Chapter 1978 A Truckload of New Goods

Malachenko, who was smoking on the bench, had no idea that he had just sent a telegram to Vatutin and had done it without asking for permission later, which made the little guard platoon leader beside him admire him, because in Malachenko's view, it was really not a big deal. Read М

Just when Malachenko finished smoking two cigarettes and was thinking about whether to take the third one, Iushkin, who was sent to call people, finally came back and brought good news.

"The call went through, and the deputy division commander said he would bring people over right away, and asked me how much equipment and how many people were needed. I said I didn't know, but there was a trainload of them, so I guessed there would be at least 20 or 30 vehicles. He said he knew and hung up the phone."

"The division headquarters is not far from here. We have been receiving new equipment recently, so we moved closer. The straight-line distance is less than ten kilometers. If the deputy division commander and his men drive over, they should arrive soon."

Iushkin was right. Lavrinenko was really fast. It took less than 20 minutes for him to appear in front of Malashenko. Such a fast speed surprised Comrade Lao Ma, who thought it would take at least half an hour.

"So fast? Didn't the comrades sleep? It takes some time to get up and get dressed, right?"

Faced with Malashenko's question, he gave his good brother a bear hug when he met him, and Lavrinenko, who had just let go, was quite disdainful.

"Kurbarov has early morning training to familiarize themselves with new equipment so as to form combat effectiveness as soon as possible. So everyone got up early. When I went to call people, they had just gathered and were about to start the train. I simply pulled everyone over. It's not too many. The train crews of a battalion are all here. Do you think it's enough?"

""

Looking at the large group of people following Lavrinenko, Malashenko blinked twice and didn't say anything. He just turned around and pointed at the train in front of him and said.

"Everything on the train belongs to us. Except for the train, take everything else away. Hurry! There are other military trains coming to the station to unload the train. We have less than two hours."

Hearing this, Lavrinenko, who knew that time was tight, quickly turned around and called the battalion commander who was following behind him, picked out a few important instructions, and asked him to take the people on board.

"Comrades, the heavy equipment on the train belongs to our division. Hurry up and unload it! Hurry!"

At the battalion commander's command, a battalion car group that came to pick up the equipment in a large military truck supported by the United States immediately disbanded and rushed forward without saying a word. Under the command of the company and platoon leaders, each group took charge of a section of the car and began to get on the train to remove the camouflage cloth and get busy.

As the deputy division commander, Lavrinenko naturally didn't need to get on the train in person when there were enough people. On the contrary, he was very curious about one thing: what was Malashenko busy with during this period? It took more than half a month for him to come back mysteriously. In the past, he would only go home for half a month on vacation. This was the first time he had been away for such a long time.

"Let's chat over there?"

Lavrinenko raised his hand and pointed, and said casually. Malashenko looked in the direction of his finger and saw the bench he had just sat on. He guessed that his good brother was busy and nodded.

"Do you have any cigarettes left? Give me two. I was in a hurry and left them on the table and forgot to put them away."

"You don't bring a gun to the battlefield, and you are still a deputy division commander?"

As he walked towards the bench while talking and laughing, he took out a box of cigarettes for Lavrinenko. Almost at the same time, he sat on the bench and lit the fire, and the smoke began to float. Looking at the busy scene of the soldiers on the train getting on and off, Lavrinenko spoke.

"What did you do this time? Why did you take so long? I don't think the political commissar is willing to tell me. He is so mysterious, so I didn't ask him. Why don't you tell me about this?"

""

Lavrinenko asked this as soon as he opened his mouth. Malashenko was really a little surprised. Comrade Lao Ma originally thought that his good brother wanted to ask about the equipment details of this train.

But just as Malashenko was thinking about organizing his words and preparing to speak, the next sentence that came out of Lavrinenko, who was not polite, almost choked Malashenko to death.

"Is Natalia giving birth? Are you a father? I thought that since you have been away for so long and come home for vacation, it can only be this, is that right?"

""

Comrade Lao Ma, who found that Lavrinenko was a little "too Iushkin-like", rolled his eyes and secretly complained in his heart why this old man started to talk nonsense. After exhaling a puff of smoke, he responded and spoke.

"No, I am not pregnant yet, how can I be a father? It's pure nonsense."

It's not important to "reply" to Lavrinenko, but what's important is what I should say next. Malashenko thought that since the strictest confidentiality period had passed, since he had asked, it was okay to tell it, and it was no big deal to tell Lavrinenko.

"The British and Americans were beaten black and blue on the Western Front, and the Germans' broken cars were like their fathers on the ground. The equipment disadvantage was one thing, but more importantly, these guys didn't know how to fight. There were big problems with their tactics and their entire thinking system, so we sent some middle-level officers to form an officer group to come here to learn, and I was responsible for teaching them."

Malachenko's return to Moscow to give lectures was kept strictly confidential. Before he left, only the political commissar in the division knew what Malachenko was doing. Even Lavrinenko thought that Malachenko was just going home for vacation.

Later, he hadn't seen him come back for more than half a month, so he thought that things might not be as simple as they seemed, so he asked out of curiosity.

Hearing what Malachenko said, Lavrinenko was naturally quite surprised, and an expression of disbelief immediately appeared on his face. After confirming the situation from Malachenko's expression that didn't seem to be joking, he continued to speak.

"I never thought that these arrogant British and American guys would come to ask for help. These capitalists' lackeys used to look down on us, thinking that we were lowly, a third-rate army composed of dirty workers and farmers working in the fields. I never thought that they would have such a day, ha!"

Just as he finished speaking, Lavrinenko, who had not noticed the train before, suddenly glanced around and found something wrong that he had just ignored: the big guys parked on the carts with the camouflage cloth removed, he had never seen them before!

It was true that it looked a bit familiar in the dim night, but Lavrinenko bet that this was definitely not any of the equipment currently in service in the leadership division, and he blurted out words of surprise.

"Malachenko, what is this truck you brought back?"