farms, we must not act blindly, otherwise we will not achieve any goal except for paying huge casualties." ”

For this military commissar of the Voronezh Front, even Vasilevsky wanted to give him three points, after all, the importance of the other party in Stalin's mind far exceeded his own, so he politely asked: "Then tell me, what should we do now?" Comrade Khrushchev. ”

"Commanders, please come here and look at the map." Khrushchev pointed to the map and said: "To the northeast and north of the state farm, there are heights 241.6 and 252.2, respectively, and my idea is that the commanders and fighters of the Guards Paratrooper Division will quickly occupy these two heights and stop the German army from advancing on the road." What do you think? ”

"Comrade Military Commissar, your idea is fantastic." The first to speak was Chief of Staff Ivanov, who pointed to the location of the two heights and said excitedly: "As long as the Guards Paratrooper Division builds a solid defense here, then the German armored forces will have to take a lot of trouble if they want to continue to advance north." I agree with the Comrade Military Commissar that the paratrooper division should immediately occupy these two heights. ”

"Comrade Chief of the General Staff," seeing that his military commissar and chief of staff had reached an agreement, Vatutin asked Vasilevsky somewhat helplessly: "What is your opinion?" Will it be a counterattack overnight, or will troops be sent to occupy two heights? ”

After weighing the two plans in his heart, Vasilevsky said: "Marshal Zhukov reminded us in the phone call just now that the German army is trying to occupy the city of Prokhorovka in order to achieve the goal of breaking through our defenses and dividing our front. Therefore, it is necessary to take all necessary measures to slow down the advance of the German army.

The plan put forward by Comrade Vatutin is a common tactic of our army, but judging from the results, it is not ideal. On the contrary, I am more inclined to the plan put forward by Comrade Khrushchev to occupy the high ground and establish defensive positions. ”

"Comrade Chief of the General Staff, since you also think so, then act in accordance with the plan put forward by Comrade Military Commissar." Seeing that everyone except himself agreed to the plan of occupying the heights and holding on, Vatutin decisively abandoned his counterattack plan and instructed Ivanov: "Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, since our opinion has been unified, then you immediately send a telegram to the commander of the paratrooper division and ask him to immediately send elite troops to occupy the two commanding heights near the farm." ”

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After dawn, when the Banner Guards continued to advance, when they reached the vicinity of Heights 241.6, they were suddenly attacked by Soviet mortars, and an armored vehicle was directly hit, and several German soldiers, covered in fire, stumbled out of the burning vehicle. He didn't run a few steps, and he fell to the ground motionless.

After the attack, the German tanks discovered that there were Soviet defensive positions on the hillside, and quickly stopped their advance, turned their guns and fired at the positions on the hillside. Tank shells exploded in front and behind the Soviet positions, scattering the dirt into the trenches and covering the Soviet commanders and fighters hiding inside.

When the tanks were shelling the hillside positions, the German infantry jumped out of the armored vehicles or trucks, formed a battle formation, put the butts of their guns against their bellies, and bent down to charge up the hillside.

"The Germans are coming up." Seeing the German infantry rushing up, the Soviet observer in the trench immediately shouted loudly, but his voice was drowned out by the explosion of shells, and no one except for a few fighters nearby heard his shouts at all.

Seeing that the nearest enemy had reached a distance of 100 meters, and that it only took a dozen or twenty meters to rush to the front of the trench, the observer did not care about his own safety, stood up straight, picked up a machine gun next to him, and fired at the enemy who rushed up.

The German officers and soldiers who were approaching the trench did not expect that a Soviet soldier with a light machine gun would suddenly emerge from the trench, and before they could come to their senses, four or five soldiers had already fallen under the sound of gunfire. The remaining German officers and soldiers immediately lay down on the spot and fired back.

The Soviet observer had just finished firing a round of bullets, and before he could replace the round one, several bullets hit him in the forehead and chest. The machine gun in his hand landed on the ground with a snap, and then fell on his back into the trench.

Although the battle conducted by the observers lasted only half a minute, it made more Soviet commanders and fighters aware of the danger that was approaching. Ignoring the incessant bombardment of the German tank guns, they allowed the earth kicked up by the blast to crackle on their bodies, and they lay on their own firing positions and opened fire on the German soldiers who rushed up.

The German attack was repulsed, but this did not mean that they lost the ability to attack. The commander of the Banner Guards Division, Theodor Wiesch, learned that his troops were being blocked by the Soviets on their way forward, and immediately called the artillery commander and ordered him to bombard the Soviet defensive positions with heavy artillery.

The Soviet defensive positions were repaired overnight, not reinforced with logs, and under the heavy artillery fire of the German army, large sections of trenches were destroyed by artillery fire, and the Soviet commanders and fighters in these places were either buried in the mud or crushed in the explosion.

After the German artillery bombardment ended, they saw that there was silence on the Soviet positions, but the attacking infantry still carefully advanced to the top of the slope with the help of the cover of the crater. When they were still more than ten meters away from the position, the Soviet position was still quiet, as if all the defenders had been killed in the shelling just now.

At this moment, a "native man" stood up from the empty soil that had been loosened by the shells, carried a bag of explosives emitting white smoke, and rushed directly into the ranks of the German troops. After a loud bang, the soldiers were blown to the bones, and the German officers and soldiers near the blast site also fell. Some died on the spot, while others were blown off their hands and feet or through their stomachs, and fell to the ground screaming heartbreakingly.

The German officers and men were frightened by the fearless sacrifice of the Soviet soldiers, and they were afraid that the same Soviet soldier would emerge from somewhere, so they hurriedly hid in the crater, strafed the broken trenches that were already empty, and threw two grenades from time to time, in an attempt to eliminate the Soviet commanders and fighters hiding in the dirt.

Division Commander Theodor Wiesch, who was staying on the state farm, saw through his binoculars that after an explosion, his soldiers suddenly stopped advancing and instead lay on their stomachs and kept shooting and dropping bombs at the empty Soviet trenches. He turned to his chief of staff and said: "Call the commander of the grenadier regiment and ask him what the hell is going on, why his troops stopped in front of the Russians and did not continue to advance?" ”

The commander of the grenadier regiment received a call from the division headquarters and immediately ordered an adjutant to run up the hill to convey his order to let the troops occupy the position on the top of the hill as soon as possible.

After the herald had conveyed the order to the commander on the hillside, the German officers and soldiers lying on the ground reluctantly got up and continued to cautiously enter the Soviet positions in search of survivors.

But to the good news of the German officers and soldiers, after searching the entire position, they found a single survivor. Seeing this situation, the German commander was so angry that he wanted to scold his mother, but a surviving Russian soldier killed several people with an explosive pack, and he was so frightened that his entire battalion of troops lay on the hillside and did not dare to advance.

The German commander confirmed that there was no longer a Soviet presence on this height, and sent a signal of safety to the tank units below the hillside, signaling that they could continue to advance along the road.

The tanks that had stopped at the foot of the hill restarted and continued to move forward in a line-up. Just after moving forward for about a kilometer, suddenly another explosion sounded, and the track of the leading tank was blown off by an anti-tank mine planted by the Soviet troops. There was no way, the German tank column could only stop and wait for the sappers behind to come up and clear them of the mines laid by the Soviet troops.

Before the sappers arrived, there was another dense burst of gunfire on the hillside. On the north side of the hillside, hundreds of Soviet commanders and fighters suddenly appeared and launched a counterattack against the Germans on the hillside. The German troops, who were still cleaning the battlefield, saw that on the other side of the hillside, countless Soviet troops suddenly appeared, and they immediately panicked, some of them lay down on the spot and shot, and some of them scurried around like headless flies.

The German commander brandished his pistol, hoping that his men would immediately stop the attacking Soviet troops, but to no avail. Instead, he was knocked to the ground by a panicked soldier, and before he could get up, countless feet had already stepped on his body, trampled him to the ground, rolled his eyes, and fainted.

The commander of the grenadier regiment was furious when he saw that there had been another unexpected change on the hillside. He picked up the microphone and shouted at the tank battalion that was still parked on the side of the road waiting for demining: "Tank battalion, do you see the Russians on the hillside?" I command you to destroy them immediately with artillery fire. ”

As soon as the order was given, the German tanks moved again, and they adjusted their positions one after another, choosing the best angle of fire. By the time they had done this, however, the Soviets had rushed up the hillside, tangled with the German infantry, leaving the tankers unable to open fire.

The Soviet commanders and fighters who were fighting with the Germans on the hillside also discovered this situation, so they continued to engage in white-knuckle combat with the German infantry on the hillside, so that the German tanks at the foot of the hill did not dare to open fire easily, so as to achieve the goal of delaying time as much as possible.