Steel Soviet Union

After hearing the final answer given by Malashenko, I immediately weighed and thought about it in my mind.

About half a minute later, the old engineer Ivan, who felt that he had come up with a certain answer, finally raised his head towards Malashenko.

"If that's the case, maybe you can give it a try for thirty hours, Comrade Malashenko. The factory has been maintaining the minimum production level before, and sometimes it can't even reach this standard. I can't judge whether there is someone under your command. The addition of the Red Army soldiers will be of great help, but I assure you that we will do our best.”

After all, Malashenko, who still couldn't get the guarantee he wanted, looked away. He couldn't go any further after forcing people to give answers like this. At this point, he can only do his best and take one step at a time. .

After bidding farewell to old engineer Ivan for the time being, Malashenko did not stop and immediately drove to the temporary garrison of his troops outside the city and called more than 500 people into the city.

Malashenko, who made a special phone call to the front army headquarters to inform him, had a very smooth journey. A group of veterans who had received permission to enter the city were a little confused about suddenly having to help in the factory. Even Malashenko's deputy Lavrinenko was also confused.

"I thought we would immediately regroup, assemble the troops, collect new soldiers and new equipment, and then train. Even if it doesn't work, we should at least let everyone have a good rest for a day or two. Why did you suddenly go to the factory to help? Malashenko, you and the general manager What did the engineers talk about?"

If possible, Malashenko actually wants his soldiers to have a good rest. After all, he has been running around and fighting continuously for a long time. He can hardly bear it. As long as he sits down and leans against the wall, he can survive for three seconds. Fall asleep within the clock, but objective facts always exist helplessly regardless of human subjective will.

"The main guns of those British tanks are really bad! Driving such tanks to the front line is of no use at all. It will only make our soldiers sacrifice in vain."

"I talked with the temporary director and chief engineer of the Stalingrad Tractor Factory. He said that it is feasible to replace all these British tanks with our own tank guns, and there is no big problem. But after all the important equipment in the factory is removed, Nowadays, almost all production relies on human labor. Those women and children cannot bear such a heavy production task. This is why we help. In the end, we are also helping ourselves. Do you understand? "

The convoy carrying a group of people drove in an orderly manner on the roads in Stalingrad. From time to time, the craters left by the Luftwaffe bombings required slowing down or even taking a detour to pass. Raf, who was sitting in the back seat of the rickety Gas Jeep, Linenko seemed a little silent about Malashenko's answer.

"If that's the case, I have nothing to say. Since the tank problem can be solved in this way, have you received a definite reply from the staff recruitment department? Our current manpower is not enough to drive these tanks."

After the battle in the village, there are now less than 20 tank crews left under Malashenko's command, which suffered heavy losses.

There is a question mark over the combat capabilities of these new tank crews, which were pieced together and temporarily reassembled from the remaining members of the sacrificed tank crews.

50 British tanks plus 30 T34 medium tanks specially approved by Vasilevsky. The total of 80 tanks obviously requires more crews to drive them. The remaining number of people in Malashenko's hands is completely insufficient. watch.

Malashenko, who was looking out the window at the street scene along the way, was a little irritable, with all kinds of endless troubles plaguing him all day long like a mental illness.

But no matter how annoying it is, it still needs to be solved. Malashenko, recalling the answer he got from Vasilevsky, sighed and spoke.

"The headquarters told me that there are currently no experienced tank crews available to us. All the organized tank units on the front line have been put into battle. The front army headquarters has only our group that has been disabled and needs to be reorganized. "Except for the directly-affiliated troops, there is currently no established tank reserve that can be mobilized."

"Some tank crews that have been scattered and gathered together will be packed and sent to us. In addition, many trainees who have just graduated from tank schools will also be given priority to supplement us. This is all the personnel supplement we can get at present. If there are still If there is a gap, then we may have to find infantrymen who are willing to drive tanks as volunteers."

""

After hearing the answer given by Malashenko, Lavrinenko's mood at the moment can basically be summed up in two words: speechless.

Lavrinenko still clearly remembers the time when the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment was first established before the Moscow battle last year.

Zhukov, who was the commander of the front army at the time, gave Malashenko a lot of face. He mobilized capable crews from many tank units to support them and reorganized them to establish the frame of the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment.

Counting the veterans of the First Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion brought by Lavrinenko from Leningrad, we have the First Guards who later showed off his skills in the Battle of Moscow and wiped out the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment. Heavy tank breakthrough group.

Thinking about the situation when the 1st Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment was first established, and then looking at how miserable this heroic unit is now, Lavrinenko is even convinced that the current situation is even more difficult than last winter.

At that time, no matter how bad things were, Commander Zhukov still had the support of Commander Marashenko, and no matter how infrequent the various supplements came, they were always there.

But since he was transferred to the Southwest Front this year, Lavrinenko felt that the fortunes of the 1st Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment had plummeted to the bottom.

Not to mention a bunch of wrong and avoidable bad battles were fought in the wrong direction of the attack due to wrong orders. Afterwards, the Germans turned their guns and chased them back for hundreds of kilometers.

He was treated as a rear guard guarding a shabby village and almost wiped out his entire army. He was even treated as a dead man by the superior headquarters and almost forgotten. The army is so crippled that it can only get some supplementary treatment like sending people away. Any man with a temper will not be able to bear this kind of thing, and it has nothing to do with whether his faith is firm or not.

"Malashenko, I really can't figure out what happened to our group this year? Why do all kinds of bad news keep coming one after another? There has been no good news since the snow melted. Why do you think this is? ? I really can’t figure it out!”

Lavrinenko's complaints had little effect on the already numb Malashenko. The expressionless Malashenko was not even in the mood to get angry and was already physically and mentally exhausted.