Steel Soviet Union

"Let's take a look at the message from the Front Army Headquarters."

With a cigarette in his hand, Malashenko turned around and glanced at Commissar Petrov who was handing him a telegram behind him. Speaking of which, Malashenko had not received a telegram from the front army headquarters for several days.

Since being assigned to Chuikov, he has been in direct contact with the Army Headquarters, so much so that Malashenko almost forgot that his true identity is a reserve unit directly under the Front Army Headquarters. This sudden telegram from the Front Army Headquarters is really Malashenko was a little surprised.

Malashenko, who took the telegram from Commissar Petrov, first glanced at the signature at the end. Comrade Zhu's name was written as always where his eyes glanced, and then moved his eyes back to Malashenko at the top. Only then began to carefully examine the specific content of the telegram.

What was mentioned at the beginning of the message was nothing more than that the front army headquarters had learned of the fierce fighting in the direction of the train station, and was preparing to dispatch as many supporting troops as possible to dare to come over. It demanded that Malashenko must be nailed to the train. Stand and hold this place.

Perhaps Comrade Lao Zhu knew that Malashenko was in a difficult situation and suffered heavy battle losses and needed to replenish troops and tanks. In the follow-up message, he specifically mentioned that support would soon be delivered to Malashenko.

What makes Malashenko feel a little unhappy is that the support that will arrive soon is still the same as before. It is still a bunch of broken troops and the remnants of the original unit that were almost completely wiped out by the German army. The condition of the tanks is confusing. If you think about it, you'll know it's never going to be too good, and can basically be summed up as a collection of rags delivered in a package.

Malashenko, who was still complaining at first, felt relieved after thinking about it carefully.

Malashenko doesn't know the specific situation of the Stalingrad Tractor Factory, but he can guess with his head that it will definitely not be good. When all the important equipment was dismantled, packed and transported, and the remaining old equipment was blown up to prevent it from falling into the hands of the enemy, how could those workers who were carrying German bombs and shelling on their heads build tanks?

If there were no new tanks, they would have to make do with old tanks. Tanks could not be transported from the Volga River. It was already very difficult to supply soldiers and transport materials. German aircraft almost blocked the entire shipping channel of the Volga River during the day. Countless Soviet transport ships, large and small, were destroyed on the river. The blood of those who were killed and fell into the water was shed. Almost the entire river was dyed red.

The things that were smuggled over at night were basically the most scarce food, supplies, medical supplies, and more recruits. Under such circumstances, it was almost impossible to even think about transporting tanks over. The German army, which had already suffered a loss on Lake Ladoga in Leningrad, was no longer what it used to be to attack and block water transportation.

Thinking that it would be good to have a tank for himself, Malashenko sighed and handed the message back to Commissar Petrov. He then stood up, reached out and flicked the cigarette butt from his fingertips, and then turned towards Petrov. The political commissar husband spoke.

"Call everyone who needs to be called. Let's have a meeting to discuss tomorrow's combat deployment. Oh, just follow the standard form of the call back to the front army headquarters. I leave it to you, Comrade Political Commissar."

Political Commissar Petrov, who rarely goes to the frontline battlefields to direct battles due to physical reasons, always stays at the regiment headquarters more often. This is consistent with Malashenko, who always stays in his tank and is always present in frontline battles. sharp contrast.

"Just ask comrade political commissar to go to the regiment headquarters. Ask comrade comrade regiment leader to go to the front line where the artillery fire is the densest. He is with comrade deputy regiment leader."

Although it is just a joke circulated among the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment, it can also illustrate from the side that Malashenko and Petrov have a clear division of labor and each performs their own duties. For example, returning telegrams has always been done by political commissar Petrov. Malashenko still doesn't even know how to draft a telegram.

The combat meeting that started in ten minutes was more intense than before.

Lavrinenko, who often appears side by side with Malashenko on the frontal battlefield, believes that he should launch a surprise attack on the German army before dawn tomorrow morning, drive all the German army out of the train station as quickly as possible and retake the enemy. Full control of the train station.

Similarly, Lavrinenko's proposal was recognized by Malashenko's two tank battalion commanders and an acting tank battalion commander.

As a result, all the military officers of the 1st Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment except Malashenko became the main combatants, but correspondingly, Political Commissar Petrov and Division Commander Cherchenkov did not do so. think.

"Our troops are not enough to complete such a high-intensity battle! Today's counterattack suffered a lot of casualties. We spent a lot of money to repel the enemy's crazy counterattack at dusk! Our soldiers are very tired, those The fascist lackeys are superior to us in terms of numbers and weapons and equipment, and they can also receive aircraft support, which we do not have. "

"We should stick to the current actual control area, so that we can concentrate some troops and avoid the dispersion of troops caused by the previous defensive front being too long and the defensive area being too large. Failure can be avoided!"

The person who spoke was the commander of a main regiment under Division Commander Cherchenkov. It was this regiment that charged the most fiercely toward the German counterattack in the evening. It followed closely and fought with the Germans in hand-to-hand combat, forcing the Germans to give up the idea of ​​counterattack. It was also this group, but it was the speech of the group leader that aroused dissatisfaction with Lavrinenko sitting on the other side of the table.

"Comrade, please pay attention to your words! What do you mean by too large a defensive area leading to the dispersion of troops? The railway station is the railway station of the Soviet people, and it is a city railway station named after the great leader Comrade Stalin. Every inch of land here belongs to the motherland! If we don't let our soldiers defend every inch of land, do we have to give part of the railway station to the Germans for free?"

Lavrinenko said this intentionally, because the words of the regiment commander just now were equivalent to criticizing Malashenko's previous defensive combat deployment, implying that the real reason for the Germans to attack the railway station was that Malashenko wanted to defend the entire railway station, but the result was that the troops were dispersed and counterproductive.

Lavrinenko hated people criticizing Malashenko very much, and couldn't bear to see others say anything bad about his old classmate. Even if the other party was a lieutenant colonel and he was only a major, Lavrinenko, who had the title of guard, still dared to stand up and say a few "fair words".