General Hoth read the study and took an immediate liking to the idea and to the determined, if presumptuous, author, whose exploits on the Kalmyk Steppe had already preceded him. The general offered whatever resources his army had at its disposal. Falkenstein got his task force, small as it was, with the help of such high-ranking influence. Ironically, Red Vengeance was not to be heard from in the combat zone of Army Group South. Like the phantom it was likened to, the machine had dissipated in the harsh glare of the Ukrainian summer. Until Operation Citadel. Army Detachment Kempf, Fourth Panzer Army, and Ninth Army from Army Group Center converged and then deployed their divisions along the Kursk salient, where they awaited the go ahead. The Russians were dug in deep and strong, several kilometers in depth. It was going to be a hellishly difficult fight, and some at General Staff Headquarters were not entirely convinced that the operation would be a success. Mobilization of German forces took too long to get into place, and delay followed delay. General Guderian begged the Fuehrer to call off the offensive, but it was too late.
June 28, 1943, Red Vengeance had been spotted by several forward observation posts. Slowly, the tank traversed along the eastern horizon, dropping in and out of sight across the rolling plains that lay before the infantry jump-off positions.
Reconnaissance Group Falkenstein received a teletype from Fourth Panzer Army headquarters—Red Vengeance sighted. Recon situation and end it—terse and succinct, like Hoth himself. What happened next was that Falkenstein’s small force became embroiled in the larger conflict against the amassed Soviet armies and not the one tank he was sent to destroy. Other than his life, the captain walked away with several muddled accounts from crewmen who had survived the massive tank battle at Prokhorovka. As this engagement was unprecedented on every scale, there was bound to be confusion. The combined deployment of German and Russian tanks and assault guns exceeded fifteen hundred, all funneled into a narrow valley. The smoke and dust churned up by these clashing armadas transformed the day into the darkness of night. T-34s and KVs rammed head-on into Tigers and Panthers. Tank fired upon tank at point-blank range. By one account, Red Vengeance had been seen repeatedly taking armor-piercing shot; turret and hull were relentlessly hammered, but it neither stopped nor decelerated, even with the damage it should have sustained. Witnesses interviewed afterward could not say with any degree of certainty precisely what they had seen. Few, if any, conclusions could be drawn from these unsubstantiated accounts, and no matter how ruthlessly Falkenstein pressed for details, the panzer crewmen, battle-hardened veterans, were traumatized. The sheer enormity and violence of the tank battle had overwhelmed them. If nothing else, one thing was made resoundingly clear: from that day onward, Red Vengeance was viewed as the forerunner of disaster. Doom.
The last official report was an assessment released by Foreign Armies East:
19/7/43 [Foreign Armies East] does not dispute the fact that the Red Army has fashioned a powerful symbol for its troops to rally around and, for the Wehrmacht, a front-line myth of negative consequences for the morale of troops in the field. As of this date, no information has been made available regarding the unit of origin of the T-34 Red Vengeance, and it is the opinion of this office that the tank in question is not attached to a specific unit but instead is operated by the best-trained and most skillful crewmen the Soviet Tank Armies can provide. Service aboard the vehicle could very well be considered an honor duty, on a rotational basis, bestowed upon those drivers, gunners, and commanders worthy of the task. Personnel from a replacement pool may be called upon for service when combat casualties are sustained. Furthermore, consideration should be given to the probability that the T-34 is not the same vehicle as the one first encountered (9/42). In all likelihood the vehicle is replaced after falling out of service due to mechanical failure and/or battle damage. A different T-34 is substituted and then outfitted with the same recognizable components and details (i.e., netting, barbed wire, Cyrillic legend, etc.), which aid in reinforcing the myth of invincibility.
At the bottom of the page written in red pencil in Falkenstein’s own hand were the words “—absolute rubbish!” The captain perceived Red Vengeance to be more than what it actually was. Of this Voss was sure, but what, exactly, did Falkenstein think it was, he wondered. All the reports, memos, briefings, orders—reams of paperwork that accompanied the almost mundane bureaucratic handling of the war—revealed nothing of Falkenstein’s own personal assessment. The only comment the captain had was that Foreign Armies East’s interpretation belonged in the rubbish bin. Yet in spite of the captain’s omission, everything Voss had read pointed to the conclusion that Red Vengeance was synonymous with impending defeat on a grand scale. First, Stalingrad was followed by the collapse of the Don Front and then the near annihilation of the southern armies. Kursk was the most recent—and the worst setback of all, with the staggering numbers of casualties and volumes of materiel losses with nothing definite or lasting achieved. The optimists called the offensive a draw. Indeed, the Russians were mauled, terribly, but unlimited reserves of men and machines continued to be thrown into the fight. Von Manstein’s armies had been bled white. Now, when the race to the river was in a dead heat, the last hope of establishing a defensive line that would not only hold but also weaken the Red Army to the extent that Stalin would be forced to negotiate a settlement, Red Vengeance appeared. What does this appearance signify? Voss asked himself. Will we make it back in time, regroup, resupply, and hold out for good and not lose another kilometer west of the Dniepr? Is our fate already sealed because of this one ghostly T-34, and what it has come to signify? Has the lot been chosen for us and come up short? Cut off, encircled, entire armies lost? Or does only Falkenstein believe this to be true, and has that cabal of officers and adjutants—Hahn, Beck, Beutel, all of them—fallen under the captain’s influence like some narcotic?
Voss straightened the papers, returned them to the leather portfolio, and closed it. We will all find out soon enough, he thought, anticipating that time with dread.
25
The last train from the east had passed, allowing the “track wolf” to do its work. A large iron hook, fixed to a small but powerful locomotive, ripped through the wood ties and plowed up the bed of sand and rock that formed the slight embankment. The splayed rails left in the track wolf’s wake had been rendered useless, at least temporarily, thus inhibiting the Soviets from transporting troops and supplies to an ever-widening front line. The small unit of engineers and railway commandos worked furiously, as they had kilometers of track to destroy and very little time to do it. The locomotive shimmied from side to side as the engine operator applied more power.