Chapter 1557 Cutting Off the Vikings

It didn't take too long to return. After another great victory, Malashenko quickly led his troops back to the field division headquarters and met the political commissar who was busy dealing with the troops' post-war affairs.

"You're back so soon? I thought you would have to wait until tomorrow to come back. Tell me what you did on this trip."

The political commissar had heard some of Malashenko's deeds, but the more specific situation still had to be told by Malashenko himself. Those things heard from others were not necessarily true.

Malashenko, who had just entered the tent for a while, didn't bother to answer the political commissar's question, but pulled a chair and sat down, picked up a cup full of water from the table, raised his head without saying a word, and drank a lot to quench his thirst. The sound of gulping down his stomach sounded really thirsty.

"Huh! So cool! It's a happy thing to have water to drink."

Putting down the cup, Malashenko took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth. He lit it and finally took a breath to talk to the political commissar.

"The main thing is to save the commander, which is the most important thing. Secondly, we killed a group of local Ukrainian bandits. The combat effectiveness of these guys is not even as good as those third-rate vassal troops forcibly recruited by the Germans. It's just a matter of time to deal with them. It's not a big deal. Of course, it doesn't take much time. Pure mechanized marching back and forth is naturally very fast.

What Malashenko said is basically consistent with what the political commissar heard, but there are still some details that need to be confirmed by Malashenko.

"Where is the leader of this group of bandits? Did you catch him? We should interrogate him strictly. Maybe this group of bandits colluded with the Germans and came to assassinate Commander Vatutin. Maybe there are other secrets and situations that we don't know about that can be dug out. ”

Comrade Political Commissar’s idea was the same as Malashenko’s initial plan, but the subsequent development of events did not allow Malashenko to do so at all. The final result of the forced arrest that encountered an accident could only be killing on the spot.

“At first, I thought so too, and of course I planned to do so.”

“But you didn’t see that the two leaders of this gang of bandits, one fat and one thin, tried to avoid the search and hid in the cellar at first. After we found the entrance to the cellar and blocked them inside, they continued to resist stubbornly and refused to be arrested with guns. ”

“The two bastards shot at our soldiers. At that time, the situation in the cellar was very complicated. The light was dim, the pitch black was pitch black, and it was very narrow. In addition to firing and killing the two bastards on the spot, we had no other choice. We could not try to capture them alive under firepower at the cost of the lives of the soldiers. We could only fire back immediately and kill the two bastards.

Malashenko's simple description basically explained the situation at the scene at that time. It was indeed concise and to the point, and basically made the key points clear. The political commissar, who had strong logical thinking and analytical skills, also basically figured out the key points that Malashenko wanted to express, and nodded quietly.

"Okay, I think I roughly figured it out. What about the rest of the people? Do other bandit leaders know anything about the situation? The limited intelligence may also be able to analyze something useful for us."

"You don't need to tell me this, of course I have interrogated him."

Putting out the cigarette butt in the empty can ashtray in front of him, Malashenko continued his story with smoke still coming out of his mouth.

"There are a few small leaders among the remaining bandit captives. They know a little bit about the situation, but none of them are critical information."

"The statements of these small leaders are quite consistent. They said that the news they learned before they set out was that this was just an ordinary robbery, but the target was our Red Army. These bandits wanted to rob our transport convoy and baggage supplies, get what they wanted, and then escape to the west and fly away before we control the entire area."

"It's just that an unexpected situation happened. There were no supplies in the convoy they ambushed. It was Commander Vatutin's convoy."

"These bandits saw that the escort of the convoy had strong firepower and elite quality, and thought that the convoy was loaded with some important supplies, so they attacked like crazy to get the things. After that, I led the team to arrive and rescued Comrade Commander."

"At present, what can be confirmed is that this group of bandits The first bandit leader is called Anton, and the second bandit leader is called Barannikov. Both of them are locals in Cherkasy. The identities of these two people are quite special. Before the war, they were both members of our Red Army's military industry, but they were arrested for stealing and reselling materials and sabotaging military production. "

"They were originally going to be shot, but the Germans called and gave them an opportunity to successfully escape from prison. After that, they took advantage of the chaos to recruit soldiers and find ways to get guns. From 1941 to now, they have become a large group of bandits with 700 to 800 people. It is said that they are the top bandit gangs in the Cherkasy area. They often targeted the Germans before, and robbed the German convoys and even military trains several times. They are considered to be more combat-effective among the bandits. "

All of the above situations were learned by Malashenko from the interrogation of the captured small leaders. The specific authenticity can no longer be confirmed from Anton and Barannikov. These two idiots have now been buried in the grave.

"Okay, I've written down the main facts. I'll investigate and verify them through other channels later. After all, this matter is very serious and needs to be taken seriously."

Comrade Political Commissar closed the cap of the fountain pen in his hand, put aside the notebook he used for recording, and still faced Malashenko to start talking about some important things that Comrade Ma didn't know yet.

"After you led the team away, we conducted a comprehensive investigation and cleanup of the battlefield. Through the interrogation of the few prisoners and the battlefield survey, we can confirm that this time we have completely wiped out the elite SS: the Fifth Viking Armored Division. There is no sign of any large number of enemies escaping. At most, there are very few fish that slipped through the net and became deserters."

"The point is that this is the first time since the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War in 1941 that our entire Red Army has eliminated the elite SS division as a whole, and it is an armored division. Because the SS is Hitler's private armed forces, and this Viking Division is still The only foreign legion in the SS, so the results of this battle are very important in both military and political significance. "

"I have drafted a telegram and will report all the information to the front headquarters so that the commander will be informed. When this news reaches Moscow, I am almost certain that the division commander and even Comrade Stalin will be happy about it."

"Oh, by the way, there is one more situation I haven't told you. In this annihilation operation, we also eliminated an unexpected big shot, so big that you will definitely be surprised."