Steel Soviet Union

Just as the guy with the copy in his hand ran out of the regiment gate, a sudden scream immediately fell from the distant horizon towards the top of Malashenko's head.

"Comrade Commander, danger!"

boom--

Grass!

Under the shrieking sound, there was no time to react. A German 81mm mortar shell landed directly less than 15 meters away from Malashenko and exploded.

A regimental correspondent who was following Malashenko reacted very quickly. The moment he heard the whistling sound, he flew forward and threw Malashenko to the ground from behind. Schenko's head was smashed into a puddle of shrapnel, which went straight into the side of the regimental correspondent's chest.

With his head buzzing, Malashenko struggled to get up from the ground, but the regiment correspondent behind him made no sound or moved.

Malashenko stood up and laid the correspondent behind him flat on the ground. The shocking laceration on his side chest obviously meant that there was no possibility of survival.

Seeing that Malashenko, who was holding the body, was distracted, Lavrinenko, who was running in front, turned around and ran back, grabbed Malashenko and ran away immediately.

"What's the point of holding a dead man? Can you bring him back to life!? If you don't leave, you'll have to be shelled!"

Before Lavrinenko could finish his words, several more German mortar shells hit his head and face, sending clods of earth flying near the field regiment headquarters.

It was obvious that the German troops, who were pressing forward with all their strength towards the top of the hill, had noticed this obvious field command post. The best features were the telegraph antenna poles behind the regiment headquarters.

The increasingly accurate German mortar shells made it impossible for Petrov, the political commissar who stayed at the regiment headquarters, to stay any longer.

He directed the regimental staff and communications staff around him to pack up everything they could take away as quickly as possible. As soon as Malashenko and Lavrinenko left, Commissar Petrov took the bottles and cans from the regiment with him. The potted property and people hurriedly evacuated.

More and more German mortar shells were flying towards the field regiment headquarters, almost following the retreat of Commissar Petrov and his men, and hitting the ceiling directly on the wooden piles.

The temporary wooden structure field regiment headquarters could not withstand the fierce bombardment of 81mm mortars. After the smoke from two or three shells dissipated, only a pile of rotten wood was left to fill half of the crater.

Malashenko, who was running further ahead with Lavrinenko, could only hear the sound of various gunfire coming from behind, but he did not bother to look back at his field regiment headquarters that had been blown into the sky.

The tanks and troops of the 1st Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment were parked on the half-slope of the reverse slope behind the field regiment headquarters. This way they could avoid being hit by the direct-fire howitzers of the German artillery down the mountain to the greatest extent, but they suffered a lot in the loud sound of gunfire. Lavrinenko and Malashenko ran wildly towards the tank.

Malashenko and Lavrinenko, who were running desperately along the way, ran a full five to six hundred meters. Iushkin, Kirill and others who rushed to see the situation happened to meet and immediately took the two men away. The fellow sufferers hurriedly pulled themselves into the nearest bunker.

Malashenko, who jumped into the foxhole, had not had time to catch his breath. The increasingly fierce sound of gunfire coming from behind forced Malashenko not to think too much and immediately raised his hand to point to the parked place not far away. The tank gave the order.

"Quick, everyone get on the bus! Get on the bus first and then talk about it! Push towards the train station immediately, we don't have much time!"

In fact, except for the crew of Malashenko and Lavrinenko, the chief and deputy regimental commanders, the entire 1st Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment was already ready and on standby when the German army began to attack.

Whether it was the few captured German Panzer III or IV tanks or the hand-made T34s with worrying quality, all the crews were already in their respective positions and were just waiting for the order from their comrade commander.

No matter how heavy the losses of the 1st Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment were, the core soul of an army would always be those veterans who had survived many battles.

After all kinds of cruel battles, Malashenko still has in his hands the 13 veteran crews that have been fighting under him since he defeated the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment last year.

It can be said that each of these veteran crews is now a treasure in Malashenko's heart. The cooperation and tacit understanding of an experienced crew composed of multiple veterans are far beyond the comparison of the recruit crew.

In order to ensure the overall combat effectiveness of the army, Malashenko had to disrupt the original organizational structure of these veteran vehicle crews, and decentralize the vehicle crews to each reorganized company, serving as the key company and platoon commander at the grassroots level. Commander's position.

Rather than gathering these veteran crews together to create an elite assault force, Malashenko weighed in and chose to take overall considerations into consideration to increase the overall combat effectiveness of the unit.

Otherwise, Malashenko is even worried that the supplementary crews, which are all stragglers and have no cohesion or coordination at all, will turn into a mess when encountering actual combat.

Malashenko had seen with his own eyes what it was like for friendly tank units without on-board radios to fight. In the strong contrast with the well-cooperated German armored units, it is generally not an exaggeration to say that they were headless.

Even though most of the stragglers and supplementary troops he currently commands do not have on-board radios, it is always better to have veteran crews taking the lead to set an example and command the battle than a company full of rookies and idiots.

But after the cruel battle of Mamaev Gang comes to an end, how many elite veteran crews will be left in the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment? If all the veterans die, how will the army structure be reorganized next?

Regarding these problems, Malashenko, who once had a fleeting thought in his mind, later did not even dare to think about them. His subjective attitude was very avoidant and repulsive. When he thought about the situation, it was so bad that he could not give a specific solution. It gave Malashenko a huge headache.

With the command of the veteran company and platoon-level command vehicles that were split up by Malashenko, more than 80% of the vehicle crews are from the Guards' First Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment, which has been newly replenished in the past month. Not so depressed that he would be embarrassed in battle.

He commanded the troops to drive down the mountain at full speed from the reverse slope toward the No. 1 train station not far away, with the sound of gunfire and explosions still ringing behind them.

Malashenko didn't know how long the Red Army soldiers stationed on the hills could resist, but the real fierce battle was still coming slowly for him and the entire Guards First Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment, and it had not yet truly begun. start.