Chapter 204 Red Heart (Part 1)

After a series of urgent repairs and hammering, the steel behemoths of the First Independent Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion under Malashenko finally completed emergency combat readiness with 31 KV1 heavy tanks and 7 T34 tanks ready to go to the battlefield.

Although the Soviet tanks of the same period were slightly inferior to the German tanks, which were made with precision, in terms of manufacturing process details and the quality of rolled armored steel.

But compared with the Germans' overly strict pursuit of perfection in tank manufacturing, which was like making works of art, the Soviet tanks, which used a lot of mature technologies and even directly applied the transmission system of civilian tractors, had the characteristics of unquestionable solid reliability and easy maintenance and replacement.

The parts used to repair and replace Soviet tanks can even be found in ordinary civilian tractor factories. The Soviet army fighting on the home front has more tenacious battlefield adaptability than the German army that invaded from afar.

After finding treasures from the remaining inventory of the tractor factory in Leningrad and repairing them, Malashenko, who had left the Ladoga Lake dock, followed the order issued by the front headquarters and began to lead his troops south to the Schlusselburg battlefield.

Although the roads passing through the city were much better than those in off-road conditions, they were still difficult to walk on. The large-scale bombing of the entire Leningrad area by the German Air Force for several months had already devastated the entire city. The brick-paved roads were full of large and small craters, making it difficult for the heavy armored tanks to move.

"Seryosha, keep going, follow the lead car and drive slowly. Be careful. I'll go see the situation outside."

After saying this, Malashenko opened the turret hatch on the commander's position above his head without waiting for his subordinates to respond. The first ray of sunlight after his upper body was exposed outside the turret shone on Malashenko's face with the pungent smell of gunpowder and a slight smell of blood.

"The weather is good, but the city is a mess."

The tracks of the KV1 heavy tank squeaked as it drove slowly and steadily on the city road, making a terrible sound that was enough to make ordinary people's ears numb.

A twelve or thirteen-year-old girl holding a rag doll in her arms and a younger boy holding it tightly in her other hand seemed to be completely indifferent to the steel behemoths that were slowly passing by at a close distance. They continued to walk on the gray streets that were devastated and even the bright sunshine was unable to render changes.

Malachenko, who leaned his upper body out of the turret to observe the surrounding situation and the smoothness of the road, saw this scene in time. Just as he was thinking about whether he could take a minute to get off the car to ask and check the specific situation, he hesitated because of the urgent military order. A small group of Red Army patrol soldiers, about a squad in number, came towards him and changed Malachenko's mind.

"Hey, comrade, here! Look here!"

The Red Army infantry squad leader who led the patrol immediately stepped forward and saluted Malashenko who was leaning out of the turret with his upper body.

"Sergeant Romanov reports to you, sir, what are your orders?"

Faced with the question raised by the sergeant, Malashenko did not answer directly. Instead, he pointed his right arm at the brother and sister who were wandering around the ruins on the corner of the street.

"Go and check it out, sergeant. The children are the ones who should not be implicated and should be protected."

Looking back in the direction pointed by Malashenko's right hand, the sergeant squad leader, whose face was covered with smoke stains and whose black uniform was even stained with blood, immediately showed a slightly helpless and indifferent expression.

But even so, the sergeant squad leader, who knew what to do within his duty, still waved his hand gently in the direction of the group of wandering siblings as ordered by Malashenko.

"Ziakov, Sasha, go and deal with it, don't let the children continue to run around on the street."

When the sergeant squad leader turned around again after giving orders to his subordinates, what appeared in front of him was the face of Malashenko leaning down from the turret to hand him a cigarette.

"You look familiar with this pair of siblings, is there any story, comrade sergeant."

The follow-up First Independent Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion was still slowly passing by Malashenko's car that had stopped. The sergeant squad leader took the cigarette handed by Malashenko with a grateful smile, but then showed a helpless and sad expression.

"Who said it wasn't, sir? I'm a local myself, living on the next street. The siblings were orphans who lived in a street food supply agency. Their biological mother died when they gave birth to their brother, and their father was a platoon leader of the Red Army Infantry Division, but unfortunately he died at the hands of those damn Finns. Fortunately, Irina from the supply agency took the siblings in."

"But who could have thought that those fascists would come knocking on the door? The food supply agency Irina was in charge of was directly hit by a bomb dropped by a German plane during the bombing half a month ago, and the entire building was gone. If Irina hadn't saved the two children, she would have had a chance to run away. It's a pity that since then, the two children have been wandering around the ruins of the supply agency all day. Today is the fifth time I have led a team to deal with them. It's really heartbreaking."

After listening to the sergeant squad leader who kept shaking his head, he turned around and looked at the brother and sister next to the ruins on the corner of the street. The two dirty children were already in the arms of two Red Army soldiers carrying Mosin-Nagant rifles. The warm embrace was no longer the dazed faces of the familiar people. Even Malashenko, a later time traveler, felt a pang of heartache.

He turned around and opened the pocket of his jacket lining his fireproof suit and took out a pack of thick compressed biscuits the size of a palm. Malashenko, who was about to hand it out, suddenly hesitated.

After thinking for a while, he leaned down and took out a box of unopened canned beef from the glove box next to the commander's position inside his turret. He held it in his hand with a pack of compressed biscuits and weighed the weight. Then he bent down and handed it down the turret.

"Although the supply of materials is tight, we can't let the children starve even if we are hungry."

"Take these things and take good care of the two children, Sergeant, don't let them eat all at once, the days ahead will be very difficult."