Sokov was sitting on a camp bed and was lifting his foot and taking off his boots, Lunev, who was sitting not far away, asked with concern: "Comrade Commander, has Asia come back with you?"

"No." Sokov, who was taking off his boots, heard Lunev's question, quickly put his foot back on the ground, shook his head and said, "Although she followed the troops of the 182nd Division to the defense zone, because the war was fierce, I never had the chance to see her."

When Lunev learned that Sokov had no time to meet Asia because of the fierce war, he couldn't help but worry: "Comrade Commander, since this is the case, why don't you let her come back with you? Is it appropriate to let her stay in a dangerous place for a long time?"

"Don't worry, comrade of the military committee." Sokov said to Lunev with a smile: "It's hard to have any large-scale battles in our defense zone, otherwise I wouldn't have returned to the headquarters at this time."

Hearing Sokov say this, Lunev's eyebrows can't help but raise them up and asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, have you known any rumor?"

Since Lunev took the initiative to ask, and there were no idle people in the command center, Sokov planned to tell the current situation to his two deputy so that they could understand it. He got up and walked to the table to sit down, and called the two of them to come over and sit together: "Come here, I will introduce you to the current situation."

Sameko and Lunev knew that Sokov would definitely tell them some inside information, so they couldn't wait to sit at the table. "Comrade Commander, please hurry up," Sameko urged as soon as she sat down, "How will the situation develop next?"

Sokov briefly introduced the information he received from Zhukov to the two, pointed to the map on the table and continued: "The northern line of Kursk has seriously threatened the retreat of the Model 9th ​​Army due to the active attack launched by General Rokosovsky's troops. If the Germans did not want another Stalingrad, they would inevitably stop the attack on the northern line, but instead switched to defense on the spot to block our attack on the Orel's outskirts.

As for the southern front, according to my analysis, Manstein's reserve team will most likely be transferred to other battlefields. In other words, even if the enemy continues to maintain an offensive on the southern front, all they can rely on is the original troops."

"If the enemies on the southern line can only rely on their existing forces to fight, the pressure on the areas defended by our army can be greatly reduced." Hearing Sokov say this, Sameko's face showed a surprise expression: "In other words, we can even take the initiative to launch a counterattack against the enemy in individual areas."

"That's right, from the current situation, Manstein will concentrate his main force outside Prokholovka and try to annihilate our troops there." Sokov introduced to the two: "In this way, he will only be left in our defense zone with incomplete 6th and 19th Armored Divisions. As long as General Malankin's guard division can help us restrain the 19th Armored Division, we can choose any location and launch a counterattack against the Germans."

But after hearing this, Lunev said with concern: "Comrade Commander, if we launch a counterattack against the enemy at this moment, will Manstein draw troops from outside Prokhorovka to attack our defense zone?"

"Comrade Military Commissioner, you don't have to worry about this." In response to Lunev's concerns, Sameko explained to him: "Now Manstein's main force is fighting fiercely with our army outside Prokhorovka City. He dare not easily draw troops to leave, otherwise the remaining troops are likely to be unable to stop our army's counterattack."

After listening to Samek's explanation, Lunev's face showed a relaxed expression. After staring at the map for a while, he looked up at Sokov and asked, "Comrade Commander, where are you planning to take the initiative to attack the enemy?"

"The enemy's strength is still very strong now, which can be seen from the fierce battle outside Prokholovka." Sokov stared at the map in front of him and said, "If we attack the enemy gathered outside Prokholovka, even if we win, we may pay a huge price. And when we launch a counterattack in the defense zone of the 188th Division, since the German army on their front has moved into defense, they may not be able to eat them in a short time. Once Manstein sees the rear road being threatened, he will definitely draw troops from other places and launch a joint attack on us. Maybe in the end, the enemy is not destroyed, but we will suffer considerable casualties. We cannot do this kind of equipment transaction."

"Then we can't do nothing," Lunev asked cautiously: "If our superiors see that we have so many troops but stay near the enemy without any action, we will definitely blame us."

"I just say that we will not take the initiative to attack the enemy for the time being." Sokov smiled and said: "We do not attack the enemy, but we can cut off their transportation lines. As long as the enemy's fuel and ammunition cannot be transported outside the city of Prokorovka, the main German forces who are carrying out the attack will soon turn the tanks and cannons in their hands into piles of scrap iron due to the lack of ammunition and fuel. In this case, all they can do is blow up or throw away these equipment and choose to retreat without hesitation."

…………

When Sokov introduced the next development of the situation in the Kursk region to his two deputy at his command, the reconnaissance troops sent by Vatutin also obtained useful information.

Lieutenant Aeskell, the captain of the reconnaissance team, came to the vicinity of the German reserve station with more than a dozen scouts, and unexpectedly found that the camp in the distance was brightly lit and the troops inside seemed to be undergoing nervous mobilization.

The first thing Lieutenant Aeskell thought was that the enemy must be ready to move towards Prokholovka City. He quickly called the radio operator and ordered the other party: "Immediately contact the reconnaissance department of the Front Command, and we found that the troops were being mobilized in the 24th Armored Army's garrison. From a distance, we could hear the roar of tanks and self-propelled artillery engines."

Five minutes after the telegram was sent, the radio operator received a call from the Intelligence Department: "Quickly find out where the enemy is going."

After receiving the call back, Lieutenant Aeskell immediately called a sergeant and told him: "Sergeant, take two soldiers, quietly approach the enemy's camp, find a way to capture a prisoner, and find out their movements."

The sergeant agreed and took the two soldiers away from their hiding place, quietly heading to the enemy's camp, preparing to capture a prisoner and figure out the enemy's movements.

After waiting for almost an hour, the sergeant and two soldiers carried an officer with his hands and feet tied back to the hiding place of Acekel and others. The sergeant excitedly reported to Acekel: "Comrade Lieutenant captured a German lieutenant and seized a large briefcase he carried with him."

When Acekel heard the sergeant say that a briefcase had been seized, Acekel couldn't help but lit up. He knew that the German officer carrying the briefcase had a lot of important information even if his rank was low. He quickly called the translator and ordered the other party, "Transfer my words to this German, and ask him what his name, military rank, and position!"

After translating what Askell said to the German officer in this way, the translator pulled out the rag stuffed into the officer's mouth. After coughing violently, the officer began to answer: "My name is Gold, and I am the combat staff member of the 23rd Armored Division."

"So it's a combat staff officer." Askell took out a stack of documents from his briefcase, looked through it for a while, and found that it was all in Russian and he couldn't understand it at all. He asked Gold: "What are the documents written on them?"

Seeing the documents and being held in the hands of the translator, Gold hesitated for a moment, and then replied: "This is the transfer order issued by Marshal Manstein."

"Menstein's transfer order?" Askele asked curiously: "What are the words on it?"

"Order us to load the car overnight and prepare to transfer it to the west." Although Gold was a combat staff officer, he could not access many top-secret contents at all because his level was too low and he could not access them. Therefore, the questions he answered seemed vague.

"West?" Askell continued, "Where are you going to transfer you to the west?"

"I don't know, Mr. Lieutenant." Gold replied in a humble manner: "I didn't say the order from my superiors. I don't know exactly where the final destination is."

"Did you see something?" Seeing that Gold was reluctant to say, Acekel turned his head and asked the translation of the document, "Did you say anything above? Where did you transfer them?"

"Comrade Lieutenant," the translator quickly raised his head and said, "In the order, they should go to the train station west to board the train, and then transport it to the west."

"It seems that we are going to the train station west to see if the enemy is really gathering in that direction."

In this way, in order to find out the real movements of the German army, Askell took his reconnaissance team and quietly arrived at the train station to the west. In order to prevent being discovered by the enemy, they hid on a small hill two or three kilometers away from the station. Askell found a good viewing position and raised his telescope to look towards the station.

Through the telescope, he could clearly see groups of tanks and armored vehicles driving to the railway outside the station to stop. Some tanks that arrived early were driving onto flatbed vehicles one after another. After he held the telescope for a while, he found that more and more enemies were gathering in this direction. It seemed that the captives were all true. The 24th Armored Army troops were indeed preparing to drive westward.

With the prisoner's confession and seeing the enemy's tanks and armored vehicles loading one after another, Askell realized that the enemy might really be mobilized to the west, so he ordered the operator again: "Send a report to the Intelligence Department, and after our reconnaissance, we found a large number of enemy tanks and armored vehicles loading vehicles at the train station west of the original station. Then, based on the captured prisoners' confession, the enemy's 24th Armored Army will be mobilized to the west."

Watuting, who was in the headquarters, soon received a telegram from Lieutenant Askell. After reading the above content, he quickly handed the telegram to Zhukov and said respectfully: "Comrade Marshal, look, this is the telegram just sent by our scouts. It seems that the situation analyzed by General Sokov is completely accurate. The enemy's 24th Armored Army troops are boarding the train one after another and preparing to drive to the west."

However, after reading this telegram, Zhukov said expressionlessly: "Comrade Vatujing, you should understand that the exact whereabouts of the 24th Armored Army of the German Army is related to the outcome of the Kursk Battle. You call the scouts immediately and ask them to verify again. You must find out the true whereabouts of the enemy."

Vatutin dared not disobey Zhukov's order. He quickly ordered his chief of staff to reply to Lieutenant Askell, and asked the reconnaissance team to continue to verify the information, and to ensure that it is accurate.

After receiving a call from the headquarters, Askell sent people to check nearby and finally found that this railway line had been damaged by guerrillas. There were many areas of the railway line to the east, and there were no railway tracks and could not be opened to traffic. On the contrary, the railway to the west was intact, and the Germans also sent a lot of patrols to patrol along the railway to avoid being damaged by guerrillas.

After figuring out what happened here, Acekel sent a telegram to the headquarters intelligence department for the third time, introducing the situation here in detail, and explaining in a positive tone that the enemy was indeed going west and there was absolutely nothing to do.

After receiving the telegram again, Vatujin repeatedly checked and confirmed that the situation reported by Askel would not have any false elements, he said to Zhukov: "Comrade Marshal, according to the latest report of the scouts, the railway line leading to the east of the railway station has long been destroyed by guerrillas, and even the railway tracks in some areas have been stripped. On the contrary, the railway leading to the west is complete, and there are enemy patrols along the way.

It seems that Major General Sokov's analysis is correct. The enemy was indeed transferred to the west by the German Command. We can concentrate all our strength to deal with the enemy outside Prokolovka."

Since it was the information that the scouts repeatedly verified, the chance of making a mistake should be extremely low. But even so, Zhukov stared at the map for a long time and confirmed that there was no fork in the railway west, so that the train carrying tanks, cannons and armored vehicles could be completely landed when the train carrying tanks, cannons and armored vehicles went from other routes to outside Prokholovka City.
Chapter completed!