Chapter 1158

Kravchenko, listening to me, immediately stood up to attention and said solemnly, "general oshanina, I'm under your command. Please give me an order."

Instead of directly explaining to him what tasks to carry out, I turned away from the topic and asked, "Comrade General, how many tanks, ammunition and fuel do you have left?"

"After repair, the number of tanks that our army can use now is 136, of which only 21 are T-34, and the rest are new tanks." Kravchenko was very familiar with the situation of his troops. Listening to my question, he immediately said the data I wanted to know without hesitation: "there is still fuel. As for ammunition, as you know, the new tank uses a 100 mm smooth bore gun, which does not match the ammunition in the previous inventory. It must be replenished from the rear. "

When I heard Kravchenko say that there were more than 100 tanks left, I was still ecstatic. When I heard that, my heart suddenly cooled. How can a new type of tank fight without supporting ammunition? Can't our tank soldiers drive the tank to hit the German Tiger tank?

I originally thought that if the German armored forces were going to advance to prohorovka, they would definitely find a place to camp in the middle of the night. Then I could gather the tanks of the 10th army of Colonel berey's tanks and the 5th army of Kravchenko's close guard tanks and launch a night attack on the German troops in the camp. In this way, even if we can't annihilate the enemy completely, we can kill many of their tanks. But now my plan, because Kravchenko's troops lack ammunition, has become a failure.

I turned my head and asked berey, who was standing beside me, "Comrade Colonel, how many tanks do you have?"

"After the battle, there are 28 tanks in the 101st brigade." "There are eight T-34 tanks, and the rest are new tanks," said Colonel berey. At present, the fuel of tanks is sufficient, but the number of shells is limited. All armour piercing bombs have been used up. At present, there are only three high explosive bombs per vehicle. "

Hearing this, I turned around and asked bzikov, "chief of staff, are there any vehicles transporting materials recently?"

"No With a bitter look on his face, bezikov replied: "perhaps the logistics department at a higher level thinks that only infantry and artillery are at war with the enemy recently, so the ammunition delivered to the front line is either shells or bullets for various kinds of guns. As for the tank shells, "he said with a shrug," there was not one. "

"Call the logistics forces in Kursk immediately and tell them that we are in urgent need of a large number of supporting ammunition for new tanks. Let them organize a convoy to send it to me overnight." After I finished, I gave bzikov a gentle push on the shoulder: "hurry up and make a phone call, chief of staff. This can't be delayed."

"General oshanina," Kravchenko asked curiously, "may I ask what our army's mission is?"

"Comrade General, please come here." I took Kravchenko to the table, pointed to the map above, and said to him: "from the current situation, the next step of the German army is sure to focus on the dominant armored forces to rush to Prokhorovka. Although the troops currently stationed there are those of Lt. Gen. rotmistrov's tank troops, the combat effectiveness of the tank group army is second to none in the grassland front army. If they stick to Prokhorovka, the Germans can not take advantage of it.

My original plan was to gather all the tanks of your tank army and the 101st brigade of Colonel berey's tanks to attack the German camp at night. Try to consume their strength in the field as much as possible. "

Kravchenko looked at the map for a moment, nodded and said, "general oshanina, your plan is good. The German army will be exhausted after fighting in the daytime, and their resistance will be negligible in the face of our attack at night. But I don't understand. Why did you give up this plan? "

"No way, Comrade General." I looked at him and said with a bitter smile, "there are few tanks and artillery shells left in your army. If you want to deal with the enemy's troops, you can roll them forward with full horsepower. But when you meet German tanks, not to mention Tiger tanks, even No. 3 and No. 4 tanks, you can't deal with them. You can't let your tankers drive their tanks against the enemy, can you? "

While I was sighing, I suddenly heard Kravchenko say: "general oshanina, it's impossible for hundreds of tanks to attack at the same time in a short time, because we don't have so much ammunition. But if we only attack with small units, we can still guarantee enough ammunition. "

Kravchenko's words stunned me for a moment, and my heart said, is there an omnipotent treasure chest in his hand that can change anything we want? Thinking of this, I couldn't help asking curiously: "Comrade General, I don't know where you can find the necessary ammunition for the army?"

The smiling Kravchenko listened to me, and his smile suddenly froze on his face. After a while, he said in a tearful voice: "general oshanina, although the shells of the new type of tank are limited, if we put all the shells together and give them to the tanks going out to carry out the mission, it will be more than enough."

After listening to his explanation, I raised my hand and patted my forehead heavily, and I began to laugh sheepishly. Yes, put all the shells together and give them to some of the tanks to use, so as to ensure that every tank participating in the battle has enough shells to use. How can I not think of such a simple question.

It's amazing that Kravchenko's tank army can solve the problem of ammunition by itself. What about Colonel berey's tank army? Thinking of this, I specially asked berey: "Comrade Colonel, if you concentrate all the shells of the new tanks, how many tanks can you meet?"

"One." Colonel berey put up a finger and gave me a chilling answer.

I was deeply afraid that the shells of Kravchenko's army were only enough for a few tanks, so I hesitated and asked, "Comrade General, how many tanks can your tank Army meet the needs of?"

Kravchenko pointed his fingers for a while, then answered me: "report to general, our existing shells can meet the use standard of 19 tanks."

Due to the shortage of ammunition, the total number of tanks that the two tank units can put into combat is only a handful of 20. I began to figure out in my heart what kind of threat these tanks could pose to the enemy in the night attack.

Seeing me staring at the map in a daze, Danilov touched me with his elbow and asked in a low voice, "Comrade commander, what are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking about how to use these tanks properly and disrupt the enemy's attack line." I said casually: "only 20 tanks, the number is a little less, if they really encounter with the main German armored forces, they almost have no chance of successful escape."

"Comrade commander, in fact, in addition to the new tanks, we have a lot of T-34 tanks." Colonel berey said to me with a smile: "the ammunition of these tanks can't be used up even if they aim at the German camp all night."

The speaker didn't mean it, and the listener meant it. Bielei may have said it casually, but it's a different thing in my ear. Yes, how can I just think about using new tanks and forget the T-34, who has made great achievements in the patriotic war. In real history, the Soviet army defeated the German army with the T-34. Although their casualty ratio is higher, they are the final winners.

Thinking of this, I gave an order to berey: "Comrade Colonel, I decided to form a special armored unit with 21 t-34s and 19 new tanks from the Fifth Army of the close guard tank, 8 t-34s and one new tank from the 101st brigade of the tank. You will be the commander of this unit. Your task is to use the cover of night to attack the German camp. Try to kill as many German tanks as possible and weaken the enemy's advantage in technology and equipment. Do you understand? "

"I see, comrade commander." Colonel berey and I have been together for a long time, and they are very familiar with the tactics I like to use, so he continued: "if I don't understand correctly, are you going to let my tank unit, like the guerrillas, attack the transportation line of ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^, So that weapons, ammunition, food and medicine can not be transported, and the wounded who are in urgent need of treatment can not be transported down. Comrade commander, is that right? "

"Yes, that's what it means." I raised my hand, patted Colonel berey on the shoulder and said happily, "as long as we harass the German army continuously, they will not be able to gather enough forces to attack Prokhorovka. In this way, you should know the final result of the battle, even if I don't say it. "

"I understand." Colonel berey replied, and then he asked me, "will all the tanks deployed in the oboyan area be brought back immediately?"

At that time, I placed the tank troops of bere and Kravchenko and the close guard division in oboyan because the tank troops of katukov were entangled by the German troops, and only a few units of the mechanized Third Army could not hold oboyan. A few hours ago, I heard from vatukin that I was going to send a tank army to oboyan overnight. In this way, my troops would not have to stay there any more, so it would be sooner or later to transfer them back.

After thinking about it, I said to berey, "Comrade Colonel, since oboyan is general katukov's defense area, our tank troops and guard divisions stationed there will be transferred back sooner or later. You go and order the 101st brigade to withdraw first. As for general Kravchenko's tank army and Colonel Chernoff's close guard division, we will retreat when the reinforcements arrive at oboyan. "

Danilov picked up the map on the table and asked me curiously, "Comrade commander, there are plains everywhere. Where do you think the German army will camp?"

I've been running around a lot in recent months, and I know the terrain of the defense area like the back of my hand. I pointed to several possible camps and said, "I think the German camp should be at these points. Colonel berey can send scouts to conduct reconnaissance first, and once he knows the exact location of the German camp, he can launch a surprise attack. "

"In the silent night, the roar of tank motors can be heard from afar." Danilov continued to worry: "if our tanks are found by the enemy in the process of attacking and receiving the enemy, and are intercepted by artillery fire, how should we deal with it?"

"Comrade deputy commander, don't worry about that." Colonel berey comforted Danilov and said: "although the roar of the tank's motor is far away in the night than in the day, as long as it is more than two kilometers away, the other side can't hear it. For the tanks, it took only a few minutes to reach a distance of two kilometers. In such a short period of time, before the German army had time to put their guns in place, our tanks would rush in front of them. "

When Danilov heard the explanation from the professional, he nodded with relief and said, "if so, that would be great."“ Well, comrade Colonel, you should first discuss with Kravchenko how to take over his tanks. " After waiting for berey and Kravchenko to discuss with each other, I asked bezikov, who had just finished the call: "chief of staff, what does the Logistics Department say? When can we get the shells we need?" Bezikov shook his head and said: "the logistics department said that the recent fighting was fierce, and the shells of the new tanks were consumed quickly. At present, the order they have received is to give priority to the supply of rokosovsky's central front army, and we will not have new factory shells delivered here until at least the 10th. " When I heard that from bezikov, my teeth itched with anger, but there was nothing I could do. This logistics department is really aware that our tank troops here are equipped with so many new tanks, but they have to temporarily interrupt the supply of supporting ammunition. Isn't this tantamount to making our tank troops lose combat effectiveness in disguise? But this matter, not to mention that vatukin can't manage it. It's estimated that even if Zhukov doesn't speak, it must be said by the person in charge in Moscow. I sighed and said to bzikov helplessly, "forget it, chief of staff. Since the logistics department should give priority to supplying ammunition to the central front army, let them go. During this period of time, we can only temporarily reduce the use of tanks, or continue to rely on the existing perfect defense system, and use artillery and infantry to consume a lot of German forces. "“ I see, comrade commander. " Bezikov sighed and said helplessly: "it seems that this is the only way. I hope the logistics department can restore the supply of ammunition to us as soon as possible, otherwise, our new tanks will become a pile of scrap iron. "