Steel Soviet Union

No one can maintain high energy after such a high-intensity battle that lasts all day. Even the most energetic tank soldiers will be exhausted. Needless to say, the infantrymen who are more exhausted than the tank soldiers are in the same situation. .

Malashenko, who stopped and walked around the position, basically inspected all the details and locations he could think of before returning to the field brigade headquarters temporarily built in the center of the village, where I met Commissar Petrov and Lavrinenko who also experienced a whole day of brutal and bloody battles.

"You two look terrible. It's rare to see you in such a mess."

It’s similar to Malashenko’s current situation.

Lavrinenko, who was sitting a little closer to the door, was sitting on a bench made of a pile of shell boxes to rest and drink water. Lavrinenko held a military kettle that was bigger than a child's head above his head and drank for a while. The clear water overflowing from his mouth flowed down the corner of his mouth and continued to slide down his neck.

Seeing Malashenko come in, Lavrinenko, who was holding a kettle and drinking heavily, put down the objects in his hands, raised his sleeves and wiped the water stains around his mouth before speaking to Malashenko.

"You also said to others that you should find a mirror and look at yourself. If we weren't so familiar, I would have thought you were a farmer fleeing from famine. I think even the workers in the factory are cleaner and tidier than you look now.

As Lavrinenko said, the current Malashenko is simply "unhuman" to the extreme.

Almost no spot on the combat uniform all over his body was clean from head to toe. This was an oil stain, that was a blackened smoke stain, and there was a large piece of blood in the middle that belonged to someone who didn’t know who it was, but it was definitely not Malashenko’s own blood stain. , the unevenness was accidentally obtained when inspecting the wounded just now.

Although Lavrinenko's condition is equally bad, he is at least a little better than Malashenko. For example, Lavrinenko's combat uniform is at least not as similar to the map as Malashenko.

The brothers Malashenko and Lavrinenko were joking around, while the political commissar Petrov sat at the table and handed a document report that he had just processed in the direction of Malashenko. come over.

"The statistics on specific casualties and losses of technical equipment have been released. The situation is not optimistic. You'd better take a look now."

Malashenko, who was interrupted from his conversation with Lavrinenko, turned his head and immediately focused his vision on Commissar Petrov.

Although he took the initiative to take two steps forward and reached out to take the document, Malashenko, who was obviously hesitant to speak, glanced at Commissar Petrov twice, and it was difficult to move away from his feet in front of him.

Commissar Petrov, who seemed to have guessed from his eyes what Malashenko was thinking and why he was hesitating, breathed a sigh of relief, and then calmly spoke slowly to Malashenko in front of him.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me, you just have to do what you have to do."

""

Malashenko's mouth was half-opened as if he wanted to say something, but perhaps due to the many people in the brigade with too many eyes and ears, Malashenko nodded slightly and remained silent in the end. Then he lowered his head and began to flip through the documents handed to him by Political Commissar Petrov.

Seeing Malashenko sitting at the table and quickly reading the things he had personally handled, and judging from the past speed, Malashenko had almost finished reading, and Commissar Petrov, who was still at the other corner of the table, spoke again.

"The troops we have on hand may not be able to last even half a day of fighting. As long as an offensive like today is repeated again, our defense line will definitely be torn open by the enemy and cannot be closed."

"This situation is inevitable, Malashenko, what are you going to do?"

What Political Commissar Petrov said was true, and he did not mean to be alarmist or exaggerated in the slightest. Malashenko felt the same after reading the casualty and loss statistical report.

According to the content presented in this report, the entire Stalin Guards 1st Heavy Tank Brigade is still able to move and put into battle tanks, even those T-70 little bean sprouts that have almost no effect. On the road, there are only 31 such a small and pitiful number left.

What is the concept of 31 tanks?

Let’s not talk about other nonsense, just give a very simple and easy-to-understand example.

In the heyday of the 1st Stalin Guards Heavy Tank Brigade when it was fully manned, Malashenko's men once commanded more than four times this number of tank troops. As an unstoppable key force on the battlefield, fighting in all directions on the southern front of Kursk made those arrogant SS fanatics suffer a lot.

Now, the situation faced by Malashenko can no longer be described by the word "heavy casualties".

To put it bluntly, the 1st Stalin Guards Heavy Tank Brigade was actually on the verge of destruction. The total annihilation of the entire army might just be another daytime offensive that lasted for two or three hours.

Malashenko, who always appears on the battlefields with the fiercest battles, has faced similar desperate situations more than once, and even worse situations.

But since the establishment of the Stalin Guards 1st Heavy Tank Brigade, this is the first time Malashenko has encountered a situation like this.

In 1943, when the war situation had tended to be strategically balanced, it would be a lie to say that Malashenko could have encountered such a miserable and critical moment when he was beaten by German sticks and on the verge of destruction. Because all this is not the development trend of the battle as it should be in the existing history, the time traveler's ability to predict in advance cannot help Malashenko in any big way at the moment.

Now, everything can only be decided by Malashenko himself, relying on his own experience and will gained in the war.

Malashenko was somewhat noncommittal when facing Commissar Petrov's question and did not give his answer immediately.

Malashenko, who said nothing, raised his head and looked at the political commissar in front of him who was waiting for his answer, but whose face remained calm and composed.

Then he looked at Lavrinenko beside him, who didn't take the group of German thugs seriously outside at all, sitting there holding the dirt under his fingernails like a fool. That man who despised the Germans extremely and looked down upon death from beginning to end. The attitude remains the same as before.

"I think we have no choice. We can never complete the breakout with this small force. We can only hold our position here! Hold on until Commander Vatutin sends additional reinforcements to rescue us. This is the only option."

"But if we can't hold on until that time, I am honored to be able to join forces with you and fight to this day under the honor of the 1st Stalin Guards Heavy Tank Brigade. There will be no soldiers alive on the battlefield who bow to those fascist bastards. , there will be no Communists who live in an ignoble way, this village is the last graveyard for all of us!”