Chapter 960: Failure

The white ceiling was impeccably clean, and the sound of birdsong from outside the window gave the room a sense of vibrant life. When Rein opened his eyes, everything before him was free from the smell of gunpowder, as if the world had returned to peace, the terrible war finally over.

But he knew the war was not over, at least not yet. A searing pain from his wounds declared that he hadn’t been injured long ago, which also meant he hadn’t been unconscious for a great length of time.

The bed he lay on was brand new, with the strange, unpleasant smell of disinfectant. A wooden bedframe, a soft mattress, and a light, high-quality quilt. Next to the bed was a nightstand with a vase of flowers. He had a clean, tidy room to himself, with a small window at his side.

“Captain Rein, you’re awake?” A nurse walked into his room, a chart in her hand. Seeing his open eyes, she smiled and asked, “It is a great honor to be able to take care of you. My name is Ivanna, Ivanna Rita.”

“Where… am I?” Rein struggled to speak, his voice sounding off-key. Anyone who had been unconscious for a long time would find their own voice strange. He was momentarily perplexed by the odd sound, then looked at her, waiting for an answer.

The nurse smiled and replied, “This is the best hospital in Kiev. As a wounded officer, you were sent here. This place generally only accepts officers. I was transferred from a hospital in Berlin; I’m the head nurse here. I’ve heard your story. You’re practically a hero to all of Germany now… or at least one of them.”

Rein forced a slight, embarrassed smile. He assumed the nurse was talking about his previous actions in stopping the Soviets from outflanking and cutting off the Das Reich Division. But to his regret, he had not been able to complete the mission of saving the world.

Although the Soviet flanking force had collapsed, their frantic assaults elsewhere had dealt a heavy blow to the Germans. Army Group G had ultimately abandoned its line, and the Red Army had broken through into the Belgorod Oblast in full force. In that one battle, the German army had lost nearly 150,000 men. Of those, 70,000 were new recruits sent from the rear, while the other 80,000 were the elites of Army Group G.

The heavily battered Army Group G had not only been forced to give up large swathes of occupied territory but had also surrendered about 30,000 Romanian and 20,000 Italian prisoners before they could stabilize their lines. In other words, even excluding the German losses near Stalingrad, in the area south of Kursk alone, Army Group G had been attrited by nearly 200,000 soldiers.

At the same time, to annihilate these 200,000 Axis soldiers, the Soviet Union had lost over 500,000 of its elite. These were not the mobilized soldiers from Stalingrad, nor were they the newly arrived replacements. They were veterans who had been through several major campaigns.

The German strategic deployment to the north had been completely paralyzed by the Soviets. The plan to pincer Moscow was in ruins. Some newly formed armored units and parts of the rear army had to be urgently moved toward Army Group G’s position, barely managing to plug the hole behind Guderian by taking advantage of the Soviets’ exhausted offensive.

On May 12th, the Soviet Union first retook the key city of Belgorod on the main front. This city became the first in the Soviet theater to be recaptured by a Red Army counter-attack. Although the Red Army voluntarily halted its southward offensive after this, it was a huge boost to all the anti-German forces.

Führer Akado had no choice but to deliver his famous speech, “The Banner of Victory is Destined to be Dyed Red with Blood,” from his residence, in order to inspire the people not to fear great sacrifice. According to official German statistics, from the beginning of the German-Soviet war until now, the German army and its vassal states had lost a total of 730,000 soldiers. Although the entire country was not draped in mourning, the reality was not much different. More and more people were falling in the war, and the front lines were becoming increasingly arduous and bloody.

Germany’s strategy had suffered a setback. The plan to besiege Moscow was completely suspended. In its place, they were forced to passively strengthen the defensive forces in the direction of Kharkov. The newly formed, and not yet complete, O Army Group was hastily thrown onto this line. Its commander, General von Reichenau, could only do his utmost to stop the Soviet advance.

If it weren’t for the fact that the Soviets lacked heavy weapons and their armored forces had suffered such staggering losses, forcing them to voluntarily halt their southward push, the entire German southern front might have been in danger of collapsing.

The effect of Guderian fighting Zhukov to the last man south of Kursk, at all costs, finally became apparent ten days later. The Soviet Red Army had lost its counter-attacking strength and, after capturing Belgorod, had completely stopped its advance.

It wasn’t just Guderian’s G Army Group that had bled itself dry in the clash. Zhukov’s southward offensive group had also suffered unprecedented losses. How great were these losses? One only needed to look at the vast expanse of land south of Kursk, littered with the wrecks of tanks, to know clearly.

In 40 days, the Soviet Union had lost approximately 1,700 main battle tanks, along with another 900+ T-26 tanks. This meant that the 1,700 tanks lost earlier were all elite KV-1s, KV-1Bs, and the precious T-34s and Stalin tanks. These losses were something the Soviet Union could not replace in a short time. Zhukov’s offensive group could therefore only watch as the German forces strengthened the Kharkov defense line, which was so close, without being able to do anything.

Of course, the losses of the elite German armored forces were also absolutely unforgettable. The 1st Panzer Corps had lost 60% of its tank vehicles, with over 390 tanks destroyed by the Red Army. The Das Reich Division had lost four-fifths of its strength. The 502nd Heavy Panzerjäger Battalion, which had served as a fire brigade, was left with only 7 out of its 41 tanks. The German armored forces, once hailed as invincible, had retreated from Kursk in黯然 (gloom/dejection).

The German Air Force had also lost over 270 aircraft of various models in this defeat, making it the battle with the highest losses for both the German army and air force since the beginning of the war. Although more than two-thirds of these planes were shot down by Soviet ground fire, the Soviet Air Force was also desperately fighting for local air superiority, which put immense pressure on the German Air Force.

Compared to the Soviet Air Force’s loss of over 700 planes, the German Air Force had undoubtedly achieved a tactical victory. Compared to the Soviet air defense, which relied mainly on ground artillery, most of the Soviet planes had been destroyed by the German Air Force’s fighter units. This showed that Germany still firmly held air superiority on the battlefield, and also showed that the Soviet Air Force was recovering its strength, no longer allowing a small number of German planes to run rampant in the frontline airspace.

In short, Rein later learned that the Battle of Kursk had ended with the retreat of G Army Group, a German defeat. In the entire Battle of Kursk, both sides had lost a total of 3,210 tanks of various types, nearly 1,000 aircraft had been shot down, and infantry losses exceeded 700,000.

The largest battle in human history, which had mobilized the greatest number of tanks, had ended with Zhukov defeating Guderian. The Soviet Red Army had taken the opportunity to counter-attack and had recaptured some of its lost territory, but in the end, because its losses were too great, it had been forced to give up the opportunity to expand its gains and had also completely lost the chance to encircle the German southern group.

The fact that the Soviet Union had achieved this result with its last inheritance was not surprising. Zhukov taking advantage of the period when the German forces were most dispersed to achieve a counter-attacking advantage locally was also not that amazing. Because after having widely publicized the great victory of recapturing a key city, all the high-ranking Soviet officials had to reconsider a very important question: once the German Army Group A on the main front attacked Moscow, what should the remaining old, weak, and crippled soldiers in the Moscow theater do?

“My crew… are they all alright?” Rein didn’t care about the battlefield situation that he couldn’t control. He was more concerned about the people he knew, the familiar faces. He knew that at this moment, for him to be lying in the quiet rear instead of a chaotic field hospital meant that the German strategic situation could not be that bad.

Compared to how many positions Guderian had lost, compared to how many casualties Germany had suffered, he was more concerned about how Alice was doing, more concerned about Markus, Andre, and Bruce…

Suddenly, he remembered Baumann, the man who loved his tank as much as his own wife. He remembered the feeling of him driving the tank so smoothly, remembered his tacit understanding that was so reassuring in a stop-and-shoot.

“Captain Rein, you were brought in alone. I don’t know what happened to the others you mentioned,” the nurse answered gently. “Perhaps they are receiving treatment in other field hospitals. To find them, you may have to look through a lot of documents and forms.”

They weren’t left behind on the battlefield, were they? To become prisoners of those Soviets? Maybe they were also brought back safely to a hospital? Andre and Bruce were still in the wreck of the tank. Would they be found? Rein’s mind was in a turmoil. His current injuries clearly did not allow him to think such wild thoughts.

“Could you do me a favor? Help me find out the whereabouts of my crew. I really want to know how they are now,” Rein had no choice but to stop thinking and directly throw this thorny problem to the nurse. Since she had been sent by her superiors to take care of him, then it was perfectly natural to use her appropriately.

“The survival rate for tankers is not high, Captain Rein. If you insist on searching, I can help you submit an application, but don’t get your hopes up too high. After all, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment,” the nurse said softly, and then she showed a forced smile.

Rein really wanted to tell her that his tank had not caught fire, had not cooked off. In the end, he just shook his head slightly and closed his eyes.

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