Chapter 1058 The End of the Giant Elephant (3,000 Words Long Chapter)

In Stalingrad, Malashenko did fight side by side with this division commander Mavonov. ₆₉ₛₕᵤₓ.cₒₘ

Of course, he was not a division commander at that time, but an infantry regiment commander who led his soldiers and fought with Malashenko on Mamayev Kurgan.

After a short day of fighting side by side, Division Commander Mavonov and Malashenko parted ways.

Malashenko was transferred to lead his troops to put out fires everywhere in the city, and he would rush to and hide wherever the Germans were going crazy.

Division Commander Mavonov and his troops continued to garrison on Mamayev Kurgan: this place controlled the core strategic location of the entire Stalingrad, preventing the Germans from counterattacking again and taking it back, until Malashenko overthrew the headquarters of the old bastard Paulus and brought the news of victory.

"Unbelievable! Comrade Commander! We won. Tank hero Comrade Malashenko led his troops to capture the enemy's headquarters and captured German Marshal Paulus alive! We won, Comrade Commander, haha! Victory, Hurrah!!!"

When the news of victory came, Mavonov, who led his troops stationed on Mamayev Kurgan and had not seen any movement from the Germans for several days and counterattacked on the hill, realized that it was Malashenko, who had never shown mercy to the Germans, who ended it all.

The Germans did not counterattack on Mamayev Kurgan not because they were accumulating strength, but because the Germans had really reached the end of their rope and were no longer able to launch any organized offensive.

He had been worried that the Germans were going to play big again, but now it seems that he was worrying too much.

"I really hope to see him again one day. Malashenko, Malashenko, the name Malashenko itself is equivalent to a miracle!"

The wish he made unintentionally in the past has become a reality today.

Once again, Soviet tank hero Comrade Malashenko led his legendary ace troops to the most urgent place in the entire Kursk South Theater.

He pulled out Division Commander Mavonov and his troops, who thought they were about to sacrifice themselves for the country and were about to be doomed, from the abyss of the Germans, just like the hope brought on Mamayev Kurgan at that time.

The SS Skeleton Division, which was originally as fierce as a wolf, was beaten to the ground under the fierce defensive firepower of Stalin's First Guard Heavy Tank Brigade. The tanks kept bursting like potatoes being smashed one by one, and Division Commander Mavonov, who was watching all this in his forward command post, was very excited.

"I've been looking forward to seeing this scene for a long time! That's it, Comrade Malashenko, smash the heads of these Germans hard and kill them until they can't get up again!"

Although there were some unexpected situations and some setbacks in the second half of the war, today's battle ended with the Germans failing to achieve the expected tactical goals and our side successfully completing the defensive mission. This is a victory worth celebrating anyway.

"The new weapons of those Germans are very powerful, Comrade Malashenko, but in my opinion they are still no match for your Stalin Guards First Heavy Tank Brigade. The self-propelled howitzers you brought are simply too powerful. I have never seen such equipment before. The soldiers and equipment of your brigade are all like this!"

Looking at the expression of the division commander Mavonov who was smiling and giving him a thumbs up, Malashenko just smiled faintly and shook his head a little sadly.

Today's battle caused him too much loss. Although it was not enough to cause serious injury, it was far beyond what Malashenko expected. The thoughts of memory returned to the battlefield with artillery fire just a few hours ago.

"The Germans are rushing in! Put on the bayonets, comrades! Defend the motherland, Ura!!!"

"Over there, the Russians are crazy! Machine gun bullets, I need bullets, hurry up, who can bring me the bullets!"

The participation of a few Ferdinands in the battle became the key weight to reverse the balance of the war. At this critical moment, the Skeleton Division once again sent out the third wave of attacks and asked the second wave of attacks to continue to push up. It was simply crazy to the extreme.

The tide of No. 4 and Panther tanks tore open the edge of the defense line, and countless SS soldiers screamed and ran into the position along the torn hole.

Division Commander Mavonov deployed the last reserve: the divisional guards and a group of civilian staff who picked up guns. He, the political commissar, and the chief of staff led the team and shouted and rushed towards the crazy SS. Division Commander Mavonov once again jumped out of the command center with the Tokarev TT33 pistol raised high, just like he did in Stalingrad.

Seeing that the battle situation had reached the most critical moment, the SS also deployed the last key force: the only four Ferdinand tank destroyers that could still move, under the escort of 11 Tiger tanks also wearing heavy armor, rushed to the Soviet position that was on the verge of collapse, hoping that this decisive force that was reserved until the last moment could achieve the final victory.

It cannot be said that the order issued by the commander of the SS was wrong. At least from a tactical point of view, it is indeed unquestionable. What's wrong with investing the final decisive force at the most critical moment of the battle?

But all this was what Malashenko, who pretended to be defeated and retreated, leaving the infantry behind, expected. The Germans' move to speed up victory and secure victory was exactly what Malashenko wanted.

The Stalin heavy tanks, which had slowly retreated to the blind spot behind the earth slope, roared up again.

This time, Malashenko, who was red-eyed, threw his last reserve force in his hands: 10 SU152 self-propelled howitzers, to fight the Germans in this final battle of ace against ace.

"Russian heavy tanks! Stop, open fire and destroy them! Quick!"

The Ferdinands, who were attracted by the Stalin heavy tanks that rushed out in advance, had no idea that the opponent still had the "zoo killer" monster SU152 in his hands. They immediately stopped only 300 meters away from the position and began to pour out powerful anti-armor firepower again.

Even until now, the German army, which had just been bombarded by the 152mm howitzer, still subconsciously believed that it must be the remaining artillery positions of the Russians that were causing trouble in an unknown position in the distance, but there was no need to worry too much.

Our reconnaissance opportunities would quickly find the Russian artillery positions and summon more fighters to destroy them, just as what had been happening in the past few days, as always.

The intelligence gap that the Germans did not know about the existence of new equipment such as SU152, lured Ferdinand into a close enough range, and Malashenko, who was the first to rush out and arouse hatred, finally waited for the final moment to kill these German elephants.

"Fire! Aim and directly bomb the battle room! Smash the iron rags of the Germans!"

Malashenko's roar echoed throughout the radio communication channel, and the SU152s that appeared last after Stalin's heavy tank group finally reached the moment of showing their power.

Boom boom boom boom --

According to Malashenko's order, all the high-explosive grenades were loaded in advance in the gun barrels. The first wave of roaring and fierce bombardment of 10 SU152 tanks directly brought terrible results to the German elephants heavily protected by Tiger tanks.

The 152 grenade that hit the main armor belt in front of the fighting room exploded instantly like thunder. Although the full 9 kilograms of TNT charge was not enough to penetrate the 200 mm physical thickness of the main armor, it had no problem penetrating the 40 mm thick body armor just below the explosion center, and the engine cooling window just above the power compartment separated by the front and rear armor plates.

The terrifying 152 grenade explosion directly blew away the engine cooling window just above the Ferdinand power compartment. The twisted and deformed cooling window grille was peeled off by the shock wave and flew more than 30 meters away before falling down and inserting into the soil.

The triple damage of blasting overpressure, flames and shock waves, the weak parts of the dome armor and engine cooling window were not enough to resist, and the elephants were directly destroyed on the spot.

The raging flames sprayed out directly from the blown-off cooling window, and the driver and the mechanic who were bleeding from the seven orifices of the 152 grenade blasting overpressure fell directly to their respective positions without a sound.

The toxic smoke that rushed straight through the car like a black dragon quickly filled the rear combat room, and the four crew members who were shocked and dizzy were like drunkards. They hurriedly opened the hatches above and at the rear of the car and immediately abandoned the car to escape. While covering their mouths, they were still crying and coughing, pretending to crawl out.

The elephant, which was bombarded by several 152mm grenades on the front main armor of the fighting compartment, was roasted, but the last Ferdinand, which was hit by the main armor belt on the front of the vehicle body, with a physical thickness of 200mm without even a machine gun hole, withstood the fierce attack firmly, but still did not intend to give up.

The Ferdinand, whose two tracks were blown off by a 152mm howitzer, could not move, but the stern-faced SS commander who insisted on fighting in his position was determined to fight to the death, and resolutely refused to issue an order to abandon the vehicle but demanded to continue fighting.

The armor-piercing shell had been stuffed into the gun barrel and was in a ready-to-fire state. The gunner, who was a little confused and highly nervous, fired the shells as ordered without much thought.

But in the extremely urgent state, there was a key problem that no one had expected.

German artillery steel is certainly the best of the best, and the barrel gun steel used in the Chang 88 is of high quality and precision workmanship.

But at a very close distance, it was hit by a 152mm grenade. Who gave you the confidence to guarantee that there was no problem with the slender 88 gun barrel? Was it the confidence given by the Führer himself?

Malashenko hardly encountered anything worth laughing about today, but the elephant trunk exploded on the spot after a shot, and the entire gun barrel turned into a four-petal flower twist, which basically contracted all the laughs for Malashenko for the rest of the day.