The frozen snow showed no signs of melting under the biting low temperatures. Even in early 1942, the winter that was enough to cast a shadow on the Germans still enveloped the entire Russian land they talked about.
Although Malashenko has commanded the troops to move forward as quickly as possible on the frozen land, the poor cross-country snowy road conditions and a small number of zombie tanks that had been repaired after one death broke down.
It still seriously slowed down the advance speed of the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment.
What made Malashenko even more upset was that his own is1 prototype tank had a gearbox breakage during maneuvers. The reason was that the driver Seryosha was driving the is1 prototype tank over a small slope.
At that time, it was caused by an operation error and a forced shift midway, and the is1's transmission system itself was unreliable.
After stumbling along the way and making repairs, Malashenko unexpectedly encountered something very interesting.
However, this is interesting only for the Soviet army. For the German army, it is the most realistic portrayal of the horrors of the Winter War.
While passing through a village that had been destroyed by the war, Malashenko accidentally saw a "German stick" stuck on the road at the entrance of the village.
The literal meaning is German stick, but it is actually a German corpse that was frozen solid and had already turned into a human stick. It was dug up by the passing Red Army counterattack troops in a head-down position with its feet in the air.
A small hole dug upside down in the snow.
On the boots of the feet pointing straight to the sky, a wooden sign with Russian writing on it is hanging on it. It is quite strong and fixed, and the writing is very neat. It seems that it is the handwriting left by a cultural person. In Malashenko's view
But it's extremely sarcastic.
"?bпeрёд!??назапад! (Forward! All the way to the west!)"
The German sticks planted on the roadside made many Red Army tank soldiers passing by slow down their vehicles to pay attention and smile. This prank left by an unknown person did bring some joy to everyone in the winter.
"This is our home court now! I like this feeling, Comrade Commander!"
Hearing what Iushkin next to him said after seeing the German stick, Malashenko, who was in a good mood, responded with a smile and agreed without much thought.
"Yeah, things are different now."
When Malashenko, who had been delayed for a long time along the way, finally caught up with the main force and was ready to show off his skills, a telegram from Comrade Lao Zhu told Malashenko a very frustrating news.
The winter counterattack has stopped, the siege of Moscow has been lifted, and the Red Army now needs to recuperate and wait for the battle in the spring of next year.
With nothing to fight, Malashenko led his troops to stay put. Not long after, a transfer order from the front army headquarters transferred Malashenko to other fronts again.
"Go to the Southwest Front, accept the direct command of Marshal Timoshenko, and prepare for the upcoming battle!?"
Malashenko, who was holding a telegram in his hand and looking confused, couldn't figure out the situation. The political commissar Petrov beside him was also full of surprise.
"What's going on? Why were we suddenly assigned to the Southwest Front?"
Malashenko, who looked a little dazed, didn't say much. With his drooped right hand, he gently handed the telegraph newspaper in his hand to the political commissar Petrov beside him and told him to read it himself.
After receiving the telegram, he quickly read it at a glance. This telegram, personally drafted by General Zhukov, commander of the Western Front, clearly ordered Malashenko to lead his troops to report to the Southwest Front Headquarters.
The relevant troop handover procedures have been completed through direct communication between the two front army headquarters. The final result has been finalized and the only option left for Malashenko is to report to the Southwest Front Army Headquarters.
There, Marshal Timoshenko, a famous Red Army general, was waiting for Malashenko's arrival.
"It seems that the Southwest Front Army is about to make a big move, Malashenko, otherwise they wouldn't be so anxious to recruit us there."
Since Malashenko first led the First Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion into battle, every battle he has fought has been a bloody battle without exception.
Scenes of mountains of corpses of soldiers from the Soviet and German armies have long been commonplace for Malashenko. At first, he would feel nauseous when he smelled the rotten blood. Now, Malashenko can even sit next to the corpses and directly kill them.
The hot food in the lunch box is eaten clean.
Wherever there is a vicious battle, Malashenko is bound to be there. In critical battles where counterattack forces are urgently needed to be condensed into a battering ram, using heavy tank troops to carry out key breakthroughs is undoubtedly the best choice.
Compared to Commissar Petrov's thoughtful expression, Malashenko, who had roughly deduce what he was going to face based on the memories of later generations combined with this order telegram, was silent and could not be happy.
As the commander of the Southwestern Front, does Marshal Timoshenko have the talent and ability?
The answer is of course yes, otherwise Stalin, the loving father as a qualified leader, would not have entrusted him with important responsibilities.
But the bad thing is that Marshal Timoshenko's style of commanding battles is somewhat arbitrary, even very arbitrary and reckless. Compared with Zhukov's "heavy sword without edge, large skill but no craftsmanship" style of rough and fine, Temu
Marshal Xinge's seemingly powerful command style actually contains huge hidden dangers. If he is not careful, he will lose everything. This is the case with Marshal Timoshenko.
Malashenko, who had sorted out all his thoughts, knew clearly that the Second Battle of Kharkov, which was to take place after the snow melted in the spring of 1942, had caused heavy losses to the Soviet army.
Marshal Timoshenko, who commanded the Southwest Front to launch an offensive against the German Army Group South, suffered heavy losses. He was routed in all directions and captured by the Germans. The Soviet prisoners who could not see the end opened the door to the defense area of the entire Southwest Front, and thus directly
led to the Battle of Stalingrad.
According to the original historical trend, Malashenko actually did not want to interfere with these wrong strategic decisions made by the Soviet army. If he did, it would probably cause great changes in the original historical trend, including the battle.
The time and strategic situation are completely subverted, and even the final outcome of the war will become unpredictable.
And this is obviously not what Malashenko, who is bent on survival, wants. If possible, Malashenko would like to have everything under his control, so that he can make the most accurate decisions about every move of the German army and the time of the war.
judge.
But thinking that he might also be thrown into the flesh-and-blood grinding machine of Stalingrad and experience purgatory on earth, Malashenko, who had a fierce conflict in his heart, quickly weighed all the pros and cons. Stalin, who changed the entire course of the Patriotic War
The Battle of Grad was really too heavy in casualties. If possible, Malashenko really didn't want to be involved in this terrible flesh and blood grinder.