Steel Soviet Union

The biting cold wind whistling on the vast snowfield that is three feet frozen can be 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, so There is no need to say more about what such a scene portends 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 gunfire? Are you sure there is nothing wrong with the intelligence you have received?"

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 is enough to give people heatstroke in the hot summer, is now very warm. Lieutenant Colonel Yakov, who was still baking to keep warm, heard the idiotic words from Malashenko's mouth and immediately He turned his eyes and 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 establish an advantage for the follow-up counter-attack force and hold on until they arrive. Wait, what did I just say? "

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. Now looking back on the brief telegram, it seems that the specific counterattack time of the friendly forces' follow-up counterattack was not stated.

"Damn! We are late! Comrade Malashenko! Can your tank be faster? We must rush to the front line immediately, as fast 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, which 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 what speed the tank will drive 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 now, the shortcomings in mobility can be said to be KV1. The only thing that is not as good as T34 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.

From the perspective of a layman like him who doesn't know much about tanks, only the KV1 heavy tank equipped with strong armor, sharp guns, and strong durability is the romance that a man should have. As for the T34, which is slightly smaller and has much weaker protection, it is simply Just like a little kid whose fetal hair has not gone away.

In his own eyes, the KV1, which has almost no shortcomings, is not as agile and fast as those T34s. This is undoubtedly difficult for Yakov, who has 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. Many times, Malashenko and Yakov, who were anxious and had no other choice, had to continue to maintain the current situation.

Located in a circular field fortification position outside the city of Istria, the German soldiers who 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 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. 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 best option 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 reuniting.

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, was followed by the roar of the huge artillery that was about to daydream. The German slapped him awake.