The quiet and cold moonlight has enveloped the land that has gradually cooled down from the war. In this small village where a fierce conflict between the Soviet and German armies broke out a few hours ago, I fought in a daze without knowing why.
Lin Jie, who had been fighting all day, was sitting next to his T34 tank that had been turned off and parked, playing with the food in the lunch box.
A little bit of peas mixed with something similar to vegetable sauce was sticky and dripping from the spoon. Although this kind of food was difficult to be called gourmet in Lin Jie's own opinion, it was tiring to drive a tank in the war.
After running around all day and feeling hungry, it was still hard for him to refuse such hot food and he began to enjoy it in large chunks.
Before Lin Jie, who was very hungry, could finish all the liquid food in the lunch box in front of him, a trotting figure followed closely and arrived in front of Lin Jie, who was just immersed in eating without noticing.
"Which of you is the commander of Tank No. 177? You have an important mission assigned!"
After hearing the words that suddenly rang in his ears, Lin Jie immediately raised his head and followed the words. However, the identity of this person made the driver Seryosha and the electromechanical technician Nico who were also busy filling their stomachs next to the tank...
Lai couldn't help but be stunned.
Dingling, banging, banging——
A sound of metal lunch boxes and cutlery colliding together in a hurry and even falling to the ground suddenly sounded in the open space next to the tank. Seryosha and Nikolai, who were confused and confused, almost rolled and crawled.
He quickly straightened up from where he was sitting cross-legged on the ground.
"Commissar Petrov, evening... good evening."
"Comrade political commissar, Nikolai, the mechanical and electrical engineer of car No. 177, is reporting to you. I wish you good health!"
Looking at the panicked and bewildered two people in front of them, they frowned. What seemed like a normal scene on weekdays, at this moment, made the division-level political commissar of the 20th Tank Division Petrov
The lieutenant colonel was very angry.
"You two little idiots! Let me ask you again, where is your commander!? Tell him to come out and see you..."
"Comrade Political Commissar, there is no need to look for me, I am."
After putting down the little food left in his lunch box and standing up from the tank, a young voice suddenly interrupted Lieutenant Colonel Petrov's unfinished words.
After slightly adjusting his stance, Lin Jie straightened his back, raised his hand in the direction of Lieutenant Colonel Petrov and gave a military salute, and then spoke seriously.
"Captain Brasovsky, the original commander and gunner of Car No. 177, died, and Lieutenant Malashenko, the loader, served as the temporary commander to direct the battle. Please give your instructions, Comrade Political Commissar."
Looking at the resolute and meticulous young man standing in front of him and saluting him, Lieutenant Colonel Petrov, who seemed to believe the rumors for a moment, then nodded slowly towards Lin Jie.
"Very well, Lieutenant Malashenko. I am here to ask you a few questions. Your original commander, Captain Brasovsky, why was he killed in the battle?"
Sure enough, what was supposed to come came.
He sighed secretly in his heart but pretended to be calm at the same time. He knew that in the Soviet Army in 1941, as a lower-level officer, he had to be extremely careful to respond to all inquiries from senior political commissars to avoid getting into trouble. On the surface, he still looked calm as usual.
Lin Jie then reached out towards his car and made an invitation gesture to Lieutenant Colonel Petrov.
"Comrade Political Commissar, there are some questions that I can't explain clearly. Please follow me."
Although he was suspicious of Lin Jie's words, he finally followed his steps to the front of the T34 tank. What appeared in front of Lieutenant Colonel Petrov's eyes was the T34 tank's thousand-year-old body reflected in the pale moonlight.
The armor is riddled with holes.
In the brutal and fierce battle that lasted for a day during the day, although the front armor of Lin Jie's T34 tank and most of the turret front armor withstood dozens of German rounds ranging from 37 mm to 75 mm caliber.
Various types of armor-piercing bullets attacked, but these armor-piercing bullets that were bounced off by the sloped armor still left shallow unpenetrated craters on the armor surface of the T34 tank that were as dense as moon craters.
After seeing this scene, before Lin Jie could speak, Lieutenant Colonel Petrov, who seemed to be able to see the brutal and fierce battle during the day again, couldn't help but look at the battle-scarred T34 tank in front of him and nodded slowly.
"It seems that you and your crew experienced a very tough battle during the day, Lieutenant Malashenko. Your loyalty and courage are worthy of commendation! I will be sure to report this to Colonel Cherniaev later.
Condition!"
The Colonel Chernyaev mentioned by Commissar Petrov is actually the current acting division commander of the 20th Tank Division.
Earlier, when Major General Rokossovsky received the order to lead the 9th Mechanized Army to attack the German army, Katukov, the commander of the 20th Tank Division, the main force of the 9th Mechanized Army, was hospitalized due to illness and was unable to take up his position.
The deputy division commander, Colonel Chernyaev, temporarily took over the command and followed the 9th Mechanized Army to lead the troops.
So as far as the current situation is concerned, the 20th Tank Division where Lin Jie belongs is actually temporarily appointed as the acting division commander by Colonel Chernyayev.
"Thank you, Comrade Political Commissar, but I have something more important to explain to you."
Lin Jie didn't take these honors and awards seriously. He was eager to explain the real situation to the political commissar, and then changed the subject and returned to the topic.
"Please look here, Comrade Political Commissar. At that time, Captain Brasovsky was sitting in the right gunner's position inside the turret. Unfortunately, this position was initially estimated to have been repeatedly fired by at least 20 armor-piercing rounds from the Germans.
Concentrated fire, and ultimately very severe armor fatigue."
"After that, the frontal armor on the right side of the turret, which was once again subjected to the strong external force of the incoming armor-piercing projectile, finally could not withstand the strong kinetic energy impact and cracked from the inside. The flying armor fragments scattered in the narrow internal space of the turret, and one of them penetrated
It hit Comrade Brasovsky's neck and ultimately led to his death, but I narrowly escaped death because I was in a position close to the loader on the left side of the turret."
Following the position pointed by Lin Jie's right hand, he saw the obviously cracked armor gap on the right side of the T34 tank's turret near the gun mantlet. Petrov knew the general situation of the T34 tank he was equipped with.
The Lieutenant Colonel had basically silently approved Lin Jie's statement in his heart.
In order to simplify the manufacturing process, reduce production costs, and shorten the manufacturing time of a single tank, the Soviets boldly used an integral cast turret on the T34 tank instead of the angular welded and cut armor of the Germans.