Chapter 2389 Welcome to the Crater World (Part 2)

Leading the troops to continue forward, Malashenko soon encountered the "final surprise" that had been prepared for him - the super huge pits left after the bombing of the extra-large 5-ton gas tank.

When Malashenko encountered the first gas tank pit, he found that the soldiers were looking around the pit and watching the scene.

In theory, such behavior is prohibited on the battlefield, and the leadership division known for its rich combat experience and a high proportion of veterans should not have such a situation.

But Malashenko knew the reason behind this seemingly abnormal situation, just because the pit was so fucking big, so big that even when he was sitting in the tank and still had a distance to look at it, he felt that the pit was really fucking big.

Just a rough estimate, the diameter of this super huge pit is at least 20 meters, and it may not be much different from 30 meters. Compared with those Red Army heavy artillery shell pits that are easily calculated by one or two meters, this is simply a father-level, no, grandfather-level old pit.

There were no signs of any German activity around the pit, not even the slightest sign of German activity. Even though Malashenko knew that there must have been German troops here, and a large number of them, he could not see any traces.

Everywhere he looked was a scorched earth, the smell of destruction, blood and corpses floating in the air, and the remaining smell of gunpowder silently told him that this place was not a real slaughterhouse, but a battlefield.

Malashenko ordered the car to continue moving forward, and soon it arrived at the edge of the pit with the escort of other Stalin tanks and soldiers around. Looking back, the soldiers who saw that it was the division commander's command car driving up immediately made way. When the huge No. 177 IS7 heavy tank slowly stopped, a figure quietly emerged from the opened turret cover.

"Who is in charge here?"

Malachenko did not get off the car, but half of his body leaned out of the turret to ask the soldiers under the car, and then a soldier holding an AK came forward and saluted.

"It's me, Comrade Division Commander, Lieutenant Volokov led the team to report to you."

"Hmm"

Malachenko did not comment, just responded casually, and then he held the edge of the turret with both hands and scanned everything under the car around him, taking in all the battlefield scenes around him.

There was no sign of any German soldiers surviving, and there was no evidence that this was once a complete position or a trench, communication trench or something like that.

Floating soil, the only thing Malachenko saw was countless layers of floating soil of varying depths. Those loose particles of soil covered the surface shallowly, the big ones were as big as a fist, the small ones were estimated to be only the size of a fingernail, and the smaller ones were already considered soil debris and could not be distinguished by the naked eye.

You don't need to try to step on it with your feet. Just one look is enough to know the feeling of stepping on it. It is definitely similar to stepping on a sponge or bread.

Looking around, Malashenko couldn't even find a tree, not even a branch or a stump.

There were trees in the photo in his memory, and he could see them both near and far. Malashenko remembered it very clearly. But now there is not even a trace of vegetation or trees. It's as if they disappeared out of thin air and disappeared completely.

Looking east, west, and under the car in front of him, Malashenko couldn't help but speak again.

"Why don't you keep going, Lieutenant? Is there any special meaning for staying here with your soldiers to see the big pit?"

Malashenko didn't deliberately make trouble, but just wanted to ask the lieutenant about the combat situation, but he didn't expect the latter's answer to really surprise himself.

"We have already advanced once without orders, comrade division commander. We are the first wave of troops to rush up, and the comrade company commander only asked our platoon to tear open a gap to take down the enemy's outermost position and hold it."

"But after rushing up, I found that there was no enemy fighting with us, we could not find the target, and no enemy attacked the area we defended. I felt that I could not just wait, I had to do something, so I led the soldiers to continue to move forward until we walked a few hundred meters forward and arrived here, at the edge of this big pit."

"All this is completely different from what we imagined. We don't know whether to continue to move forward and where to go. We were about to go to the infantry fighting vehicle to ask for orders by radio, and we happened to meet you coming."

""

It seems that the intelligence sent back from the frontline troops not long ago was correct. The first batch of attacking troops did not encounter any resistance at all after rushing up the half-slope waist defense line. They marched through the outermost defense area like walking on the street, and did not even see the shadow of a living German.

With the previous report and the second lieutenant's personal account, Malashenko believed how powerful the 18 gas tanks under the hell bombardment were. It was enough to completely wipe out the Germans from this world, just like right-clicking on the computer desktop, emptying the recycle bin, and formatting the disk without leaving any trace. However, there was still a problem that had not been solved.

"Have you really not seen a single German since you charged up? Have you seen any alive or dead???"

If you didn't see the alive ones, then the dead ones would be fine too.

Malachenko still didn't believe that such an important defense line could be completely destroyed by the bombardment of an hour and 18 gas tanks. There would be at least a trace left, right? Hmm? It should be, right? Right?

This time, the second lieutenant's answer did not disappoint Malachenko.

"Yes, comrade division commander, I saw it, it's over there."

Following the direction of the second lieutenant's finger, Malachenko found something in the soil at the feet of several soldiers not far away. It was like a bamboo shoot that had just emerged from the ground. It was not even clear at first glance.

"Is that a hand?"

Before Malachenko finished his question, the second lieutenant's answer came out immediately.

"Yes, comrade commander, a hand."

"Since we rushed up, the only Germans we have seen are in this state. It is not clear whether they were killed by the explosion or suffocated, but they are all buried in the soil. Just now, Vasily stepped on the loose soil pit and almost fell, and immediately a human leg came out from under his feet."

"Looking back, I found that it was a leg that was blown off. Only the thigh to the calf was left, and the feet were gone. I don't know who the owner is. There is also a hand that emerged from the soil like this, in almost all kinds of postures, but there are not many. I guess more Germans should be buried deeper, and they should be buried alive in the anti-artillery caves."