The fierce battle ended late that night, the German 18th Armored Division had been separated, but surprisingly, Paulus was incredibly cautious and optimistic about the situation. He firmly believed that the 18th Armored Division and the 10th Armored Division could defend the remaining defense line, and even said in his report to the Wolf's Knot that day: "The enemy's breakthrough has been blocked!"

But in fact, the 18th Armored Division could not stop the 58th Tank Division of the Red Army. After a whole day of fierce fighting, most of the division's reserves were exhausted, while the 10th Armored Division who fought with them was even worse. All the battalion-level troops were left with only one hundred**10 people.

After the war, Guderian commented sarcastically: "In the examination of the situation, General Paulus embodies his inexplicable optimism, although there is no optimistic at all."

In fact, the fierce attacks of the 47th and 48th mechanized armies have completely exposed Ubolevic's attempt, that is, to divide and surround the Paulus cluster and annihilate it on the spot in Krolevez!

It was not until July 25 that Manstein's 11th Army failed to break Lujin's defense line after several rounds of efforts that Paulus realized that things were going big. He finally faced Hitler's pressure and ordered the ss 2nd Armored Division to stop breaking through immediately and immediately assisted the 18th Armored Division and the 10th Armored Division to "stabilize the defense line".

Why do the "stable line of defense" need to be quoted? The reason is very simple, because the so-called "stable line of defense" is just Paulus's imagination. At this time, the 10th and 18th Armored Divisions were surrounded by the 47th Mechanized Army and were blocked. The so-called "stable line of defense" is actually to let the Ss Second Armored Division go to rescue the 10th and 18th Armored Divisions!

For the Second Armored Division of SSS, this was a very bad task. At the beginning of the mission, the wrong information made them think they were really going to the "stable line of defense", but they hit the heavily guarded Red Army anti-tank gun position and lost about a dozen tanks.

After receiving the report from the Second Armored Division of Ss, Paulus was shocked. He then realized that the center of his defense line had been penetrated by the Red Army. If it were not for the lack of military strength of the 47th Mechanized Army, it was not enough to continue to go deeper, otherwise his troops would have been cut into two pieces with one size fits.

Paulus, who was sweating in a cold sweat, quickly adjusted his deployment. On the one hand, he ordered the Second Armored Division of SSL to continue to "stabilize the defense line" and strive to relieve the 10th and 18th Armored Divisions as soon as possible. On the other hand, he quickly ordered the troops to shrink and retreat. If he responded with the current situation, soon after the main force of the Red Army arrived on the battlefield, his troops would be dismembered by five horses in minutes!

The "timely" contraction finally prevented the Paulus cluster from being eaten soon. But this was just a matter of perseverance. At this time, Ubolevic's main force was rushing towards Paulus, and would soon surround it with three layers inside and three layers outside.

Paulus, who was in danger, asked the wolf cave to speed up the rescue process, and on the other hand, also issued an extremely strict order: "Every inch of land cannot be abandoned without fighting. I strictly prohibit anyone from retreating from the front line. The enemy will launch an attack anytime and anywhere to destroy us. But the more powerful the enemy attacks, the more we must persist until the last moment. We must have more determination to fight than the enemy, and the final victory must belong to us!"

Hitler, who was far away in the wolf's den, was unwilling to accept such a shameful failure: "Paulus must send all his troops, including everyone who can hold guns, to the front line!" On the evening of July 27, the head of state even slapped the table at the military meeting held in the wolf's den and shouted hysterically: "If I were to find him and hide someone, only God could bless him at that time!"

On the same day, Paulus's nine divisions were squeezed to a maximum of 15 kilometers wide, which shows that the disaster is approaching! The ss Second Armored Division was doing everything possible to open a way to survive for the 10th and 18th Armored Divisions. During the fierce battle of three days and three nights, the division destroyed 58 Red Army tanks! Although the SS was attacking desperately, it still could not recover the end of the destruction of the 10th and 18th Armored Divisions.

Under the attack of the Red Army, the two divisions were in chaos from top to bottom, and telegrams for help rushed to Paulus one by one, and even directly asked for help directly on the radio station. But at this time, Paulus was a clay Buddha who crossed the river and could not protect himself. He had no ability to come to rescue them.

Seeing that there was no hope of rescuing, the 10th and 18th Armored Divisions were determined to break through. Unfortunately, the entire breakthrough operation could only be described as a disaster. The German army, which had no fuel, could only escape with two legs. But were the Red Army's tracks vegetarian?

Facing the Red Army's tanks and cannons, the panicked grenadiers rushed forward desperately, and maybe they could survive with another force? So batches of grenadiers fell down in the Red Army's barrage. After the breakout troops broke through two blockade lines, they were immediately surrounded by the Red Army tanks that rushed to the scene. After the tank's artillery, machine guns and mortars were bombarded. The 10th and 18th Armored Divisions disappeared from the sequence of the German Wehrmacht.

Only a very small number of survivors of the German army of the two divisions escaped, but even if they were lucky enough to save their lives, it would not mean that they would be safe, and they didn't even have a chance to breathe. Because the Red Army then launched a new round of offensives, defeating them and the SS Second Armored Division!

That night, the 2nd SS Panzer Division finally blocked the Red Army's fierce attack, but also paid a heavy price. The morale of the SS officers and soldiers, who were once arrogant, fell to freezing point at this time, and they could not see any hope in front of them. The officers who went to the division headquarters to hold an emergency combat meeting actually fell asleep in the venue, and the soldiers at the grassroots level even slept soundly under the bombardment of the Red Army.

A soldier of the Second Armored SS Division, named Fredrich Hook, recalled: "I was so tired and hungry... In the past week, I had almost never had a full meal, and then every day was endless battles. Such days were simply not for humans. Until July 30, after the Air Force once again took the risk of airdropping precious supplies, we could finally have a good meal... I will never forget that meal. The company commander personally took the spoon and stewed a large pot of potatoes and bacon as hot as fire. What a wonderful smell! Each of us licked the lunch box clean. Let's put it this way, the meal seemed to have a fire rising from head to toe in my body! Then, in the next week, except for a few pieces of black bread, we could only drink water to fill our hunger, and when the Russians cut off the water source, we could only do it and hold it up..."

It can be said that the Second Armored Division in the center of the battlefield could not last long. The besieged SS officers and soldiers were in panic, and various rumors were endless. Some even said that Paulus had abandoned his troops and left the battlefield by plane.

Let me put it this way. Paulus did leave the battlefield by plane, but he did not give up his troops. He left the battlefield and went to Chernigov to hold a military meeting. He discussed the last round of relief and breakthrough plans with Bok, Longdsted and Manstein. Because both Hitler and other German officials knew that they could not just give up the Paulus cluster. After losing the cluster, almost half of the German armored troops were removed. How can they attack in the future?

Just as Paulus and others were meeting to discuss the rescue plan, Hitler, who was far away in the wolf's den, personally issued an extremely strict order to the SS Second Armored Division: "No step back, the existing position must be defended!"

For the officers and soldiers of the Second Armored Division of SSS, this order is completely crazy and nonsense. After this period of battle, 75% of the tanks and anti-tank guns of the Second Armored Division of SSS have been destroyed by the Red Army, and the personnel losses have exceeded 60%. In the words of the division commander, "The enemy is simply unstoppable, and the Russians can submerge us with tanks!... The division headquarters believes that there is no point in continuing to defend to the death. It cannot be defended at all!"

In fact, the Second Armored Division of Ss was indeed unable to defend. Under the fierce attack of the 47th Mechanized Army, they were soon defeated. Just when Paulus returned from Chernigov's meeting, his troops were officially divided into two sections by the Red Army. This also made the plan discussed by the German generals at the meeting completely meaningless.

According to Bock and Manstein's vision, the Paulus cluster in the encirclement should shrink more closely to avoid being quickly divided by the Red Army, and give them the reinforcements outside the encirclement more time to rescue the encirclement. Now, the Paulus cluster has been cut into two sections, and this meeting has been considered in vain.

Not only was the meeting in vain, but what was more fatal was that Paulus was almost caught alive by the Red Army when he landed in the encirclement. Fortunately, his adjutant quickly pulled him on an armored vehicle and ran away quickly. Otherwise, at the last moment, the Paulus cluster would face the dilemma of being without a leader.

What's worse is not here. But the head of state far away in the wolf's den learned that the Second Armored Division of Ss failed to hold its position according to his orders, but instead "escaped" shamefully, there was a thunder eruption:

"They are equipped with the best weapons, commanded by the old warrior I trust the most, but they do such shameful and dirty acts. They are not worthy of wearing my name!"

During the meeting with Propaganda Minister Goebbels, Hitler, whose cheeks were red and his trembling body was roaring, holding his fist, "If the Paulus cluster is annihilated, it will be the fault of the Second Empire armored division!"

After a series of meaningless discussions, Hitler himself personally ordered the removal of the Dasreih honor armband on the left sleeve of the SS's Second Imperial Division (SS generally embroidered with adolhitler, dasreih, hohenstauen or hitlerjugend) and the SS Eagle emblem logo on the left arm. At the same time, the promotion and award of the SS' Second Armored Division had been awarded to the previous April 20, which was Hitler's birthday.

Hitler's order exploded among the officers and soldiers of the Second Armored Division of SSS, and most of the officers were "extremely shocked" by this. Many officers couldn't believe their eyes when they read this order for the first time. At that time, the division commander George Kople muttered with a pale face: "Da private stnunderdalles (this is a thank you for everything!)".

Even many SS officers protested angrily: "Do you want to peel off the armbands of all SS 2nd Armored Division officers and soldiers who died in the Soviet Union since the beginning of Operation Barbarossa!"

When he was interrogated by the Red Army in the future, George Koppler described his reaction at that time: "I first drank myself and drank until I fainted from drunkenness. After waking up, I asked myself: 'Are you crazy? Or is the head of state crazy? I know very well that I was not crazy, so it must be the head of state crazy!'."

Although very frustrated and disappointed, George Koppler tried his best to order his staff and commanders of various regiments and battalions not to convey this order to the grassroots soldiers, let alone to execute it (anyway, Hitler could not send people to supervise their execution).

After that, George Kople, who was indignant, drafted a gunpowder-filled re-energy, saying that he would rather commit suicide than accept or execute this order. Unfortunately, even though George Kople tried his best to cover the order, he did not want the order to bring new blows to the officers and soldiers of the SS Second Armored Division, who were already depressed, the order eventually spread everywhere.

The reason is very simple. Paulus's headquarters also received this order. The commanders of the National Defense Forces, who have always been inconsistent with the SS, were laughing at the joke with gloating. For example, the commander of the 46th Armored Army, General Heinrich Gottfried von Fitinghofscher, recalled: "We felt very relieved and satisfied after we learned about the 'Release Order'!"

In fact, for the Second Armored Division of SSS, the blow to them was much greater than the execution of this order, especially for the veterans. Their original fighting spirit and morale also disappeared. As George Koppler said: "After learning this news, the veterans who survived the fierce battles became dejected and unwilling as if they were hit hard!"

Another SS officer, Kane, recorded in his memoirs the suffocation atmosphere when ordinary officers and soldiers learned about the "shameful" news:

“Ukraine, Ukraine, this is such a wonderful place!”

"If we were not beaten to death by the Russians, will we be killed by Adolf (Hitler) after we returned home!"

"Isn't anyone able to report to the Head of State what's true here?"

The angry SS Second Armored Division soldiers gathered all their armbands and left sleeve cuffs together with all the medals they had received before. They threw them all into the urinal and then peed in one after another. Some even more extreme officers and soldiers sent the arms of a dead soldier equipped with SS Second Armored Division armband and a note with the words "Kiss My Butt" to Paulus's headquarters, hoping that the commander could hand over the "gift" to the head of state.

Hitler's extreme actions undoubtedly accelerated the German collapse. When the morale of the Second Armored Division of SSL was depressed, the Red Army was full of morale. Under the command of Konev and Huasilevsky, the German army was quickly divided and surrounded and crushed little by little.

In the wilderness of Clorevec, countless remaining German troops fought on their own according to Paulus' orders, just to slow down the pace of the Red Army as temporarily as possible, but in the end it was difficult to escape the destruction of the entire army.

Here are the memories of the German soldiers who participated in this "final blocking battle": "In the last few days at the end of July, we were attacked by the Russian army again and again. We fought and retreated until the end, and there was no way to retreat. There were Russians in front and behind, and we tried to fight a path of blood. But as soon as we launched the attack, we were hit head-on. The Russians drove straight towards us under the cover of about forty T-34s. They fired from all directions. The infantry attacked us regardless of the fierce artillery fire. We only had light weapons in our hands and could not stop them at all. So we had to cover each other and retreat in pairs..."

"At that time, we were ravaged by various weapons, and most of our comrades were swept by the flames of T-34, and only a few people were able to escape. After hiding in the woods for five hours, I quietly crossed an open field... When I found my company again, I found that there were only 15 people left in the entire company..."

The German army's broken and loose defense line was riddled with holes under the impact of the Red Army, and the Paulus cluster was completely divided. Then Vasilevsky and Konev seized this good opportunity: the 47th and 48th mechanized armies carrying infantry swarmed in, and the rolling iron stream crushed all the existences who dared to stop the car by the mantis arm.

By July 31, Paulus's cluster had been divided into more than a dozen pieces of large and small. For the Red Army, this piece of fat was determined. Not only did the Red Army feel that victory was in hand, but the German army also realized that the Paulus' cluster was over. After watching the photos of air reconnaissance, Manstein immediately ordered the troops to suspend the attack.

Because it is completely meaningless to continue the attack, even if the 11th Army broke through the defense line of the 6th Army of the Red Army, it is impossible to bring the Paulus cluster out of the encirclement. What's more, Manstein had no way to deal with Lujin.

Manstein knew very well that he could not complete this rescue mission, and continued to attack like this. When Ubolevic's Kursk Front took Paulus, the next one to put it on the dining table was likely his 11th Army.

The wise Manstein naturally did not dare to take such a risk, so he ordered the attack to be suspended and suggested to Bock and Longdsted: "It's time to consider the combat plan in the future!"

Not only Manstein was very pessimistic, but even Hitler knew that this time the Paulus cluster might be in danger. However, the head of state was not willing to admit defeat so easily. He always believed that he could only be the winner.

So in front of the huge combat map of the wolf's den, Hitler fell into deep thought. Is there any way to regain the initiative on the battlefield? Is there any way to avenge Paulus immediately? (To be continued.)

ps: Bow and thank you for drinking a thousand cups and comrade Juventus!
Chapter completed!