Steel Soviet Union

"Comrade, they didn't do anything wrong. They just ran out suddenly in the middle of the night. As you know, the city is now under unified management. It is unsafe for them to run around with their children on the street like this. We just want to bring them back Just a safe place to go.”

"Take him to a safe place?"

Looking at the unnatural smile of the Red Army squad leader who seemed to be deliberately trying to please him under the searchlight, Malashenko instinctively felt a trace of distrust in his heart.

Although it is not correct to judge a book by its appearance, Malashenko, who is used to fighting life and death on the battlefield, has more reasons to trust his intuition rather than common sense. The two old and young girls in front of him are about to be taken away. There must be something being hidden about the two children.

Malashenko is not a nosy person, but if something really happens, Malashenko will never ignore it when it is time to take action.

Malashenko, who intuitively suggested that there must be something fishy in this, jumped out of the turret and got off the vehicle. The Tokarev TT33 gun on the belt on his waist was enough to deal with emergencies without carrying a main weapon.

Malashenko, who was quite puzzled, quickly stepped forward after jumping off the tank, came to the two women and children, looked up and down, and then asked questions.

"Tell me the truth, what kind of difficulties did you encounter? Why did you ask me to save you just now?"

When Malashenko suddenly asked him without warning, the two women, one old and one young, hesitated somewhat.

From the slightly frightened eyes, Malashenko could tell that the source of this fear was very close to the two women.

"Okay, so that's it, I understand."

Malashenko, who was no longer anxious to ask questions, turned around, raised his right arm and snapped his fingers. Iushkin and Kirill, who stayed in the tank, heard the noise and immediately got out of the turret. He also carried his spear behind his back, looking fully armed.

Second Lieutenant Igor, who was hitchhiking in the engine compartment of Malashenko's car, jumped out of the car when he saw this. Several of Second Lieutenant Igor's personal guards also came forward.

The sight of a strong man approaching No. 10 wearing a golden sword and fully armed frightened the two Red Army soldiers. His obviously panicked expression made Malashenko even more convinced of his guess.

After greeting him, he called Iushkin to his side and whispered a few words into his ear. The understanding Iushkin immediately whispered two more words to Second Lieutenant Igor.

The two people who reached an agreement immediately put the two helpless Red Army soldiers over their shoulders and forcibly took them aside. They were talking and laughing and talking about some unnutritious content as they walked further and further away.

After seeing this scene, Malashenko, who was convinced that the source of fear had disappeared, asked again.

"The person who scared you has gone away. Now can you tell me your name and what happened?"

Malashenko's guess was correct. The reason why the two women, old and young, dared not speak was because of the two Red Army soldiers who wanted to take them back.

In the following conversation, Malashenko learned that the younger woman was the mother of two little girls: Valena Semsky, and the older woman next to him was the grandmother of two children. , Valena’s late husband’s mother.

Valena's husband died in a German air raid a week ago. He was a steelworker at the Red October Steel Plant. When she was killed by a German air strike, she was still cutting and processing the upper armor plate of the T34 medium tank body. Even if her husband was not a soldier, he was an undoubted hero to Valena. Malashenko also agreed with this view.

As for why she stopped the tank column so abruptly and asked Malashenko for help regardless of the danger of her life, Valena replied that Malashenko said that her two children had not eaten enough for three days.

The adults could barely survive with the meager slices of bread distributed, but the children's lives would be in danger or even fatal if they were starved for three days.

Even though Valena divided almost all the bread slices from herself and her elderly mother-in-law to the two children, the situation of still being a drop in the bucket and the sobs of the two children crying from hunger in the middle of the night still made the mother feel heartbroken.

Valena, who kept comforting her child, leaned against the wall on the second floor and heard the roar of the engines of the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment downstairs.

She had a premonition that the roar of tanks coming from downstairs would definitely help her. Valena then took her elderly mother-in-law and two children with her and took advantage of the soldier Alexei who was guarding the stairs to go up. I tried to escape from this gap in the toilet. Unexpectedly, I bumped into the squad leader on the way who was about to go up to the second floor to see the situation. This was the dangerous scene just now.

After listening to all the stories, Malashenko couldn't help but sigh secretly. He knew that the city implemented personnel control and centralized dispatch and distribution of materials. Strictly speaking, this was a normal situation in a war situation and there was nothing wrong with it. .

But Malashenko has hardly eaten meaty oily stars in the past half month. His mouth can almost fade away. As the leader of the regiment, Malashenko is not qualified to choose tricks. The following guard is the third Not to mention the food for the soldiers of the First Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment. Being able to have a full stomach and have the strength to fight is already the limit, and you can't ask for anything more.

When supplies are given priority to the front line, the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment, which enjoys priority supply guarantees in the name of the Guards, is like this. Malashenko can guess what the food for these refugees in the rear cities will be like without asking. With this look, it is no exaggeration to say that even eating enough can only be realized in dreams.

Malashenko, who was about to say something with his mouth half open, was suddenly interrupted by a rush of footsteps.

Iushkin, who was running from a dark corner, stopped beside Malashenko and whispered into the ear of his comrade, the commander.

"Let me tell you the result. Those two people were just militiamen recruited on an emergency basis. The reputation of the squad leader seems not to be very good. I heard that he often drank with others and then got into trouble and fights. Many people were beaten to half a pulp by him. He was sent to the hospital."

"The recruit named Alexey told me that the two women and two children were probably just hungry. They begged for more food in the afternoon. But the supplies were in short supply and there was really no extra food to give them. That Alexey That’s what Keshe said. I don’t think this little guy is lying. Everything he thinks is written on his face.”