Chapter 10 Who Am I?

Dmitri Drukovich Malashenko, this is the name that Lin Jie is now known and recognized by people around him.

On July 31, 1916, a baby boy with this name was born in a small village outside Moscow. He was a typical Russian peasant family that had been farming for generations.

When Malashenko was 19 years old, he volunteered to join the Soviet Red Army and was admitted to the Ulyanovsk Tank Academy in 1935 of the same year.

There, the young Malashenko learned for the first time how to drive a tank and how to master a tank gun and make it more accurate.

In this regard, the young Malashenko was undoubtedly full of hope and beautiful visions of the future.

After studying at the Ulyanovsk Tank Academy for several years and graduating, the ambitious Malashenko soon caught up with the Soviet Union's military operations against Poland in 1939 as a second lieutenant officer, which was truly the first blood and fire combat training in his life.

In this short-lived military operation, Malashenko, who commanded his T26 light tank crew to advance triumphantly, saw the fierce German army, which was also a "socialist brother", for the first time out of curiosity.

Seeing his unit commander and those German generals chatting happily and even laughing and calling each other brothers, Malashenko, who could not get a word in or even express his opinions due to his status, felt that something was wrong.

Today, the joint attack of the two socialist brothers divided Poland.

In the future, the two armies that once called each other brothers may become enemies in order to compete for living space and essentially irreconcilable ideological contradictions.

In the battle where Captain Brasovsky, the original commander of the No. 177 T34 tank, died, Lieutenant Malashenko, who was then the deputy company commander, had to leave the T34 tank he commanded due to a mechanical failure at the most critical moment before the battle began, and temporarily joined the No. 177 command-type T34 tank commanded by Captain Brasovsky as a loader.

What happened later was what Lin Jie saw after waking up.

Relying on the profound foundation that Lieutenant Malashenko had accumulated in the Ulyanovsk Tank School in his early years, as well as the war experience accumulated in the previous invasion of Poland.

Lin Jie, whose life was seriously threatened by the German tanks, finally used Lieutenant Malashenko's body to burst out amazing combat skills and combat effectiveness. He took on the triple responsibilities of commander, gunner, and loader. Relying on the outstanding and overwhelming quality advantage of the T34 tank, he killed the German No. 3 and No. 4 tanks on the opposite side without leaving a single piece of armor, and won the top kill number of the 20th Tank Division in this battle.

But even so, Lin Jie, who was sitting in the turret, couldn't help but feel doubtful after sorting out his thoughts.

His identity was confirmed, but who was the young and beautiful girl in his arms in the photo?

Holding the back of his head, he thought about it for nearly a minute in doubt, and Lin Jie, who searched for the memory inherited from Lieutenant Malashenko in his mind, finally realized it.

"Natalia Pokalonskaya, the daughter of a former Tsarist Russian noble, was spared because she was too young when the Soviets came to power and was exiled to my village and adopted. She is a good friend and childhood sweetheart who grew up with me."

Thinking of this, Malashenko, who was silent for a while, couldn't help but feel a little speechless.

"It's not certain whether your life can be saved, and you still have these things, nonsense!"

After a heartfelt sigh, he was ready to stick the photo back to the tank wall, but Malashenko, who reached out his hand, felt that it was not appropriate halfway.

I have almost nothing on me except this photo, and it seems inappropriate to put it in a place that is easy to wear and tear.

After a brief inner struggle, Malashenko sighed and finally chose to follow the guidance of his true inner will.

After putting this old black-and-white photo of the two of them holding each other's arms in a commemorative manner on the inner layer of his jacket, Malashenko, who had been running around in the war for a whole day, couldn't help but feel sleepy. After stretching out his hands and yawning twice, he fell asleep in his seat as a driver with his arms folded.

The rising sun in June broke free from the shackles of the night and spread all over the earth like a golden wheat field.

Feeling the slightly dazzling sunlight shining into his eyes, Malashenko, who had been hastily dealing with it all night in the tank, finally opened his eyes and woke up at the call of the driver Seryosha.

"Comrade Malashenko, we all heard that you were promoted to captain and became the commander of our company! Congratulations."

Struggling to straighten up his hunched body with some pain all over his body, Malashenko, who was still sleepy, reached out and took the piece of black bread that was only slightly bigger than his fist from Seryosha's hand and put it into his mouth.

"The so-called promotion and wealth during the war is actually a death warrant, Seryosha. Sometimes you can get this position not because of your talent and ability, but because the people who were suitable for this position before you have almost died, and you are the only one left, so you are sent up based on the principle of picking the tallest among the short ones, that's all."

Malashenko, unwilling to waste even a little bit of food, stuffed the last small piece of bread in his hand into his mouth, licked the crumbs left on his fingers and continued.

"Maybe one day you will face the same promotion as me, Seryosha. But please remember that you must not get carried away by such promotions in war and some so-called empty titles. The bullets and shells flying towards you will not care whether you are a soldier or a general. Life is only once for each of us."

After listening to Malashenko's heartfelt words, he nodded as if he understood. Seryosha, a young driver who has been in the army for less than a year, obviously still has a lot to learn.

"By the way, sir, the field maintenance team had already repaired the damaged armor of our tank while you were resting last night. I saw you were resting in the tank, so I simply didn't wake you up. I didn't expect that the loud noise from welding didn't wake you up, what a surprise."

After hearing Seryosha's slightly excited words, Malashenko, who was completely confused, immediately had a big question mark on his head.

"Welding repaired the armor? Didn't wake me up? What's going on?"