Chapter 557 Identity Revealed
At this moment, Malashenko did not know that the Tiger tank, which was famous all over the world and was regarded as a spiritual symbol by later generations of Germans, had already been put into actual combat.
Malashenko, who had no time to think about all these things, was currently wrestling in a muddy pond in a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. To be precise, the worst-case scenario that Malashenko had been worried about finally came to pass at the least expected moment.
According to the original operational deployment, it was only a matter of time before Malashenko's troops, which had caught up with the fleeing German troops, would unite with two infantry divisions to divide and surround them and then eat them in one bite.
But what annoyed Malashenko the most was seeing that he had completed the first stage of a deep breakthrough, dividing the entire German defense position into two and forming a divided and encircled situation. An urgent letter was sent from the front army headquarters. The telegram disrupted all Malashenko's plans and arrangements.
"The Sixth Army and the Kleist Armored Group are launching a massive counterattack! The forward troops have lost their strategic advantage and are retreating!"
It literally means retreat, but Malashenko, who traveled from later generations, knows very clearly that this word is at best a fig leaf for Comrade Lao Tie.
Hitting the deployment direction of the German Army Group South, which had a total strength of 100 divisions, the Soviet Southwest Front was facing an unprecedented super rout.
Failure spread rapidly throughout the entire frontline counterattack force like a plague, and panic and defeat began to spread unstoppably.
Malashenko, who received the order to retreat from Timoshenko, had no other choice but to give up the cooked duck that he had already received but had no time to eat, and ordered the 1st Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment to start heading in the direction from which it came. Retreat quickly.
Despite the slight changes brought about by Malashenko's butterfly effect, and at the same time briefly exchanging opinions with Zhukov at the Supreme Defense Conference in Moscow and reaching consensus on certain issues, Comrade Lao Tie ultimately remained as he was before. The historical trajectory continues to make irreparable mistakes.
Inadequate pre-war reconnaissance and the hasty counterattack launched under Stalin's supervision were the most fundamental reasons for the failure of the campaign.
Timoshenko, who was sitting at the front army headquarters and coordinating the overall situation, had no idea until the beginning of the battle that the German Army Group South he faced actually had a huge force of more than 100 divisions amassed on the front.
When the German army launched Paulus' Sixth Army and the Kleist Group to launch a counterattack, Timoshenko thought it was just a small group of harassment by the German army to interfere with his judgment of the true strategic intention. The order issued by all the main counterattack forces is still to continue to advance and attack the depth of the German army.
Rushing and rushing, I rushed in.
By the time a group of front military leaders, including Timoshenko, came to their senses, the battle situation on the front line had basically deteriorated to an irreversible level.
Paulus and Kleist, who were united, led their respective troops and trapped the three main Soviet counterattack armies in the pockets of the encirclement.
Very few Soviet troops were able to break out of the encirclement. The vast majority of Red Army soldiers either became dead souls under the gun or prisoners in German prisoner-of-war camps.
It was so difficult to launch a counterattack against the Germans and win a victory, but the shadow of defeat came so quickly that people didn't even have time to react.
Malashenko, who was under indiscriminate bombardment from German planes, almost never stopped. Whenever he sent a routine telegram to the front army headquarters, the response he received was always "continue to retreat to such and such a location." This situation continued. It took nearly half a month.
In this half month, Malashenko not only had to deal with the indiscriminate bombing above his head, but also had to find a way to repel the pursuit and interception of the German forward pursuit troops on the ground.
Most of these German pursuit forces that were advancing rapidly used fast reconnaissance tanks. More than once, Malashenko encountered entire platoons and companies of 35t and 38t junk tanks coming to harass him.
Malashenko, who had been blown up by the plane in the sky and had nowhere to vent, and who was still hindered by the group of minions on the ground, immediately exploded like an atomic bomb and personally went into battle to command the troops to launch the attack. The counter-charge knocked over these fast German tanks that were so bold.
It's definitely not a problem to just run around along the way, but if you are too obsessed with fighting, you will very likely get yourself into a situation that is beyond redemption.
Malashenko, who was walking on the line of life and death, had a difficult time constantly switching combat modes between retreat and counterattack.
In order to avoid German air raids and bombings, Malashenko almost did not dare to take an open retreat route during the day, and took detours around corners that the German aircraft might not have expected. Not to mention, he had to take care of those who occasionally fell into the air. The German ground forward troops that collided.
At night, Malashenko, who did not have to worry about German planes coming to bomb, could finally retreat safely and boldly. However, the problem of fuel shortage and difficulty in replenishing the fuel that had plagued Malashenko since unknown time was a headache.
Malashenko tried every means to find oil, and even sent a telegram directly to Comrade Lao Tie about the oil shortage to ask for help. However, Timoshenko's reply left Malashenko speechless.
"The frontline troops are in chaos, and all the troops are retreating. I don't know where the oil is. You can find a way to overcome the difficulties yourself."
Although the message in the telegram was more tactful than this, the overall meaning was roughly the same.
In order to avoid the German daytime bombing, I had to take a detour through winding corners, but this would consume more fuel than taking the main road.
The 1st Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment, which had an alarming amount of fuel consumption, was like a panting and exhausted war bear. Malashenko, who had no other choice, had to resort to the most unreasonable method. Preserve the strength of the troops as much as possible: abandon some tanks and use the extracted oil to supply the remaining tanks so that they can be evacuated smoothly.
I don’t know the specific day on which the German forward troops, chasing the retreating Soviet Southwest Front, began to capture more and more special tanks.
The reason why these Soviet tanks are special is that these abandoned Soviet heavy tanks, without exception, are painted with the special red and white logo of a bear's head biting into pieces the Iron Cross.
The German soldiers who had captured these specially marked tanks for the first time since repelling the Soviet counterattack were very curious, and there were even rumors that they were Stalin's Kremlin Tank Guards.
The rumors spread more and more widely and even attracted the attention of the German Army Group South headquarters. The curious German Army Group South headquarters even interrogated several captured Soviet generals to inquire about the cause and effect.
Looking at the interrogation report on the desk in front of him, Marshal Bock, who had returned to the front line as commander of Army Group South and had just commanded the troops to win a great victory, couldn't help but raise his lips.
"Is he the steel butcher who scares everyone? A young man in his twenties named Malashenko? And this Guards First Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment? This is the biggest joke I've heard this year! "
