Kulbalov noticed something was wrong with Malashenko's state, and then he spoke sincerely and asked with concern.
Malashenko, who felt that his eyelids were about to be glued, yawned first, raised his hands and rubbed his cheeks vigorously, then turned to Kulbalov and said.
"It's okay, I'm just too sleepy. I feel like I've been emptied out."
"Ah, who knows what's going on! At that time in Stalingrad, I could survive three days and three nights with only two hours of sleep, but now I can't survive just one night. Could it be that I'm getting old and can't survive?"
Malashenko's joke was not funny at all to Kulbalov. Kulbalov, who was almost ten years older than Malashenko, smiled calmly and then responded.
"If you are old, wouldn't I be considered an old man now? Comrade Teacher."
"I think it's just that the pressure on you these past few days has been too great, too much to bear. There are command matters, the health of comrade political commissar, the front army headquarters, and on top of that, you have to lead troops to fight and visit the front line.
No matter what I do, I don’t worry about anything, and coupled with the high-intensity fighting day and night without sleep, if it were me, I don’t think I would perform better.”
Kulbalov's words are indeed on point. Even Malashenko himself did not realize that he has been carrying so many things these days. If he thinks about it carefully, he has become like this.
It is also excusable.
After all, I didn’t have as many things to worry about in Stalingrad as I do now. The troops at that time were not at the division level, and the political commissar wasn’t sick either. If he could just stay in peace and rest for a while, at least he wouldn’t have to worry about the Germans.
Will call.
The nights in Stalingrad were relatively quiet most of the time. After fighting all day during the day, everyone wanted to have a good sleep at night. This could be regarded as an invisible tacit understanding between the Soviet Union and Germany. Recalling Marat at that time
Shenke felt that he was relieved if he could rest peacefully for ten minutes, but now he had not slept all day and night and was worried about a lot of things.
Comparing the two, it is not difficult to understand why I am so tired.
"Okay, you're right, it's been a little different from usual lately."
"Tell me about other things and report on the combat situation."
After fighting in the dark for a whole night, Malashenko was a little worried that his troops would suffer too many casualties or encounter other unexpected situations. After all, what is the dark night like?
Anything can happen.
Fortunately, Kulbalov's next answer made Malashenko feel stoned, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"There is nothing unexpected, Comrade Commander, everything is going according to plan."
"We defeated the Germans and chased them all the way. But the night last night was too dark. The soldiers reported that there was no visible light at all when we chased them to the end, and they didn't know where the enemy was.
"
"The same goes for the flares. They only lasted from the first half to the middle. After that, they ran out of ammunition and were completely useless. If there was visible light, we might be able to eliminate more enemies, but now, last night's
The results of the battle may not be as good as we expected, Comrade Division Commander."
After explaining the basic situation, what Malashenko heard next was the general results of the battle.
"I don't know how many enemies there were last night. Looking at it now, we actually eliminated about a division of Germans. If you include those tanks and armored vehicles, it would be a bit more. The Germans who escaped are definitely
There are some, but I don’t know the specific number, and the pursuit was completely chaotic until the end.”
"The lower-level company commanders even reported that they could not contact the platoon leader. When they were contacted, it was too dark to distinguish between east, west, north and south, so they could not command effectively. This battle really exposed many problems. Comrade division commander, considering
There may be night battles like this in the future to prevent the Germans from breaking out in the middle of the night. I think our division should strengthen targeted training in this area and develop more backup tactics."
Not to mention that Malashenko felt from the perspective of future generations that he had diarrhea in last night's night battle. Even Kulbalov, who knew only a little about night battles and was in contact with him for the first time, felt that his performance was really poor. He had such a big advantage.
Surrounding and flanking the Germans from three sides, the Germans still managed to escape so many. If this happened during the day, it would be simply a stupid pig-like command.
After listening to what Kurbanov said, Malashenko just nodded slightly without saying much. Specially organizing night combat training will definitely happen in the future. He had considered this last night and put it in place.
It is in a very important position. However, how to do it specifically is not what we need to consider now. There are still a lot of more important things to solve.
"Count the casualties and losses of technical equipment as soon as possible. I need a detailed summary report. In addition..."
Malashenko was just halfway through what he said, but before he could finish it, an unexpected figure suddenly ran over.
"Comrade regiment leader, comrade division commander, the division headquarters called to say there is an emergency. It was Comrade Political Commissar who called, asking comrade division commander to answer the phone immediately."
Before Kulbalov had time to react, Malashenko's eyes lit up as soon as he heard Comrade Political Commissar's words, and he immediately cheered up.
"Take me there immediately, hurry up!"
"Yes, Comrade Commander!"
Kulbalov's regiment headquarters did not have any decent bunkers. Because it was an emergency defense, he could only set up a tent in a low-lying place that could block the sight of the German army. The telephone line connected to the division headquarters was blocked.
Placed on the table inside the tent.
"Hello, I'm Malashenko, please speak."
Malashenko, who was rushing into the tent with the wind all the way, grabbed the microphone left on the table and spoke. The political commissar comrade on the other end of the phone line also responded very quickly.
"Malashenko, something happened! A large group of Germans sneaked out in the dark along the holes in our defense area last night. I am holding in my hand the telegram just sent by the front army headquarters. It was taken by the aviation reconnaissance aircraft.
The latest news arrived. You'd better go back to the division headquarters as soon as possible. Comrade Commander was a little unhappy in the telegram."
"???"
"What did you say!?"
Ding——
Malashenko, who was originally wondering what Comrade Political Commissar was doing when he called him, suddenly trembled all over after hearing the bad news, like a cat whose tail was stepped on.
Damn it, why did I let a wave of Germans escape even though I was on tight defense and slow on defense!?
What do the troops in the corresponding defense area do? Do they have to work for a living!? Fuck!