Colonel Burke and his subordinates, with Hornerdolph's body, left the exchange site. Unexpectedly, only five hundred meters away, the scream of shells cutting through the air suddenly came from the air, which scared Burke to death. He thought it was Sokov who ordered the artillery to fire at them.
But the shells flew over their heads and landed directly at the exchange site not long ago, and directly blew it into a sea of ​​fire. Burke looked in that direction and was shocked and sweated. He thought to himself: If he hadn't left there yet, he would have been blown to pieces by the shells.
Back in Knobelsdorf's command cabin, Burke ignored the other party's rank being much higher than himself and asked sternly: "General Knobelsdorf, why do you fire? Don't you know where we are exchanging with the Russians? Are you going to blow us and the Russians to pieces?"
"Col. Burke, don't worry." Unexpectedly, General Knobel Stewart said with a normal expression: "I ordered the artillery to fire after I knew you left the exchange site."
"Why?" Burke asked angrily: "Why do you need to fire?"
"I am also ordered." If it were an ordinary colonel who dared to raise such a question, he would have been driven out by General Knobel Steff, but the person who asked this question now was Manstein's adjutant, and Knobel Steff had to explain patiently: "After the orders of Marshal Manstein."
"After the order of the Marshal?" Burke said in confusion: "But when the Marshal gave me this mission, he did not say that he would launch a shelling on the Russian positions?"
"That was the temporary decision made by His Excellency the Marshal." Knobelsdorf explained to Burke: "He cannot tolerate the Russians using General Hornerdorf's body to blackmail us. Therefore, after replacing the body, he will retaliate against the Russians in a crazy way."
"If you really want to retaliate against the Russians, the marshal should tell me about this in advance." Burke said unhappily: "This can also give me a clear idea."
"I think it is completely correct for the marshal to not tell you this." Knobelsdorf said with a stern face: "If you know the marshal's plan in advance, you will inevitably reveal flaws when performing the exchange mission and be noticed by the Russians, then our revenge plan will fail."
"General Knobel Stewart, I think the Marshal's plan may fail." Burke thought of Sokov, who was sitting and drinking with him, and immediately realized that the other party might have noticed Marshal Manstein's plan. Otherwise, how could he inexplicably invite himself to drink? He said that he wanted to learn more about Marshal Manstein's deeds, but when he sat and chatted, he almost kept talking, and he didn't even have much chance to speak. He smiled wryly: "I think General Sokov has seen through the Marshal's plan."
"What, do you say Sokov has seen through the Marshal's plan?" Knobelsdorf heard this and said in an incredible tone: "He is not a god, how could he guess the Marshal's plan?"
"General Knobel Stewart, I think our biggest mistake is that we should not use so many wounded people to exchange General Hornerdolph's body." Burke said: "According to my estimate, General Sokov may have seen that the prisoners of war we were going to hand over to them, all of whom were all wounded, realized that something was wrong, so he adjusted his tactics in time. He personally came to hold me up so that the wounded and sick could get more time to transfer."
"Col. Burke, if things are really what you said, this General Sokov would be too terrifying." Knobelsdorf said in a daze: "He could actually see through the marshal's tricks and took the most appropriate response in the shortest time."
"General Knobelsdorf, if you believe me, please listen to me and immediately order the artillery to stop the shelling of the Russian positions." Burke reminded Knobelsdorf: "There are not many Russians in the areas where our artillery shells now. They should all be transferred to a safe place."
"Is this really the case?" Knobel Stewart said in a daze: "If there are really no Russians in the shelled area as you said, and the Marshal may not blame me. But once the situation is just the opposite, our shelling will stop, and the Russians will have a chance to breathe. When the marshal is held accountable, who should bear the responsibility?"
"General Knobel Stewart, I will return to the marshal's command immediately." Seeing that Knobel Stewart had no idea of ​​ordering the artillery to stop the artillery, Burke stood up and said to him, "I believe you will receive the order to stop the artillery soon."
When Burke returned to Manstein's command cabin, Manstein couldn't wait to ask: "Have General Hornerdolph's body been brought back successfully?"
"Yes, Mr. Marshal, I have fulfilled my mission and have brought back General Hornerdolph's body." After reporting his mission, Burke raised his own question: "But Mr. Marshal, on the way back, we suddenly saw the artillery under General Knobelsdolph's command, and carried out violent artillery bombardment at the place where we exchanged."
"This is my order." Manstein thought Burke did not understand the cause of the sudden shelling, and he explained to him patiently: "I cannot tolerate the Russians using General Hornerdolph's body to continue to blackmail me. Therefore, I must take revenge. In order to ensure your safety, I order General Knobelsdolf to shell the Russian positions after you arrive in the safe area. I think that at this moment, the Russian positions should have become a sea of ​​fire."
"Marson Marshal, the Russians' positions have indeed become a sea of ​​fire under the shelling of our army." Burke continued after organizing the words in his mind: "But when it comes to how much damage it can cause to the Russians, I have the opposite opinion."
"Why do you say that?"
"Your Excellency Marshal, you don't know that your plan might have been seen through by Sokov, and he has taken the right response."
"What's going on?" Hearing Burke say this, Manstein realized that something might be wrong in some aspects, and hurriedly asked: "How could Sokov see through my plan?"
"The reason is very simple. The prisoners we used to exchange with them were all wounded. Sokov probably saw this situation and ran out to preside over the exchange ceremony himself."
"What, was the exchange ceremony presided over by Sokov himself?" Manstein asked in surprise: "Why is that the second lieutenant? Isn't that Russian commander who presided over the exchange ceremony just the leader of the 564th Regiment?"
"That's the problem," Burke explained to Manstein. "General Sokov may have seen that the prisoners of war to be used for exchange were all slow-moving wounded people, so he realized something was wrong, so he came up with a way to delay me on the position so that General Knobelsdorf's artillery would not dare to fire casually."
"Tell me, what method he used to hold you back for so long?"
"Drink, he invites me to drink." Burke said this, and saw that Manstein looked dissatisfied, he quickly added: "I had rejected his kindness, but he said he admired you and wanted to learn more about your situation from me. I didn't think too much about it for a while, so I agreed to sit down and drink and talk to him about your affairs."
"Talking about me?" Manstein asked curiously: "What did he say?"
"He said," Burke realized at this moment that he had been in Sokov's trap. If he did not sit there and drink for a long time, but would take people back immediately after completing the exchange. Maybe Knobel Stewart's artillery bombardment could kill Sokov and the vast majority of the wounded. In order to make up for his mistake, he had to take the initiative to transfer the topic to the conversation between himself and Sokov: "He said that if the commander who was blocking the commander who commanded the Sixth Army to attack Stalingrad, it was not Paulus but you, and the city might have fallen into our hands long ago..." He repeated what Sokov said to Manstein.
Manstein didn't expect that an enemy commander would actually admire him so much. It would be fine if he was an ordinary Russian commander. The key is that this person is an opponent that has a headache for officers at all levels of his side. His praise for himself is much more valuable.
Thinking of this, Manstein, who has always liked to be stern, showed a faint smile on his face. He didn't care about holding Burke accountable, but continued to ask: "What else did he say?"
"After Paulus' Sixth Army was destroyed, the Russians used the forces of two or three fronts to launch a counterattack against our army at the same time." Burke carefully observed Manstein's expression and felt that he was very happy at the moment. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and continued: "General Sokov said that our army was at an absolute disadvantage in terms of military strength and equipment at that time. If a commander was used to command the battle, our troops would definitely be driven to the right bank of the Dnieper River and confronted the Russians across the river. It was because you were commanding the troops that you could turn the disadvantages on the battlefield and finally win the battle."
When Manstein heard Burke say all the words of praise to him, he couldn't help but feel a little fluttered. As soon as Burke stopped, he continued to ask: "Did he say what the final outcome of this Kursk Battle is like?"
However, Burke has not answered Manstein's question for a long time. Seeing that his adjutant did not speak, Manstein couldn't help but get angry: "Col. Why don't you continue talking? Can't he foresee who will be the final winner of this battle?"
"Sayed."
"Who is it?"
Burke replied hesitantly: "General Sokov said two possibilities."
“Which two possibilities?”
"First, our army continues to attack with its existing forces according to the targets and routes set in advance, and the final victory must belong to us." Burke said slowly: "Another possibility is that the head of state has Alzheimer's disease and transfers the elite troops from your hands at the most critical moment of the battle. This will lead to the balance of victory tilting towards the Russian side."
"Nonsense, it's simply nonsense." When Manstein heard this, he couldn't help but start to attack: "The Fortress Operation was personally formulated by the Head of State. In order to eliminate the Russians entrenched in the Kursk prominence, he wanted to put more troops into this area. How could he draw troops from us?"
Originally, Manstein wanted to hear what Sokov said, but suddenly he lost interest. He waved his hand and signaled that Burke could leave, and he didn't want to listen to him anymore. Burke understood Manstein's idea, raised his hand to salute him, and turned around and left the command cabin.
After Burke left, Manstein carefully pondered what he said, and felt that it still made some sense. According to the news he had just obtained, Britain and the United States landed in Sicily, Italy on July 9, trying to occupy the entire Italy. Although there are many troops in Italy, it is a fantasy to expect them to block the Allied offensive. Although Germany also has many garrison troops in Italy, most of them are second-rate garrison troops, and it is basically impossible to repel the Allied attack. In this way, it is really possible that the situation Sokov mentioned, Berlin's base camp drew troops from him.
Manstein thought to himself: If this really happens, should he obey the order and hand over the troops; or would he disobey orders and continue to use these troops to fight fiercely with the Russians entrenched in Kursk?
After repeated thoughts, Manstein finally figured out a truth. If the base camp does not draw troops from him, the best way is to keep the troops in a fierce state of fighting. Seeing that their troops are in a state of combat, they are embarrassed to draw troops from him again.
After understanding this, Manstein asked the communications trooper to connect Hauser's command. Soon, Hauser's voice came out of his headphones: "Marson Marshal, I am Hauser, what instructions do you have?"
"Housel, I order your Second SS Panzer Army to immediately attack the Russian position on the front. Be sure to break through their defenses and reach the Pschoer River in the shortest time."
Chapter completed!