Steel Soviet Union

According to the unanimous consensus of Western military experts, if a unit suffers more than half of its casualties, it will be judged to have lost the ability to continue fighting. Those who can continue to fight with more than 60% of its casualties are considered to be very powerful elite divisions.

It is rare for an army to continue fighting without surrendering despite suffering more than 70% casualties. Of course, it is not uncommon for an army to be able to fight against the enemy until the entire army is annihilated. The story that King Leonidas I of Sparta led 300 warriors to fight against the Persian Empire's so-called million-strong army and was annihilated at Thermopylae has been widely circulated throughout Europe.

However, after the advent of the era of thermal weapons, from the beginning of World War I to the present day of World War II, troops who can fight to the death and fight with the enemy to the death, at least in the broad sense of the European capitalist countries, are pretty good. , and of course the United States on the other side of the ocean.

The casualties of the 1st Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment have already exceeded half and 60%, and they are approaching the end of the entire army, standing on the edge of the cliff of the abyss.

In the hell-like Stalingrad, there is no place for cowards to hide and survive. This is as clear as ironclad truth.

Malashenko did not want to give an order to continue fighting. If the fighting continued, the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment might really lose all its numbers! No soldier who originally belonged to the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment could leave the city alive. Even if it was re-established with the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment on its head, it was just a force that inherited the name of a hero. Brand new troops and nothing makes any sense.

But the more cruel fact is that there is no point in even escaping from such a thing. In this crazy and war-filled city, either you die or I die! He didn't want to use any means or efforts to kill the person wearing the enemy's uniform. The body lying on the ground in the end was undoubtedly his own.

Looking around without saying a word, all Marashenko could see were faces filled with war exhaustion and numbness. Only the pair of eyes embedded in the dark faces with traces of war. Still shining with the light of life and faith.

The real hesitation lasted less than ten seconds. Malashenko took a deep breath and no longer cared whether he could leave the city alive.

When the war has reached this point, everything is beyond his control and has gone too far. It is so far away that no matter how many things Malashenko can do with his identity as a time traveler, it is already pale and powerless. This is also for those who do not have any It is a great sadness for a time traveler who has cheats and can only rely on himself.

"We continue to fight, comrades. If there is no food, we will rob it from the Germans! If there is no water to drink, we will bite out the veins of those Germans and drink the last sip, and then drag them together into the abyss to cleanse their sins! No! We don’t need medicines. Field hospitals are not our destination. Even if we die, we will die among the corpses of Germans, instead of dying on hospital beds and being carried and buried in pits!”

"As your team leader, I am very happy to be able to come with you today. This is my responsibility and a great honor in my life!"

"Future generations will remember our names, and children will sing and read our stories in class! Our sacrifice today is just for our descendants and future children who will not have to be covered with scars like us. All people can Live your own beautiful life under the same peaceful sky! ”

"Sacrifice is meaningful. I will fight with everyone until the last moment! The person who survives to the end will be the last commander of the 1st Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment! Even if there are no tanks, we will let those Germans You know, there are only Red Army heroes standing in front of the steel tracks, and there are no weak cowards who kneel down and try to survive!”

"The future belongs to us and to all the brave warriors fighting under the red flag!"

"The motherland is calling, comrades! Let Stalingrad become the tomb of the Fascist Sixth Army, Ulla!"

Political Commissar Petrov once said that at some point he even had the illusion that Malashenko was more suitable to be a political commissar than him, especially in terms of morale mobilization and pre-war propaganda. Malashenko's overall level was almost comparable to that of Malashenko. The generation of literary giants who have studied in party schools for three years is generally jaw-dropping.

What Political Commissar Petrov said was not wrong. Even if he only said these words to Malashenko in a half-joking tone, there is no doubt that all the appropriate descriptions are indeed vividly displayed in Malashenko. .

When all eyes were focused on the weapon held high in Malashenko's hand, the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment walked through the dark road of blood and thorns, and was once again illuminated with a path to guide everyone forward. direction.

That is the common fate of all the commanders and fighters of the 1st Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment, including Commissar Petrov, including Lavrinenko, including Captain Karamov, and of course Malashenko himself and his Infantry crew No. 177.

The intensive bombing by the Luftwaffe continued, shrouding the entire city in a hellish tremor of explosions, gunpowder smoke, and death.

After carrying out a wave of bombings, the German bombers returned to the front-line airport as quickly as possible. The German Air Force ground crews waiting at the airport rushed forward pushing carts carrying ammunition, and the refueling trucks drove to the aircraft as quickly as possible. Plug the refueling hose next to it to add fuel.

It was already the second or third time, and they had even forgotten how many times they were returning. The German pilots jumped off the plane shakily, ate the supplementary food handed to them by the ground crew next to their cars, and then drank. A few sips of the minimum amount of water that wouldn't make you die of thirst temporarily quelled the fire in your throat.

The moment when the refueling hose was unplugged from the aircraft's refueling port, the pylon locked the bomb, and the crisp sound of firm fixation echoed in the ears, it was when these tired German pilots took off again.

Standing not too far away from the airport runway, watching these tired young men return to the blue sky, the man who shoulders the responsibility of the Chief of Staff of the German Air Force's Fourth Air Force couldn't help but shake his head slowly. , lament softly.

"This is so crazy! Our best young men are being used like livestock, just to cooperate with that madman's wishful thinking! I can't understand why the Führer would appoint such a crazy guy as the commander of the Sixth Army! "