The biting cold wind howls on top of the vast snowfield that is three feet frozen, almost as far as the eye can see. The sight of just a white line at the junction of the horizon and the horizon is enough to make those who stop to admire it feel beautiful in peacetime.
But Malashenko, who had already received the order from the front army headquarters, did not care to appreciate these things. The rumble of cannons coming from the distant horizon was simply more exciting than the Chinese New Year's Eve firecrackers.
There is no need to say more about what this scene foreshadows for Malashenko.
For a while, Malashenko, who was anxious but couldn't mention the poor off-road speed of his KV85 heavy tank, was in vain and leaned his upper body out of the turret to observe the situation. He immediately turned around with an anxious face.
Head over.
"Yakov, has Istria been lost? Why are there still so many gunfires and cannon fire? Are you sure the intelligence you received is correct?"
Yakov, the lieutenant colonel commander who just had the word macho written on his face, just like before, under the pretext of speeding up, he climbed directly onto the hood behind the turret of Malashenko's car and met the striker.
Troops are accompanying them.
The hood grille, which was enough to give people heatstroke in the hot summer, was now very warm. Lieutenant Colonel Yakov, who was still baking to keep warm, heard the idiotic words from Malashenko's mouth and immediately
Turning his eyes white, he spoke to him helplessly.
"I'm not the only one who read that telegram. Comrade Malashenko, didn't you also read the telegram from the Front Army Headquarters? It clearly states that Istria has been lost and our
The mission is to open a gap for the follow-up counterattack force to establish an advantage and hold on until they arrive. Don’t you remember, wait, what did I just say? Follow-up counterattack force? "
The two people, who had not realized the existence of this detail before, couldn't help but look at each other for a moment. The fact that Istria, which had already been lost, was still making loud noises of gunfire could only mean one thing.
"The counterattack has begun!"
"The counterattack has begun!"
Malashenko and Yakov, who came up with the same answer in unison, immediately changed their expressions. Looking back now, the brief telegram did not seem to indicate the specific counterattack time of the friendly forces' follow-up counterattack.
"Damn! We are late! Comrade Malashenko! Can your tank be any faster? We must rush to the front line immediately, as quickly as possible!"
Malashenko, who had ordered the driver Seryosha to step on the tank's accelerator to death, seemed very helpless after hearing this. The expressionless expression on his face as he slowly shook his head was enough for Lieutenant Colonel Yakov to guess, even if he didn't say anything.
The answer it wants to express.
The mobility of the KV1 heavy tank that has been replaced with ski-proof track shoes in winter has been affected. In addition, the road it is traveling on is not a man-made road but a vast snowfield frozen by the severe cold. The KV1 heavy tank weighing 47 tons
It is natural to imagine the speed at which a tank would travel on such a road.
"KV1 is not T34, Comrade Yakov. I have ordered the engine to be raised to full speed since we just drove out of the village. But as you can see from the current situation, the shortcomings in mobility can be said to be KV1.
The only thing that is not as good as t34 is that this is an objective fact."
Lieutenant Colonel Yakov, who received the task of "teaming up" with Malashenko from his superior division commander, has always admired and admired these huge steel beasts under Malashenko's command.
From the perspective of a layman like him who doesn't know much about tanks, only the KV1 heavy tanks equipped with strong armor, sharp guns, and strong durability are the romance that men should have. As for the T34s, which are slightly smaller and have much weaker protection, they are simply too romantic.
Just like a little kid whose fetal hair has not gone away.
In his own eyes, the kv1, which had almost no shortcomings, was not as agile and fast as those T34s. This was undoubtedly hard to accept for Yakov, who had always regarded the kv1 as the most elite and advanced tank of the Red Army.
"I always thought we were just driving at a constant speed, including when we attacked the village before. I never expected that such a powerful tank would have such shortcomings."
Although the KV1, as a heavy tank, can travel cross-country in the snow at a speed of only a little over 20 kilometers per hour, this speed is much faster than the marching speed of a person carrying equipment on foot.
Quite a lot, keep doing it
Malashenko and Yakov, who were desperate, had no choice but to continue to maintain the current situation.
Located on a circular field fortification position outside the city of Istria, the German soldiers who had seized this land from the Soviet army that had previously defended the area had just finished cleaning the battlefield and disposing of the corpses. The German soldiers who had put down their engineer shovels had just put down their shovels.
The cigarette was in his mouth and before he could light it up, the roar of a large-caliber grenade, comparable to the roar of a bull, ripped through the distant horizon.
The fall of Istria, which was only 24 kilometers away from the main city of Moscow, undoubtedly shocked Zhukov, who was currently the commander-in-chief of the Red Army front line under Moscow.
Zhukov was obviously not expecting that the Germans could use such a fast speed to re-enter the battle with tanks that had been blocked by ice, and at the same time concentrate their fist power to capture the city of Istria in one fell swoop.
.
Zhukov, who knew the disastrous consequences of allowing Istria to remain in the hands of the Germans as a springboard, did not hesitate at all. Even before the angry call from his loving father Stalin came, he put his hands away from Istria.
Terra's nearest troops were sent towards the eye of the storm where everything gathered.
Zhukov, who was deeply aware of the incomparable importance of Istria, besides mobilizing ordinary troops to gather there immediately, the large number of German armored troops mentioned in the loss telegram was also a top priority that could not be ignored. If he wanted to be the attacker,
To eliminate the German armored force that captured Istria, the only way to defeat it is to use the Red Army tank force's attack-for-attack approach.
Before the three Soviet infantry divisions, which had marched all the way from the surrounding theaters, had time to assemble their troops, the leading troops who arrived first immediately launched a fierce attack on the peripheral defensive positions of Istria after they merged.
However, these Soviet infantry, which lacked the support of effective artillery and tank troops, fought for more than an hour without making any substantial breakthrough. The German troops, who originally thought that the Soviet counterattack was relatively easy to deal with, had time to rejoice in the future.
, the Soviet field artillery, which was undoubtedly the most powerful in the world, immediately slapped the Germans who were about to daydream awake with the roar of the huge artillery.