The time spent on the return journey was not too long. After another great victory, Malashenko quickly led his troops back to the location of the field division headquarters and met the political commissar comrades who were busy handling post-war affairs for the troops.
"Come back so soon? I thought you had to wait until at least tomorrow to come back and tell me what you did during your trip."
Comrade Comrade Political Commissar has heard some of Malashenko's deeds during his trip, but the more specific situation still needs to be told by Malashenko himself, and things he hears from hearsay are not necessarily true.
Malashenko, who had just entered the tent, did not bother to answer the questions of the political commissar. Instead, he pulled up a chair and sat down. He picked up a cup filled with water from the table and raised his head without saying anything.
It's just a burst of cow drink to quench your thirst. The sound of gulping and gulping sounds like you are really thirsty.
"Phew! It's great! Having water to drink is also a happy thing."
After putting down the cup, he took out a cigarette for himself, put it into his mouth, and lit a fire. Only then did Malashenko finally take a breath and speak to his comrade political commissar.
"The main thing is to rescue Comrade Commander, which is the most important. Secondly, it is to kill a group of local Ukrainian bandits. The combat effectiveness of these guys is not even as good as those third-rate servants forced by the Germans.
Army, it’s just something they can do casually, it’s not a big deal, and of course it doesn’t take much time. A purely mechanized march will naturally go back and forth very quickly.”
What Malashenko said is basically consistent with what the political commissar heard, but there are still some details that need to be confirmed by Malashenko.
"Where is the leader of these bandits? Have you caught him? We should interrogate him strictly. Maybe these bandits colluded with the Germans and came specifically to assassinate Commander Vatutin. Maybe there are other secrets and
Things we don’t know about can be unearthed.”
Comrade Political Commissar's idea was the same as Malashenko's original plan, but the subsequent development of the situation did not allow Malashenko to do this at all. The final result of an unexpected forcible arrest could only be to kill on the spot.
"I thought so at first, and of course I planned to do so."
"But you haven't seen that the two leaders of this gang of bandits, one fat and one thin, tried to evade the search at first and hid in the cellar. But we found the entrance to the cellar and blocked it inside, and then continued to resist.
Gun resisted arrest.”
"These two bastards shot at our soldiers. The situation in the cellar was very complicated at that time. The light was dim, it was difficult to see and it was very narrow. We had no other choice but to fire on the two bastards on the spot. We could not take the soldiers
At the cost of our lives, we tried to capture them alive under fire, so we could only fire back immediately and kill these two bastards."
Malashenko’s simple description basically clarified the situation on the scene at that time. It was indeed concise and comprehensive, and basically made the key points clear. Comrade political commissar who has strong logical thinking and analysis skills also basically understood the key points that Malashenko wanted to express.
And then nodded quietly.
"Okay, I think I've figured it out. What about the rest of the group? Are there any other bandit leaders who know something about the situation? We may be able to analyze something useful with the limited information."
"You don't need to tell me this. I've naturally gone through the interrogation."
He put out the cigarette butt in his hand and put it in the ashtray of the empty can in front of him. Malashenko, who was still smoking from his mouth, continued to talk.
"There are a few small leaders among the remaining bandit captives who know a little bit about the situation, but none of them are critical and important information."
"The statements made by these gangsters are quite consistent. They said that the news they learned before setting off was that this was an ordinary robbery, but the target was our Red Army. These gangsters wanted to rob our transport convoy and supplies.
Get what they want, then escape to the west and fly away before we take control of the entire area."
"It's just that an unexpected situation occurred. The convoy that was ambushed by them did not have materials or supplies. It was Commander Vatutin's convoy."
"Seeing that the convoy's escorts were powerful and elite, these bandits thought that the convoy contained some extremely important supplies, so they attacked like crazy to get their hands on them. Then I arrived with my team,
It’s about rescuing Comrade Commander.”
"What can be determined so far is that the number one leader of this gang of bandits is named Anton, and the number two leader is Barannikov. They are both locals from Cherkasy. The identities of these two people are quite special.
They used to be people in the military industry of our Red Army, but they were arrested for stealing, reselling materials and sabotaging military production."
"Originally they were going to be shot, but when the Germans came, the two of them found an opportunity to escape from prison. After that, they took advantage of the chaos to recruit soldiers and find ways to get guns. From 1941 to now, they have become a huge group of bandits with 700 to 800 people. It is said that
They are the number one gang in the Cherkasy area, and they often preyed on the Germans before. They have robbed German convoys and even military columns several times, and they are relatively capable of fighting among the bandits."
The above information was learned by Malashenko from the interrogation of the captured leader. The exact authenticity cannot be confirmed from the mouths of Anton and Barannikov. These two bad guys are now
It has been buried in the grave.
"Hmm...Okay, I have recorded the main situation. I will investigate and confirm it through other channels later. After all, this matter is not trivial and needs to be taken seriously."
Comrade Comrade Political Commissar closed the cap of the pen in his hand, put aside the notebook for recording for the time being, and still faced Malashenko and began to talk about some important things that Comrade Ma did not know yet.
"After you led the team away, we conducted a comprehensive inventory and cleaning of the battlefield. Through the interrogation of the few prisoners and the battlefield survey, we can confirm that this time we completely eliminated the elite of the SS: the 5th Viking Armored Division.
There is no sign of any large or medium-sized groups of enemies escaping. At most, there are only a few fish that slipped through the net and became deserters."
"The point is, this is the first time since the outbreak of the Patriotic War in 1941 that our entire Red Army has wiped out an elite division of the SS, and it was also an armored division. Because the SS is Hitler's personal armed force, and this
According to reports, the Viking Division is the only Foreign Legion unit in the SS, so the results of this battle are of great military and political significance."
"I have drafted a telegram here and am preparing to report all the summarized information to the front army headquarters so that Comrade Commander can be informed. When this news reaches Moscow, I am almost certain that Comrade Division Commander and Comrade Stalin will
Everyone will be happy about this.”
"Oh, by the way, there is one more thing I haven't told you. In this annihilation operation, we also eliminated an unexpected big shot, one that will definitely surprise you."