Chapter 1471 Vatutin’s decision

From this pile of seemingly inconspicuous documents, telegrams and torn maps, Malashenko accidentally dug out something quite interesting, which was a letter from the owner of the leather bag's family during his lifetime.

Malashenko, holding the letter from his fiancée in his hand, studied it carefully for a long time, and finally said something leisurely after a long while.

"It turns out you have a wife too. I fucking thought you jumped out of the cracks in the rocks. You don't even have that kind of job."

Although he said this, Malashenko's expression did not show any hatred or displeasure.

This SS First Class Assault Group Captain named Wendel led the troops to fight with due diligence until the last moment. No matter how unfavorable and desperate the fighting situation was, this guy never showed the slightest bit of desire. Give up your posture or simply give up on yourself.

Regardless of anything else, if we evaluate this guy from a military perspective, to be honest, Malashenko still admires this guy. Not everyone can fight to the last moment with the determination to die, and not many people can. Knowing that there is hope for life, he resolutely chooses to die generously and commit suicide with a gun for the sake of the glory of the military and the beliefs and oaths in his heart.

It is true that the order of later generations has characterized this extremely vicious group of Hitler's private armed forces as an anti-humanity organization rather than an army of a country in the true sense.

But on the battlefield at this moment, their role is undoubtedly that of soldiers. You can completely regard this fanatical armed force with shining combat effectiveness as a powerful regular army.

So putting aside personal emotions, Malashenko really believes that Wendell has fulfilled all his military obligations. It's just that for his own life and his relatives, this can never be called perfect. At first glance, it is almost full of regrets and tragedies.

"Give me an order to tell Varosha to pull Wendel's body out of the tank, collect his belongings and hand them over to me, then dig a separate pit and bury it properly, leaving a stone to carve a word on it. A mark or something like that. You don’t need to deal with the other German corpses separately. Just gather them together and dig a big hole and bury them all.”

Why did Malashenko issue such an order?

No one knows this yet, and it is not the commander of the guard company of the Varosha Infantry Regiment who came to report the news. This comrade captain knows very well what to ask, what not to say, and what not to do in his own capacity. .

Looking at the back of the captain's company commander who was running away after taking the order, after a day of non-stop fighting, at this moment, Malashenko really felt exhausted, as if his body had been hollowed out.

When I looked up at the sky, I realized that the time had already reached dusk unknowingly. The golden afterglow of the setting sun filled the earth along the distant horizon, and the sun was gradually sinking into an invisible place and slowly disappearing.

As for the sound of fierce fighting in the distance that could still be vaguely heard just now, it has now died down. No matter how the battle ahead is going, Malashenko knows that at least one thing is certain at the moment.

Today's battle is probably over here. At least the battle during the day has come to an end.

Malashenko, who had been chasing for a whole day, knew that not only did he need to rest, but his soldiers and the powerful equipment used to physically conquer the German sticks also needed to rest. I'm just a little worried. If the temporary end of the firefight means that the Germans have successfully broken through, it will not be good. This is also related to whether Malashenko will order the troops to conduct a forcible night attack and pursuit.

"No, I don't know what to do. I can't just give random orders. Who knows what the fight is going to be like. It's best to send a telegram to Vatugin asking for instructions on what to do next. I can't bear this responsibility."

Malashenko, who just did what he said, thought of this and jumped out of the car without saying a word. He was about to go to the political commissar comrades to ask if the radio station was set up and whether it could send reports. I never thought that the truth of "Speak to the political commissar, and the political commissar will arrive" was once again fulfilled. Comrade political commissar trotted up to me, holding a telegram in his hand.

"We'll talk about the rest later. Let's take a look at this first. There's an urgent call from the Front Army Headquarters."

When the telegram was handed over to Malashenko, the political commissar's customary explanation also began.

"The battle ahead was even more intense than what we were fighting here. An entire tank corps fought bloody battles with the German group that broke through for almost a whole day! These bastards of the Viking Division used almost all the remaining main forces. There are also quite a lot of infantrymen, all of which are integrated into the disorganized infantry divisions of the National Defense Forces, and there are even Ukrainian puppet troops mixed in. "

"The losses suffered by the Germans were not small, and the losses on our side were also great. From the beginning to the end of a battle, it was almost impossible to tell who was defending. They were all attacking with attack."

"When the battle reached evening, the Germans couldn't bear the strength and withdrew. Our tank corps here also used up more than half of it, and the remaining strength was only about 40%. It was only thanks to the Guards that they held on and did not collapse. Of course, the fact that our division attracted nearly half of the Viking division’s armor and annihilated it is also a big reason and equally important.”

"The front army headquarters has judged that the remaining strength of the Germans is no longer enough to launch a large-scale breakout operation. They now seriously lack armor and mobile vehicles. They cannot fight out with two legs alone. This battle during the day has already destroyed the enemy. Most of the Viking division has been disabled."

"Comrade Commander ordered our troops to stick to the rear defense line and launch an arc-shaped encirclement, and cooperate with the friendly support forces that have just arrived from the left and right wings to conduct a closed encirclement. Although the remaining Germans have suffered heavy losses in their main force, there are still many people. Comrade Commander hopes We can end the rest peacefully tonight and reduce unnecessary casualties. "

"If that doesn't work, wait for the order to launch the final offensive tomorrow morning. This is the general situation. There may be details that I didn't mention, but they are all written on the telegram. You can understand them all after reading them yourself."

As Comrade Political Commissar said, the content in the telegram does indeed explain the general situation clearly and accurately.

Malashenko also basically understood Vatutin's plan. He wanted to persuade the Germans to surrender by forcing the remaining 20,000 or so infantry troops to surrender. At this point in the war, everyone knows that there is no point in continuing the fight. It will not have any substantial impact or change on the outcome. It will only increase the casualties on both sides.