After I said this, I suddenly found myself on a mission to find the German warehouses, which seemed a bit redundant. Not to mention whether they can find it or not, even if they do, whether it is a tank attack or long-range artillery bombardment, it will cause a forest fire with serious consequences. In fact, if they could send a few more of these tank detachments, as Danilov said, to attack the German army's logistical supply lines from multiple locations without stopping, then their front-line troops would soon be in an embarrassing situation because they ran out of ammunition and supplies.

Why did Zhao Kuo lose to Bai Qi, it was not that he thought that the grain route was cut off by the Qin army; The reason why Yuan Shao was defeated in Guandu was because Cao Cao burned the grain and grass he had hoarded in Wuchao; Hong Chengchou's 130,000 army was annihilated in Songshan, or it was related to the cutting off of their grain route. The examples of war throughout the ages have made me understand that as long as the German army's logistical supply is completely cut off by me, then they will not be far from the day of defeat.

While I was thinking about it, I overheard Bere ask: "Comrade commander, we have individual tanks that have begun to break down frequently. In order to prevent lying down in battle, it is necessary to carry out maintenance, I would like to ask, when will the tank repair station you mentioned be established? ”

"Don't be in a hurry, Comrade Colonel." I remember what Vatutin said last time that in order to ensure the combat effectiveness of the Fifth Guards Tank Army, it is planned to open a number of tank repair stations in Prokhorovka, and several of our defense zones will be set up. But in the past two days, there has been no follow-up all of a sudden, I don't know if it was Vatujing who forgot about us, or when he applied to his superiors, he was rejected by his superiors? But at this moment, Beray asked. I could only bite the bullet and promise him, "Two more days at most." Our defense zone. You can set up several tank repair stations. ”

Colonel Beray snorted, and then turned his attention to Basmanov, who was next to me, and he said curiously: "Comrade Major, after rescuing you that day, because of the time constraints, I didn't have time to ask you, how did you survive in the tunnel that was blown down at the entrance?" ”

If Beray hadn't asked, I'd have forgotten about it. Listening to him bring up the old story at this moment immediately aroused my interest, and I hurriedly urged Basmanov: "Tell me, Comrade Major, what is going on?" ”

"That's right, after the pit on the position was repaired, I found that I could only breathe normally near the mouth of the pit closely; And the further I go in the middle, the more I feel that I can't breathe. In order to avoid too many people in the tunnel and cause a suffocation incident. So I had the fighters dig a few hidden vents in other places. Basmanov said unhurriedly: "When our tunnel was blown up, we hid inside. It is by relying on this vent that I did not suffocate due to lack of oxygen. ……”

Although Basmanov was telling his own story, a sense of foreboding welled up in me. On the first line of defense, there are tunnels and fortifications on the few heights we lost, but why can't they hold it? Could it be that because of the lack of oxygen in the middle of the tunnel, the commanders and fighters are squatting at the entrance of the tunnel to fight, and the result is that the advantages of the tunnel are not really brought into play? No, when I go back later, I must call the commanders of the divisions and ask what the situation is.

At this moment, I suddenly heard Basmanov excitedly shouting: "Comrade commander, look, the convoy, there is a convoy coming towards us!" I looked in the direction of his finger and saw a convoy of five or six trucks waddling along the bumpy dirt road outside town. When I saw the two tankmen leading the way, I knew that it was Colonel Bere, who had been waiting for the stars and the moon for several days, and the tank shells had arrived.

The truck stopped more than ten meters away from us, and when the door opened, I saw the driver jumping out of the bridge, and I immediately had a smile on my face. I walked briskly towards him, and at the same time extended my hand and said in a friendly voice: "Hello, Lieutenant Morozov, it is a pleasure to meet you here. ”

Lieutenant Morozoff raised his hand and saluted me before shaking my hand. I looked at the few trucks behind him, and asked with a smile: "Comrade Lieutenant, why did you come out to transport supplies today, only a few vehicles came, and what about the other vehicles?" ”

Morozov, who was still smiling, suddenly had a smile on his face when he heard my words. After a while, he glanced back at the trucks behind him and said in a deep voice: "Comrade General, now there are only a few trucks left in my convoy, and the rest are lost during transportation. ”

I had never thought about how the weapons, ammunition and supplies I used were transported to the front line. Ever since I got to know Lieutenant Morozov, I've finally gotten to know something. Without the selfless dedication of these transport soldiers, it is estimated that the commanders and fighters on the front line would have been able to fight with the Germans with bayonets on an empty stomach.

I saw the tankmen under Berei come around, helping the transporters behind them to carry boxes of tank shells out of the wagons. Hurriedly pulled Morozov aside and whispered to him: "Comrade lieutenant, if you want to change places, just tell me, and I will ask you from the logistics department." ”

Morozov shook his head with a smile and said, "Thank you, Comrade General. Although I would have loved to leave the convoy and go to the field army to fight the Germans, after all this time, I found that I liked the profession so much that I decided to stay and work as a transporter. ”

After listening to his words, I understood that it would be difficult to convince him in the current situation, so I nodded and said in accordance with his meaning: "Comrade Lieutenant, since you have decided to stay in the convoy, then I respect your choice. If you change your mind one day, you can come to me at any time, and there will always be a suitable position for you in my army. ”

"Thank you, thank you, Comrade General." Morozoff shook my hand and said gratefully, "I will take your affection to heart." ”

Looking at the tank crews and his subordinates who were busy carrying ammunition, Morozov suddenly said again: "Comrade General, there is something I almost forgot to tell you. ”

"What's the matter?" I guessed what he was going to say must be important, so I couldn't wait to ask.

"According to the plan. We were supposed to transport a batch of equipment from a tank repair station to the neighborhood today. But at the time of loading. Suddenly, I received an order from my superiors. Say you urgently need a batch of tank shells here, let's ship them first. Seeing that my attention was drawn to his words, he added: "If you need this equipment urgently, as soon as the shells are unloaded, I will bring people back to load them, and they will be delivered tomorrow morning." ”

"Comrade Colonel, please come over for a moment." As soon as I had heard what Morozov had said, I called Bere over. Repeating Morozov's words to him, he then instructed: "Have your men speed up the unloading of the trucks, so that the lieutenant and them can go back to the repair station as soon as possible to transfer the equipment at the repair station." ”

"Okay." Belei agreed, then turned around and walked back to the truck, and said loudly to the tank men: "Comrades, don't be busy carrying the shells to your tank, first unload the shell boxes on the car and pile them next to you, so that our brethren in the convoy can go back early." ”

Hearing the order from their commander, the tankers placed the shell boxes on their shoulders and were about to be carried back to the tanks, then turned and ran back to the trucks. Help the transporters standing in the carriage to unload the car. As a result, the overall unloading speed is much faster.

I waited until Morozov they finished unloading. After turning around and driving in the direction of Kursk, he returned to the headquarters of the army group by car. The first thing I did when I returned to the headquarters was to order Akhromeyev to call the commanders of the divisions to find out about the actual situation in the tunnels so that they could take countermeasures accordingly.

An hour later, the intelligence gathered by Akhromeyev was in front of me. After reading it, I felt extremely depressed, I didn't expect that most of the tunnels on the position really existed in the kind of situation that Basmanov said, no wonder the Germans didn't make much effort when they captured such a position.

Akhromeyev also specially explained to me: "Comrade commander, because of the poor ventilation of these areas, there is a lack of oxygen in the middle section, so our commanders and fighters stay close to the entrance of the cave in order to save trouble. This is contrary to the original purpose of the design of the tunnel fortifications. I think it's time for the divisions to rectify the tunnels, add vents, and improve the defensive effect of the tunnel fortifications. ”

"Comrade Major." Kirillov, who was sitting next to him, continued: "It is better to look in the army to see if there are any fighters who have been miners, and when it comes to designing tunnels to improve defenses, it is still necessary to rely on these experienced fighters." ”

Akhromeyev wrote down everything Kirillov said in his notebook, then looked at me and asked: "Do you need to convey this order immediately?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Major." I said decisively: "Immediately convey the order to each division and order them to improve the tunnel fortifications overnight." If two days later, there is still the same safety risk, I will definitely punish it severely. Go post! ”

After the task of improving the tunnel was assigned, Bezikov came over and reported to me with a smile: "Comrade commander, I have good news for you, the higher authorities have decided to set up five tank repair stations in our defense zone first, and the remaining ones will be built one after another. ”

Hearing that Bezikov said that a tank repair station was about to be set up, I grabbed his arm and asked excitedly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, where are the maintenance stations in the first platoon?" ”

Bezkov gently broke free from my claws, pulled the map on the table a little closer to me, drew five triangles in different positions on it with the red end of a red and blue pencil, then threw the pen aside, looked at me and said: "Just in these places, one of the pit stops, is only a few hundred meters from our headquarters. You see, do you need to get them to relocate somewhere else? ”

"No, no," I said, waving my hand, "since it is a place chosen by the superiors, let them be set up here, so as not to embarrass the comrades in the pit station." ”

"Well," said Bezkov, who had agreed to the location of the tank repair station, "so that we would have time to see how the comrades workers were repairing the tanks." ”

The next morning, I was awakened by the roar of tanks outside the house. Annoyed, I got up from bed, lifted the curtain from the window, and looked out.

I saw an armored tractor towing a broken T-34 tank heading towards the pitfalls in the distance. The more I looked at it, the more familiar this tractor became, and after thinking about it carefully, I suddenly remembered that it was the base of the German Tiger tank, and I don't know who converted it into an armored tractor.

I got dressed, washed up, and walked out the door. Two guards were called, and they walked in the direction of the pit. When I entered the pit, I saw several workers and technicians busy around the damaged tank.

As soon as I walked over, a man in blue cloth overalls greeted me and took the initiative to greet me: "Hello, Comrade General, I am Koski, the stationmaster here, is there anything I can do for you?" ”

I pointed to the tractor behind him, which had been converted from a German Tiger tank, and asked, "What's going on with this tractor?" You must know that we have suffered a lot of losses in our technical equipment, but instead of repairing the damaged tanks and using them to equip our troops, you have changed them to armored tractors to pull those damaged tanks on the battlefield? ”

In response to my questioning, Kosky hurriedly said: "Comrade General, the comrade who drove this tractor is not here now. If you're interested, you can wait a little longer and let him explain to you why you can turn a broken German tank into an armored tractor. ”

Actually, I'm not here to ask about the guilt, but just to be curious. Anyway, it's okay now, so I just wait here for the driver, and by the way find out what the hell is going on.

After waiting for a while, a young man who was walking a little lame walked towards us. Seeing a few of us standing next to the tractor, he couldn't help but shout loudly: "Hey, comrade stationmaster, what are you doing standing there in my tractor?" ”

"Hey, Yurda, where have you been?" The stationmaster said in a reproachful tone: "This comrade general has something to look for you, who knew that you would wander around for so long before you came back." ”

The young man walked up to me, raised his hand and saluted me, and asked politely, "Comrade General, do you have any instructions?" ”

"You were a soldier?" Although he was wearing overalls, I saw that his salute was very standard, so I asked curiously.

"Yes, Comrade General," Yulda replied briefly, "I used to be a tank soldier. (To be continued.) )