Steel Soviet Union

Comrade Political Commissar finally fell asleep at Malashenko's insistent request. The stubborn Malashenko would not leave until he saw his partner covered with a blanket and closed his eyes. If you don't want to sleep, I will move him today. The bench is sitting here and will not move.

There was really nothing he could do about it, and the political commissar comrade who was indeed feeling physically exhausted finally did as he was told.

"What about you? It's almost dawn, aren't you going to take a nap?"

"Ha, when will it be the old man's turn to care about the young people?"

The half-joking Malashenko pulled a blanket to cover his political commissar, sat on the chair next to the bed and spoke with a smile.

"It's not like you haven't been young before. Think about how energetic you were when you were my age. Not to mention just one night, even if you didn't sleep for several nights in a row, Comrade General could still hold on. Before dawn, Comrade Division Commander personally On duty.”

"Take a good rest now. This is an order. Comrade Colonel, do you hear it clearly?"

After extinguishing the oil lamp on the bedside, closing the door to the back room, and taking care of everything properly, Malashenko returned to the living room, pulled up a chair and sat down.

He rolled up his sleeves and glanced at the time on the watch. The hour hand had already pointed to the 3 position, and there was not much time left before dawn.

At this point, the Germans have not taken action yet. Malashenko, who is already familiar with the Germans' tricks, estimates that these Germans probably do not intend to break out tonight. Either they were weak and were entangled by the Red Army and couldn't escape, or the aloof head of state issued a fatal order of "not to take a step back."

Of course, whatever the reason, Malashenko doesn't care. As long as we can continue setting off tomorrow and kill these idiot fascists.

Malashenko, who had smoked almost a whole pack of cigarettes in the second half of the night, didn't feel much sleepiness. He stretched out his hand and rubbed his nose, trying to do something meaningful and kill time at the same time.

But after rummaging around, he couldn't find a suitable thing or method. Malashenko, who didn't want to be so idle, simply found a pen and paper and planned to write a letter to Natalia who was far away in Moscow. Let the girl who thinks about you day and night have thoughts and comfort. If I were to count, I really haven't written a letter to my beautiful wife for a long time, and now I have to write one.

The remaining night passed quickly. At dawn the next day, the political commissar who got up and left the house only saw a room full of staff officers and division personnel busy in an orderly manner, but there was no sign of Malashenko. .

"Where are the others, Comrade Master?"

Adjutant Sasha, who was sorting and summarizing information at the table, heard the question, turned around and answered the political commissar.

"Comrade Commander went to have breakfast. He has been gone for a while and should be back soon."

Political Commissar Petrov, who had confirmed Malashenko's whereabouts, nodded, then reached out to take the report from Sasha and prepared to read it, but at this moment, he remembered something more worthy of attention.

"Oh, by the way, Comrade Commander, did he rest last night?"

Comrade Political Commissar's question came without any warning? Even Sasha, who was always by his side and took care of daily life, had to think for a while before he could answer.

"When I came in the morning, I saw Comrade Commander lying on the table. He must have been resting for a while. He even took the initiative to say hello to me just now? He was in good spirits."

"Um"

Commissar Petrov looked calm on the surface when he heard Sasha's answer, but he was still somewhat relieved in his heart.

I was just about to lower my head and take a good look at the reports and documents in my hands, but I didn't expect that at this moment, Malashenko was waiting for me.

"Phew, it's really cold outside this morning. My rice is almost frozen."

Our comrade, the division commander, put his general officer's coat on his body to keep out the cold, but on top of his head was a strange combination of clothing, wearing a skewed warm tank hat.

There was obviously something hidden in the military coat tightly wrapped by two hands. Malashenko, who ran all the way to the table, opened the coat and then revealed the lunch box inside? He put it on the side of the political commissar with his backhand. before.

"Milk oatmeal and bread, today's breakfast is great! Can I get you one? Eat it while it's hot."

Malashenko doesn't know how much time he has left. Can he go all the way side by side with the political commissar? This is unknown.

But precisely because of this, Malashenko hopes not to leave too many regrets or things he regrets not doing. The reason is just that simple.

He looked at the lunch box in front of him and then looked up at Malashenko. Political Commissar Petrov, who could understand why Malashenko did this, just smiled and picked up the spoon without saying anything more. and bread, and began to cook.

"I have something to tell you? Don't rush to do anything else. Pull up a chair and sit here? I'll talk while I eat."

When Malashenko, who originally planned to see what those Iushkin gangsters were doing, heard this, he directly pulled up the chair without much hesitation, sat down, and waited. Comrade Political Commissar spoke first.

"Just received a telegram? The 20th Guards Tank Brigade is only 6 kilometers away from us."

"They started the raid before dawn? They fought with the Germans in front of them until just now. The Germans who lacked anti-tank weapons couldn't hold on and were overwhelmed and retreated along the same route? The 20th Guards The tank brigade is back on the road and moving quickly towards us."

"If nothing unexpected happens, their vanguard will arrive and join us within an hour? Well, looking at it now, there should be less than half an hour left."

"The front army headquarters also sent a telegram, asking us to take action today to shrink the encirclement and attack the enemy? As for the encirclement point, a follow-up infantry division will come to take over the defense. I just want to ask you how you planned and what preparations you have. According to Intelligence? There will be a lot of trouble on our next course of action."

"At least three German infantry divisions and one armored division whose numbers have been identified lie across our next phase of advance. This almost accounts for half of the total German strength in the encirclement."

"The good news is that our aviation has achieved absolute air supremacy in the theater. It is expected that only a small number of German aircraft may come to cause damage. On the contrary, we can also receive strong air support."

"The total number of Germans may be slightly more than ours, but their technical equipment is definitely not as good as ours. The sky also belongs to us. How are we going to fight this battle?"

After listening to Comrade Political Commissar's mission briefing, Malashenko grinned. This question was not easy to answer.

"We have fought through such difficult poverty battles every time. How can we fight such a rich battle? Of course we can just run over Fascism directly!"