After a fierce battle, the Germans occupied the 241.6 heights again, but paid a lot of casualties. At the cost of all the casualties, the Soviet commanders and fighters delayed the advance of the German Flag Guards Division to the depth of Prokhorovka by two hours.

In order to eliminate his worries, Theodor Wiesch ordered his troops to launch another attack on the Soviet-controlled heights of 252.2. The battle lasted more than an hour, and the troops of the Guards Paratrooper Division, which held here, were routed by the Germans and had to abandon their positions and retreat to the preset positions of the Soviet troops.

Upon learning that the Guards Paratrooper Division had been routed by the Germans and had to retreat, Vatutin was extremely annoyed, and he called the Chief of Staff Ivanov in front of him and said in a stern tone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I order that the tank brigades and artillery regiments deployed nearby be immediately thrown into battle, must be near the state farms, block the German attack, and absolutely not allow them to advance to the city of Prokhorovka. ”

Although Ivanov knew in his heart that the tanks equipped by his own tank brigade were different from those of the German army, throwing them into battle at this time would be tantamount to sending them to death in vain. However, since the commander had already given the order to counterattack, he, as the chief of staff, could not sing the right game, so he could only agree to it.

He sent a telegram to several tank brigades and artillery regiments stationed near the farm, ordering them to immediately launch a counterattack against the German Flag Guard Division, and even if they could not stop the Germans from continuing to rush towards Prokhorovka, they should find a way to contain them, delay time, and prepare the friendly forces on the rear line.

The commander of the tank brigade, who received the order, greeted the eighteenth-generation women of the Vatutin's family in his heart, and ordered his troops to prepare for the attack. The artillery regiment deployed nearby, equipped with 76.2 mm caliber cannons, knew that the damage caused by the shelling to the German tanks was limited, but they also had to follow the order to carry out artillery shelling of the German tanks on the march.

The German tanks passed through the Soviet artillery blockade, losing only one armored vehicle and one Ferdinand tank destroyer. Seeing that the artillery regiment had inflicted limited damage on the German tanks, the tank brigade, which had long been prepared, went into battle.

This tank brigade has eighty tanks, which is more than the number of tanks in the Flag Guards Division, but in addition to more than thirty T-34 tanks, they are equipped with some old light tanks.

When the tanks unfolded their formation and rushed towards the German tanks, the tank brigade commander heard someone exclaiming: "Hell, the Germans are all heavy tanks and tank destroyers, we are all light tanks, how can this battle be fought, how can it be fought?" ”

"Forward!" The brigade commander gave the combat order to the commanders and fighters of the whole brigade by radio: "All the tanks obey my orders and move towards the German tanks on the opposite side!" ”

The German tanks, which had already formed a battle formation, did not care in the face of the Soviet tanks rushing towards them, because they all saw that most of the opponents were old-fashioned light tanks, not to mention shooting at a distance of 1,000 meters, even if they approached the range of 300 meters, the armor-piercing shells fired by the light tanks could not penetrate the frontal armor of the Tiger tank.

Therefore, the German tanks stopped in the distance and did not move, and when the Soviet tanks entered the range of a thousand meters, they opened fire decisively. In a series of explosions, the tanks that the Soviet troops rushed to the front were shot one after another, and some were directly paralyzed in place and began to burn; Others, with their bodies covered in flames, continued to rush forward bravely until the body exploded, and then finally stopped.

But the brave Soviet tank crews, braving the fire of German tanks, opened fire decisively as soon as they entered the best firing distance. The armor-piercing shells hit the frontal armor of the German Tiger tank, most of which bounced off as ricochets, and there were also one or two armor-piercing shells, which successfully tore through the armor of the Tiger tank and drilled into it to cause the tank ammunition to detonate.

By noon, the Soviet tank brigade had been wiped out, and the Germans had lost four Tiger tanks and six Ferdinand tank destroyers, as well as some armoured vehicles destroyed and nearly 100 soldiers killed.

When Theodor Wiesch learned that his troops had been blocked by the Soviets one after another, he feared that his troops would fall into the encirclement of the Soviets if they were alone, so he immediately ordered the troops in front to stop advancing and immediately return to the state farm to recuperate.

Upon learning that the German army had stopped advancing and had returned to the state farm, Vatutin was overjoyed, and he said excitedly that Vasilevsky said: "Comrade Chief of the General Staff, our troops have finally blocked the German offensive, and as long as General Konev's reinforcements arrive, I think we will have no problem holding on to Prokhorovka." ”

"Comrade Vatutin," compared with the extremely emotional Vatutin, Vasilevsky behaved much more calmly, and said with a serious expression: "You should see, what price did we pay to hold off this unit of the German army?" If all the reserves are exhausted, once the German army begins to retreat, what kind of troops will we use to carry out a counteroffensive? ”

Vasilevsky's words silenced Vatutin, who realized that his performance in the Battle of Kursk was not satisfactory, not only because of frequent command errors, but also because of the staggering casualties among his troops. In order to prevent the defensive line from being broken by the Germans in Manstein, the base camp even reallocated the 27th Army, which was under the command of the Central Front, to himself.

He was silent for a moment, then said to Vasilevsky: "Comrade Chief of the General Staff, you are right, during this period of fighting, I did not show calm enough many times, and as a result, I made a lot of mistakes, which led to the development of the situation on the battlefield in a direction unfavorable to our army......"

"Alright, Comrade Vatutin, you don't have to say any more." He was halfway through his self-examination when he was interrupted by Serov, who said a little impatiently: "Now is not the time to hold accountable, the first task at the moment is to resolutely hold - Prokhorovka and ensure that our line of defense is not cut apart by the Germans." Do you understand? ”

"Understood." Vatutin replied loudly: "I will send a telegram to the troops defending the Prokhorovka area, ordering them to strengthen their defenses and resolutely hold back the German offensive." ”

Vasilevsky knew in his heart that if he pinned all his hopes on Vatutin at this moment, maybe things would get out of hand in the end, so he waited for Vatutin to walk away, and immediately picked up the phone and dialed Konev's headquarters. After hearing Konev's voice, he immediately couldn't wait to ask: "How is it, Comrade Konev, where is your 5th Guards Tank Army now?" ”

"Report to Comrade Chief of the General Staff," Konev replied, "the vanguard of the 5th Guards Tank Army, which has arrived in the city of Prokhorovka. I studied it with my comrades at the command, and early tomorrow morning, we will be able to carry out a counterattack on the German troops that have entered the Prokhorovka area. ”

"Very well, Comrade Konev, you are doing a good job." Hearing that the vanguard of the steppe front had entered the Prokhorovka region, the boulder that Vasilevsky had hung over his heart finally fell to the ground. "I wish you victory!"

……

……

In the early morning of July 12, after a short artillery preparation, more than 300 Soviet tanks lined up in battle formation and launched a fierce attack on the German Flag Guard Division along the railway line.

The tank crews of the Flag Guards Division repeated their old tricks, and when the tanks of the two sides were still 800 meters away, they took the lead in firing at the Soviet tanks, and the Tiger tanks destroyed some of the Soviet tanks on the way by virtue of the power of their 88-mm tank guns.

However, the tanks of the two sides soon collided together, although the caliber and armor thickness of the Soviet tanks were not as good as the German Tiger tanks, but they continued to swarm and fight melee with the German tanks by virtue of their numerical superiority. Destroy one Tiger tank after another or Ferdinand tank destroyer.

The Germans, with their skillful technology and excellent equipment and firepower, continued to inflict heavy casualties on the superior Soviet tanks. The Soviet tank crews, on the other hand, were not afraid of sacrifice and fought stubbornly with the German tanks. They rushed near the German tanks and opened fire, piercing the armor of the German tanks; Some tanks, having run out of shells, bravely launched the final ramming of German tanks.

In the early days of the battle, the German tanks once had the advantage, destroying the Soviet tanks from a long distance in the open land, but their optimism did not last long, facing the Soviet tank crews who rushed over like madmen driving the tanks, although they kept retreating to open the distance, but the continuous flow of Soviet tanks continued to approach and fire, so that the number of German tank losses rose sharply.

After the battle, the wreckage of tanks on both sides covered the Prokhorovka field, the sky was filled with black smoke, and burning steel was left on the ground. In this tank battle, neither side paid a great price, and there was no real winner.