Steel Soviet Union

"The Germans are coming! Move, quickly, quickly!"

"Hey, you! Yes, you don't have to look at others, I'm talking about you! Don't be stupid! Move the German guy's machine gun over here. You guys can help him collect bullets and look under the German guy's body. If you don’t pack the bullet box, take the whole box and the scattered ones, don’t leave even one behind!”

"Over there, there are a few more people on the anti-tank gun emplacement. The Germans have left us a lot of good stuff! Make use of it, quickly!"

The Guards Division, which had retreated like a tide, swept in again, but it still took a while to get into fighting distance.

Although the Panthers and No. 3 and No. 4 are rushing very fast, they still have to take into account the slow infantry hanging behind. It is not a good thing to extend the troop line too long when attacking a position with dense defense and heavy firepower. As an elite guard standard division, they naturally understand this. The German army cluster that is slowly pressing forward is more like a black cloud slowly approaching, extremely oppressive.

With this limited last moment, Varosha, who has received great authorization from Malashenko, is commanding all the infantry under his command, and even some soldiers of the friendly 9th Guards Airborne Division are taking orders from him.

Commander Suvorov owed Malashenko a favor. Even if Malashenko was ordered by his superiors to accept dispatch and lead his troops to support, no matter what, Commander Suvorov and his 9th Guards Airborne Division And the soldiers under his command are the ultimate beneficiaries of all this.

Without the strong support of the 1st Stalin Guards Heavy Tank Brigade, Division Commander Suvorov even doubted whether his own troops could capture this German position that was like a fire hedgehog. Even if he ate it, he would definitely end up with heavy casualties. There was no other possibility. He owed Malashenko this favor both emotionally and rationally.

So when Malashenko proposed to borrow two companies of infantry to assist the divisional infantry battalion under his command to defend the frontal position, Division Commander Suvorov readily agreed without even thinking about it.

After all, in the view of Division Commander Suvorov, the 1st Stalin Guards Heavy Tank Brigade, which came to support him, had taken the initiative to take over the main frontal defense belt. Considering that the 9th Guards Airborne Division had suffered a lot of casualties, Malashenko only handed over the secondary defense tasks on both sides to Commander Suvorov and asked him to complete the agreement through discussion. Defend.

If a good thing has been done to this extent, what does it mean to have two companies of infantry to help defend? The idea of ​​Commander Suvorov, who was already familiar with Malashenko's name, was so simple and simple.

The soldiers on the battlefield were as busy as ants, being ordered around by Varosha as if they were stepping on a hot wheel. Now they were busy with this, and then they hurried to help that. In short, they couldn't take any time at this critical moment when the battle was about to begin. .

Major Varosha, who was expecting a fight at any moment, was about to jump into the trench and enter his fighting position. Unexpectedly, at this moment, a group of people behind him were scavenging around the position to see if there were any remaining sophisticated German weapons. The warrior who could still use it efficiently suddenly let out an exclamation.

"Comrade Battalion Commander! This way, come here and take a look! We found something incredible!"

Varosha, who was called loudly, didn't want to go through with it, because the situation really came to the last moment and he had to stick to his position.

With a slight hesitation, he looked up at the German tank that was almost within the fighting distance, and then turned to glance at the huge body of the SU152 self-propelled artillery that was making final preparations before firing not far from his position.

Major Varosha gritted his teeth and made a decision in an instant. He patted the shoulder of a company commander next to him. This company commander followed Major Varosha at the time and ran from the original army to the Stalin Guards First Heavy. The brother who quit the tank brigade was Varosha's platoon commander when he was still the company commander.

After Malashenko learned about the situation described by Major Varosha, he waved his hand readily and allowed the job-hopping old man to stay without saying anything. He was promoted to a company commander and given to Varosha. Sha Da started. After all, Varosha, who had just arrived, brought an entire infantry battalion with such a large establishment and needed the help of a familiar person. Malashenko's only reason was that simple.

"Oleg! You come and command the comrades! You must hold your position while I am away. I will go over there and have a look and then come back. Don't let anything happen! Do you understand?"

The company commander, whose shoulders were held by Major Varosha, nodded quickly. Although he looked round-faced and seemed a bit naive, his tone of reply was undeniably firm.

"Don't worry! I will lead my comrades to kill these Germans like I did in Stalingrad. Just wait and see!"

Having received such a guarantee, Major Varosha didn't waste any more nonsense. Finally, he patted the company commander Oleg on the shoulder, then rushed into the traffic trench behind him and left quickly.

Major Varosha, holding his helmet in one hand and holding the Bobosha submachine gun in the other, dodged and ran into the door. This was a large wooden house on the position that looked like a horse pen. Maybe before the war broke out This is a small village with not many people. After all, it is right next to the October National Farm, which is very convenient.

But now, except for this dilapidated horse pen, there is no trace of anyone once living on this current position. Only the smoke and blood of the war rage on every inch of the land here.

"What's wrong? What did you find that made you want to call me over?"

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Major Varosha couldn't help but open his mouth a little.

In this stable that had managed to "survive" the German air raid, there was actually a large heavy artillery parked! But the fly in the ointment is that one of the heavy artillery's wheels is cracked and a large piece is missing. It seems that even if it can barely move, it will never be able to drag it too far before the wheel will be completely shattered.

It seems that the Germans neither used this cannon in the previous defensive battles, nor did they find a way to get it away in time. There was indeed a last resort, so they could only store it here temporarily and wait to deal with it later. Unexpectedly, it happened. He gave his opponent an advantage and was captured instead.

Major Varosha, who was holding a Bobosha in his hand, circled around the German cannon. Except for the German markings printed on the cannon, he found no useful information. Even from combat experience, I can't tell what kind of artillery this is from the Germans.

"Comrade Battalion Commander, look here! We found several boxes of armor-piercing bullets, and it says it! This is an anti-tank gun!"

Hearing the shouts of the soldiers in the corner of the horse pen, Major Varosha immediately walked to the horse pen where the discovery was made and looked around. He saw more than a dozen shell boxes piled into a hill in front of his eyes. , strikingly eye-catching, a soldier who had pried open the ammunition box was holding a huge and slender fixed artillery shell and smirking at him.

"Can you read German?"

"I can't understand it, but Suer can. He said this box says armor-piercing bullets!"

After hearing this, Major Varosha looked up at where his finger was pointing, and there was indeed a familiar-looking soldier nodding towards him.

"Armor-piercing anti-tank gun"

"Just right! We need it for our defensive position. What we lack is anti-tank guns. We have to make this thing useful!"

"Comrade Battalion Commander, this cannon is too big. How can we use it? Even its wheels are broken."

Turning a deaf ear to the incredible questions coming from the soldiers, Major Varosha saw the number "88" written on the shell box and quickly came to the front of the muzzle. He raised his arms and made a few gestures to measure the muzzle. He tilted his head and visually inspected the slender barrel with his eyes.

Major Varosha, who had basically guessed what this cannon was, went a step further and came to the wall of the horse circle wooden wall, and took a look at the outside where the light came in through the small hole in it. After seeing the scene, he was convinced that this was a good shooting position and then turned around and spoke.

"No need to drag this thing out, try to make him turn half a circle, turn the muzzle to aim in the direction of the Germans, this horse pen is spacious enough, you all can come together! Just shoot those Germans here, Do you know how to use an anti-tank gun?"

The operation of anti-tank guns is similar. Just like the Red Army tank crews who captured German tanks can play German tanks very smoothly as long as they are a little familiar with them. The key lies in whether they can use this kind of thing.

There is a squad of soldiers sent to search for weapons in the horse pen. If so many tough men come together, it is indeed enough for this thing to be able to barely hold on for a while. It can turn around at an angle of twenty or thirty degrees and turn the wheel. Aim the muzzle in the direction of the enemy.

As for whether anyone knew how to use this thing, Major Varosha did not wait long for a questioning glance. A tall soldier holding a DP light machine gun stepped forward.

"In 1941, I was an anti-tank gunner in the Western Front. I can lead everyone to make this thing move, comrade battalion commander."