Chapter 19: Surviving the catastrophe

The flames that symbolized death kept jumping and flashing in the wreckage like a devil's tongue, licking the steel and corpses red. The Stuka dive bombers, like vultures hovering over the mountain of corpses and sea of ​​blood, still refused to leave, even though Even after all the bombs it carried were exhausted, it still continued to harvest lives on the ground with the two 92mm machine guns on the wings.

At this point in the air raid, the Soviet troops that were suddenly attacked by the German Stuka fleet during the movement had already suffered heavy losses.

All kinds of main tanks and vehicles were either blown to pieces or knocked over by the shock wave and lost their combat effectiveness. The infantrymen who were accompanying the armored forces were also torn apart and were beaten with shrapnel and machine gun bullets, leaving corpses and blood everywhere. Chenghe, only words like hell on earth can describe the tragic situation of the Soviet ground troops struggling under the German air raids and suffering heavy casualties.

Da da da da——

With the completion of the last round of dive machine gun fire attacks, I watched the corpses of the Soviet soldiers who fell under their guns motionless, with no possibility of standing up again.

The commander of the German air fleet, who was deeply satisfied and proud of his "masterpiece", then shook the joystick and led his equally arrogant subordinates to fly away in the direction they came from without looking back. go.

Seeing the German Stuka fleet that had been screaming and circling above our own heads, they finally turned around and left after running out of fuel for nearly half an hour.

The Soviet soldiers who narrowly survived the purgatory air raid immediately began to emerge from their respective bunkers and ran quickly towards their comrades, most of whom were already cold corpses, trying to make a last ditch effort. .

On the other side, the crew members of the No. 177 Command T34 tank who were lucky enough to survive the air attack were also extremely anxious and busy.

The unknown life and death of Captain Malashenko, the commander and commander of the vanguard, is obviously the most important issue at the moment, Seryosha, Nikolai and the newly arrived loader Kirill.

These three crew members, who could be said to have the closest relationship with Malashenko, quickly rushed to the vicinity of the still-warm crater as soon as the air raid ended.

"Captain Malashenko, where are you!?"

"Comrade Captain, can you hear me!?"

From the beginning to the end, they were unwilling to believe that Malashenko had been killed in the air strike just now. The three young men shouted the name of their commander while running, hoping to get some clues from the steel wreckage and the corpses everywhere. echo.

But unfortunately, not a single voice answered their call in the purgatory-like battlefield ruins in front of them, filled with the smell of burnt flesh and twisted steel.

Everywhere you look, there are scenes of the remaining surviving Red Army soldiers busy rescuing the wounded and carrying remaining supplies and equipment. Among the pieces of human remains that have been torn into pieces of flesh and blood by aerial bombs and machine guns and are indistinguishable. , there is no trace related to Captain Malashenko at all.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

The brutal death of his comrades on the battlefield and the terrifying screams of the German Stuka dive bombers have already dealt an extremely heavy blow to Kirill, a young recruit. Just two days ago, he was still chatting and laughing. The unknown life and death of the encouraging and confident Captain Malashenko is as tragic as the cruelest reality.

It was like the straw that broke the camel's back.

Kirill, who grew up in a red university campus full of Soviet-style socialist cultural atmosphere, had never seen such a cruel and bloody battlefield. The "death" of Captain Malashenko completely crushed the already hesitant spirit. On the verge of despair, Kirill's will, this big boy who just a week ago was full of organ music, finally fell to his knees with desperate and painful wails, covering his face with his hands and began to cry loudly.

Not many people paid much attention to Kirill's heart-rending wails of pain. These Red Army soldiers, who had experienced the powerful combat effectiveness of their opponent's German army in the past few days of battle, were already used to hearing blood and seeing life and death. Naturally, It also includes the painful wails of new recruits like Kirill who have just entered the battlefield.

But after the God of Destiny dealt a heavy blow, it seemed that he did not give up on these Red Army soldiers who had just experienced a brutal air raid.

Just when Kirill was kneeling on the ground, his mind was blank and he was still covering his face with his hands and mentally collapsed, a loud shout from behind was like the most beautiful voice of hope, which instantly brought his soul back to reality.

"Hey! Come on, Captain Malashenko, Captain Malashenko, he's here! He's alive!"

Following the direction of the sound, I immediately turned around and looked around. A Red Army soldier holding a Mosin-Nagant rifle and wearing a grass-green helmet was excitedly waving his rifle behind a small mound not far away. arms to beckon comrades to go forward.

Without any words, he immediately stood up from his half-kneeling position on the ground. Kirill, whose excitement could not be described in words, almost rolled and crawled towards the direction of the waving Red Army soldier. With only one thought in his mind, his only hope was that Captain Malashenko must be alive.

It turned out that when the German Stuka dropped the bomb some time ago, Malashenko, who was directly blown away by the strong wind picked up by the explosion shock wave because of the distance, was very lucky and was not hit by any shrapnel.

Although the aerial bomb blast that blew him more than 20 meters away in one breath was indeed quite powerful, Malashenko, who was once again favored by the goddess of fate, unexpectedly flew directly into a place two days ago. In a muddy haystack just after rain.

Even though the mixture of wet grass and sticky mud made Malashenko filthy like a clay figure, there is no doubt that it was the sticky mud and the grass covering it that slowed down the damage to the greatest extent. Due to the impact of Malashenko's body when it came into contact with the ground, he still only fainted temporarily and was not seriously injured even after being blown away by the aerial bomb blast for more than 20 meters.

"Cough cough cough, you bastard, your mouth is full of this stinky mud! And this crappy grass!"

With the help of the Red Army soldier beside him who was the first to discover him, Malashenko finally limped up from the mud pit. It was almost difficult for Malashenko, who felt that his mouth was filled with the taste of turf and mud, to speak. , in a hurry, he immediately took out the kettle from his back, poured it on his cheeks, and began to clean the clay face whose true appearance could no longer be seen clearly.