Leading the troops to move forward, Malashenko soon encountered the "final surprise" that he had prepared for himself - huge craters left by the bombing of extra-large 5-ton gas tanks.
When Malashenko encountered the first gas tank pit, he found soldiers on the edge of the pit looking around in the pit and gathered around to watch.
Logically speaking, such behavior is prohibited on the battlefield, and such a situation should not occur in a leader division known for its rich combat experience and a high proportion of veterans.
But Malashenko knew the reason behind this seemingly abnormal situation, because the pit was so damn big that he could even look at it from a distance while sitting in the tank. When I went there, I felt that the pit was really fucking ridiculously big.
Just a rough estimate, the diameter of this super giant crater is at least 20 meters, and probably not much different from 30 meters. Compared with those Red Army heavy artillery craters that are often calculated as one or two meters, this is simply dad. Level, no, a grandpa-level boss trap.
There are no signs of German military activity around this pit, and even the slightest sign of German military activity no longer exists. Even though Malashenko knew that there must have been German troops in this place, and there were still a large number of German troops. There are no traces either.
Everything as far as the eye can see is a piece of scorched earth, and the smell of destruction is mixed with the smell of blood and corpses floating in the air. The residual smell of gunpowder silently tells that this place is not a real slaughterhouse, but a battlefield.
Malashenko ordered the vehicle to continue moving forward, and soon he came to the edge of the pit surrounded by other Stalin tanks and soldiers guarding him. Looking back, the soldiers who saw the division commander's command vehicle driving up immediately heard the sound and gave way. When the huge No. 177 IS7 heavy tank slowly came to a stop, a figure quietly emerged from the uncovered turret roof.
"Who's in charge here?"
Malashenko did not get out of the car, but leaned half of his body out of the turret to ask the soldiers under the car. After hearing the sound, a soldier holding an AK came forward and stood at attention to salute.
"It's me, Comrade Division Commander, and Second Lieutenant Vorokov leading the team to report to you."
"Um"
Malashenko was noncommittal and just responded casually. Then he held the edge of the turret with both hands and scanned everything under the surrounding vehicles, taking in all the surrounding battlefield scenes.
There is no sign of any German soldiers surviving, and there is no evidence that this place was once an intact position or a trench or a communication trench.
Floating soil, the only thing Malashenko saw was countless layers of floating soil, varying in depth or shallowness. Those loose particles of soil were shallowly covering the surface, and some were as big as a fist. The smallest one is estimated to be about the size of a fingernail, and the smaller one is considered to be dirt level and cannot be distinguished with the naked eye.
You don't need to try to step on it with your feet. Just by looking at it, you can know how it feels when you step on it. It is definitely similar to stepping on a sponge or bread.
Malashenko looked around and couldn't even find a tree, not even a branch or a tree stump.
There were obviously trees in the photo that he had in mind, and they could be seen both near and far. Malashenko remembered it clearly. But now he couldn't find even a trace of the existence of vegetation and trees, as if
It was like disappearing into thin air, without a trace at all.
Malashenko looked around, looked around, and then looked under the car in front of him. He really didn't find anything of value, so he couldn't help but speak again.
"Why don't you move on, Lieutenant, and take your soldiers to stay here to see if there is any special meaning to the pit?"
Malashenko was not deliberately looking for trouble, he just wanted to ask the second lieutenant about his combat situation, but he did not expect that the latter's answer really surprised him.
"We have already advanced once without orders, Comrade Division Commander. We were the first wave of troops to rush forward. Comrade Company Commander only asked our platoon to tear a hole to capture the enemy's outermost position and hold it.
"
"But after I rushed up, I found that there were no enemies fighting with us, we couldn't find the target, and no enemies attacked the area we were defending. I felt that I couldn't wait and had to do something, so I led the soldiers to move forward.
, until we walked a few hundred meters further and arrived here, at the edge of this big pit."
"This is completely different from what we imagined. We don't know whether we should continue to move forward or where to go. We were about to go to the infantry fighting vehicle to ask for orders via radio when we happened to meet you coming."
"."
It seems that the intelligence sent back from the frontline troops not long ago is correct. The first batch of attacking troops did not encounter any resistance at all after rushing up to the mid-level defense line. They marched through the outermost defense zone as if they were walking on the street.
Not a single living German was seen.
With the previous report and the second lieutenant's personal narration, Malashenko believed that the 18 gas tanks supported by hellish bombardment were so powerful that they could completely wipe out the Germans from the world.
, just like right-clicking on the computer desktop, emptying the Recycle Bin and then formatting the disk without leaving any traces, but there is still a problem that has not been solved.
"From the time you rushed up to now, have you really not seen a single German? Not even a living or dead person???"
If you can't see it alive, then it's okay if you are dead.
After all, Malashenko still didn't believe that such an important line of defense could be blown away by the one-hour shelling and 18 gas canisters that completely destroyed the Germans' molecular structure, leaving even the slightest trace, right?
Hmm? You should be able to do it, right? Right?
This time, Comrade Second Lieutenant's answer did not disappoint Malashenko.
"Yes, Comrade Commander, I saw it. It's over there."
Following the direction of the second lieutenant's finger, Malashenko found something in the soil at the feet of several soldiers not far away. It was like a bamboo shoot that had just emerged from the ground. At first glance,
I can't even see clearly.
"Is that... a hand?"
Before Malashenko could finish his question, Comrade Second Lieutenant blurted out his answer immediately.
"Yes, Comrade Commander, one hand."
"From the time we rushed up to now, the only Germans we have seen are in this state. It is not clear whether they were killed by bombs or suffocated, but they were all buried in the soil. Just now Vasily stepped on the floating soil.
I almost fell down in the pit, and a human leg immediately tripped out from under my feet."
"When I looked back, I found that it was a leg that had been blown off. Only the thigh to the calf was left, and the feet were missing. I didn't know who the owner was. There was also a hand emerging from the soil. It was almost like that.
There are all kinds of postures, but not too many. I guess more Germans should be buried deeper, probably hiding in bomb-proof holes and being directly buried alive."