Chapter 87 Preparation for Departure

As Political Commissar Petrov delivered the telegram in his hand to Malashenko along with the commendation order and promotion order, he turned and left. The comrades who had been staring at Malashenko in stunned silence immediately looked like future generations. Like fans of big stars, they crowded around Malashenko and rushed to speak.

"It's unbelievable, Comrade Commander! Congratulations on your promotion again. This time you are a dignified tank major!"

"It's not just a promotion, Nikolai! Didn't you hear what Comrade Political Commissar said just now? Our Comrade Commander also received a Red Flag Medal. This is really a great honor!"

"Seryozha is right, medals can better reflect the glory of soldiers. There is nothing more exciting than this!"

Compared with the excitement and joyful expressions on the faces of the crew members surrounding him at this moment, Malashenko, who felt as if he had knocked over the spice box, did not feel so happy.

The Battle of Smolensk was a brutal battle in which the Soviet army took the lead in launching a counterattack against the German Army Group Center, which was facing the enemy, but in the end it once again ended in a disastrous defeat for the Soviet army.

The Battle of Smolensk, which lasted for two months from July 10 to September 10, not only caused 140,000 casualties to the Germans who played the role of the invaders, but also damaged a considerable amount of technical equipment. .

The Soviet army, which took the initiative to launch a counterattack in an attempt to seize the initiative on the battlefield, paid an even heavier price. The number of casualties reached 480,000, with the loss of more than 1,300 tanks, more than 900 aircraft, including division and military heavy artillery. The losses of various types of artillery and anti-tank guns inside were as high as tens of thousands.

When he thought that these shocking and extremely frightening figures were about to involve him, Malashenko, who had just survived a narrow escape from Lutsk to the Battle of Brod, couldn't help but feel depressed.

"I just managed to crawl out of a pool of blood, and now I'm being ordered to be taken to the next meat grinder. Can that lucky guy withstand such a torment of killing people!? Damn it! Just touching the Hero of the Soviet Union medal of Rosov’s great-grandfather Lavrinenko, God, are you going to kill me for such a trivial thing?”

No matter how reluctant Malashenko is, knowing that the Battle of Smolensk is a personal meat grinder, it is said that executing orders is the bounden duty of a soldier. Malashenko, who knows that military orders cannot be violated, will not do so no matter what. He did something stupid like disobeying military orders and deserting.

"Forget it, since I want to fight, I just have to accompany you and fight to the end. No matter how bad the situation is, it's just death. Maybe after death, I can travel back to the original world and continue to live my peaceful life. This kind of struggling all day long on the line of fire is just a matter of life. I’ve had enough of living an ignoble life!”

When the news was reported in his heart, Malashenko had such self-comfort thoughts as Ah Q did. He began to pack his luggage and belongings silently, preparing to rush to the train station tonight and start heading towards Smolensk as required in the transfer order. When the Western Front troops went to report, Seryosha, Nikolai, and Kirill, who had always shared life and death with Malashenko, surrounded him without saying a word.

Sitting on the edge of the bed and packing his luggage, he held his own marching water bottle in his hand and looked at the three silent people in front of him in a daze. He couldn't figure out what the three crew members he had brought out were going to do now. Malashenko couldn't help but speak.

"What are you three doing? After I leave, my superiors will definitely assign a new commander to you. There will be many battles waiting for you to fight in the future. What's the use of standing next to me like primary school students surrounding their teacher? ? If you don't have time to stand around me, you might as well recharge your batteries and prepare for the next battle. There is no need for such an elaborate farewell between soldiers. Let's go back to our respective positions and have a good rest. "

After hearing the gentle and semi-command words from Malashenko's mouth, they remained unmoved. After learning that Malashenko was about to be transferred to the Smolensk front line, the three people immediately A mutual decision was made.

"Comrade commander! Seryosha, Nikolai, and I, the three of us are the crew who followed you and were brought out by you! If you were sacrificed on the battlefield, another commander would take your place. You, of course we are willing to obey orders, but we have gone through so much together to get to where we are today, and I cannot accept the fact that our crew will be separated from now on!"

Before Kirill finished speaking, two young men, Seryosha and Nikolai, who stood aside with excited expressions, also waved their fists at the same time.

"Kirill is right! Comrade Commander! We are more willing to believe in you than to follow other commanders! You led us through life and death and beat those damn Germans to flee, and led us out of death and ushered in victory! "

"That's right, Comrade Commander. No matter which front you are on, you are serving the country to eliminate those Nazi invaders. When you go to the Western Front to report this time, you might as well take our entire crew with you! No matter where you go, , as long as we can give us a tank that can fight, we can immediately join the battle to defend our great motherland!"

While listening to the unison words of the three people in front of him, he never expected that these crews led by him would actually make such a request to go to the more dangerous front line with him.

After Malashenko, who was constantly thinking in his mind, digested all the words spoken by Kirill and his party, Malashenko, who sighed softly and spoke again, then used the words like a meat grinder. The Battle of Smolensk blurted out.

"I understand your feelings, Kirill, Seryosha, Nikolai."

“But at the same time, what you don’t know is that compared with the upcoming Battle of Smolensk, the Battle of Lutsk to Brod that we just experienced can only be regarded as an impromptu performance before the show begins. "

"Gathered in the direction of Smolensk is Army Group Center, the most powerful of the three German battle groups. The German Army Group North and Army Group South only have one armored group deployed each, but Army Group Center has two of them. many!"

"Army Group Center not only has more powerful troops than the two German army groups in other directions, but its equipment quality and soldier quality are also the best among all front-line groups of the German army! Any head-on battle with the German Army Group Center will be useless. The question is a tough battle, but even so, do you three still want to go to the Smolensk front line with me?”