Chapter 173 Night under the moonlight

When the last German soldier, whose legs were broken by rocket shrapnel and had difficulty moving, raised his hands in panic and surrendered, he was disarmed by the Red Army infantry who swarmed from all directions.

This building was originally stationed with a fully-manned German infantry battalion. In the eyes of the German city defense commander, it could withstand the heavy firepower of the Soviet army for at least a whole day. However, it only held on for just a moment in front of Malashenko's siege column. It completely failed within an hour.

The fundamental reason is that in the second phase of the siege operation in the Yelniya theater, which was personally commanded by General Zhukov, the Soviet army, as the attacker, once again went against the norm and invested a large number of new weapons that the German army had never seen or expected before. Weapons are of course the main reason.

But on the other hand, the efficient street fighting tactics adopted by Malashenko, a later time traveler, is also one of the very important reasons. This can be seen from the fact that the progress of the attacks of other Soviet siege columns was not as good as Malashenko's, and was even blocked by the German defense for a time.

The battle for Yelnia lasted all day, from the outskirts of the city all the way into the hinterland of the city.

The cruel and bloody street fighting was like a rapidly rotating meat grinder grinding the lives and will of the soldiers of the Soviet and German armies.

In this bloody city where thousands of lives are devoured every day, the last glimmer of humanity has long since disappeared, and the so-called chivalry of a fair duel is even worse than bullshit.

As long as you can kill your enemy, no matter the method, you will be the final winner. Even the word "final" is only a temporary label.

When the last ray of light of the setting sun was accompanied by the crimson clouds on the horizon, and finally sank under the distant horizon of the grassland, the long night that was cold, tortured and tormented all the soldiers of the Soviet and German armies had just begun.

"Seryozha, check the transmission system and engine, make sure our tank can start running at any time! If necessary, replace the air filter, don't let the engine collapse because of this. Nikolai and Kirill are ready to carry the shells, Captain Karamov and the logistics supply force will arrive soon, and the refueling and bombing work will be completed by the three of us later.”

"Hey, Iushkin, check the breech! There were a few shells that were not firing smoothly this evening. I feel there is something wrong with the sealing of the breech. This thing is related to the safety of all of us in the car. Please check it carefully. If it really needs to be replaced, let that guy from Karamov fix it overnight. He won’t have time to take care of it during the day!”

"I know, leave it to me!"

The busy scene of Malashenko's No. 177 command vehicle being supplied and repaired is only a partial microcosm of the overall situation of the entire First Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion at the moment.

These Soviet tank crews, who had been fighting for a whole day, were different from friendly infantry troops who could pause the fighting and rest directly.

The crew members who have the best understanding of the maneuverability, firepower, and armor of their own vehicles still have to carefully and carefully maintain their respective vehicles after the battle, and refuel and reload them, and carefully maintain and adjust them. The best condition to cope with the battle that may break out at any time.

An unknown ordnance engineer once said this:

"Your equipment and weapons are like your lover. If you don't treat them well and don't take good care of them in daily life, then they will act coquettishly for you on the battlefield, a stage where their beauty needs to be shown, and even make you look bad. Lose your life. You must treat your weapons and equipment like your lover to get the best reward."

Malashenko, who is well aware of this truth, did not dare to neglect his improved KV1 heavy tank prototype in the slightest. He directly applied the transmission system of the original Hongqi tractor to make it run on the 47-ton KV1 heavy tank. It is already overwhelmed and difficult to operate.

In this case, if it is not taken care of and maintained carefully, it is likely that Malashenko himself will be deceived on the battlefield in the end.

After a while, while Malashenko, who was standing on the engine compartment and his face was covered with oil, was filling the fuel tank filler set with the fuel pipe to prepare for refueling, the co-pilot of a GAZ truck loaded with various maintenance tools and spare engines had just passed by. He opened the door and jumped down from his position, and Captain Karamov, who was the "General Manager" and "Logistics Director" under Malashenko, quickly walked forward.

"Is there something wrong with your car? Comrade Battalion Commander! I have brought a whole truckload of spare parts that have just been shipped from the Kirov factory. They are very high-quality goods. Are you interested in giving them a try?"

Standing on the engine room of the tank, holding a thick refueling pipe nozzle in his hand, he looked down at Captain Karamov who was standing under the car and looking up at him. Malashenko, who had a dark face, and Karamov, who was about the same age, looked towards him almost at the same time. There was a smile between each other.

"Why not? The breech block, the gearbox gears, the damaged additional armor on the front of the hull, oh, and the damaged coaxial machine gun of the main gun. Are you busy tonight, Karamov, I I asked you, the company commander, to repair my car personally."

From those smiling words, it was obvious that Malashenko was joking with him. Captain Karamov, who was also young but already the leader in the entire Western Front in terms of field maintenance, immediately laughed.

"That's no problem, Comrade Battalion Commander, that's why I'm here! I'll make your precious car in the best condition like when it just left the factory!"

Soon, Captain Karamov, with a maintenance light on his head and a flashlight in his hand, led a maintenance team and Malashenko's crew to the downstairs of the building that was mostly destroyed by rocket barrages during the day. , began emergency maintenance and repair work on command vehicle No. 177.

It is not easy and too time-consuming to replace the damaged additional armor on the front of the vehicle during field maintenance. The repair plan given by Captain Karamov is to fill it with patches of rolled homogeneous steel armor. At the damaged location, welding is used to weld it together with additional armor plates.

In this regard, Malashenko, who knew that he could not impose too much in the field maintenance situation, immediately nodded in agreement.

After a general overhaul with a flashlight in the turret, the skilled Captain Karamov quickly personally confirmed the structure of the breech block at the rear of the gun. Because of the excessive number of firings and the fact that it might have been there before leaving the factory, Some inherent lack of quality has led to considerable problems with the structural strength and air tightness of the breech block.

"Huh, luckily it was discovered early. Judging from the situation, if nothing happens, I estimate that if there is no accident, there may be a danger of the barrel exploding if another ten to twenty shots are fired, and the gun will explode if it fails to fire in the breech. Your luck That’s great, comrade battalion commander.”