Neither I nor Katukov were surprised by such a result. Because we both know that as long as they are not bombarded by the Germans' long-range heavy artillery or bombed by aircraft, this new type of tank is almost invincible on the battlefield, and fighting the German tanks is like playing.

When the tanks of the tank corps charged forward in battle formation just now, the whole battle was simply lackluster. Only a few of the shells fired by the German tanks when they retreated hit our tanks, and as a result, they were not bounced off. It was our tanks that remained unscathed and continued to rumble forward. As long as the German tank is hit, if the condition is good, it can continue to drive with fireworks for a difficult distance, and then the tankmen inside can abandon the car and flee for their lives; Unfortunately, the turret was directly overturned, and the crew inside was wiped out in an instant.

I was looking at the battlefield with a periscope when Katukov suddenly called to me: "Hey, Leda, come here, Comrade General wants to talk to you." ”

I quickly straightened up, walked up to Katukov, and took the phone from him. After hearing my voice, Vatujin asked, "How is the situation?" There are no tanks of the Germans in front of Oboyan, right? ”

I didn't know why Vatutin asked this, so I quickly turned my eyes to Katukov next to me for help. He opened his mouth and whispered: "I haven't had time to report the battle situation to Comrade General, he is going to look for you." ”

After figuring out what was going on, I quickly replied: "Report to Comrade General, in my line of sight, there are only some destroyed tanks. ”

"Well done, Comrade Oshanina!" Vatutin, probably from the army group headquarters, learned that I had sent a tank army to support, so he said to me with appreciation: "Your soldiers are also in good shape, please convey my gratitude to them." If you don't have anything to do, don't stay with Katukov. Come to me right now. ”

I put down the phone and told Povsky to stay with Colonel Berey and ask them to follow Katukov's instructions and deploy new defensive positions on the periphery of Oboyan. Then he got into a jeep and hurried to the headquarters of the Front.

When I walked into the headquarters of the Front, I saw Vatutin talking on the phone at the door near the inner room. He yelled into the microphone, "What? The enemy's attack was repelled by you? Great, that's great, Comrade Shumilov. If you can continue to repel the German attacks tomorrow as you do today, the Germans will soon not have the strength to attack Korocha. ”

He put down the phone, saw me standing in front of him, and immediately said happily: "Comrade Oshanina, you are here!" Don't stand here, get inside. With that, he put a hand on my shoulder and led me into the house.

Walk into this room inside. I saw a burly conductor sitting at the table. I habitually glanced at his epaulettes, and I was immediately startled by the fact that it was actually the rank of marshal. After I saw Vasilevsky's face clearly, I hurriedly broke free of Vatutin's hand, stood up and saluted: "Hello, Comrade Marshal, Oshanina was ordered to ......" Speaking of this, I couldn't help but get stuck. I don't know if it's better to say "come" or "report"? Neither of these claims, however, seems to be in line with the current situation. After all, it was Vatutin, not him, who summoned me to the front headquarters.

"Don't be embarrassed, Comrade Oshanina!" Vasilevsky said politely: "Your troops have been fighting well in the past few days, although the German army has occupied a lot of areas on the surface, their vital forces have been greatly weakened. ”

In response to Vasilevsky's compliment, I modestly said: "Comrade Marshal, because of the disparity in the strength of the enemy and ours. Although we have consumed a lot of their strength, it may still be difficult to drive them out of our defense zone. ”

"I know I know, Comrade Oshanina, all this you said. I know. Vasilevsky said with a big grin: "Marshal Zhukov is now commanding the troops of the Central Front in the north, and fierce battles are being fought against the German troops from the north. Although the Germans broke through the combined forces of the 13th Army and the 70th Army, their offensive was quickly suppressed. As the living forces of the German army were consumed little by little, the countdown to our counterattack also began. ”

I silently counted the time in my mind, remembering that it would not be until the Ninth Allied Army had launched a landing attack in Sicily that Hitler would send Manstein's troops to resist the Allies. Prior to this, the German army had always taken the initiative to launch offensives, and the Soviet army wanted to carry out a counterattack in the face of the German offensive, except for increasing the casualties of the troops, it would not play any role. But I thought about it in my heart, and I would never dare to say it.

"Comrade Oshanina, what do you think?" I was thinking about it when I suddenly heard Vatuin ask me this sentence without a clue.

"Comrade Commander," I had to ask cheekily in order to avoid a situation where I was not answering what I asked, "Comrade General, what did you just ask, I didn't hear it clearly, can you say it again?" In order to hide my distraction just now, I also deliberately pointed to my ears and said, "After listening to the sound of cannons for a day, my ears are a little bad." ”

Vatutin and Vasilevsky glanced at each other, then smiled a little helplessly, and repeated the question just now: "Comrade Marshal told you that our troops on the Southern Front will launch a comprehensive counterattack against the German army tomorrow, and I would like to ask your opinion. ”

Vatutin's words startled me, and I said that even the tank battle in Prokhorovka has not yet been carried out, and you want to launch a counterattack, isn't this self-defeating? After he had finished speaking, I said with careful consideration: "Comrade General, with all due respect, it is not yet the right time to launch a counterattack against the Germans. Because their viability has not yet been truly weakened, our counterattack at such a time will not only cause a large number of casualties, but also be ineffective. ”

After listening to this, Vatutin did not express his position, but turned his face to look at Vasilevsky and asked: "Comrade Marshal, Comrade Oshanina has already said her opinion, what do you mean?" ”

I stared nervously at Vasilevsky, like a student waiting for his teacher to announce his exam results. Although my opinion is very appropriate in the present situation, it would be of a rather bad nature to openly contradict a senior commander.

Vasilevsky looked down and thought about it. Then he said slowly: "Judging from the current situation, although the living forces of the German army have been weakened, their overall strength is still very strong, which can be seen from today's battle situation. So I agree with Leda that now is not yet a good time to launch a counterattack on the Germans. ”

When I heard Vasilevsky calling me. Using my nickname, I was relieved. Especially when I heard him agree with my opinion, I completely let go of the big stone in my heart.

Vatutin glanced at me, then turned his attention to Vasilevsky, and asked cautiously: "Comrade Marshal, then when do you think the most appropriate time for me to launch a counterattack?" ”

Vasilevsky smiled at his question and did not answer it, but looked at me and said: "Lida, if I am not wrong. You should have a relatively complete idea in mind, right? ”

His words also attracted Vatutin's attention, who looked at me and said: "Comrade Oshanina, tell me what you think, so that you can give me a reference." ”

"Comrade Marshal, Comrade General." Since both of us wanted me to share my opinions, it would certainly not be possible not to express some opinions, so I politely said: "If we are going to launch a full-scale counterattack, the first thing to solve is the German armored forces." ”

"German armored forces?!" Vatutin's may have been reminded of my sad past. A few months earlier, the Southwestern Front, which he commanded, had been crushed by the German SS equipment units. It is estimated that he has long wanted to take revenge for this arrow, otherwise he would not have gritted his teeth like now. "We have many excellent commanders who died heroically while fighting them, and we will avenge this revenge sooner or later."

"Leda, tell me how we can destroy the SS panzers." Vasilevsky looked at me and continued to ask.

I saw a large map spread out on the table. When he first came in, Vasilevsky was looking at this picture. I stared at the map for a moment, pinpointed where I was looking for, pointed there with my finger, and said, "Comrade Marshal." You see, Prokhorovka, which was taken over by the Fifth Guards Tank Army of the Steppe Front, will be the focus of the next German offensive. According to our reconnaissance, the main forces of the German army's 'Hitler Division', 'Imperial Division', and 'Skeleton Division' are gathering in this direction, and it seems that they want to fight a battle with the main forces of our army here and repeat the scene of the Battle of Kharkov. ”

"These damn fascist bandits, I will never let them succeed." Vatujin uncharacteristically gritted his back molars and scolded viciously: "Last time we suffered their big losses, this time I will teach them a hard lesson." ”

"What kind of situation do you think this battle will be?" Vasilevsky looked at the map for a while, looked up at me, and asked, as if asking for advice and examining, "What will be the final result?" ”

"Comrade Marshal," I knew that they were more familiar with the terrain of the region than I was, so I did not waste my words on introducing them, but said bluntly: "South of the city of Prokhorovka, there are open plains, which are suitable for the deployment of mechanized troops. Therefore, I think that in the next battle, the two sides will definitely compete with a huge number of tanks. ”

After listening to this, Vasilevsky thought for a moment, and then asked thoughtfully: "Leda, do you think our tanks can have an advantage over the German tanks?" ”

"Comrade Marshal," I said, glancing at Vatutin next to me out of the corner of my eye, because I didn't know whether he had the authority to know the origin of these tanks, so I could only say vaguely: "If our new tank competes with the German tanks head-to-face, it will be able to win." In today's battle, the tanks of the Guards Tank Corps eliminated dozens of German tanks, and only a dozen of them were slightly wounded, and after simple repairs, they could immediately return to the battle. ”

Hearing me say this, both Vasilevsky and Vatu Kyoto nodded, with a satisfied smile on their faces. Vasilevsky continued: "If we throw a few hundred of these tanks into battle at the same time, against the same number of German tanks, will the final victor be reliable for us?" ”

I wanted to follow Vasilevsky's words and pat his ass by the way, but as soon as the words came out, they became something else: "I'm sorry, Comrade Marshal, I don't think so. I think that if we want to defeat the German panted forces, especially the most elite SS panted units, we must look at the number of tank repair stations we have, and secondly, we must depend on luck and see if God is on our side. ”

Both of them were stunned by my strange statement. After a while, Vatutin asked puzzledly: "Since you said that our tanks are superior to the German tanks, why are you still so unconfident?" ”

"Comrade General." I patiently explained to Vatutin: "Although our new tank is very advanced, not only in terms of armor but also in terms of firepower, it is not yet possible for the tank crews to master this new weapon because it has not been equipped for a long time. If the Germans had aircraft and artillery to assist them in battle, our tanks would have easily become targets for the enemy's attacks at a distance of several thousand to several hundred meters. In yesterday's and today's battles, the tanks of the mechanized Third Army were lost precisely because they were attacked by German heavy artillery and aircraft. ”

After I finished speaking, the expressions on the faces of the two of them became solemn. After a long time, Vasilevsky then asked: "You just said that the number of tank repair stations is also the key to determining victory or defeat, I don't know what it means?" ”

"Comrade Marshal, if there is a sufficient number of tank repair stations, then it will be possible to repair our destroyed tanks in a timely manner. And the Germans were far from the rear, and the tanks were destroyed with one less. And our tank repair station is right next to the battlefield, ready to repair those destroyed tanks. If we eliminate the strengths of the other, the strength of both the enemy and the enemy will be reversed, and then the time will come for us to counterattack. ”

After I finished speaking, Vasilevsky was immediately amazed and immediately ordered Vatutin: "Comrade Vatutin, the matter of the tank repair station should be completed today, so that the Fifth Guards Tank Army can free its hands and feet and have a good fight with the armored units of the German SS." ”

"Don't worry, Comrade Marshal." Vatutin said with a smile: "I will arrange for the establishment of a sufficient number of tank repair stations in the Prokhorovka area by noon tomorrow." (To be continued.) )

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