Chapter 909: A Busy Command Post

Guderian knew Zhukov had gone south. A troop movement of this magnitude, completed in such a rush, couldn’t be hidden from anyone. The only things that could be concealed were the exact number of troops heading south, their composition—and what the Soviets were actually planning this time.

The Soviet army’s southward march was a simple act of self-preservation: travel by night, hide by day. While this tactic made German reconnaissance difficult, it also created problems for the Soviets themselves. Their advance was incredibly slow. For the Germans, who already knew that a portion of the Soviet army was heading south, there was no surprise at all.

So, Army Group G did not rush north but instead set up camp southwest of Kursk. They were waiting for the Soviet southward advance, preparing to fight a battle of attrition, and also waiting for the outcome of the battle for Stalingrad behind them. After all, a secure rear was the foundation of any offensive.

The Belgorod Oblast had already been occupied by the Germans. Guderian’s vanguard had advanced north along both banks of the Don River, occupying almost all of the Voronezh Oblast. They were only a few days’ march from the regional capital, Voronezh.

“The Soviets abandoning Moscow to head south shows they’ve made their decision. It seems the news that our Army Group A is short on fuel has finally leaked, or… our Mr. Stalin feels that Stalingrad and Baku are more important than the capital, Moscow,” Guderian said to his chief of staff, looking at the map where the Soviet southward advance was marked in ever-greater detail. “How are our troops’ preparations?”

The chief of staff nodded and briefed Guderian on what he knew about the troop’s condition. “We didn’t meet fierce resistance when we attacked the Don, so the troops have maintained a high level of readiness. Some units are starting to re-equip with the King Tiger. Overall, our advantage is very clear.”

“Mm, the 502nd Heavy Panzerjäger Battalion, which was temporarily operating with the 3rd SS Panzer Division, is now stationed near Liski in the rear with the SS troops,” Guderian said. He hadn’t played his trump card yet but had kept the newly re-equipped King Tiger units in reserve.

Through relentless effort, Germany had finally increased its tank production capacity with fully automated assembly lines. The production speed of the King Tiger was now very fast, which was the main reason the frontline troops could be re-equipped with it on a large scale. With this new tank, Akado and his generals were confident of gaining an advantage in tank battles.

The current situation on the entire battlefield was slightly different from what the Germans had planned. These deviations were basically caused by the southward movement of the Soviet Red Army. The original German plan was for Guderian’s Army Group G to continue north, capture the Tambov Oblast, and threaten the Moscow defense line from the flank. But now, with the Soviet troops moving south, if Army Group G continued north, its own flank would be threatened. So the German army had revised its operational plan, deciding to first annihilate the southward-advancing Soviet army in the Kursk region before continuing the northern offensive.

Therefore, the plan to attack Tambov was temporarily put on hold, and the German army had to first deal with the counter-attacking Soviet Red Army. The specific direction was already clear. The Soviet army, moving as fast as they could, had entered the Kursk region, which the Germans had not yet fully occupied.

Don’t think that the Soviet’s terrible weather and their slapdash infrastructure only caused trouble for the Germans. In fact, it was only when Zhukov had to move his armored forces on such a large scale that he discovered that what goes around, comes around! The Soviet armored units, on their way south, not only had to avoid German air interference and reconnaissance but also had to struggle with the damn roads.

A heavy downpour had made Zhukov happy for a few hours but had left his follow-up forces bogged down in the mud. Hundreds of thousands of troops advanced in the dark and, with the help of the locals, had finally, barely, reached Kursk.

While the Soviet troops were busy preparing to continue their southward offensive, the Germans were not idle either. The entire German intelligence department and the frontline reconnaissance units were on high alert. Everyone wanted to figure out one thing: where did the Soviets want to fight, and how far did they want to go?

“Hello? Hello! Yes! This is the Chief of Staff of Army Group G. Is there any news from the army group’s direct air reconnaissance unit… I need to know the exact number of enemy troops, how many heavy weapons… Yes, yes… Alright, I understand.” On one side, the chief of staff was on the phone, trying to get results from the army group’s direct air reconnaissance force. On the other side, a group of radio operators were receiving a mountain of situation reports from various units.

“A message just came in from the 26th Infantry Corps. They have engaged the Soviet army at Rogachevka. The Soviet unit designation is unknown. It might be the vanguard of the southward-advancing Soviet force,” an officer shouted, holding a telegram. A female NCO directly placed a marker representing an unknown enemy unit on the corresponding position on the map.

Guderian muttered to himself and walked to the map to carefully look at the location of that city. “Rogachevka… mm, that should be about right. I estimate they also want to fight us at Voronezh first, to wear down our army and blunt our edge.”

Behind him, another air force liaison officer from the command headquarters was communicating with the air force about a specific operational plan. “Yes! We hope you can delay the enemy’s southward advance by bombing the railways and roads! I know you’ve already done that, but we hope you can increase the intensity of the bombing…”

One could vaguely hear that the air force officer on the other end of the line was also helpless. Because he was directly subordinate to the Eastern Front’s joint air operations coordination department, he didn’t have much aviation fuel on hand. Most of the fuel was held by the air force in the southern theater, and now, the units carrying out the mission to annihilate the Soviet troops were the flight units belonging to the Central Group.

Although the German Air Force had expanded to an unknown degree compared to its historical scale, it was still unable to carry out a carpet bombing over such a long front, from Leningrad all the way to Stalingrad. In fact, even the U.S. Air Force at its peak couldn’t have done it. The strategic bombers, medium bombers, and even the dive bombers were all concentrated in the direction of Stalingrad and Moscow. The few medium bombers could not play a decisive role in delaying the enemy.

“We can only launch 20 DO-217 bombers from here. We will do our best to carry out the interdiction mission, but how much effect it will have is unknown,” the air force liaison on the other end of the line finally replied.

At this moment, in the busy command post, an officer walked up behind Guderian, handed the intelligence department’s report to his superior, and then saluted at attention. “Heil Führer! General! The intelligence department has already confirmed the southward-advancing units. There is the 1st Guards Front, commanded by one of Zhukov’s fierce generals, General Konev; and also another main Soviet force that escaped the encirclement last time, the 3rd Guards Front… commanded by General Vasilevsky.”

“Ha!” Guderian had an “I knew it” expression. “They really think highly of me, Guderian, to send two of their most elite fronts to deal with me.”

He turned his head and read the telegram that had just been passed to him, then looked up and asked, “Does the High Command know about this intelligence? What operational plan has the Führer drawn up? And what is the General Staff’s plan? Am I to continue to maintain an offensive posture?”

“The High Command has not issued a direct order. The Führer has already ordered the General Staff to come up with a contingency plan,” the officer immediately replied. “Field Marshal von Brauchitsch is currently holding an emergency meeting on our current situation to discuss how to solve the relevant problems.”

Guderian knew that the unit serving as the screen for his flank was not a main German army group, but an Italian expeditionary force (a small part). To expect this group of soldiers to cooperate with the German army to stop a Soviet offensive was an absolute fantasy. If they didn’t just abandon their positions to the Soviets, it would already be considered “doing their best.”

Of course, behind this unit was also a Romanian unit, but this unit was not a particularly reliable force either. At the very least, they lacked heavy equipment like tanks. If even the German army couldn’t hold off a Soviet offensive, then this unit would be no different from the Italian unit in front of them and would not be of much use.

“Order the troops to stand by on the spot! Begin to build a defense line!” Guderian said, without a second thought, beginning to lay out the next operational mission. “We can’t wait for others to save us. At least at this time, no one can spare a thought for our unit.”

He pointed at the map with his finger and, according to the area currently controlled by the German army, drew the shortest possible defense line. “The troops in the salient will quickly contract to maintain the continuity of the front… Deploy the defense line, allocate armored forces to strengthen our defensive depth. Take stock of the troops’ ammunition, choose concealed areas to set up supply points…”

“Have the 3rd Panzer Division in the rear assemble and reinforce the Romanian troops behind them. I need them to hold for at least 48 hours if the Soviets try to outflank us,” Guderian said. After arranging his deployment, he let out a sigh and continued with a lament, “Army Group G, which is best at fighting an offensive battle, is going to have to fight a purely defensive battle today.”

“Assemble the troops! We have a new mission! Check your equipment, fuel, and ammunition! All tank commanders, to the front to confirm your orders! Be quick about it!” With a shout from an officer, the German tanks that had been parked in the open ground outside the village began to start their engines. Everyone began to get busy.

On the outskirts of Liski, the most powerful armored unit of the German army had received a new operational order. They began to head west. For all of them, that was the direction of home, a direction that made them all feel a sense of closeness.

Advance chapters at Nightjar Reads · nightjarreads.com