Steel Soviet Union

The sound of gunfire and the roar of tanks on the position became more and more intense and harsh. Political Commissar Petrov, who was packing up the documents on the table, was extremely busy. He had to prepare for the worst case scenario in order to prevent the Germans from obtaining confidential documents and intelligence.

At the last moment, Commissar Petrov would not hesitate to throw all the documents he had kept with him into a barrel of fire and burn them clean.

The 1st Stalin Guards Heavy Tank Brigade is a unit directly under the front level. There are too many secrets at the front level in the daily telegrams and documents. Once these things fell into the hands of the Germans, the consequences would be disastrous. Political Commissar Petrov, who had firm faith, would not let these things fall into the hands of the Germans even if he died generously.

"Gather all the backup logistics files and give them to me, prepare the fire bucket, and be ready to burn these things at any time according to my orders!"

Commissar Petrov's assistant is a college student who has never fought with the enemy. He has been in office for only half a year, which happened after the Battle of Stalingrad and during the expansion and reorganization of the troops.

When I first came to the 1st Guards Heavy Tank Brigade, the unit had not yet received the honorary title of Supreme Leader.

Sasha, who has a very common name, came with strong aspirations. He had long heard that he was about to serve in the army led by the tank hero Comrade Malashenko. His friends who received basic recruit training together were envious of him. Of course, Sasha thinks so herself.

Not being sent to fight, this made Sasha, who was full of passion and ambition, a little disappointed at first.

After serving as political commissar Petrov, he took him in as his assistant and personally gave him two ideological and political classes. Sasha, who was still a young boy, immediately admired political commissar Petrov, and his admiration level directly surpassed that of Petrov. His university tutor, but Sasha, who always obeyed the advice of his political commissar comrades and talked less and did more, was a little confused this time and looked confused.

"Comrade Political Commissar, are we really unable to defeat those Germans? Don't we have so many tanks and trucks? Why don't we retreat immediately?"

If ordinary people asked such idiotic questions, they would be scolded by their political commissar comrades, and they might even be punished by cleaning the toilets for a few days. This is already an old tradition of the Stalin Guards 1st Heavy Tank Brigade.

But knowing that he, a young assistant, has never fought an actual battle with an enemy, it is inevitable that he will be a little shaken and uneasy when encountering such a big crisis for the first time.

Political Commissar Petrov, who could understand this kind of mentality, did not intend to punish Sasha for this, but the necessary reminders and explanations still had to be emphasized.

"Do you think the Germans attack faster or we retreat faster?"

""

Sasha, who was holding a stack of papers in his hand, remained silent. He obviously could not answer the questions raised by political commissar Petrov.

"Or is it right for our brigade to retreat alone, leaving the friendly 9th Guards Airborne Division behind and letting the German tanks destroy it?"

""

Sasha was still silent, but he already vaguely felt that he might have been naive and thought about the wrong thing again, just like he had done many times before.

"Since the answer to both questions is negative, we can only stick here and find a way to repel the Germans who decide to bite us and get rid of the burden before taking action. On the open grassland, the Germans are pursuing us. There is no hope of retreating. You have experienced too many things like this in 41 years, but you have never had the opportunity to witness it with your own eyes."

With his head lowered, Sasha put down the pile of documents in his hand. After thinking for a moment, he raised his head again, faced Commissar Petrov and spoke again.

"Comrade Political Commissar, then we will definitely be able to defeat the enemy, right? We bear the honorary title of Comrade Supreme Leader and are the most elite tank force. Those fascist fanatics cannot defeat us!"

When people are in despair or face dissatisfaction, they are always willing to believe in those ideal and beautiful things from their subjective will. In most cases, they choose to believe in hope.

After listening to these words, Commissar Petrov unconsciously stopped working in his hands, and his eyes were fixed. After a moment, he sighed slightly, but his tone when he spoke again was still as firm as before.

"Yes, we will win the battle, but before that, be prepared for the worst possible failure."

"This conversation is over. Take the time to sort out what I want and give it to me. Move quickly!"

Sasha, who was emphasized by Commissar Petrov's order, fell silent after hearing this and immediately lowered his head and got busy doing things.

Putting the pile of documents he had sorted out himself into the document bag on the table and putting them away on the table, Commissar Petrov was about to walk to the lookout post and raise his binoculars to see how the battle was going on.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, the communications director, who had been busy directing the radio station, suddenly hurried over with a freshly-baked telegraph newspaper.

"Comrade Political Commissar, call back from the Front Army Headquarters!"

It was said to be a call back because the headquarters of Stalin's 1st Heavy Tank Brigade of the Guards had just sent a telegram to the front commander Vatutin less than ten minutes ago.

The content of the telegram was roughly that Stalin's 1st Guards Heavy Tank Brigade was preparing to withdraw as ordered, together with the 9th Guards Airborne Division. But now we are facing an enemy in person: the Waffen-SS Guards Division is entangled and unable to escape. We must repel this wave of enemy attacks before we can retreat safely. Otherwise, we can only be annihilated by the enemy in motion. .

So now that I have received a telegram from the Front Army Headquarters, this is undoubtedly a reply.

Political Commissar Petrov, who looked at the communications director's face and felt something was wrong, didn't say a word. He immediately reached out and took the telegraph newspaper that was handed to him and placed it in front of him.

But the contents of the telegram made Commissar Petrov, who had read it at a glance, sway, and the hand holding the telegraph almost shook so much that he dropped the contents in his palm to the ground.

"Comrade Political Commissar! Are you okay?"

The communications director and Sasha spoke in unison about concern and concern almost at the same time, especially as Sasha, as an assistant, knew very well that Commissar Petrov had been taking medicine almost every day recently, and it was specially prescribed for him by the American doctor Karachev in the field hospital.

Sasha didn't know what kind of medicine it was, but he knew that Comrade Comrade Political Commissar would only take it when no one else could see it, and he was strictly told not to tell anyone about it, especially not to let Comrade Brigade Commander know about it, so he must do it well. Confidentiality.

Thinking of the fact that Comrade Political Commissar has been taking medicine every day recently, combined with this unexpected scene before him, Sasha, who is technically still a kind-hearted boy, is really afraid that Comrade Political Commissar may have some serious health problem and collapse. How would such a huge brigade headquarters be run?

Sasha didn't dare to think about it, let alone believe that such a thing would happen.

But fortunately, Comrade Comrade Political Commissar, whose body was only swaying, was no longer strange. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and held his forehead with his hand when he opened them again. His eyes were still the same as before, without any turbidity.

Looking at the two people in front of him, Political Commissar Petrov secretly thought that the worst had finally happened. He couldn't imagine how the 1st Heavy Tank Brigade of the Stalin Guards, which was already in a very passive and difficult situation, could provide reinforcements. Before arriving, they held out against the siege of three elite divisions of the Waffen SS.