Steel Soviet Union

Walensky, who was shot eight times in an instant, fell on his back in a pool of blood, gasping for breath on the spot.

Kulbalov, who was ordered by Malashenko and personally responsible for directing the execution, took out his pistol and stepped forward to inspect the body. He raised his wooden prosthetic leg and kicked it twice. He found that the pile of smelly meat had become soft and turned into a puddle. Disdainful words blurted out from his mouth.

"Humph, what a bastard! He has no bones in his body and is soft even after death. You still want to continue to lie to survive and have your dog dream!"

Kulbalov, who had originally planned to shoot two more shots to satisfy his hatred, gave up the plan. Feeling that there was no need to waste bullets on this piece of rotten meat, he reached out to open the holster of his gun and inserted the pistol back.

It was at this moment that Malashenko, who had also observed the execution process not far away, finally stepped forward.

"This bastard deserved his death, Comrade Master! He was still lying before he died in order to survive. Who would believe his lies!"

Malashenko, who was standing next to Kulbalov, was noncommittal. He stared at the body on the ground, which was still blistering with blood, for a long time. When he raised his head again, his expression was still as calm as ever. As always.

"Only in the last moment before death can a person truly recognize himself. Think about it, how clearly did he recognize himself before death?"

Malashenko did not want to speak for the traitor, but the last few cries before death did trigger some thinking. No one could tell clearly what was going on in the corpse's head.

Just say a few words to the dead person, that's all, no need to say too much.

"How is the troop deployment going?"

Malashenko, who no longer paid attention to the pile of smelly meat on the ground, turned around and stepped forward to ask questions. Kulbalov, who had indeed been aroused by Malashenko's words, had no time to think about these miscellaneous things in detail for the time being. Answering the questions of comrade division commander was the main thing.

"My regiment and Varosha's infantry regiment are ready and ready to fight at any time. Except for the west, that is, the direction facing away, troops are deployed in the three directions of southeast, north, and south. The main strength is in anticipation of enemy troops. On the east side of the attack."

The battle to be fought this time is an internal and external encirclement battle between two front armies. The main task of the 1st Ukrainian Front Army to which Malashenko belongs is to encircle and eat the Germans in the encirclement. It belongs to the inner circle troops and focuses on annihilation. .

On the periphery, the Second Ukrainian Front assumed the main task of blocking enemy reinforcements, focusing on intercepting and resisting the rescue troops sent by Manstein. You don’t need to eat many enemy troops, but you must not let a German go too far. He must be in the middle and cannot let the enemy have any actual contact with the First Front Army in the inner circle.

Following this strategic plan, Malashenko chose to confidently and boldly leave his back to the protection of friendly forces. In fact, there is no other better way than doing this. Malashenko cannot be allowed to carry out a annihilation campaign against the inner circle while also taking into account the defensive operations behind his butt and confronting the German reinforcements who have taken the back route.

If this is really the case, it will be the same as the three SS divisions in the Prokhorovka battle. It is sheer nonsense to want to win the battle despite being attacked from both sides.

The completion of the three-sided defense was expected by Malashenko, but there is still a key issue that has yet to be resolved.

"Where is the 20th Guards Tank Brigade? How are they doing now? We have arrived at the rendezvous point for more than an hour, and there is still no sign of them? If they don't come, I will kill those Germans myself."

The 20th Guards Tank Brigade was a cooperating force assigned by superiors to outflank from another encirclement direction. Out of the need for confidentiality? Even Malashenko only received the news in the last hour before the war started.

Malashenko doesn't like the feeling of waiting for someone. The most important thing is to wait and do nothing. He can only wait for the Germans to come to his door and give him free money. If he doesn't come to deliver, he can only stay here and drink the northwest wind. .

To put it bluntly, in Malashenko's eyes, this is no different than a waste of time.

The fact that the 20th Guards Tank Brigade did not arrive for a moment meant that the encirclement was not completed yet, and Malashenko had to stay here and guard honestly in accordance with the established orders. Unless a replacement defense force arrives later and is ordered by superiors to take over the defense, will Malashenko be free to move forward? But this seems to be completely unreasonable now.

Therefore, the sentence "I will kill those Germans myself if they don't come" is purely "nonsense" that Malashenko said casually to vent his emotions.

Kulbalov, who was following behind, didn't know how to answer Malashenko? Contacting friendly forces and exchanging information was not his job. In the end, he still had to ask Peter who was at the division headquarters. Commissar Roff.

"The 20th Guards Tank Brigade is in some trouble? A German mixed combat force, including a large number of tanks, is trying to get ahead of them to block the roundabout route and break the encirclement."

"The 20th Guards Tank Brigade was unable to penetrate this temporary defensive position on its own. The two infantry divisions working together arrived later and worked together to defeat the enemy who was also ill-prepared and arrived in a hurry."

"The telegram said that they are back on the road? But they may not arrive until tomorrow? It is almost dark now. I have reported our situation to the front army headquarters? The order I received is to continue to wait for the encirclement troops to rendezvous successfully? Our actual progress is more than twice as fast as planned. It is because we are fighting too fast, Comrade Division Commander."

Slightly different from the existing history, Malashenko, who controlled the highly mechanized ace force of the Stalin Guards 1st Tank Division, directly chose a larger outer circle of rapid maneuvers to avoid the German troops who had been detected in advance. Defensive position? The purpose is to arrive at the encirclement point as early as possible and complete the mission.

Facts have proved that this is indeed effective. Malashenko rushed all the way and only encountered resistance from a group of lightly armed SS infantry.

But a new problem derived from this is that other units cannot keep up with the attack rhythm of Stalin's 1st Guards Tank Division. Not to mention the 20th Guards Tank Brigade now? Even other friendly forces on Malashenko's side of the encirclement are racing against time, desperately rushing forward along the attack channel opened by Malashenko in order to win. Consolidate the encirclement as soon as possible.

The taste of "lonely seeking defeat" is sometimes not limited to pretentiousness. Malashenko, who clearly knows that his troop configuration is the sole title of loving father, sighed? Observation from the forward observation post of the division headquarters From my position, looking at the howling wind outside, I couldn't help but feel regretful that I couldn't do anything at the moment and could only wait.

"Damn it! If I had known better, I wouldn't have taken a roundabout way? If I came here so early, I would have to sit on the bench. Damn it!"