Chapter 2998 Tank Battle on the Parade Ground (Part 1)

"Who were you with just now? I've never seen that man in a tall hat before, but he seemed to have a good relationship with you.

As soon as Malashenko returned to the car, the good-natured Iushkin started firing machine guns at his mouth.

Although he did not follow Malashenko personally, who would have thought that this boy Iushkin would actually lie on the turret with a telescope in his hand and "peep" at every move of the commander of the vehicle from afar? This naturally includes the scene where Malashenko went shopping with de Gaulle just now, which led to his current remarks.

"He's not a particularly familiar person. It's even the first time we've met him. It's true."

"Huh? This is our first meeting."

Iushkin, who didn't understand what was going on, scratched the back of his head and watched Malashenko climb into the car as his voice faded. Just when he was about to say something more, he saw Malashenko quietly speaking.

"That was the president of France, the leader of the Free French Resistance and the last real man in France."

"Huh? President-in-Chief???"

Iushkin was surprised for the second time in half a minute and was speechless. He never expected that the seemingly unattractive person would be the President of France and win the title of Comrade Commander. "Real man" commented, these rather confusing words blurted out immediately afterwards.

"But didn't you say before that French men only take out their anger on their own women? As soon as the Germans left, they grabbed their own women and shaved their heads. Is this considered a man?"

"He is different. Don't treat him like those cats and dogs."

Before Iushkin finished speaking, Malashenko spoke immediately afterward. The meeting just now deepened Malashenko's impression of De Gaulle.

"This was a man who kept his faith even in his country's darkest moments and never looked back, always moving forward."

"Don't judge based on the camp and just talk about character and courage. He is indeed worthy of the title of "real man". Even when the French were beaten to a pulp by the Nazis, the troops he led also beat the Germans all over. Bao is a ruthless character, but it’s a pity that it is far from enough to save his motherland.”

"But fortunately, fate did not treat him badly and gave him a happy ending. The motherland was recovered through his efforts, and he returned home with honor as a hero. For a soldier, there will be no better outcome than this. ”

Iushkin seemed to understand Malashenko's words, but he could still understand that the man named "De Gaulle" was not simple, and that he had extraordinary courage and spirit.

After all, there are not many foreigners who can be evaluated like this by Malashenko.

The brief interlude ended quickly, and the military parade, which was truly the highlight, soon began.

One thing worth mentioning is that under the premise that Zhukov had the intention and Malashenko had the intention, the two thought of it almost at the same time and reached an agreement.

In this joint military parade, the reviewing troops of the leading army who participate in the military parade on their own territory will be the last troops to appear in the parade as the finale.

The top three countries are the United States, Britain and France. The Americans who love to show off take the lead, followed by the British who are related to the Americans. The French army, which is the weakest in terms of seniority, is the third to appear.

As for the Red Army being the last one to appear in the parade, that was Zhukov's request. However, it passed happily at the venue without causing any controversy, and was approved by the United States, Britain and France.

When it was time for the military parade, both sides of the street on June 17th, from the end of the street to the Brandenburg Gate at the end, were almost full of people watching the excitement.

Although it may sound unbelievable, the fact is that the Germans, the citizens of Berlin, had just finished the war in their own capital.

Although I can't say I have much fondness for the armies of the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain and France, which were described as "invaders" by the defeated Nazis, at least I don't have such obsessive hatred.

As soon as they heard that there was going to be a grand military parade today, and that all four countries would be dispatched together, some Berlin citizens directly brought their whole family, adults and children, to the battle.

Anyway, Berlin was still a dilapidated scene just after the war. There was no work to go to and nothing to do. There was basically nothing major to do every day except picking up garbage and queuing up to receive supplies. Although there are already temporary jobs arranged and led by the Red Army, such as "clearing ruins", "transporting materials", and "forming security teams" to solve the employment problem.

But what day is it? It's the day of the military parade.

The spectacle was so grand and the commotion was so great that even the clean-up of rubbish and rubble in several blocks around June 17th Street was suspended early in the morning, waiting to discuss anything after the military parade.

Once the work on the construction site here stops, Berlin citizens who have nothing to do will naturally have time to come and watch the excitement. This is inevitable.

In order to enliven the atmosphere and create a lively scene, the Red Army, which was responsible for organizing the specific matters of the military parade and maintaining order on the scene, did not stop Berlin citizens from coming to watch the excitement.

After all, if from the street to the end of the street, only representatives of the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain and France were here to watch the military parade, it would seem a bit too deserted and inappropriate.

Looking at the crowds of people already standing on both sides of the street, and the leading soldiers responsible for maintaining order on the street.

Just for today's matter, more than a battalion of manpower has been specially allocated to take charge of various matters on the parade ground, and this does not count the troops being reviewed.

After a lot of trouble, the main force of Varosha's Second Division was basically mobilized, and all the elite personnel were dispatched. Only a small number of housekeeping comrades were left in the military camp. Calculated based on the scale of troop dispatches, that's not enough. It was really even more pompous than the Red Square military parade that had just been held not long ago.

Thinking of the above, Malashenko was quite emotional and smiled and lit a cigarette for himself. He didn't know when he would return to Berlin next time after leaving.

But thinking about a unit with such political significance as the Leader's Army, the superiors would never let it stay in the rear and sleep. Berlin, which is at the forefront of the confrontation, is where the future Leader's Army should stay.

I just don’t know who the commander of the leading army will be at that time, maybe Lavrinenko? I have the intention to recommend him to my superiors to take over. In terms of experience and resume, he is also the most suitable candidate, but there is no guarantee that my superiors will have other arrangements and parachute someone else over. After all, he is a "strong soldier".

Malashenko has indeed had the idea of ​​submitting his resignation and applying for retirement, but the time has not been decided yet. Maybe it will be after he finishes fighting the Japanese and gets married to Natalia, then he will be discharged and return to his hometown to live a happy life. The pastoral life of raising chickens and vegetables, working in the fields during the day, and having a hot bed with his wife and children at night, seems to Malashenko to be quite good.

He didn't want to change his career to work in politics or become a factory director. Malashenko really felt that he should take a good rest and was a little tired.

I just don't know if the superiors will agree, and Comrade Lao Zhu is unwilling to let him go. Now that things have happened, Malashenko also feels that this matter is quite mysterious.

Put yourself in his shoes, if you were Zhukov, you might not let Malashenko leave the army easily.

"Damn, this is really troublesome. I have to think about how to tell Lao Zhu about it."

Malashenko, who was holding a cigarette in his mouth and feeling like a fairy, was fascinated by his thoughts for a moment. He was suddenly pushed by Iushkin who was lying beside him outside the turret, and he suddenly came back to his senses. Realize that the parade has begun.

"Here, here's this for you. We can also see it here. Hurry up and take a look at what Americans are like."

""

He looked at the telescope handed over by Iushkin, and then looked at the kid who had one in his other hand for his own use.

After sighing, "You're pretty well prepared, kid", he immediately reached out and took the thing Iushkin handed over, raised it in front of him, and looking around, Malashenko used the IS7's "tall The "mighty" man naturally stood tall and could see far away. Through the telescope, he could see at a glance the American troops marching forward with their nostrils pointed upward.

According to the information Malashenko had previously obtained, the highlight of this military parade will be the heavy equipment segment, and the most eye-catching piece of heavy equipment is naturally the King of Land War tanks.

Intelligence shows that the Americans, British, and even the French, who have made adequate preparations for this military parade, have brought their most "proud" tanks to compete and add glory to their own countries.

Malashenko is very curious about what kind of thing you Americans will bring to the scene today, but he wants to see whether you old boy Patton will do "hard work" or "bad work" today.

"Huh? Look, is that an American tank? Oops! It's quite big. It seems bigger than our IS6."

Just as Iushkin said, after the infantry formation cleared the field, the Americans had already driven up the big "Kings of Land Warfare" at this moment.

Malashenko's eyelids twitched twice as he held up the telescope and took a closer look. For a moment, he thought he might have been dazzled. He put down the telescope and thought about it, rubbed his eyes again, then raised the telescope and took another look. Only then did he finally I can be sure that it's really not a dazzle of my brother.

"Grandma! Did the Yankees really drag this big-headed kid T29 over?"

To be precise, it's because of changes in the timeline.

In the existing history, it was just an experimental T29 heavy tank running in circles on the test track. In this timeline, because the armor pressure of the US military is unprecedentedly huge, it is much higher than in the existing history. Even the 101st Airborne Division is The Germans used the "Three Lucky Treasures" combination of "Tiger King + Black Panther 2 + Corian" to completely fuck the gang and send them to prisoner of war camps.

If Jack hadn't led the vanguard of the Fourth Armored Division to rush in at the critical moment and fight to the death, he would eventually successfully block the German offensive momentum. After crushing the Germans who came from the 101st Airborne Division with the threat of victory, it is estimated that they will have to continue to charge and dominate for a while.

Bastogne is actually just the tip of the iceberg under the pressure of the US military's unprecedentedly huge armor resistance.

On the other hand, this also explains very well why the U.S. Army, which really has no other vehicles available, will improvise and use whatever is available. With the mentality of "any use is better than no use", it uses T29, which failed some of the indicators, was forcibly launched. The "T" prefix of temporary workers was thrown away and the "M" given to them as official numbers was converted into regular workers.

"This is our most powerful heavy tank at present. Maybe she is not so perfect, but she does give us the confidence to finally say with dignity, "Let the German King Tiger come here!" "That's it."

This was Jack's evaluation of the M29 "Thomas" heavy tank in his personal report. Malashenko did not find out about it until a long time later.

But no matter what, the American "Thomas the Tank Engine" is indeed a piece of equipment that meets the requirements and is powerful enough at least on the parade ground.

This thing is huge and fierce, with an oversized square head and a flat body that is extremely disproportionate. It looks like a large tank turret on a flatbed truck, but it is also visually impactful.

After all, it is really big, so big that Sherman would drive past it and stop in front of it like a son. Even the IS6 heavy tanks that the Red Army has deployed in service are not as tall and mighty as it.

Such a huge size, plus the 105mm tank gun that is not small in the Allied forces, just looking at the smugness on Patton's face, you can tell how satisfied he is with it.

"General Koenig, what do you think? This is the most advanced and powerful heavy tank in the United States of America. It has been used in the battle to liberate France. It can compete with the most powerful German Tiger King and has an advantage."

"To be honest, we have compared it with the Russians' new heavy tank, the Stalin VI, and it is a real car comparison, not paper data."

"In reality, except for its slightly inferior mobility, our powerful M29 "Thomas" heavy tank is not inferior to the Russians' shabby tractors in terms of firepower and protection. Its rock-solid advantage is the most solid shield of the US Army, and it can maintain the upper hand even when facing those barbaric Russians."

In addition to being proud, he did not forget to emphasize to the French general Marie Pierre Koenig who stayed on the viewing platform that "our car is better than the Russians' IS6", and the meaning he wanted to express could not be clearer.

Koenig, who pretended to be "I am really enjoying the parade" and just laughed it off, responded cleverly to Patton who wanted to compete with the Russians in everything.

At the same time, Koenig inadvertently noticed from the corner of his eye that the American general standing next to Patton, Major General Jack Morrison, the commander of the 4th Armored Division, was smiling mysteriously and playfully, and he didn't know what it meant.

But it always seemed to give people a bad feeling, as if behind this mysterious smile, he was looking forward to something that was about to happen.

Koenig, who knew about the rumors that Patton and Jack were not in harmony, didn't want to get involved in this matter, so he simply pretended not to see it and continued to laugh it off with Patton, carrying out his shrewd art of being a person to the end.

It was not until the British troops who were on parade, following the Americans, began to appear that the scene was once again raised to another climax.

"Look! That's the new tank of my British Empire. Please open your eyes and witness it carefully."