Chapter 912: Circling

A German armored car moved slowly through the fields. The commander, leaning against the hatch on the turret, was observing the distance with his binoculars. The German G Army Group had already clashed with the southward-advancing Soviet forces, but neither side had launched an immediate attack.

And so, the reconnaissance forces of the German armored units began to move frequently. They had to figure out for their own troops just how many enemies were ahead, what their designations were, whether they had come in tanks or were purely infantry. Or, to put it another way: to see if the other side was looking for a fight, or just coming to die.

Of course, the German reconnaissance units’ method of judging the enemy’s strength was also very simple. They would attack once and then use the result of that attack to directly reflect the opponent’s strength: if they lost, then the opponent was relatively tough; if they won, then it meant the opponent was relatively weak—simple and clear.

This German Sd.Kfz. 222 armored car was a small four-wheeled vehicle, a rather low-end piece of equipment in the reconnaissance units. The real main force units would usually try to equip their troops with the six-wheeled Sd.Kfz. 231, which was superior in both mobility and interior space.

However, the Sd.Kfz. 222 also had many advantages, for example, its production process was relatively “material-saving,” so it was mass-produced and equipped to the temporarily expanded armored units and the reconnaissance battalions of the infantry divisions. And here, to save costs and facilitate production, the German armored car had already done away with many of its angular designs, replacing them directly with vertical welded steel plates.

“No Soviet armored units have been spotted. I suspect the woods ahead are where they are stationed,” the commander said, lowering his binoculars and contacting the reconnaissance company headquarters by radio. “If necessary, you can provide me with some support to launch a small-scale attack to probe the opponent.”

The company headquarters on the other end of the line sounded a bit frantic, their voice even a little distorted. “Be careful of your position! About a kilometer to your left, car number 4 was ambushed by the Soviets. The other side are not rookies!”

The commander was taken aback. When he had set out, the battalion headquarters had already emphasized the enemy’s strength when giving the mission, so most of the reconnaissance units, including himself, had been extremely cautious. But a vehicle had still been taken out by the enemy, which forced him to be even more careful.

“Reverse! Our position is too far forward. This is not a good sign. Reverse and turn at the same time. Pay attention to the surroundings,” the commander said, cutting off communication with the company headquarters and hurriedly giving the order to retreat. Being brave and fearless was one thing, but to go up and get killed like an idiot was another. There was no need to take risks in this situation. This was something he had already thought through very clearly.

Just as his armored car had started up and had just reversed a few meters, a shell was clearly flying towards them. But due to an issue with its accuracy, the shell struck the ground a dozen meters from where they had just been parked, kicking up a cloud of black earth.

“My God! We’re under attack! We’re under attack! The enemy has high-velocity anti-tank guns! Reverse! Reverse!” The commander hadn’t even had time to duck his head back into the armored car’s turret when the earth kicked up by the shell splattered all over him. He pounded on the steel plate on the outside of his armored car’s turret and shouted the order to retreat.

And so, at his urging, or rather, under the threat of the enemy’s shells, this armored car reversed at high speed and retreated into a patch of dense weeds. Soon, a second shell arrived as expected, landing in the patch of straw and kicking up a cloud of weeds and earth. The black smoke obscured the armored car’s vision, and it also seemed to have obscured the enemy’s vision, so no more shells flew out from the woods. This German armored car quickly retreated from the other side of the patch of weeds to the vicinity of the bushes by the side of the road.

“From the destructive power of the shell, it’s not a Soviet 45mm cannon, so it’s not the easy-to-deal-with T-26 tank… It’s either the 76mm cannon of a T-34, or that monster called the Stalin,” the commander said to his driver in a trembling voice, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.

“My God, they almost hit us just now,” the driver said, also with some lingering fear. “Don’t just stand there. What’s our next move? When we cross the road, they won’t continue to fire, will they?”

While the two of them were discussing how to escape, a T-34 tank crashed through a small tree and charged out of the slightly greening woods with a menacing air. Following behind this tank was another T-34, and then, next to them, another T-34 also burst out of the woods.

“My God, there’s at least a battalion of tanks. This is definitely the Soviet main force!” the commander said, seeing these steel monsters charge out of the woods without even using his binoculars. After a moment of astonishment, he hurriedly continued to give orders. “Quickly, cross the road and return to company headquarters at top speed.”

After speaking, he grabbed the microphone of the radio in the swaying armored car and reported loudly, “Position of armored reconnaissance vehicle number 2. At least one battalion of enemy armored units, main force is T-34 tanks, the possibility of Stalin tanks cannot be ruled out. We are retreating! We are retreating!”

“Roger that! The situation for cars number 1 and 4 is about the same. The enemy has at least one armored division. I have already reported it to battalion headquarters. Disengage immediately and retreat to our positions,” the company commander on the other end of the headset, who had also discovered the vastness of the Soviet attacking force, ordered anxiously.

The German reconnaissance detachments, which would not have easily retreated even when facing an enemy several times their number, had no choice but to retreat in the face of the superior Soviet tanks. The news coming back from all over was about the same: the Soviet armored forces had begun a large-scale offensive from the southern part of Kursk, with the objective being the important northern towns of Gubkin and Stary Oskol in the Belgorod Oblast, which were occupied by the Germans.

Once the Soviet army broke through the small number of German garrison forces here, they would then directly face the Italian and Romanian troops behind them. It seemed that at least in the reconnaissance operations in the vicinity, the Soviets had found the German army’s weak point and were planning to find an opportunity to break through the German defense line from here.

“Yes! Just now, the ground reconnaissance units have discovered a new Soviet armored division. They are heading south,” the chief of staff said, putting down the phone and then looking at the busy Guderian. “Your Excellency, General, our defense line is too long. In this situation, we have no way to organize a force to counter-attack the Soviet army.”

Guderian shook his head and said to his subordinate with resignation, “The purpose of our northern advance, to put it bluntly, was not to encircle Moscow. That was just a slogan for external consumption. In reality, it was not so.”

He pointed to the German Central Theater forces on the Soviet front and then looked at his chief of staff. “If we wanted to attack Moscow, wouldn’t it have been more time-saving to launch an attack from the nearest Smolensk? Why would we take such a long detour to outflank them from so far away?”

“I understand. The outflanking maneuver was just an offensive plan to be carried out as an afterthought if everything went smoothly. In fact, our main task was to buy time for M and N Army Groups, right?” The chief of staff clearly understood Guderian’s meaning and immediately replied.

Guderian nodded and then drew a line with his hand over the wide front of his army group. “We are the unit that covers the flank of the Southern Group. Now we are just carrying out our most important task. Get ready, like General List’s E Army Group, to fight to the last moment.”

“So you’re saying? We now have to hold the line at the very front and hold on until General Model’s D Army Group can close in, and only then will our mission be considered complete?” the chief of staff said with a bitter smile. “Then the tank force that we have painstakingly accumulated over so many years, won’t it be…”

“What else can we do? If we don’t wear them down in a field battle here with the Soviet armored forces, are we supposed to wear them down in the ruins of Stalingrad?” Guderian said, seeming very straightforward. “Since from the very beginning, we were prepared for a decisive battle of armored groups in the open field, then this campaign will be the final chapter for our G Army Group.”

“Have the 3rd Panzer Division continue to move west. It would be best if they could set up their own defensive positions before the troops formally engage,” Guderian said after a moment of emotion, beginning to lay out his own tasks. “The two light infantry divisions at the front can contract their defense line. Let the Italians go and test the waters with these Soviets for us first.”

“Yes, General!” The chief of staff clearly did not object to the plan of having the Italians take the lead. What he was worried about was the logistical supply for his own unit and the fire support of the Romanians. “Although we have strengthened the western flank with an infantry division these past few days, the forces there are still too thin.”

Guderian looked at the long western salient of his own unit on the map and replied with resignation, “What can I do? We can only take it one step at a time. If it really doesn’t work, then we’ll have to ask the air force for paratrooper support. Once the Soviets retake the Belgorod Oblast, our logistical supply lines will be even longer, and the advantage will be on the Soviet side.”

Modern warfare is a battle of resources and attrition. The German army’s supply bases were far away in Ukraine and Poland, while the Soviet army’s supply lines were more than half shorter than Germany’s. Therefore, the German army could not afford to just hand over its supply lines. If that were to happen, then there would be no need to continue this campaign.

“To fight this war for the sake of resources is too frustrating,” the chief of staff complained. “We went all the way south from the vicinity of Kharkov, and then all the way north, and now we’re moving west—it’s basically a circle!”

“Even if we have to go around in ten circles, as long as we can win the war, we are willing to do it!” Guderian said firmly.

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