In the first stage of the outbreak of the Kursk Battle, this battlefield belongs to the stage of two people, namely Guderian and Konev. Guderian once again showed his tank geek armor art, while Konev played his excellent defensive skills. Both sides were coming and going, fighting lively.

The first one to attack the Red Army was the 46th Panzer Army. The Second "Imperial" Panzer Division of the SS attacked the vanguard and attacked the defense line of the 167th Division of the Red Army's Infantry. At the beginning, the German army was progressing smoothly. It advanced five kilometers within a few hours, occupied two relatively solid "bridgeheads" and was preparing to launch a deeper assault after the Great German Armored Infantry Regiment followed.

At 2:30 pm, according to the original combat plan, the German field artillery began to launch artillery bombardment on the positions of the 167th Division of the Red Army. Groups of artillery shells hit the positions of the Red Army like raindrops, stirring up smoke. At the same time, the fighter jets of the 4th Air Force Air Force also roared over the heads of the Red Army, and opened the way by Stuka. In an instant, violent roars submerged all the sounds, and the defense area of ​​the 167th Division seemed to have built a curtain wall composed of smoke and flames.

After thirty minutes of artillery and air strike preparations, the German army came out in full swing and began the first large-scale attack in the Battle of Kursk. A green signal flare slowly rose in the sky, and the commander's command came from the headphones of the armored soldiers: "Panze Nreihemahloslos" translated as "the tanks are fighting and marching in a row"

This situation immediately attracted the attention of the Red Army. According to the report of the 167th Division Front Observatory: "The German army invested 26 tanks and self-propelled artillery density per kilometer of the front line in the main attack direction, and the number of as many as 16 vehicles in the secondary direction."

Dieter Kurman of the Imperial Division Armored Grenadier Regiment later recalled: "After lunch and resting for an hour, the attack began. After a brief shelling and air bombing, our armored grenades jumped up and advanced forward with the fierce machine guns and submachine gun fire from the Red Army positions. At this time, we did not have any artillery or air force cover. The only thing that could give us a little comfort was the rumbling tanks No. 3 and No. 4, which followed us so that they could destroy the Russian fortifications and fire points at the first time..."

"After struggling in the mud for a few hours, when it was completely dark that day, we finally rushed into the Russian position. After some inspection, my head was covered with cold sweat because the Russian army had already installed flamethrowers that could be fired with electricity in the fortifications, even one day later. These flamethrowers could start working, and we who were charging would be burned to ashes."

The German army's attack was indeed a "coincident". At this time, the defense line of the 167th Division had not been completed. A considerable part of the fortifications were in the final stage of construction, and many weapons and equipment were not in place. This allowed the German army to take advantage of a lot of advantages.

Of course, the German army would like to thank Guderian. If he hadn't emphasized that he should be quick, the result would have been completely different. Because even if the Red Army's position was not completely built, it caused considerable damage to the German army and did not make much progress.

Similarly, the Germans had bad luck, because the 4th Air Force front-line airports were limited in capacity and the weather was relatively bad, so the Luftwaffe could not provide particularly effective air support. According to the Air Force's report on the day, due to the low visibility, some Stuka pilots had to risk diving to an altitude of 500 meters before dropping bombs.

Because of the lack of support, the German army's assault strength immediately decreased after the first three axes. The deeper it went to the Red Army's defense line, the more intense the resistance it faced. After the imperial army began to achieve certain results, it was trapped in the quagmire within the next two days.

In order to increase the breakthrough efforts, Guderian invested five artillery regiments into the battlefield on the third day. With the support of the Great German Armored Infantry Regiment, the Imperial Division finally successfully opened a hole in the defense line of the 167th Infantry Division of the Red Army with the support of the tanks. The German infantry began to break into the depths of the 78th Infantry Army.

However, the Imperial Division and the Great German Armored Division were not the best performing troops on the day. The biggest highlight of the German army that day was the 10th Armored Division, which made significant progress in the area on the south bank of the Semu River that was originally not favored due to excessive silt. The division miraculously captured Kurchatov.

The thing is this. The 78th Infantry Army originally judged that the vicinity of Kurchatov was not suitable for the operation of armored troops due to rivers and wetlands. Therefore, it was not believed that the German army would break through this area, so the defense was relatively lax.

However, the 10th Armored Division of the German Army did not think so. Under the leadership of Lieutenant General Ferdinand Schal, the division found some Russian traitors as guides, quickly discovered the route suitable for tank operations near the river beach, and nimblely launched an attack on the Red Army positions in several ways.

The Red Army was caught off guard by the sudden 10th Armored Division. Many Red Army soldiers on positions had to face the German tanks before they could react, so they naturally couldn't resist it. Fortunately, the Red Army commander responded quickly and immediately dispatched reinforcements to block the attack. The two sides fought fiercely in the villages outside Kurchatov.

Here we must mention the anti-tank gunners of the Red Army. The 1966th Anti-tank Battalion, which had just arrived at the outer periphery of Kurchatov, responded calmly. Under the cover of the firepower of its own infantry, loaded grenades for their 76mm zis3 artillery, fired at the German grenadiers at a very close distance, and repelled several rounds of German charges.

In desperation, the German army had to dispatch tanks to advance and open the way, but the 1966th Battalion showed confidence. Facing the German tanks rumbling towards them, they still aimed and fired calmly, and used precise firepower to continuously destroy the three leading German tanks.

The German army was frightened immediately, and the remaining tanks immediately began to hang in reverse or turn in panic, and then tragically fell into the soft river beach or fields. Next, it was naturally even less difficult for the 1966th Battalion, and six German tanks were destroyed in one breath.

The 1966th Battalion defeated the German army and continued to go deeper, but the Germans could not give up. Late at night that day, about two companies of German troops tried to sneak into the Red Army's position again for a sneak attack. This time, the infantry responsible for defending the 1966th Battalion suffered a great loss because of their relaxed defense. They were stunned by the German devils who rushed up, and actually abandoned the artillery comrades behind them, threw their weapons and fled with their heads.

However, the 1966th Battalion did not escape, and the brave artillery continued to fight. They stood firm on the artillery position, leaning against the ammunition box or hiding behind the artillery shield, and used all the weapons they could find at the rushing Germans. After an hour of fierce fighting, after paying the sacrifice of 18 soldiers and the cost of a zis3 being destroyed, they miraculously repelled the Germans. In the early morning of the next day, the Red Army gunners who were cleaning the battlefield actually found more than 100 German bodies around the position.

Dieter Kurman also wrote in his memoir: "That night, the soldiers of our company attacked a small village behind Kurchatov. The small team I was in was ordered to conduct a night attack infiltrating the village... At midnight, we set out, and a small church stood in the middle of the village road. Just as we were trying to quietly bypass it along the wall, we suddenly heard some clicking sounds on the other side of the wall. In amazement, we stopped. It was Russia.

The Chinese patrol team immediately dodged into the shade of a house and shot randomly in the dark. Flashes whizzed past our heads, and from time to time you could hear the puff sound of bullets shooting into the earth wall. After a round of shooting, the Russian patrol team was beaten away and we found seven or eight corpses. Next, the company commander realized that our actions had been exposed and ordered us to change the surprise attack to a strong attack. In the direction of the Russian patrol team's escape, we rushed to chase after him."

"But what we didn't expect was that the strong attack we originally thought did not happen. The Russians collapsed like dominoes. They screamed and threw down their weapons and fled in scattered lives, like a group of stupid rabbits who were in a panic."

"The company commander is very happy, and I am very happy. If all the Russians were like this, then we might end the war in spring as our superiors said. But this dream was soon shattered like a soap bubble. The Russian artillery was standing in front of us like a mountain. Although they were not prepared and had not received much positional training, they did not escape like the stupid rabbit in front of them. They remained calmly in the battle position. Fighted us with submachine guns, grenades or bayonets."

"This is a tragic and unbearable encounter. What we elite grenadiers cannot accept is that we were defeated by a group of artillerymen in long horse boots. These guys are the most terrifying artillerymen I have ever seen. They even used cannons to fight bayonets to barely destroy two enemy gates. Uh, or three guns, the company commander was forced to order us to retreat immediately, because one-third of the brothers in the company were killed."

The battle outside Kurchatov has already predicted that the Red Army in 1942 was very different from 1941, although their performance was still imperfect. Sometimes they still made low-level mistakes, and even some troops were very worried about combat. However, these imperfect and low-level mistakes did not cause a chain reaction like in 1941. Because there are always some stronger and more good at fighting Russian heroes who will plug these loopholes, and as the war progresses, there will be more and more such heroic troops and will become stronger and stronger, and the pressure of the German army will naturally rise.

While the main force of the SS launched an attack, in the south of Kurchatov, Colonel von Stravitz, the commander of the Great German Armored Infantry Regiment, also ordered the troops to launch an offensive on a front line about 3 kilometers wide. Although the number of heavy anti-tank weapons of the 199th Infantry Division of the Red Army was far less than that of the Germans, the density of artillery on the front per kilometer of the Red Army's artillery in this area was still 10 to 12.

Moreover, before the Great German Armored Infantry Regiment launched an attack, the scouts and combat staff of the 199th Infantry Division had conducted meticulous reconnaissance and research near the defensive areas, planned a variety of defensive plans, and collected a lot of information from the German army.

On this basis, they not only correctly calculated the German offensive route, but also estimated that the German troops might have invested in the attack and the reserved troops were quite accurate. The 199th Infantry Division, after careful calculation and careful preparation, achieved great results. The offensive of the Great German Armored Infantry Regiment was subjected to tenacious resistance from the Red Army from the beginning.

When the vanguard of the Great German Armored Infantry Regiment launched an attack on the position of the 199th Infantry Division of the Red Army with firepower support, they were unable to even approach the main defensive position of the Red Army. Before that, they were suppressed by intensive firepower from 76 to 122 mm howitzers and mortars of various caliber were tested by artillery targets, and they had a large number of lethal German soldiers.

As the fog slowly rose at that time, the visibility on the position once dropped to within 150 meters to 200 meters. The sudden appearance of German assault forces would pose a serious threat to the defensive positions. There is no doubt that thanks to this detailed "storm" fire strike, it seriously weakened the German offensive power and reduced the pressure on the infantry and anti-tank artillery on the main defense line.

In addition, the climate also interfered with the German offensive. Snow suddenly began to fall that night, and the howling cold wind and snowflakes instantly blew away the German offensive enthusiasm. On the contrary, the 167th Infantry Division and the 199th Infantry Division cleverly took advantage of the favorable opportunity. Cleverly grasped the terrain and other factors that were not conducive to the German army and launched a counterattack, and miraculously recovered Kurchatov.

It was not until the afternoon of the next day, when the 255th Infantry Division of the National Defense Force arrived on the battlefield that it defeated the Red Army's counterattack momentum and stabilized the existing front.

In the first round of confrontation, the German army took a small advantage first, but in the end, they spit out the fat meat from their mouths due to various unfavorable factors. Guderian was not satisfied with this result. His requirement for the 46th Armored Army was that he had to drill through the Red Army's outer positions in one go and assault the city of Kursk as soon as possible, without giving the Red Army any chance to build positions. In this way, after the main force of the assault group arrived on the battlefield, he could crush Kursk in one breath.

But the 46th Infantry Army failed to do this. Faced with the 78th Infantry Army, which was not elite, it was quite difficult to fight. In his report to the General Staff, Guderian wrote: "The front-line assault troops did not achieve the set goal at all. The muddy road conditions and snowfall, as well as the heavy mines and the Red Army's anti-tank artillery positions hindered the mobility and combat effectiveness of the armored troops, so that there were not many tanks that could really participate in the battle that day. According to the report of General Heinrich Gotfried von Fitinghofscher, most of the people involved in the fierce battle were grenadiers, but it was obvious that the infantry division alone could not tear open the Red Army's defense line."

Guderian's implication was obvious. He still wanted to persuade the General Staff to give up this battle. However, the latter could not listen to the tank monster, but instead forced Guderian to continue to strengthen the offensive and break through Kursk as soon as possible.

Guderian was naturally disappointed, but he could only execute the order. Turning around the sky, the German army continued to attack, but it was a difficult time. Because the snow at night came and went quickly, when a red sun came to the sky the next morning, the German commander knew that today's attack would be bad again.

Yes. The temperature quickly rose, from minus ten degrees to above zero and two or three degrees. The land that had not frozen seemed softer, which also led to further deterioration of the road conditions.

On this day, the Great German Armored Infantry Regiment launched the first attack, and the grenadiers without artillery fire attacked on an open open space. Although it was almost impossible to get the support of tanks, after a hard battle, the Germans captured Kurchatov again. After that, the SS imperial division immediately followed with all their might and broke into the depths of the Red Army's positions.

This was an absolute fierce battle. Red Army soldiers used all the weapons they could find to resist the infiltration of German tanks, and many foxholes were crushed by tanks. The brave Red Army soldiers often threw the last mooring bottle at the enemy tanks before they were crushed to pieces. Finally, the Red Army even pulled the division's anti-aircraft artillery company to the front line to intercept the German tanks that poured into the defense line. Various guns and the shouts of soldiers were mixed on the battlefield, and both sides of the bloody battle suffered heavy casualties.

However, overall, the German army still had the advantage, and they had the advantage of troops and weapons to achieve breakthroughs in some areas. Seeing that the defense line of the 169th Division was about to collapse, in an emergency, the 48th Mechanized Army on the second defense line of the Red Army sent the 60th Tank Division to reinforce. The division commander Rebarco adopted a clever ambush tactic. After conducting intensive artillery, he constantly used the terrain to change the shooting positions and weakened the assault power of the German offensive spearhead. First, he resisted the fierce attack of the Imperial Division tanks, and then decisively adopted a coordinated offensive and started a series of counter-charges.

Under the powerful attack of the 60th Tank Division, the German offensive was blocked, and the Germans in some areas were even forced to retreat. In despair, they realized that the resistance of the Red Army seemed insurmountable. Not to mention continuing to attack, even the defense line that had already been cut into seemed crumbling.

It was not only the Imperial Division that was blocked, but the progress of the 10th Armored Division of the National Wehrmacht was not satisfactory. They were trapped in close contact with the Red Army from the beginning. According to the 6th Artillery Company of the 1965th Artillery Regiment of the Red Army, who participated in this battle, equipped with 57mm Zis2 anti-tank gun soldiers: "Under the cover of several howitzers, German tanks fired their guns while firing their positions. Their travel speed was very fast, which should have exceeded 30 kilometers per hour. The young men were under the attack of artillery fire and fired German tanks into the limit distance of about 200 meters before firing." In this battle against the tanks, the Sixth Company destroyed seven German tanks in one fell swoop, and drove the enemy's 10th Armored Division back... to be continued.

PS: Bow to thank Admiral Hood for the glorious charter of lazy readers hzangdd and comrade Juventus
Chapter completed!