Chapter 1712 Eye of the Storm

The battlefield ruins, where the residual heat has not yet completely cooled, are still in a mess, with corpses lying all over the ground and blazing steel wreckage everywhere, and the air is filled with the disgusting smell of blood and burnt smell.

Malashenko, who has experienced similar scenes countless times, is indifferent and not surprised by this.

The task assigned to the Stalin Guards 1st Tank Division by the front headquarters has been completed. Malashenko led his troops to the final encirclement point first and annihilated the German advance troops who arrived at the rescue step, which can even be regarded as exceeding the task.

The encirclement has not been completely closed yet, and the follow-up main force of the Great German Armored Division may arrive at any time. Malashenko still cannot act rashly and needs to stay where he is and wait for orders.

Vatutin's next instructions will be related to what Malashenko needs to do next. With Malashenko's temperament of not wanting to waste any battlefield time, he will definitely not wait for Vatutin to contact him actively, which would be a waste of time.

In fact, as soon as the forward division arrived at the village and set up the telegraph, Malashenko asked Political Commissar Petrov to draft a telegram immediately to report all the current situations here to Vatutin truthfully, and ask for the next order and combat plan.

"We must hold on here before the friendly encirclement troops arrive. Your inquiry is actually a bit redundant.

There is no need to hide anything in front of Malashenko. The political commissar said his true thoughts, but the response given by the division commander was somewhat unique.

"Don't worry about it. Send it first and ask. If the order has changed, you will know everything when the reply arrives."

The political commissar smiled and shook his head helplessly.

"Okay, you are the division commander, do as you say. Sasha, give this telegram to the communications director and ask him to send it to the front headquarters. "

"Yes, Comrade Political Commissar. ”

The waiting time was not long, especially since Malashenko had completed such an important task. Vatutin, who was always in command and coordinating the overall situation, naturally attached great importance to it.

"Comrade Commander has called back, here you go."

Comrade Lao Ma, who was starving, was eating and drinking like crazy at the table. Comrade Political Commissar, holding a telegram, had already stood in front of the table before Comrade Division Commander raised his head and handed over the telegram in his hand.

"This is what I'm waiting for, hurry up! Show it to me! "

Malachenko wiped his mouth and snatched the telegram and began to read it carefully. The reply from Vatutin was basically the same as what Comrade Political Commissar said.

In short, Malachenko's primary task is to lead the Stalin Guards 1st Tank Division to continue to hold on to the final encirclement point, which is the village where they are stationed now. This must be completed.

Secondly, for the German reinforcements that may appear at any time, Malachenko's task is to give the enemy as heavy a blow as possible and force them to retreat, while ensuring the completion of the first task, and to avoid the German army interfering with and disrupting the Red Army's next stage of annihilation of the enemy in the encirclement.

Finally, Vatutin also provided Malachenko with some of the latest information in the telegram. Intelligence support.

The aviation reconnaissance has confirmed the latest battlefield situation. Not only the Great German Armored Division, but now a large number of German armored forces are rushing towards the north, all in a state of rapid march.

In order to interfere with and delay the enemy's support operations and ensure that the next stage of the annihilation of the enemy in the encirclement will not be greatly affected, the Red Army's counterattack plan has actually begun this morning.

The Red Army Air Force dispatched bombers and attack aircraft to carry out intensive air strikes on the enemy reinforcements on the march, focusing on the armored forces. In addition, almost all railway stations and transportation hubs along the way within the combat radius were also attacked, which greatly slowed down the assembly and marching speed of the German reinforcements. At the same time, the speed was slowed down by a large number of wounded soldiers.

This level of air strike does not require great results, but only to delay time and slow down the Germans' marching speed.

In terms of this priority, the Soviet Air Force has undoubtedly completed the task and achieved the expected goal.

This is why Malashenko did not receive any air support in today's battle.

In addition to Malashenko's lack of particularly urgent air support calls, the main reason is that the Red Army Air Force responsible for this area has tasks to do. In accordance with Vatutin's order, they were basically transferred to cause trouble for the Germans who were urgently rushing north to reinforce.

The confirmation of this news also solved another problem that troubled Malashenko at the same time

Gross Deutschland Panzer The fact that the division's follow-up main force has not arrived yet and is so out of touch with the advance force is probably directly related to the large-scale air strikes it has suffered. Otherwise, Malashenko could not think of any other reason to explain all this, and after thinking about it, it could only be so.

At the end of the telegram, Vatutin assured Malashenko that he was fully dispatching reinforcements to his location.

According to the prediction of the front headquarters, it is expected that two or even three German armored forces may arrive on the battlefield and launch an attack in tomorrow's battle. The specific number is unknown. Aerial reconnaissance cannot be so detailed, and the existing intelligence cannot analyze the specific number of German reinforcements that will be deployed on the battlefield. Everything that follows can only rely on Malashenko himself.

A front-level artillery unit is rushing to Malashenko's position at full speed. It has a highly mechanized and enhanced firepower configuration. The total force is at the level of an artillery division, including a front-level 203mm heavy howitzer battalion.

This heavy artillery division is one of Vatutin's most powerful trump card support. It is expected to arrive at the combat position and provide artillery support tomorrow afternoon. The transfer and deployment of these bulky artillery will take time.

Artillery support cannot arrive immediately, but Vatutin promised Malashenko that he would assign him a ground attack aviation regiment to be on standby at any time. A whole regiment of Il-2 attack aircraft is ready to take off at the front-line field airport at any time to provide strong air support. All it takes is a single order from Malashenko.

In order to ensure that the final encirclement point is foolproof, Vatutin has used all his tricks and put all the available resources on this point, handing it over to Malashenko and entrusting him with an important task.

It must be said that this is a heavy burden, as if the hope of the entire front rests on it, like the eye of a storm, but Malashenko, who has long been accustomed to being entrusted with important tasks, does not find it difficult.

Looking at the sun that is about to set below the horizon outside the fence of the courtyard, Malashenko feels that his blood is boiling, and at this moment he can't wait for tomorrow's battle.

"Come on, let's see who is the real ace."