Malashenko, who was sitting next to his tank and smoking a cigarette alone, would not have thought that at this moment, two boss-level missions of the Soviet Red Army were planning the next battle direction for him.
Malashenko, who had lost count of how many days he had been fighting in a row, felt like he was trembling all over. His right hand holding the cigarette holder flicked the ashes away like a machine. Cigarettes, a hard currency in the army, carried
The consolation he received still cannot completely eliminate the sequelae of the war left by Malashenko these days.
"If the Battle of Yelniya continues at this rate, it is estimated that it will not be completed for another month or so. Both Hitler and Stalin are like crazy and are constantly throwing new chips on the gambling table."
"The Battle of Kiev should have started by now. Khrushchev, the corncob, is probably deceiving Stalin again to stick to Kiev to show his courtesy. The German Army Group Northern is probably also on its way to encircle Leningrad. After defeating Yelnya
If I'm still alive after the battle, where will I be transferred? Don't just send me to Kiev with a fucking transfer order. If you do, even nine lives won't be enough for that corncob to waste!"
After the Battle of Yelnya, where will he be transferred to continue fighting? This is the question that Malashenko is most concerned about and constantly thinking about.
According to the war history data published by later generations, the end of the Battle of Yelnya was undoubtedly an important change point in the strategic deployment of the German army's invasion of the Soviet Union.
After this battle, the three German army groups that launched Operation Barbarossa adopted placement tactics against Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union, and then made strategic adjustments to the focus of the next offensive.
At Hitler's personal request, the German Army Group Center divided its main force into two, one going north to support Army Group North's attack on Leningrad, and one going south to support Army Group South's Kiev campaign.
In order to occupy Leningrad, the cradle of the Bolshevik proletarian revolution, to crush the will of the Soviet military and civilians to resist and seize the Leningrad heavy industrial base.
Completely wipe out all remaining Soviet resistance forces in the direction of southern Ukraine and seize Ukraine's rich strategic resources. This way, when the German army launches the Moscow offensive before the arrival of winter, they do not have to worry about the Ukrainian Soviet army group on the southern flank attacking and counterattacking.
As a result, Malashenko, who always appears in the most intense conflict areas, and his first heavy tank breakthrough battalion's next phase of combat locations, are left with only these two possibilities - Leningrad and Kiev
.
Rather than being thrown into the largest encirclement in the history of human war in Kiev, together with 650,000 captured Soviet soldiers, he became a political victim of Khrushchev, a corn on the cob, who courted Stalin.
Malashenko, who could not help but shiver all over when he thought of this, preferred to be sent to fight in the direction of Leningrad.
Although the Battle of Leningrad ended with a temporary end point in which the German and Soviet offensive and defensive armies were indifferent, the German army, unwilling to accept the failure of the offensive, besieged Leningrad for nearly 900 days until 1944.
The Soviet army's major counterattack at the beginning of the year defeated the German army and its minions and lifted the siege of Leningrad.
But even being surrounded by the Germans for nearly three years was better than being captured in Kiev and then working in a German prisoner-of-war concentration camp, or even becoming a guinea pig for some inhumane and cruel experiments of the German army and dying unknown.
white.
The attitude and methods of the top leadership of the Soviet Union led by Stalin during World War II towards captured Soviet troops were enough to make Malashenko, who knew all this as a later time traveler, couldn't help but shudder.
"Damn it, don't throw me into that big iron barrel that I can't escape from in Kiev. If that happens, I won't even want to be a prisoner. If I have to bear the scapegoat of being a prisoner, I will be ruined for the rest of my life.
With Order 270, I was either peeling potatoes in the gulag or getting shot in a punishment camp. This is not something I can just decide if I don’t want to be captured.”
Malashenko, who had considered the pros and cons after careful consideration, finally came to the conclusion that he should try his best to avoid being transferred to Kiev to participate in the next stage of the battle.
Just when Malashenko was racking his brains on how to avoid being thrown into the destined encirclement of Kiev and becoming a prisoner of the Germans, a transfer order from the army headquarters suddenly changed Malashenko's thoughts.
Back to reality.
"Transport all troops and equipment personnel to the Reserve Front Army to participate in the next phase of operations, and be directly under the command of the Reserve Front Army Headquarters? Wait, what does the Reserve Front Army do?"
Malashenko, who was familiar with the entire history of the Great Patriotic War as a time traveler from later generations, did not remember the origin of such a little-known reserve front army.
It is almost impossible for this second-line unit to be remembered just from its organizational name and its name alone.
Malashenko, who was scratching his head and scratching his head with this piece of paper in his hand and thinking hard for a long time, could not recall who the commander of this unit, designated as the Reserve Front Army, was in the combat area and in August 1941.
What is the direction?
"Don't be the troops heading to Kiev to fight, otherwise it will be all over!"
With such an uneasy feeling, Malashenko immediately started to take action after stubbing out the cigarette butt in his hand. The brutal battles for many days had already made Malashenko's vigorous and pursuing attitude clear.
The high-speed and efficient command style has become more and more vivid and vivid.
Under the strong supervision and command of Malashenko and his deputy Lavrinenko, the 1st Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion, which was originally in a relatively safe area outside the hot war zone and was resting loosely, quickly regrouped in accordance with the order.
Carrying the old tanks that had been damaged and repaired, as well as a small number of newly transported new tanks, they began to assemble towards the location of the reserve front army headquarters mentioned in the transfer order.
Because the temporary resting point on the outskirts of the Yelniya theater is not far from the headquarters of the Reserve Front, the straight-line distance of just tens of kilometers is just a step on the accelerator for the armored forces.
The entire railway transportation network in the hands of the Soviet army near the Yelniya theater was continuously transporting supplies and ammunition from the rear to the front line and then transporting the wounded back down. It would not be an exaggeration to describe it as being so busy that it was full of traffic.
In this busy situation of using the railway network for mobile transfers and even needing to sign up and wait in line to arrange dispatched trains, Malashenko, who had a mountain of military orders and no time to wait for anyone, simply chose to move the troops cross-country and completed the dozens of kilometers on his own.
distance in an effort to arrive as early as possible for the reserve front troops to report.