Chapter 72
On May 12, the Soviet Red Army launched an offensive towards Kharkov.
Fahnenjunker's Tiger 223 was initially still on the front line resisting the Soviet attack. "2 o'clock direction, T34, distance 800, armor-piercing shell!" Now he sat calmly in his commander's seat, unhurriedly giving orders: advance, fire, retreat, fire... completely with a calm and composed demeanor of a successful person, without any sense of urgency - this was fake! In reality, he was sweating profusely, hoarsely shouting orders to the crew to fight. The Russian tanks came in waves as usual, and the German defense line was barely holding on with numerous wounds.
It didn't take long for the order to be issued: on the night of the 12th, Fahnrich's 223 and other Tigers withdrew and were transferred to the southern front to assemble and await orders.
The Soviet forces quickly advanced after the Germans withdrew their armored units, and in just one week they had already advanced to Zaporizhzhia, capturing the city after a two-day battle.
On May 22, the Russians continued to advance, with high morale but exhausted personnel, and severe losses of tanks and self-propelled guns along the way. Having captured the front-line command post of the German Southern Army Group, Red Army soldiers at all levels were optimistic that they would soon reach the Dnieper River. However, at this time, the armored spearhead of the German army was about to launch a pincer attack on the exposed and vulnerable flank of the Red Army...
Fahvern's 223rd Tiger quietly waited for the assault order in the south, next to Eckert, who had now boarded the No. 4 tank destroyer and was once again assigned to Fahvern's assault group after nearly a year apart. It was only natural that old colleagues were overjoyed to see each other, grateful that they hadn't died on the battlefield yet... The low-profile No. 4 would follow the Tiger into battle, providing long-range supporting firepower for it.
On the 23rd, at dawn, the German counterattack began. There was no artillery preparation beforehand; it was just the Tiger tanks leading the way, followed by Panthers and IVs and assault guns, catching the Soviet Red Army off guard. The attack went very smoothly; the first line of attack wasn't Favniel's 503rd Battalion 2nd Company, but rather the Waffen-SS Tiger tank troops. Ekert despised these murderous thugs as always, but out of a sense of duty as a soldier, he still provided them with artillery support. Favniel's 223 wasn't on the front line; it was in the second line, ready to launch a wave attack at any moment.
On the 23rd, the absolute superiority of German tanks in quality, combined with proper tactics, gave the German army a one-sided victory. Their powerful armored wedge quickly opened up a gap of over 30 kilometers on the positions of the Red Army's 6th Army, and along this gap, the German Empire Guards "Empire" Division crushed the Red Army's 4th Guards Army at an astonishing speed, advancing southward for over 100 kilometers. On May 24, two other armies of the German 4th Panzer Army - the 48th and 57th Panzer Armies - also launched an attack. This German army quickly merged with the SS Panzer Army in the Pavlograd region and cut off the Red Army's 6th Army's line of communication. Immediately afterwards, the German 40th Panzer Army, which had three armored and mechanized infantry divisions, dealt a fatal blow to the Red Army's Popov Group, which had already run out of fuel.
But later on the 24th, as Farnbacher's Tiger No. 223 was replenishing ammunition and fuel, Eichert, who had been leading the advance, was carried back from the front: he had been hit in the chest by a Russian sniper - he had exposed himself to direct his vehicle forward when he was struck in the lung by a hidden Soviet sniper, who was immediately killed by artillery fire. Eichert's injuries were severe and he was sent to a field hospital in the rear. Farnbacher did not have time to visit his comrade; the order for Tiger No. 223 to attack had already been given.
"This world is indeed a harsh realistic world...... Unfortunately, the other worlds on the outside are too dangerous - who dares to go to Doraemon's world? Even Hongjun would be played to death...... Otherwise, it would be too easy to save these guys. Sigh, each has their own fate." Fafnir thought while driving.
"Halt! 4 o'clock direction! So few Russian tanks?! They've finally run out of luck too! Comrade gunner, fire at will..." Fafnir said.
The Soviet Red Army tanks were under pressure from logistics and many of them broke down, a large number of tanks could not fight due to lack of fuel and ammunition. However, the Red Army soldiers still fought bravely - they concentrated their ammunition into the best-conditioned tanks, even if they couldn't move, they could be used as fixed firepower points, at least the turret could be manually fired... ... but everything was useless, Tigers and Panthers, four tanks at a distance ignored the Soviet firepower, slowly and accurately aiming to send one by one Russian tank serving as a fixed firepower point to heaven.
"There's no need to get any closer, let's just shoot these stationary targets from here." Fafnir gave the order with a tone of boredom, while mowing down Soviet soldiers who tried to close in with his machine gun.
After a fierce battle, the Germans claimed that in the counterattack against the Southwestern Front of the Red Army, the German army defeated 8 corps, 10 infantry divisions and 5 special brigades within the 6th Army, 1st Guards Army and Popov Grouping, with allegedly 23,000 Soviet troops killed. However, on the other hand, since the attacking German forces did not have an absolute advantage, they were unable to form a tight encirclement, and due to the freezing weather, the German actions were mostly restricted between villages, so only about 9,000 Red Army soldiers were captured.
After suffering such heavy losses, the Southwestern Front of the Red Army was forced to retreat rapidly under the strong pressure of German troops coming from three directions. By June 3, they had retreated across the Northern Donets River, and the thin ice on the river facilitated the passage of the Red Army. However, this put the Voronezh Front of the Red Army fighting in the Kharkov region under threat from the flanks of the German armored forces.
The sudden offensive operations of the Germans against the Southwestern Front initially did not cause sufficient alarm either in the Red Army High Command, far away in Moscow, or in the Voronezh Front, which was operating on the flank of the Southwestern Front. They still stubbornly believed that the German counterattack was only a cover for their withdrawal from the Dnieper River. Therefore, during this period, the Voronezh Front continued to push westward with all its might.
Until the Southwestern Front was pushed across the Donets River by the Germans, Voronezh Front commander Golikov discovered himself in a precarious situation: at that time, the German 4th Panzer Army, which had just defeated the Southwestern Front, was moving north and preparing to strike his troops together with the Kempf battle group. As a result, three armies of the left wing of the Voronezh Front (3rd Tank Army, 40th and 69th Armies) would be attacked by 14 elite German divisions (including 4 Panzer Divisions, 3 Waffen-SS Panzergrenadier Divisions, 1 motorized infantry division, and 3 infantry divisions). The Red Army had only about 70 tanks available in this direction, while the Germans had at least 350.
Faced with such a bad situation, Golikov hastily ordered the Voronezh Front to stop all attacks on June 3 and switch to defense along the entire front line. The Red Army general also urgently requested his superiors to provide replenishment for his troops that had suffered heavy losses in personnel and supplies, but since the nearest supply base was more than 200 kilometers away, reinforcements were completely impossible.
Fawzi met two old friends, Dick "Clown" Karl and Junker brother, who had just completed the Northern Line raid to join him. Karl was proudly showing off his freshly painted kill rings - he had destroyed 14 more tanks, bringing his total score to 60, and it seemed likely that he would soon receive the Knight's Cross. But now, Karl could only drool over Fawzi's Knight's Cross... Junker had also changed his gun, he was now the commander of a Black Panther D-type tank, and had achieved fifteen victories, just like Karl, looking at the Knight's Cross with envy, but first, Junker had to fight for the First Class Iron Cross...
