Steel Soviet Union

"Hurry, eat quickly! After eating, pack your things and get in the car. There are more fascists waiting for us up there, hurry!"

"Eat slowly, be careful not to choke, you almost put the lunch box on your head!"

"Why don't you eat meat? It's impossible not to eat meat. Come on, give me this piece."

As meal time approached and artillery preparations were about to begin, the soldiers of the leading division had a rare opportunity to have a hot meal halfway up the slope, just above the smoking corpses of German soldiers and a piece of scorched earth. . They didn't mind the smell of gunpowder and blood in the air at all. They picked up their lunch boxes and ate so deliciously that they ate as fast as Lao Hei who ran away when he found out his girlfriend was pregnant.

"I really didn't expect that I could have a hot meal with this. I prepared the bread and threw it in the car. I also brought a large pot of water to fill in advance. Is this what you ordered?"

Sitting next to Malashenko's IS7 command car No. 177, Lavrinenko was happily eating steaming beef stew with potatoes and a mouthful of butter while holding a lunch box and a fork. He spoke with emotion to Malashenko, who was also gulping down his meal beside him. He felt really happy and refreshed.

This is often the case on the battlefield. A good night's sleep, a hot bath, and a hot meal. These seemingly inconspicuous things in ordinary people's lives can significantly boost the morale of the troops. Because these ordinary little things are so rare in many times during the war.

It can really make soldiers grin from ear to ear like ordinary office workers who won a five-million-dollar lottery, just like being able to eat a hot lunch during a short break on the battlefield. Even senior commanders like Lavrinenko, who has been promoted to deputy division level, are no exception and are overjoyed.

"How could I have thought of this? I was too busy thinking about how to kill those fascists before I could even take care of them."

Malashenko was chewing a large lump of beef and potato mixture and butter soup in his mouth, and stuffing the large piece of bread in his other hand into his mouth. He was devouring the food like a wolf. Racing against time and not afraid of choking.

It wasn't until he chewed up such a large lump of food in his mouth and made a gulp sound that Malashenko raised his hand to beat his chest and shook the food down, then he spoke at the same time.

"It's that boy Karamov. He and his people started preparing semi-finished ingredients early in the morning."

"It's also thoughtful enough. I cook the half-cooked beef and cut the potatoes and put them away first. If I have the chance, I will quickly throw them into the pot and prepare them for lunch. If I don't have the chance, I will wait until dark and close the stall for dinner. Anyway, semi-finished ingredients He can do it quickly and it doesn't take him half a day to do it. To be honest, I admire him. Anyway, I can't think so carefully if he wants me to do this job."

"But then again, now the logistics matters are basically under his control, and he has basically taken over all the logistics work in the hands of Comrade Political Commissar.

"Now he is responsible for everything from food, clothing, housing and transportation to replenishing ammunition, refueling vehicles, and supplying medical supplies. Even the paper used in the division headquarters to write and copy telegrams is in his charge."

"But don't talk about it, this kid has changed his whole person after that incident. Don't look at it now that he has so many things in his hands, everything is under his control, and he has such great power. It doesn’t matter who he is, but when I went to inquire around, no one said anything bad about him. Basically, if there was a need, he would give him whatever he wanted. We'll give it to you as quickly as possible. I've never heard of a situation like before where someone was so awesome that someone scolded her behind her back."

Although Malashenko acts as a hands-off boss on a daily basis and seems to care about nothing except combat command, there are only two things that Malashenko has always firmly kept in his own hands and personally watched, and has never handed over. Been out.

The first is the problem of troop training and equipment mastery, and whether the combat effectiveness of units at all levels has been formed, that is, the "barrel of the gun."

The second is the problem of ensuring and supplying oil, ammunition, grain, grass and miscellaneous materials, also known as "grain bags"

The former requires Malashenko to often go out to the army to see, listen, and conduct actual visits and investigations to fully understand it.

The latter is relatively easy. Only one person needs to be directly responsible to Malashenko, that is, the "big internal manager" Karamov of the leadership division.

To be honest, Malashenko can be so "free" and have a lot less things to do. It is also thanks to the outstanding ability of Karamov, a good brother who is a tank vehicle repair technician. Not only can he handle the things he is responsible for in an orderly manner, he also has very good management skills. With a comprehensive logistics support team, he can serve the leader without any big problems.

Sometimes even Malashenko himself thinks that after the war is over, he will have to apply for Karamov to be a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Don't think this is an exaggeration. In Malashenko's view, this is not excessive at all. Karamov fully deserves it. The combat effectiveness of the leadership division has been maintained at the level required by Malashenko. Most of it is due to Karamov and his gang of brothers who did not go into battle. Who told you that German sticks could be killed on the front line? Are the heroes of the Soviet Union only those with heads rolling in their heads?

Just looking at the hot bowl of lunch in his hand and watching the soldiers around him eating and laughing one by one, as happy as eating New Year's Eve dinner on New Year's Eve, Malashenko became even more determined. We must give Karamov the determination to be a "Hero of the Soviet Union".

It's better to wait until the battle at Zeluo Highlands is over, then write the draft myself and hand it over to Zhukov, and that's it!

"I said, isn't it uncomfortable for you to eat with those two sticks between them? It makes me feel uncomfortable just looking at it. Is that thing really so easy to use?"

"Huh? You mean this?"

Malashenko raised his hand briefly and showed the "two sticks" in his hand, which was a pair of chopsticks. He glanced disdainfully at the fork in Lavrinenko's hand and then said with a crooked smile.

"So you don't understand. This is an advanced cooking equipment. It can be used for anything and is very efficient. It is much better than your broken fork. It's like the thing in your hand is BT5, and the thing in my hand is IS7 , the gap is so big.”

"No, am I saying that is such an exaggeration? Could it be that you -"

Boo hoo hoo hoo——

Boom boom boom boom——

Rumble——

Before Lavrinenko could finish his words in the middle of the sentence, the army-level artillery positions roaring under the high ground had already begun to roar.

Katyusha and Andryusha rockets, as bright as meteors streaking across the sky, swept in overwhelmingly. The heavy artillery clusters of 122mm starting, 152mm uncapped, and 203mm working together were fully fired, including the leader division himself. The artillery was also included in the group army's support force and strengthened the artillery fire. The preparation for this massive second artillery fire was actually no weaker than the first time.

But no matter how high the sky and the rain of fire roared overhead and plummeted to the top of the plateau with loud explosions, Comrade Lao Ma, who should be eating and drinking, was still using chopsticks to pick up the food in the lunch box. He did not forget to raise his voice amidst the roar of artillery fire to remind Lavrinenko to look up at the rain of fire.

"Don't just look at it, eat quickly, you have to keep doing the German stick after cleaning up, so hurry up."