Steel Soviet Union

Malashenko had already had a premonition that Vatutin would take away the grizzly assault guns in his hands. In fact, Malashenko had no intention of keeping these grizzly assault guns. He originally planned to let Vatutin get rid of these grizzly assault guns. Get rid of the iron potato, no matter how you deal with it, you don't have to worry about it anymore.

But Comrade Lao Ma did not expect that Vatutin would actually take away these grizzly bears in this way. It was a "barter" equipment transaction, rather than a forced request from superiors to subordinates. This surprised Malashenko, who originally thought it was the latter situation. At the same time, he also developed a strong curiosity about this new type of equipment that Vatutin mentioned.

"New tank destroyer? Can you tell me which factory is responsible for the production? Comrade Commander, Stalingrad? Nizhny Tagil? Or Leningrad?"

Different armored combat vehicle manufacturers determine their factions and categories. For example, the Stalingrad Tractor Factory, which was rebuilt after the war, is mainly responsible for the manufacturing of Red Army medium tanks and variant vehicles based on the body and chassis of medium tanks.

The Kirov Factory in Leningrad has now restored a certain production capacity and begun producing the latest and most powerful IS6 heavy tank for the Red Army tank force at full capacity.

As for Nizhny Tagil in the "City of Tanks", Kotin's First Special Design Bureau and Morozov's Second Special Design Bureau co-exist. This city is full of tank manufacturing or tank manufacturing-related industries. It also produces the main medium tanks and elite heavy tanks for the Red Army, and the output is huge. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is the steel heart of the Red Army's tank force.

If you know which factory the new tank destroyer is from, you can basically guess what kind of existence this thing is, and you can almost guess it. However, Vatutin just shook his head at Malashenko's sudden question.

"I don't know the question you asked. There is no clear mention of this in the message I received."

"I don't know much more than you do. I heard that it is a product modified from a medium tank. I don't know the specific situation. The telegram just asked our front army to be ready to receive it. The train transporting this batch of heavy equipment has already set off. "It will arrive in the next few days. The specific time and detailed list of supplies are confidential."

"Unless it's a few hours before arrival, even I don't know the specific situation. For the sake of confidentiality, you should be able to figure this out."

"If you agree to my proposal, just wait for news from the Front Army's Logistics Equipment Department. Director Yuripov will contact you then and take someone to sign and take the equipment away. If you don't agree, then this batch I will give the new cars to others. Of course, I will also take away the assault guns you have here. Do you understand what that means?"

""

Good guy, what about "forced buying and selling" here? It doesn’t matter whether you want it or not, you’re going to eat it anyway, right?

Vatutin, who has always been strict, actually made a joke at this time, which really surprised Malashenko. It turns out that comrade commander can be so "unreasonable".

However, this itself is an untenable false proposition, and Malashenko is convinced of this.

He had no use for that batch of grizzly bear scraps anyway, so he still carried a pair of scrap metal in his hand, which was a burden that slowed down his marching speed. Someone hurriedly got rid of these gadgets. They were still asking for it, and now they can get a batch of newer and trendier gadgets. Will Malashenko refuse such a good thing? It's almost like a free prostitute. Only a fool would refuse.

Not only have the junk been dealt with, but there are still good things available, this is completely "killing two birds with one stone".

"No, Comrade Commander, if you want to give it to me, I will definitely want it. Then it's settled, you get these grizzly bears away, and I'll wait for you to send me new equipment. Our division has been without equipment for a while. New items have been added, and the soldiers are waiting for them.”

Comrade Lao Ma's "Versailles" directly came to Vatutin's head. Upon hearing Malashenko's words, Vatutin rolled his eyes, glanced at Malashenko, and then said that little He said with a teasing tone.

"Your division doesn't have new equipment yet? If your division doesn't have new equipment, what about the divisions of other brother armies? Are they all fighting with the rags left by the Tsar's white bandits? Please tell me this truth."

""

Malashenko, who realized that he had gone too "ordinary", just smiled stupidly, holding his tank cap in one hand, and scratching the back of his head in embarrassment with the other hand.

Seeing this scene, Vatutin also laughed happily. As long as he is with Malashenko, who has a face thicker than the city wall and giggles when he is in doubt, no matter how rigorous the conversation is, it will basically come to the end. It will all become off-topic and all kinds of nonsense. Now Vatutin has deeply understood this and is deeply touched.

After finishing the matter, Vatutin left quickly. Before leaving, he warned Malashenko about the follow-up treatment of these grizzly bears.

He will send the troops to take away this batch of equipment soon. This time, there is no need for Malashenko to send people to send the equipment. He only needs to do relevant cooperation and wait for someone to take these things away.

At the last moment, Comrade Lao Ma did not forget to ask casually. He wanted to know what Vatutin planned to do by taking away these big and stupid German grizzly bears. Was he sent to the rear for research or did he have other plans.

Since Malashenko was the one who captured this batch of equipment, and this kind of thing is not considered a secret for a person of Malashenko's status. Vatutin simply told Comrade Lao Ma his plans and plans.

"Part of it will be sent back to the rear for research. The enemy's heavy equipment captured for the first time will definitely not be exempted from this process."

"As for most of the remaining ones, I'll see if they can be used in the front army's artillery force and be used intensively. Our front army's campaign support artillery group has strong enough firepower, but most of them are towed artillery deployed in fixed positions. , There are still some shortcomings in the aspect of self-propelled artillery, and the response speed is not fast enough.”

"I don't expect this batch of grizzly bears to bring much combat power bonus immediately. In short, let's use it first. If it is as easy to use as those black panthers, it would not be a bad idea to form a special unit to match it. Everything We have to wait for the actual test. The overall situation is like this. This time your division has made a great contribution. I will report this situation to Moscow, together with your division’s battle report.”

Speaking of meritorious service, Malashenko did not forget to add when Vatutin had already arrived at the car door and was about to leave, this time it was for his life and death comrade and good brother.

"Comrade Commander, there is something I need to explain to you. The commander and fighter who captured these grizzly bears this time is the commander of the 1st Tank Regiment of our division, Kulbalov. It was he who specifically commanded this battle. I At that time, there was no time for him to pay attention to the direction of the frontal assault. He only gave simple orders, but the actual tactical operations and command were all completed by him. "

Of course Vatutin remembered Kulbalov, it was this name in the award application that Malashenko had just submitted not long ago.

Thinking that this award application had been signed, approved and seconded by him before being sent to Moscow, Vatutin, who was guessing that this matter was close to his heart, finally patted Malashenko before leaving in the car. shoulder, smiled and spoke.

"Get ready to welcome another Hero of the Soviet Union, both as an individual and as a collective honor for your division."