Steel Soviet Union

The train station, which had been scorched by the blazing war for a whole day, gradually calmed down. The low temperature condensed at night cooled the red earth that had been burned by the war during the day.

Bounded by the ruins of the waiting hall, soldiers of the Soviet and German armies rested quietly in their respective trenches and bunkers. The distance of more than 300 meters became a gap that neither side was willing to take the initiative to cross for the time being. If possible, no one would want to. Fighting blindfolded in the dark night.

For Malashenko, who had been at the train station all day, today's results were undoubtedly very significant.

During the day, Malashenko almost lost control of the train station. The actual control area in his hands was once reduced by the German army to only ten percent or less, leaving only the four areas east of the train station. The warehouse is still in hand.

However, after the troops commanded by Division Commander Cherchenkov joined, Malashenko, who had a temporary discussion with Political Commissar Petrov, made a bold decision: to counterattack southward to join the incoming support troops.

There are two reasons for doing this.

On the one hand, Malashenko was worried that the support troops attacking the train station from south to north were insufficient and might be repulsed or even wiped out under the strong German counterattack.

To take a step back, even if the support force completed its mission and broke through the German defense entrenched in the south of the train station, Malashenko did not believe that the support force had the strength to even deal with the German army in the center of the train station and in front of him.

Lack of strength is only one of the reasons. What's more important is that there is not enough remaining time to complete this arduous combat mission due to the reality that it is almost dark.

As a result, Malashenko will inevitably face a confrontation situation where the German army straddles the center of the train station like a chokehold, and is forcibly separated from the reinforcements in the north and south.

The Germans who were determined to capture the train station were not fools.

If the German army will not step up the deployment of reinforcements overnight under the cover of night to prepare for the offensive tomorrow morning, Malashenko would rather believe that the Germans will take the initiative to lay down their weapons and surrender to themselves early the next morning. This is simply not true. It's simply not possible in reality.

What will the German attacking force, whose strength will be astonishingly large, do early the next morning?

Malashenko and Commissar Petrov agreed that if they were German commanders, they would first pull out the weak but real threat to the northeast of the train station, that is, Malashenko The remaining troops of the 1st Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment led by him.

At the same time, some troops were allocated for defense to resist any offensive that the Soviet army might launch south of the train station. After the battle in the northeast was resolved, they would turn around and concentrate their troops to solve the more difficult problem to the south.

Of course, this is just the best-case scenario imaginable for Malashenko.

If the situation gets worse, the German army, which has so many troops, will not even rule out launching operations from both the north and the south at the same time, trying to win victory in both directions at the same time.

In general, the dispersion of troops is the most fundamental reason why they may be defeated one by one by the German army.

In order to avoid this foreseeable situation, Malashenko finally ordered an attack when the German army returned to the southern line of the railway station, and stabbed the German army in the eye with one hand. After concentrating superior forces to attack one point, they finally succeeded in tearing apart the moving German formation, and were finally able to successfully merge with Division Commander Cherchenkov who had opened up the southern offensive channel.

It is true that such an order issued by Malashenko was full of luck. If the German army's southward movement was just a tactical deception, and the real purpose was to lure Malashenko out of the hole, then he would have run headlong into a carefully prepared encirclement. Malashenko is likely to end up in pieces.

But luck is also a part of strength. There are no ifs and possibilities on the battlefield.

Malashenko, who made a quick and keen judgment based on the actual situation, made the right bet. The Germans were not engaging in tactical deception but were really panicking and preparing to return to the south of the train station.

During the movement lacking positional anti-tank weapons, the German formation was torn to pieces by the troops commanded by Malashenko. The few remaining German tanks and assault guns that had already suffered heavy losses were also destroyed by Malashenko's concentrated firepower. , the German army, which was attacked from the north and south, was quickly hit by irreversible defeat.

In fact, if he had more remaining troops on hand, Malashenko would even want to take advantage of the situation and drive all the disorganized German troops out of the train station in one go to launch a major counterattack.

But as mentioned before, there is no such concept as what-if on a battlefield filled with artillery fire.

Even if the German army was temporarily in disarray, it still had a total force several times that of the Soviet army. Malashenko, who was greedy for credit and rushed forward, was likely to be surrounded and eliminated by the German army who quickly recovered and deployed anti-tank weapons.

To be on the safe side, joining the reinforcements coming in from the south of the train station as soon as possible is still the safest option, bar none, and this is also Malashenko's final choice.

"You are really brave! Malashenko. In this critical situation, I may not make the same choice as you. If I can't break up the German formation, I will be swallowed up in the encirclement. , are you so sure that you can succeed?"

Commander Cherchenkov, who was sitting outside the temporary division headquarters enjoying the cool breeze with Malashenko, expressed his sincere admiration. Malashenko, who had just lit a cigarette in his mouth, seemed a little embarrassed.

"Just think that I was reckless. In fact, I didn't think so much at the time. I just knew that if I continued to stay in those four warehouses, I would definitely be crushed by the Germans who had greatly increased their strength the next morning. There’s not even a scum left.”

"To live or not to live is a question worth pondering, and I ultimately chose the former."

Regarding Malashenko, whom he had known for less than a month, Mr. Cherchenkov’s biggest feeling was that chatting with Malashenko gave him an indescribable feeling. At the same time, Malashenko’s whole person seemed to have Some fantastic features.

What exactly these feelings and characteristics are, Cherchenkov can't answer. In short, he likes to discuss some issues with Malashenko and fight side by side.

The two people sitting at the door of the division headquarters tent, enjoying the cool breeze and smoking, were soon joined by a third person.

Political Commissar Petrov opened the tent door and walked out, then handed the freshly prepared message to Malashenko who was sitting on the ground, along with the words that blurted out at the same time.