Steel Soviet Union

The feeling of returning to the T34 tank again after such a long time was a bit unfamiliar to Malashenko.

Narrow, crowded, and cramped to the point where it is almost difficult to breathe. Compared with the previous KV85 heavy tank, which had a completely new turret, the combat space has been greatly improved. It is just a T3457 that replaced a 57mm tank gun on the basis of the T34 turret. There are no turret changes at all.

"It doesn't feel good to be back here, Comrade Commander, this place makes me feel like I'm lying in a coffin."

Putting the two Somi submachine guns he took out from the car on the storage basket of the turret, Malashenko, who was noncommittal to Iushkin's words, now has another very important question. to be solved.

"Let's not talk about this for now, Iushkin, let's talk about business now."

"Business?"

Iushkin, who was surprised by Malashenko's abrupt words and almost had a question mark on his face, looked very confused at the moment.

"It's nothing too important. The main issue is the gunner and loader. Now that Kirill is not here, and the turret can only accommodate two people, we have to decide who will be the loader and who will be the gunner. You have What’s the plan?”

I had never thought about this issue before being asked by Malashenko. Iushkin, who was also a T34 tank commander when the Great Patriotic War just broke out, couldn't help but fell silent.

"I think I'd better be a loader, comrade commander. The gunner's position also has to be the commander's job. I think I may not be qualified for this position."

Iushkin, who is quite stupid in his behavior, is not a fool after all. Under special circumstances, in the T3457 medium tank with only a four-man crew, it is obviously a bit strange to take the position of gunner and commander and take away Malashenko's job. Not quite right.

"Well if you say so"

He scratched his hair with a slightly hesitant expression as if he was struggling with some problem. Malashenko, who did not give Iushkin a straightforward answer on the spot, finally raised his head and spoke after a few seconds.

"It's better for you to be the gunner, Iushkin. The commander's orders are also made by you at your own discretion. I will interject when necessary. You only need to make your own judgment based on your own battlefield judgment. After all, the wide-angle periscope and the main The gun sight is in your hands."

After Kirill was injured and retired from combat, Malashenko, who resumed his first job in the world as a "loader", didn't think there was anything wrong with this. At least in Malashenko's view, this position It is indeed easier than the original commander's job. Moreover, it is not known whether Iushkin, who has not done the loader task for a long time, can be competent at the first time.

Rather than any unexpected sudden changes, Malashenko prefers to accommodate all problems within his expectations, even if this decision may not be the best.

Iushkin was slightly surprised by the final decision given by Malashenko, but after thinking about it for a while, Iushkin did not respond with any objections or rejections. The tacit understanding of the combination of fighting side by side for a long time made Iushkin It is enough to believe that any decision Malashenko makes must be justified. For Iushkin, who has always believed in Malashenko, it can be regarded as a matter of principle. .

After settling the positions of the gunner and loader with Iushkin, Malashenko changed the topic and continued to give orders to the driver Seryosha and the electromechanical technician Nikolai in the chassis of the car.

"Nikolai, adjust the radio station, and then hand me the microphone after making sure there are no problems. Seryosha, check the operation problems, and then set off and continue on the original route after confirming that there are no errors."

After receiving Malashenko's order, Seryosha and Nikolai immediately began to get busy in their respective seats.

Seryosha, who was originally a T34 tank driver, naturally had no big problem with returning to his old job, but Nikolai, who had returned to his old position as a T34 electromechanical technician, frowned a little.

Because this batch of T3457 medium tanks produced by the Stalingrad Traction Vehicle Plant and the Ural Heavy Machinery Plant were the first batch of urgently issued tanks based on the ZIS-4 57mm anti-tank gun that had just been tested after the war started in July 1941. A batch of production planned orders, fundamentally speaking, this is the first batch of trial-production T3457 tanks.

Many design flaws in the original T34 tank were not solved in time due to the rush of time. In order to pursue the tank's actual combat performance as stable as possible without causing any major problems, which would lead to the investigation of responsibility from above, the project design team required two people to be on the safe side. The manufacturer of the T3457 strives to maintain maximum versatility between the vehicle and the T3476.

In this way, the unparalleled and reliable tank combat performance of the original T3476 should be inherited by the basically intact T3457. Although this obviously lacks innovation and is pedantic, it is indeed the best possible from a more conservative starting point. It ensures the actual combat performance of the first batch of new T3457 tanks as much as possible.

This situation should be a good thing for Malashenko, who has just taken over this batch of T3457. Malashenko, who has stepped from the position of T3476 gunner and commander to today, should not be too unfamiliar with the new car. feel.

But the bad thing is that T3457, which was designed to be on the safe side, inherited all the original equipment intact, including the anti-human design command vehicle liaison radio that Malashenko has always criticized.

This kind of radio station design, which may have been the result of the designer drinking too much vodka, is extremely anti-human. It needs to be debugged by Nikolai, the electromechanical technician responsible for operating the radio station, at his own position, and then the radio can be connected via wired The serially connected microphone was turned around and handed to Malashenko in the turret.

Recalling the scene when he was fighting in T3476 and always had to bend down and lean out to take the microphone from Nikolai in this extremely lame way, Malashenko became even more depressed. I feel like smoke is coming out of my forehead now.

"I have no objection to ensuring maximum versatility between new and old tanks, but can't this anti-human vehicle-mounted radio design be changed?"

The latest KV85 prototype heavy tank vehicle assigned to Malashenko has been equipped with a turret with a wider internal space. The vehicle-mounted radio station originally placed in the hands of the electromechanical technician Nikolai was moved to the commander of the vehicle. Branch at hand.

Malashenko, who needs to give orders during the battle, only needs to grab the microphone from a place within his reach and shout. Compared with the current car radio station with anti-human design that "remembers the bitter and thinks of the sweet", It's like heaven and earth.