Chapter 1477 Young Rising Star

Hahahaha——

Laughter and cheers echoed in the small reception room of the front headquarters. Vatutin really couldn't hold back the joke Zhukov suddenly told.

"Did Khrushchev really say that? Doesn't he want to think about why Stalin's First Guards Tank Division should be named "Stalin"?"

Faced with Vatutin's laughter, Comrade Zhu could only shake his head slowly and grin helplessly.

"Who knows what's going on in his head? Not only me, but also Vasilevsky feels weird and incomprehensible. It's obviously safer to recommend Malashenko, and it's more likely to meet Comrade Stalin's wishes. Who knows what's wrong with him and he suddenly brought up Comrade Katukov."

Talking and laughing, Vatutin, who returned to his normal state after getting back to the point, still spoke slowly to Zhukov with a little understanding.

"However, Malashenko is indeed too surprising. Yes, it is unexpected! This is the biggest feeling I have after spending so much time with this young man."

Vatutin, who looked full of emotion, obviously had not finished speaking. After thinking for a while, he continued to speak to Vatutin. [6][9][s][h][u][x][.][c][o][m]

"I have never seen such a young grassroots commander perform so well. You can't even feel that Malashenko is a young man in his twenties or less than thirty."

"His battlefield experience, attitude and unique insights into equipment development, flexible application of tactics, and tenacious will and courage to fight to the end when facing the enemy. Well, this is very consistent with the image of a front-line grassroots commander who is close to perfection in my mind. If there is such a grassroots commander who is so close to perfection, then this person is Malashenko."

Including Vatutin, almost all the senior generals of the Red Army who have had in-depth contact with Malashenko agreed.

Every aspect of this young man is not like the state he should be at his age. He is more like a veteran of the Red Army in his forties or fifties who has been through many battles.

"However, no one is perfect, and Malashenko is the same. Sometimes he likes to get stuck in a rut. He must do what he has set his mind to. Even if it seems almost impossible to do, he will try his best to fight for it."

"The lone army went deep into the enemy's rear in the Cherkasy war zone and turned the Germans' stomachs upside down. Not to mention, they also killed a lot of Germans who approached and wanted to destroy their division. In the early and middle stages of the Cherkasy battle, the front and back were indistinguishable. The Germans were attacked from both sides and were in a mess. They couldn't concentrate on one side at all."

"The war was able to progress so smoothly, which had a lot to do with Malashenko leading his troops to tie up a large number of German troops. The smoothness of the frontal battle was even It was beyond our expectation. The German troops in all the main offensive directions did not receive reinforcements until they were completely annihilated by us. "

"After sending the telegram, we learned that the reinforcements of the Germans were all intercepted by Malashenko halfway and destroyed in encounter battles. I can see that no matter how dangerous and difficult the battle is, there is nothing that Malashenko dares not fight. He dares to fight like this with only one division and one brigade. If you give him an army, I think he would dare to fight Poland. "

It is good to be brave and good at fighting, but Vatutin, who gave Malashenko a lot of tactical freedom, did not expect that Malashenko could make such a big scene in the belly of the Germans without his own mandatory orders, and almost turned the German rear upside down.

You have to know that this is a large-scale front-level battle at the campaign level. Malashenko can achieve such an effect with only one division and one brigade. Vatutin did not dare to say that Malashenko was absolutely unique, but at least most of the grassroots commanders and fighters of the Red Army did not have his courage. Even if there was an order, whether they dared to take on the job was unknown.

Zhukov, who had already read the battle report summary and supplemented by Vatutin's explanation just now, had basically figured out the entire battle from the beginning to the end of the Cherkassy theater led by Stalin's 1st Guards Tank Division under Malashenko.

As far as Zhukov's own feeling was concerned, Malashenko could fight the battle so "outrageous", in fact, this matter was not so surprising to Comrade Lao Zhu.

From the border of the motherland to Leningrad, from Leningrad to the city of Moscow, from the city of Moscow to Stalingrad, every battle that Malashenko fought along the way was basically writing a legend. He would go wherever the Germans were the most difficult to deal with, and in most cases he could eventually beat the Germans into a mess and flee in embarrassment, or he would be directly wiped out.

There are many Red Army Guards units with good equipment, but the only unit that can fight so beautifully and make the Germans cry out in pain again and again is the Stalin Guards 1st Tank Division.

After thinking for a while, Zhukov, who also felt deeply touched, nodded, and then turned around and spoke to Vatutin.

"I will report these situations to Comrade Stalin truthfully after I return to Moscow. All the honors and awards that should be given to Malashenko and the Stalin Guards 1st Tank Division must be given. However, this still needs to be consulted with Comrade Stalin. Neither I nor Vasilevsky can make the decision alone. After all, Comrade Stalin pays close attention to the unit named after him."

As Malashenko's direct superior, Vatutin had intended to ask his superiors for instructions and apply for the honors and awards that his beloved generals and ace troops deserved.

Now that Zhukov took the initiative to speak, Vatutin didn't have to speak again.

After finishing a big thing in his heart, he could talk about some detailed tactics and local battlefield issues.

"Oh, right! There is one more thing, Comrade Marshal."

Vatutin took out a document from his briefcase on the table beside him and flipped through it. He found the most important one and then took it out and handed it to Zhukov.

"Malachenko reorganized the combat mode and squad configuration of the 1st Stalin Guards Tank Division. He mentioned this to me in advance and said that he would do a pilot test based on actual combat conditions. Out of trust in him, I allowed him to just do it."

"Malachenko made major changes to his divisional infantry regiment. Traditional single-shot bolt-action rifles were eliminated and replaced on a large scale, and the number of medium- and short-range submachine guns in the infantry squad was increased by more than half. The remaining squad light firepower configuration consists of semi-automatic rifles and light machine guns, which has never been seen in our Red Army's infantry units."