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 is similar to Malashenko’s current situation.
Lavrinenko, who was sitting a little closer to the door, was sitting on a bench made of piles of shell boxes to take a breather and drink water. Lavrinenko held a military kettle that was bigger than a child's head above his head and drank while drinking.
The clear water that overflowed from the side of 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 for 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's.
The brothers Malashenko and Lavrinenko were joking and stumbling over each other, 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."
Having been interrupted in his conversation with Lavrinenko, Malashenko 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 because of 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 through the things he had personally dealt with, based on the previous speed, he estimated that Malashenko had almost finished reading. Political 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 there was no hint of alarmism or exaggeration. 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 the tanks that can be put into battle, even those T-70 little bean sprouts that have almost no effect, are included.
There are only 31 cars left, such a pitiful number.
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 Stalin's 1st 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, the battle in Kurdish
The arrogant SS fanatics suffered a lot from all directions along the southern front in Skopje.
But 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 entire army might be wiped out by another daytime offensive that would last only two or three hours.
Malashenko, who always appears on the battlefields with the fiercest battles, has faced similar desperate situations more than once, and has even encountered worse situations.
But since the establishment of Stalin's First Guards 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, we could still encounter such a critical moment when we were beaten by German sticks to such a miserable state and were on the verge of destruction. It would be false to say that Malashenko had anticipated this. Because of all this
This is simply not the direction that the battle should develop in existing history. The time traveler's ability to predict in advance cannot be of any great help to Malashenko at the moment.
Now, everything can only be decided by Malashenko himself, relying on his own experience and will gained in the war.
Facing Commissar Petrov's question, Malashenko was somewhat noncommittal 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 his 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 dirt under his fingernails like a fool. He extremely despised the Germans and looked down upon death from the beginning to the end.
The attitude remains the same as before.
"I think we have no choice. This small amount of troops is absolutely unable to complete the breakout. We have to 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'm honored to be able to join you and fight under the honor of the 1st Heavy Tank Brigade of Stalin's Guards until today. There will be no soldiers alive on the battlefield who bow to those fascist bastards.
, there will be no communists who are living an ignoble existence, this village is the last graveyard for all of us!"