Steel Soviet Union

The thick smoke lingered between his lips and teeth, and Commander Cherchenkov, who gently shook the ashes from the cigarette in his hand, continued.

"We initially expected that the Germans would go crazy and fight us to the death, but when the battle started, we were surprised to find that this was not the case!"

"It cannot be said that the German airport garrison has no fighting spirit, but at least compared to the situation we encountered at the train station, it is really far different! The weapons and equipment invested are not at the same level. "

"A few anti-tank guns fired at our T34. The shells bounced off the armor and crashed into the snowdrifts. The Germans' machine guns fired intermittently, and they kept coughing like asthmatic patients, but There is no continuity with the machine gun at all. There is a big problem in this and it is very abnormal!”

"Our tanks easily knocked out the machine gun fire points, and the self-propelled artillery quickly counterattacked and knocked out the German anti-tank guns. The T34s directly crushed the enemy's defense line in one go, and completed the first trial with just one tentative attack. A mission goal, we found it unbelievable at the time! The chief of staff and political commissar were stunned, this was incredible!”

Commander Cherchenkov did not exaggerate or brag about the battle situation. Malashenko could tell just from Commander Cherchenkov's expression.

After flicking the cigarette ashes in his hand again, Commander Cherchenkov continued to speak with Malashenko listening attentively.

"When our tanks stormed the airport, the German defenses completely collapsed."

"Groups after groups of German soldiers ran away, falling to the ground amidst the fire of the soldiers' submachine guns and the roar of the tanks. Some German soldiers were smarter and simply threw away their weapons and knelt on the ground with their hands raised. Surrender where you stand.”

"Can you believe it? Malashenko, the battle was in progress at that time! I was thinking about what happened at that time, which could break the will of these Germans to such a degree. You must know that they were originally a group of Germans. A powerful army that can make us all feel troubled."

"Several planes tried to scramble and escape, and what happened next was quite unbelievable."

"The wounded German soldiers were chasing the plane on crutches, trying desperately to catch the last plane to leave. Those German soldiers who were only slightly injured were bandaged and ran ahead. Some of them saw that they could not catch up with the plane, and even directly What were they thinking when they jumped forward and hugged the tail of the plane without letting go? "

"The door of the plane was open. It may have been that the plane took off in a hurry and did not have time to close it. Of course, these are what the tank crews at the front later described in their reports. I have not seen the real scene."

"The German officer standing next to the cabin door initially pulled up the people who were rushing towards him. But as the plane became faster and faster, no one was there to pull up the people who were rushing towards them, because they might get hurt. Drag yourself down."

"Of course we couldn't just let the German planes escape, so the tanks at the front stopped immediately and used their main guns and machine guns to fire at the German planes whose tires had not yet lifted off the ground. Most of the planes They were all destroyed by us on the runway, and some exploded immediately and burst into flames, but not all of them were like this.

"There is a German plane, what's its name? Well, Heinkel 111? It should be this model."

"Our soldiers were surprised to find that this German plane actually used the belly bomb bay to load people! This was originally a bomber! I don't know if the bomb bay itself was broken or if it was really done deliberately. In short, the hatch was not It was not closed, and several German guys who were clinging to the inner wall of the bomb cabin were blown down by the airflow not long after takeoff. They fell hundreds of meters and fell to their death on the ground!"

"Sounds like telling a story, right? I would think so if I were you, but unfortunately not."

"But even the only bomber didn't fly very far. The starting position behind was an anti-aircraft artillery position we used to intercept the German transport aircraft. The German bomber was shot down before it could fly very high. , it fell and fell into pieces with black smoke. I heard that the smell of barbecue oil was much stronger than that of an ordinary plane crash. I don’t know how many fleeing Germans were stuffed in this plane. "

Commander Cherchenkov restored everything to life. Malashenko was a little surprised and could basically make up the scene at that time, and the questions that followed immediately blurted out.

"Why did this happen? Did you interrogate the prisoners afterwards and investigate?"

Commander Cherchenkov stubbed out the cigarette butt in his hand, then refilled himself with another one. He did not continue to reply until the first puff of smoke came out.

"Of course, we asked the German prisoners the same question as you."

"The prisoners told us that they were all wounded soldiers who were transported to the airport to wait for the plane to take them away. There were both minor and serious injuries."

"As long as you have a good relationship with the military doctor and you can get him to issue a certificate for you, you can even pick it off the corpse, steal it while the seriously injured are sleeping, and then use the bloody bandage from the garbage dump. Just wrap yourself up and pretend to be a pitiful person who was shot several times and saved your life, and you can get this pass to go home and get on the plane. Many prisoners said that this situation is too common!"

"But the real situation is that there are too many real and fake wounded waiting to go home! There are very few planes that can fly over and land!"

"There are no planes specifically here to pick up the wounded, they are all used to transport supplies to the Sixth Army. When they come, they are full of hope to continue fighting, and when they leave, they pick up a group of people who want to go home. The basic situation is like this ”

"There were more and more people waiting for the flight in the airport hospital. In the end, there was no place to lie down. We had to open a small tent outside to put the people who were sent from behind."

"At night, the temperature will drop by more than ten degrees or even more than 20 degrees. Many seriously injured Germans were able to eat their own dinner bite by bite the day before, but were frozen in the tent outside the next morning. They became hardened popsicles! No one knows how they died, and they don’t even have anyone to talk to about their last words.”

"In other words, these pitiful little tents that freeze people to death have to be given over to the wounded who are constantly being sent from behind. The corpses are piled into hills like shell casings fired by artillery. No one is going to bury them. These Germans We should thank our motherland for having cold enough winters.”

"When you came into the airport just now, you should have been able to see the corpses and plane wreckage that we had cleaned up near the airport entrance. That is the best evidence for what I said. The Germans couldn't even finish processing the corpses of their own comrades, leaving them with They killed us, a bunch of pathetic, hateful bastards."

When Commander Cherchenkov said this, Malashenko suddenly recalled the questions he had just harbored and the scenes he had witnessed with his own eyes, and the questioning words immediately blurted out.

"But the corpses are piled up in a hill. Is it okay to just leave them like that? I mean, will it breed a plague? When I came here just now, I saw hundreds of corpses. I don't know if your division has any others. There is more than one place to deal with it.”

Once again, he stubbed out the cigarette butts in his hand in the ashtray made of shell shells and responded to Malashenko with a look of helplessness on his face.

"It's too cold, Comrade Malashenko."

"The ground is now frozen harder than iron plates. If you dig down three meters, the soil is still hard! You are in command of the tank. You should know better than me that tanks are better on off-road roads in winter than in summer and autumn. It’s more than double the speed, and even the hardened roads in the city are not as strong as the frozen soil in the suburbs.”

"The amount of work to bury those corpses was too great! We tried to dig a hole, but we couldn't dig it at all! The soldiers dug with the German prisoners for a long time, and dug out a small hole that could only hold dozens of corpses. Comrade Chief of Staff made a calculation and found that not even one-fifth of the total number of diggers had been mobilized.”

"Fortunately, the weather is very cold now. The corpses of those Germans have turned into frozen meat. There are no mosquitoes or rats running around in such a cold day."

"This can only be done now. We have been busy these days leveling the airport, filling craters, repairing and expanding the runway. This is the top priority given to us by our superiors. When these tasks are completed and manpower is freed up, I will send people to rush The pit was dug before the weather got warmer, leaving those bodies piled up in a hill is indeed a big hidden danger.”