A big battle and various chores such as sending Vatugin away were put together. Comrade Lao Ma, who finally had some free time, was a little surprised to find that the day had ended like this, and now it was as if it was the end of the sunset.
At the critical moment, the afterglow of the orange-red sun radiated from the far side of the horizon, shining the still-smoked earth with a fiery red color like a ripe persimmon.
The color of the sunset today is a little different from usual. Malashenko, who is not sure why the sun looks like this today, only thinks that the scene is quite beautiful. If it weren't for the scattered things lying on the ground, he wouldn't have had time to restrain himself.
If there was a dead body of a German stick, the current scenery would be even more beautiful.
"Damn fascist lackeys! Hurry up, dig quickly! When the digging is finished, there will be food, hurry up and work!"
The food was treated as a reward and left behind after the German prisoners of war dug death pits for their dead comrades.
It's the height of summer and there is absolutely no time left for thousands of corpses to be dumped on the battlefield without a care. The weather won't last long in this kind of weather. By this time tomorrow, there will be flies flying around and maggots crawling around.
The sight of a stench filling the sky is nothing compared to the cold winter of the Soviet Union when corpses were frozen solid and not afraid of decay.
If the corpse is not disposed of in time, plague diseases will inevitably breed.
The remains of the Red Army soldiers who died in the battle have been buried on the spot by their comrades as soon as possible, but the proud soldiers of Stalin's 1st Guards Tank Division did not bother to dig graves for the enemies who killed their comrades. This kind of thankless effort
Naturally, someone will do the work, and the group of Germans who just laid down their weapons and surrendered are the best candidates. They have no choice but to work honestly.
While walking towards the division headquarters tent, I saw a scene of German prisoners of war being driven to dig graves on the roadside.
This reminded Malashenko of Stalingrad inadvertently, and that similar scenes had happened at that time.
In that hellish city, mountains of dead bodies were piled up every day after battles. The German prisoners of war had to work together with their own soldiers, digging large pits to bury the dead regardless of friend or foe.
Barely finishing the work.
The past is finally in the past. Although I still feel emotional when I think of these past experiences, there are no longer many emotional ups and downs in my heart. It can be said that my heart feels calm.
As for these German prisoners of war who were forced to work before being fed, Malashenko did not have much affection for them.
The best result is to save you alive and not kill you. If you don't work honestly, no matter what the end is, you will not be pitiful. You deserve it.
The war has reached this point, and behind the millions of military casualties, there is no longer a simple hatred that can be described.
The Germans came with the goal of destroying the people living on this land, and of course they did so in actual actions. In this case, there is no reason to be merciful to these invaders. Malashenko will not
Deliberately massacring prisoners of war does not mean turning a blind eye to those who are careless and deliberately causing trouble.
For this kind of person, killing is just a matter of killing, and there is no fundamental difference between killing an ant while walking.
This is how human life is in war these days. It can be as cheap as you want. Those who want to survive must use all means. Having a good eye and adapting to the situation are also one of the necessary skills. After all,
This was the end of the matter. Whether they could survive or not depended on what these German prisoners of war did. Malashenko had neither the time nor the mood to care about the lives of these weaklings.
"Ah, I'm almost starving. I guess the food has been prepared for me? Come on, let me see what I'm going to eat tonight."
Malashenko didn't eat lunch. If you didn't count the short time he spent in the car between battles and gnawed half a piece of dry bread, then he really didn't eat lunch.
After all, for a 1.9-meter-tall armored man who consumes at least 4,000 calories a day, half a piece of dry bread with less than 500 calories is not even enough to fit between the teeth, so how can we talk about lunch?
At this moment, Malashenko was so hungry that he could not wait to grab his lunch box and start killing.
"Well... Tonight's meal is relatively simple. The cooking team made a bunch of various cans of vegetables and beans to stew. There are American cans, British cans, and our own canned beef.
You can taste the flavors of the Three Kingdoms in one meal, I think it’s pretty good.”
Political Commissar Petrov, who humorously replied to Malashenko, seemed to have already started eating. This stew of various canned vegetables, vegetables and beans looked a bit like a homely stew to Malashenko.
The dishes...well, they are indeed very similar.
Although it doesn't look good, it's a pot of stew, and it doesn't look good, let alone taste.
But this smell...at least it smells so damn good from this far away!
Maybe it was because he was too hungry, or maybe it was like this. Anyway, Malashenko, who couldn't care about that much, directly pulled up the chair and sat down opposite Comrade Political Commissar. He took in the large lunch box that was already full on the table.
In my arms, I grabbed a spoon and started to put it into my mouth. The lunch meat in this bite was wrapped in beef and sandwiched with vegetables and lentils. It had a solid texture. It was indeed quite good.
"Oh, this is much more delicious than it looks. It doesn't look very good, but it's delicious and filling."
Malashenko kept eating in his mouth. Feeling that he was missing some staple food, he happened to see half a piece of bread on the side of the dinner plate. He didn't even ask if this bread was prepared for him, and just grabbed it.
He opened his mouth wide and put it into his mouth. The political commissar sitting opposite him laughed and shook his head.
"Eat slowly, or you will choke to death! It's all prepared for you, no one will snatch it from you."
Seeing Malashenko devouring his food, Comrade Political Commissar could only offer kind words.
But our comrade, the commander, not only "unabated his offensive", but continued to talk nonsense. Taking advantage of the gap between swallowing and taking the next bite of food before it entered his mouth, he had to add another order and speak repeatedly.
"This food is good and delicious! Let's tell the cook later that we can give such good food to our own people. Any soldier who eats without being full should be able to finish it."
"Anyway, don't leave anything for those German guys. Just throw in some slop bread or something to feed them half full. These guys are in good shape and have plenty of energy. If they're hungry, let's get them fattened up.
If you don’t have the strength, don’t rebel secretly and cause us trouble.”
Hearing that Malashenko had such an idea, Comrade Comrade Political Commissar burst out laughing again, and then said half-joking words.
"Then what if you go to a prisoner of war camp so hungry that you don't even have the energy to work?"
Malashenko slapped the spoon on the table, took a bite of a large piece of bread, and chewed it without forgetting to say "oooo".
"I don't care what happens in the prisoner-of-war camp. They want to have enough to eat after being prisoners of war. What do these German guys think they are? Are they traveling to the Soviet Union or what? As long as the dog lives, who cares about the rest?