Shortly after leaving the field hospital at the division headquarters, he returned to his No. 177 command T34 tank parked on the starting position in silence. According to the order given by Malashenko before leaving, Nikolai, the electromechanical engineer, and the driver
Comrade Sergeant Seryosha was hammering and knocking back and forth with hammers and wrenches, performing simple maintenance and troubleshooting on the tank that had experienced a whole day of war.
Out of the corner of his eye, I accidentally saw Malashenko, whose head was wrapped in gauze, and the loader Seryosha who was traveling with him all the way back. After putting down his tools, Seryosha greeted Nikolai and immediately took three steps together.
He ran forward quickly with a happy smile in two steps.
"Sir, are you okay? It looks like you can continue to fight, which is great."
Looking at the two people in front of me, whose faces were covered with oil and black smoke stains, but who were smiling sincerely and honestly, this kind of sincere and simple comradeship between Red Army soldiers that was unique to this era could not help but make people accustomed to it.
The cold Malashenko felt warm in his heart.
With a natural look on his face, Malashenko responded with a slight smile. After a day of fighting, all the fatigue and fatigue seemed to have disappeared. Then he spoke softly.
"I'm fine. It's just a small wound. It's not a serious injury."
After saying this, he turned his head and looked at his T34 tank, which was already covered in black smoke from the war and covered with many unpierced armor-piercing bullet marks. He was curious about whether there was any malfunction in his vehicle.
Malashenko then asked.
"Seryozha, Nikolai, how is the condition of our tanks? Have you two found any faults?"
Facing the question from Malashenko, Seryosha and Nikolai looked at each other and smiled, and then answered in a rather confident tone.
"Don't worry, Comrade Commander. Except for the anti-aircraft cannons, those German armor-piercing bullets can't damage our tanks at all. At most, they leave a shallow crater and then disappear without a trace.
No problem at all!”
After hearing the rather confident assurance from the driver Seryosha, he nodded slowly. Malashenko, who was still not completely relieved, then further shifted his questioning eyes to Nikolai, the electromechanical technician beside him.
After seeing Malashenko turn his head, Nikolai, who knew what he should say now, immediately responded.
"There are no problems on my side, sir. Except for the fact that our vehicle-mounted wireless communication station was shaken by the armor-piercing projectile and the buttons were a little insensitive, all equipment including the forward-facing machine gun and main gun of the vehicle are in normal condition and can be used at any time.
Keep fighting."
In the Soviet armored force sequence in 1941, although most of the grassroots crews and tanks were using the most primitive semaphores and even hand gestures to communicate.
However, for the sake of timely command and communication for grassroots troops and battlefield coordination, the Soviet army finally equipped the company-level command T3476 tank with a radio station for inter-vehicle communication.
The electromechanical personnel are responsible for performing specific operations, and the No. 177 T3476 tank commanded by Malashenko is exactly a company-level command vehicle equipped with a vehicle-mounted wireless communication radio.
After hearing that there was something wrong with the most important and precious car radio communication station in his car, Malashenko, who realized the importance of the situation and did not dare to delay at all, immediately rushed to be responsible for the specific maintenance.
And Nikolai, the electromechanical technician who operated the radio station, gave the order.
"It's not a trivial matter to have problems with the radio, Nikolai. Find the guys in the field maintenance camp as soon as possible and ask for spare parts from them or directly pull their people over to help fix it. As expected, it will be repaired tomorrow.
Those German guys will go crazy on us as soon as the light comes on, and we can't let the situation slip by then!"
While listening to the words in Malashenko's mouth, he immediately raised his head and glanced at the sunset in the distance that was about to sink below the horizon. In just one day, everything went from being fully loaded to launch an attack to the remaining troops being defeated by the German open space.
The cruel fact that the Red Army was defeated by chemical tactics obviously had a great impact on Nikolai, a young electromechanical officer who had been instilled in him the idea of the great Red Army being invincible since he was a child.
"Sir, I...I don't know how to tell you, but those German invaders, how on earth could they defeat us in just one day? I...I really don't know what to do.
To describe to you the feeling in my heart, there is an indescribable sadness, sir."
After hearing the confused and somewhat overwhelmed words from Nikolai's mouth, I naturally knew what was going on in the mind of this young Red Army soldier. This kind of soldier was directly defeated by the enemy in a devastating way in just one day.
The cruel reality is indeed difficult for a young Red Army soldier with a firm belief in his heart to accept.
But as a future traveler, Malashenko knew very well that such a situation would not only happen today, but also this month. From then on until 1943, when the Soviet army completely won the Battle of Stalingrad, the turning point was
Before a decisive victory, this situation where the entire Soviet division was completely defeated by the German army in less than a day would continue to happen.
"Alas...this dog-day war..."
After sighing softly, he slowly walked forward and stretched out his right arm to pat Nikolai's shoulder. He could only express comfort in this slightly weak way but could not tell the cruel truth of the years to come.
Nikolai and his crew members, and Malashenko, who carries the identity of a future world traveler, obviously endures more than an ordinary captain.
Just as Malashenko was contemplating whether to say a few more words of comfort to Nikolai, a familiar and slightly aged figure followed the hurried footsteps.
And arrived.
"Captain Malashenko, so you are here. It's great to see you are okay!"
After hearing this rather familiar voice coming from behind him, Malashenko was stunned for a moment and then turned around instantly along with the crew members around him. The person who appeared in front of the group of four people was none other than Petro.
The familiar face of her husband’s political commissar.
"Comrade political commissar, good evening, Captain Malashenko reports to you and wishes you good health!"
Even Malashenko, who had grown and changed a lot after experiencing several life-and-death battles on the battlefield, couldn't help but stutter when he saw the political commissar Petrov who suddenly appeared in front of him.
It was simply because the senior political commissars of the Soviet Army who had survived the Great Purge were a little too ruthless when dealing with those they believed needed to be eliminated.