Steel Soviet Union

Although it is much smaller than the losses of the Germans, the losses on Malashenko's side are quite considerable in all fairness.

It was only after the battlefield was cleaned and the confiscated materials and losses were calculated in detail that Malashenko, who was sitting in the temporary tent at the brigade headquarters, had the opportunity to see what his losses were.

"Only eighteen tanks? That's not true. Are you sure this number is correct?"

Malashenko, holding the statistical report in his hand, repeatedly confirmed and read it again and again, but he still could not believe that the numbers on the paper in front of him could be true, so he turned to Political Commissar Petrov in an unbelievable tone. Confirm again, blurt it out.

In contrast, Commissar Petrov responded with a smile.

"We are the defensive side, and it is normal for us to suffer less losses than the attacking side. We must first understand this truth."

"On the other hand, your tactical arrangements are also very reasonable. That wave of smoke screen saved at least one battalion of our tanks. Just imagine what it feels like to be bombarded by Germans for more than ten minutes without smoke screen cover? No one. I feel like I can still be safe in this situation.”

"Your decision saved everyone, Malashenko. The comrades are now very grateful to their brigade commander comrade. You are a hero in their mouths. You were the same in the past, but now you have been raised to a higher level.

Even with Commissar Petrov's explanation, Malashenko still couldn't figure out what the situation was with such low battle losses.

You must know that the smoke screen bombs at that time did not immediately cover all the huge Stalin tanks. After all, it was only the size of a mortar company. The Germans' air strikes quickly targeted those tanks that failed to retreat behind the smoke screen in time. Malashenko did not think that the consequences of being focused on by the Germans under such circumstances would be much better. The losses were really low. A bit beyond expectations.

"If you want to thank me, go to Karamov. He will tell you what he and his people did to create the miraculous number you saw in the report. My expression when I first received the report was almost the same. You too."

Comrade Political Commissar knew why Malashenko was so surprised. In fact, to put it bluntly, the other main reason for this matter was Karamov.

The commander of the field maintenance battalion, who had made mistakes before and even held a review meeting, seemed to be a completely different person since he made a guarantee to the comrade commander and political commissar in front of the entire brigade comrades. of. No matter what he does, he strives to lead by example, be at the forefront, and work extremely hard. Even hard work such as repairing cars that does not require him to do it himself is indispensable.

Is this a kind of atonement? Maybe, but maybe not quite yet.

After all, Karamov's mistakes were just a matter of style, not a big deal, according to the brigade commander's opinion. So when Karamov changed his behavior, many comrades in the brigade were a little flattered. They felt that Comrade Karamov, who had caused everyone a headache before, had simply changed.

The reason why the number of tanks lost this time was so small was largely due to the efforts of Karamov and his people to rescue the zombie tanks.

Although there is no guarantee that a severely damaged tank cannot be repaired by ordinary technicians and engineers, when it comes to Karamov, it will have a satisfactory ending in most cases.

Karamov is a person who is not used to speaking his mind to death, and does not like to leave himself no room to pat his chest and make promises, but this does not mean that Karamov is the kind of unreliable person who fishes in things.

On the contrary, the reason why Karamov became a popular figure among Malashenko was because Malashenko could not do without such a general.

Karamov neither leads troops in war nor is he a core management member of the brigade. He seems to be just an ordinary battalion commander, a marginal figure who can be replaced at any time, but in Malashenko's view, he is actually the real three A great god that even a combat battalion commander cannot replace.

I want to replace Karamov with him. I can do that, no problem!

If you find such an awesome person to come over and do the maintenance and vehicle repairs for the entire brigade, and make the field maintenance camp even better than it is now, I will have no problem personally holding a commendation meeting for the entire brigade for you!

What? You said you can't find it?

I'm sorry, why don't you stay where it's cool? I'm going to keep using Karamov. If you don't accept it, shut your mouth. If you don't want to hang out with me, get out of here as soon as possible. Don't be like a fly. No matter what, people have already made a written inspection report at the review meeting. What else do you want to do?

It may sound a bit arrogant and heroic, but Comrade Ma Laoshenko really thinks and thinks so. Malashenko thinks that he knows enough about this capable general who has been with him since 1941. Be clear: Karamov is a person who, although he has some minor flaws and is prone to inflatedness, is absolutely trustworthy and reliable at critical moments and is worthy of entrusting him with important tasks.

Now, Karamov once again surprised Malashenko, who had just experienced a battle that should have been nerve-wracking, without making any prior guarantees.

In fact, there should have been 38 tanks lost in the battle just experienced, and most of them were destroyed by German air strikes. For example, the tracks were blown off, the power compartment was penetrated by armor-piercing projectiles, and the engine was damaged. It is also possible that It was the penetration of the dome armor that caused the crew to suffer casualties and abandon the vehicle. Various situations occurred in an intertwined manner, and sometimes there was more than one situation on a tank.

As soon as the battle ended, Karamov led his own people and rushed forward almost immediately along with the troops cleaning the battlefield, aiming directly at the heavy tanks that were paralyzed in various positions and were not on fire but could not move.

After one operation, Karamov miraculously reduced the number of battle damage from the initial 38 to 18. The remaining 20 vehicles were reviewed by Karamov one by one and included in the "repairable" range.

According to Karamov's report to Political Commissar Petrov, these tanks can be put into battle before the battle starts tomorrow. His field maintenance battalion will have to repair these tanks even if they stay up all night. The situation is almost the same.

"Many of the damaged tanks were pierced by armor-piercing shells but had no ammunition to explode. The Germans installed large-caliber cannons on their aircraft instead of aerial bombs. This should be considered lucky. Of course, this is still due to With Karamov, otherwise I think these tanks cannot be repaired, which would be equivalent to a complete loss.”

Political Commissar Petrov does not often praise Karamov. Malashenko even now feels that Comrade Comrade Political Commissar may still have some opinions on Karamov, but this time it is obviously different.