The overwhelming artillery fire was bombarding the German positions indiscriminately. Even though Malashenko was several kilometers away, he felt that he could feel the violent movement like the ground shaking.
If it fails to explode, that's fine, but if it does, the army-level artillery firepower of this level will definitely blow up any troops who dare to assemble into rubbish. Oh, maybe it will blow up to the point where not even a bit of rubbish is left.
Not sure.
"I just like watching German guys getting bombed. I always have."
There was more than one person who felt very happy after witnessing this scene. Iushkin simply expressed his true thoughts. Malashenko, who was watching the western view in the distance outside the turret, just heard this.
A smile.
"Who isn't? Besides, it's time for you to shave."
Indeed, his handsome face was not very clean, especially the lower half of his face, which was completely unshaven and unkempt. Iushkin, who didn't care much about this, touched his chin and just smiled.
"What is the name of the most important city in East Prussia? Königsberg? That's it. Take this place and I will shave my beard again. I will never shave until I conquer this evil Fascist city!"
There is still a long way to go to attack East Prussia, and taking the important town of Königsberg will not happen overnight.
However, it is definitely a good thing that Iushkin has such firm determination and ambition. Malashenko would not say anything more and just let him go, but this unkempt bearded image does have that "Middle Eastern flavor"
.
"It's starting to dawn, and it won't be long before it gets bright. Be prepared."
Just as Malashenko said, the sky, which was originally shrouded in thick night, changed color at some point.
The night is gradually fading away, and the day is slowly coming.
The distant sky, glowing with the last fish-belly white before the sun was about to rise, greatly improved the visibility. Now it was almost possible to clearly see the scene of the German position shrouded in a sea of fire.
The fierce and violent shelling was like the continuous eruption of volcanic lava rising from the ground, carrying large pieces of soil and unknown objects into the air, and then sinking and returning to dust.
"It looks like it was hit by an explosion. We didn't see many broken German remains on the first starting position. The attacking and gathering troops should be on the second position. This will be enough for them!"
Having been plowed by half an hour of front-level artillery counter-preparations, the Germans' first starting position was already deserted. But in this desolate scene like the craters on the surface of the moon, there was no sight of it.
The remains of many German vehicles and weapons were scattered everywhere.
If you want to say that the Germans were so busy last night, they even used the artillery firepower that they had been careful not to expose, but in the end they did nothing and did not do any work. Malashenko feels that anyone who does not have a brain can
Neither would believe it.
In this case, there are no corpses on the first position, so the answer obviously points to the second position not far behind, which is still being bombed at this moment.
It's a pity that the magnification of the general's telescope in Malashenko's hand is limited. He can barely see the first starting position which is not too far away, but it's a bit blurry, but if he looks at the second position, it's hard to see.
We can only see the scene of shelling and flames shooting into the sky, but we can't see the specific details at all.
"That's almost it. The artillery fire should be over. It's been forty-five minutes since the second round. Including the first round, it's been one hour and fifteen minutes. It's time for these artillerymen to take a rest.
.”
The Battle of East Prussia was a crucial one. The Third Belarusian Front, which had prepared well in advance, prepared a very sufficient amount of ammunition to ensure an absolute victory in the battle and could unleash destructive firepower on the enemy.
But even if the shell tube is open enough to fire, artillerymen always have their limits. No matter how strong the loader is, even if there are three groups of people working in shifts, if they work for more than an hour at a time, there will always be a limit.
Indeed, just as Malashenko thought, there was a brief pause in the middle. The first half hour and the last fifty minutes, the one hour and twenty minutes of shelling that could be connected almost without interruption, finally finally cleared when the sky completely cleared.
At dawn, there was only a short moment left before the rising sun. Turn off the engine and stop.
"Come on, let me see what you fascists will do next, just come here..."
Malashenko, who had a hook in his eyes, was staring into the distance with a telescope in his hand, waiting for the Germans to play an unknown card next. Even if a group of German tanks suddenly appeared in front of them like wild beasts, it would be fine.
Accepting it, Malashenko was convinced that he was ready.
But what Malashenko was waiting for in the end was not the Germans' ground attack. To be precise, the buzzing of mosquitoes from the distant horizon was the first "appetizer".
"Damn it! Plane! How could it be a German plane!?"
The brief shock did not last long. Malashenko, who had not been bombarded by the German planes for a long time, just felt a little strange. He did not expect that the first card the Germans threw out would be like this.
Damn it, I thought the German air force had been so beaten that it didn't even dare to launch large-scale active air strikes.
"Do you want to hide for a while? But it doesn't seem like he's coming for us."
Indeed, just as Iushkin said, those Stukas in the distance who have been descending in altitude, changing into a dive state and entering the attack channel, based on the distance, do not look like they are swooping towards our side.
, obviously heading towards the 267th Infantry Division which is further ahead.
"Take another look, don't worry, the 267th Division's air defense positions are already firing, look."
Looking at the end of 1944, the threat of German air raids is no longer as serious as it was when the war first started, when Malashenko was almost constantly bombarded with bombs behind him in 1941 and 1942.
To put it bluntly, Malashenko is really not afraid of these Stukas whose performance has long been outdated.
Not to mention that the target of those pregnant seagulls is not himself, even if they fly towards their own side, the air defense firepower already deployed on Kulbalov's side is enough to ensure safety.
After all, the number of these Stukas is really not too many. Malashenko’s rough calculation estimates that there are only more than 20 Stukas in total.
What can more than twenty tactical dive bombers do in a front-level battle like this? To be honest, it means nothing.
This fucking German guy is so poor that he has settled down and stretched his hips. He only managed to organize an air raid here and there to get such an outdated and shabby plane to fool people. Malashenko would have to say "It's embarrassing enough" after seeing it.