Steel Soviet Union

"Hello, I'm Timoshenko."

Before Comrade Lao Tie finished speaking, Malashenko on the other end of the phone began to vomit his bitterness.

"We just encountered an air attack by the Germans. Comrade Commander, the air defense forces did not have time to deploy, and the troops suffered heavy losses! Many tank crews died when they got off the vehicle. I need to add more members now, otherwise I will have at least nearly two dozen people here. Ten tanks cannot be put into combat."

Nearly twenty tanks cannot be put into combat status. This is not a small number for Malashenko, who has only one regiment. Timoshenko, who looked solemn on the other end of the phone, also knew this.

"Where are those German planes? Are they still conducting air raids?"

"No, Comrade Commander, they have already evacuated. There are not many planes, less than twenty. They should have come to rescue the Germans in the village, but they came a little late."

After listening to the answer given by Malashenko, I sighed again. After experiencing the battle last year, I knew very well how powerful the German Air Force was, and I knew that the First Guards heavy tank led by Malashenko had broken through. Timoshenko, who understood how important the regiment was, made the decision with little hesitation.

"The additional personnel will be sent to you as soon as possible, but they are all recruits just sent from the rear. They have only received the most basic tank training in the tank academy and have no actual combat experience. You must be mentally prepared, Mara Shenke."

Faced with the "good news" that Timoshenko said that could not make people happy at all, Malashenko, who gritted his teeth and had no other choice, had to bite the bullet and recognize this batch of personnel to supplement.

"I understand, Comrade Commander, I will adjust the vehicle crew distribution and disperse these new recruits to less important positions so that they can adapt to combat as soon as possible."

Malashenko, who continued to speak, discussed with Timoshenko the replacement of battle-damaged tanks.

Unsurprisingly, Timoshenko, who had deployed all his troops and prepared to face the Germans head-on, had no extra tanks. To be precise, all the tanks that could be used at this stage, regardless of whether they were old or new, strong or weak, had no spare tanks. Ready.

There are two ways to get Malashenko to supplement tanks, which is to disassemble and transfer from other troops or wait for the subsequent newly built tanks to be transported to the front line. The first method is naturally impossible for Timoshenko, who has already deployed his troops in place. In other words, Malashenko's only way now is to wait for the arrival of newly manufactured and supplementary tanks.

After putting down the phone, Malashenko was a little worried. Compared with the situation when he only led one battalion, Malashenko, who was promoted to regiment level and received the title of the first batch of Guards troops, is becoming more and more... I feel how complicated and troublesome things have to be considered as a military commander.

Generally speaking, the addition of new recruits is considered normal for that tank unit. After all, it is impossible for all the ready-made veterans to rush to you, not even the Guards tank troops led by the Red Army tank heroes.

Malashenko would have recognized this in normal times, but at this critical moment, the introduction of new recruits will not only affect the combat effectiveness of the tanks corresponding to their numbers.

It would be okay if the loaders and electromechanical crews of those battered tank crews died. Even if the driver died, it would not have much impact. These are relatively simple and easy-to-learn jobs and duties. .

But if the gunner or the commander dies, then this matter will be very serious.

It is impossible for Malashenko to let the new recruits replace the positions of the commander and gunner, and it is unlikely that there are ready-made veterans in the crews of those who have died of the commander or gunner to replace these two positions.

In this way, Malashenko must consider the overall situation and disperse more vehicle crews and reallocate them in order to ensure that all tanks have qualified commanders and gunners, and they must at least be able to exert a qualified level of combat effectiveness. Go to the battlefield and make a fool of yourself.

But in this way, the original team's cooperation tacit understanding will be completely cleared and started from scratch. The impact of the new team's replacement on the team's cooperation tacit understanding is self-evident. Compared with those new recruits, this is the best at the moment. Something that worries and troubles Malashenko.

An intense and busy day of stops and starts.

In the evening, news came from the forward observation post that a leading German unit had arrived fifteen kilometers outside the village. After less than half a company of reconnaissance troops were repelled by the observation post using a KV1 heavy tank, there was no movement again. It seems that the Germans really do not plan to start the attack until tomorrow as Timoshenko guessed on the phone.

In the middle of the night, the village of Nibotrikaya is still a scene of hard work. An infantry division assigned to the village to assist in the defense is building a defensive position with Malashenko's troops.

Not only were the simple trenches built by the Germans not of much use, but they were all built to the east of the village just to resist possible Soviet attacks.

As for the depth to the west of the village with its back to the German-occupied area, the German army, which was bent on launching an offensive, did not even dig a foxhole for the infantry to squat in. This would give the Germans a chance to fight for their lives at dawn tomorrow. Malashenko caused great difficulties and only a few hours were left to build field fortifications and trenches.

The melting snow had turned the dirt roads in the entire village into huge puddles of mud and puddles. The feeling of stepping on them was extremely unpleasant even with boots on, and Malashin looked very bad. Ke looked depressed after returning from inspecting the construction site outside the village.

"Oh, my dear Comrade Malashenko, what makes you so sad?"

The person who was smiling at Malashenko in the newly replaced regiment headquarters was none other than Division Commander Leonid who was sent into the village to lead the troops to assist Malashenko in building a defensive position.

The biggest characteristic of Division Commander Leonid is that he is very young. With the rank of colonel, there are undoubtedly very few people who can reach the position of division commander at the age of 32.

After a brief contact, Malashenko's first impression of the new commander Leonid was that he was a bit floating, to be precise, he felt like he was about to fly.

A harmless-looking smile hung on his face almost all day, and this guy's face was exceptionally white, without any scars or marks left on the battlefield. If we look at what Malashenko saw and heard in later years when he was studying in Moscow, he would be a guy who was kept by a rich Russian aunt who weighed more than 200 pounds or a male kindergarten teacher. Anyway, he would definitely have nothing to do with Maozi Elite. Take the bait.