Steel Soviet Union

"I'm alive?"

This was Malashenko's first thought after he struggled to stand up while feeling dizzy and feeling like he was out of his mind.

After the bombardment began, the German special train artillery regiment, regardless of the impact point of the artillery shells and the correction of the ballistics, focused on non-mobile targets and poured out firepower frantically at the former site of the Kirov Tank Factory, which occupied a huge area.

Multiple rounds of 283mm GR35 high-explosive grenades weighing 255kg smashed through the dome of the factory building, which had been torn open once by a Luftwaffe bomb and had no time to repair, and exploded in the tank factory. The power in the narrow indoor space increased exponentially. The increasing fire storm and explosion shock wave swept away everything around him in an instant.

The unassembled KV1 heavy tank chassis and turret, dozens of tons of heavy steel ingots used as raw materials for tank manufacturing, and old lathes that are old but can still be used to process parts.

Almost all heavy objects that could not be lifted into the sky according to common sense have been reduced to parts and fragments. The K5 train gun with the same caliber as the main gun of the German Navy "Scharnhorst" battlecruiser is so powerful. It was shocking. What appeared in front of Malashenko's double and blurred eyes was a terrifying scene like the end of the world.

"What the hell! Wherever you go, you will encounter tough enemies from the Germans! In Yelniya, we fought face to face with the Imperial Division and the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment. Two days ago, we encountered half armored Germans. The teacher was attacking me, and now a giant cannon popped out. Why the hell am I so unlucky?"

Taking a deep breath under the roar of grief and anger in his heart, Malashenko, who had no time to complain too much, then leaned down and lifted up a large piece of broken wood at his feet, and together with Malashenko Lavrinenko, who was hiding in the tank maintenance trench, immediately stood upright with his head shaken by the shock.

"What on earth is this? Malashenko, I mean what on earth are these fascists using to bombard us? I don't think this power can be achieved by ordinary field artillery. This is at least a naval gun. level!"

He picked up the black leather tank cap that had been knocked to the ground by the shelling at his feet and put it back on his head. Malashenko, who was also frightened, could not remember the model of the German cannon that participated in the siege of Leningrad.

"If you really want to know, you can go back and capture a few German prisoners and ask for yourself. But I guess this thing should be a German train gun. Only this kind of thing can produce such devastating power on the ground. The Baltic Sea It is impossible for the fleet to let the German warships reach the coast of Leningrad."

"Without further ado, no one knows whether these Germans will continue to launch a second artillery bombardment. Take advantage of the time when the artillery bombardment stops to quickly organize troops and take all the tanks that can be driven to evacuate here! This level of artillery bombardment If we don't support Uritsk again, both of you and I will become the muzzle of the German cannon."

Realizing that the tsunami-like destructive bombardment finally stopped, the Red Army tank soldiers began to walk out of their bunkers one after another, but not all of them could survive this terrifying shelling that shook the earth. Several huge ones on the factory floor The crater was huge enough for fish to grow inside, taking away all the life that once sheltered there.

Staggeringly, he pushed his legs with one hand and stepped out of the tank repair trench. However, when he leaned forward for a moment, he lost all strength and seemed to have lost his balance. Malashenko was leaning back and barely managed to fall back. In the trough behind him.

Seeing this scene, Lavrinenko, who was behind Malashenko, immediately stretched out his arm to help Malashenko. This kind of trembling and shaking symptoms, like dysentery or wind chill, where the whole body is out of balance, is exactly what he experienced. A common problem among survivors after large-caliber artillery bombings.

"Be careful, you can't fall down at this time!"

Lavrinenko thanked Lavrinenko who was helping him stabilize his balance. Malashenko, knowing that time waited for no one, straightened his back and shouted loudly at the people around him.

"All crews, take action! Start the tanks and get out of here! Quick!"

Malashenko, who was commanding the troops and began to be busy, could not find Engineer Ivankov anyway. During the shelling, the tank factory workers, who were in chaos due to a lack of professional military quality, suffered heavy casualties. He reluctantly saved himself without bothering to find where Engineer Ivankov was currently.

But even so, Malashenko, who was forced by the current situation, also did not care about helping these tank factory workers and finding engineer Ivankov.

The orders from the Leningrad Front Army Headquarters were second to none. If the Germans completely wiped out the 42nd Army stationed in the town of Uritsk and invaded Leningrad due to lack of timely support, Malashenko did not dare to think about his own consequences. The arrival and change of this little butterfly has begun to show what will happen in a slightly different historical direction.

"Comrade Battalion Commander, Captain Karamov reports to you that I am fine and not seriously injured."

It is undoubtedly very fortunate that Karamov, as the internal manager and logistics director under Malashenko, survived intact. Malashenko, who barely managed a lucky smile, was about to say something, when a distant roar of an engine came quietly.

Malashenko, who was stunned for a moment and immediately looked up, then looked through the large hole in the factory dome above his head and saw a single-engine plane circling high in the sky of the factory, with some dark clouds of anti-aircraft shells surrounding it. The constant explosions obviously showed that his identity was not affiliated with the Soviet army.

"No! This is the German artillery observation machine! Let everyone speed up and evacuate the factory! Hurry!"

The facts were exactly as Malashenko expected at this moment.

This reconnaissance aircraft, which was modified from the Messerschmitt BF109E fighter jet and equipped with aerial photography equipment and camera guns, was the artillery reconnaissance aircraft that came to observe the results of the bombardment for the German special train artillery regiment outside Leningrad.

As long as the aerial reconnaissance results provided by this artillery observation aircraft are deemed necessary, the two K5 train guns that have not yet withdrawn from the gun positions can launch a second wave of artillery offensive at any time to cover the entire Kirov tank factory, which has not yet been completed. It was undoubtedly a disaster for Malashenko and his troops who had time to evacuate the factory.

Under Malashenko's personal command and loud urging, the Red Army tank crews prepared as quickly as possible and drove the brand-new tanks that had survived the tsunami bombardment out of the factory and onto the road.

Fortunately, until the last KV1 heavy tank rumbled out of the factory gate, the German cannon that had been hanging overhead like the Sword of Damocles did not roar down again.