Chapter 299: Concentrating Will

The huge training ground was silent, and Malashenko, standing on the wooden podium, continued.

"I know that most of you are elites who have survived life and death hardships. Almost every crew present has a record of destroying German tanks in the single digit or even double digits. In my opinion, this is indeed worth boasting about. Being able to destroy the German *** tank is enough to prove one's ability, not to mention that many of our comrades have more than one tank destroyed."

What Malashenko said actually represents the true thoughts of the vast majority of the unruly tank soldiers in the audience at this moment.

These Red Army tank crews drawn from various Red Army tank units were almost without exception regarded as "masters" and "elites" in their original troops. While being admired by their colleagues and praised by their superiors, they also served as grassroots commanders at the company or platoon level, large or small. It is impossible to say that such people do not have a little arrogance and unruly character in their hearts.

Being transferred to the Guards Tank Regiment, which symbolizes the most elite troops of the Red Army, should have been a good thing. However, these excited tank soldiers only found out after they came under Malashenko that everything they had imagined was just meaningless illusions.

There was no such thing as rookies or new recruits in this newly formed Guards Tank Regiment. Almost all of them were elite tank crews in their original troops before being transferred here.

Some tank commanders who could serve as company and platoon commanders in their original troops could only be ordinary tank commanders without any command authority after coming under Malashenko. It was almost impossible for the parties involved to have no resentment or thoughts in their hearts due to this kind of troop transfer, which was equivalent to dismissal from office.

If it was just "dismissal from office", it would be fine. After all, everyone was a tank elite who fought hard with real swords and guns. It was an unwritten rule in the army that they were inferior to others but were commanded by stronger ones. There was basically no dissatisfaction or complaints.

But what these unruly Red Army tank soldiers couldn't understand the most was that Lieutenant Colonel Malashenko, who was hailed as the Red Army tank hero, was like a demon. He forced everyone to train hard all day long just after the troops took shape. These days, almost everyone spent much more time in the tank than doing other things in a day. The tank soldiers who were eager to go to the front line to fight a life-and-death battle with the Nazi fascists were very puzzled by Malashenko's behavior.

"Comrade Commander, I have a question. Instead of running around here every day and wasting precious diesel and shells, why don't we go directly to the front line to give those fascists a fatal blow? Now everyone is wasting precious energy and physical strength on meaningless things like training every day. Every comrade present is not a new soldier. I personally think that such training is not very meaningful."

Malachenko, who had been waiting for such a question since the beginning of the training, turned his head in the direction of the voice. The tank commander who raised his right arm high still remained in the same position and quietly waited for Malachenko's answer.

Looking at the large group of tank soldiers in the audience who basically responded with approval, Malachenko realized that the time was ripe and then raised his mouth and cleared his throat again before blurting out.

"In fact, I think the question raised by this comrade is also a common mystery in everyone's mind. Instead of letting everyone continue to curse me in secret in such confusion, I think it's time to tell everyone the real reason."

"Yes, the fact is indeed as the comrade just said. Everyone present here is an elite of the original troops who have experienced hundreds of battles. The new recruits' tutorials such as simulated attacks and formation drills are almost child's play for everyone."

"But at the same time, I want to emphasize that our newly established Guards Tank Regiment is actually a troop like loose sand. There is no doubt about this."

The words of Malashenko echoing over the huge assembly field were like a drop of ice water poured into boiling hot oil, and it exploded instantly. It was hard to imagine that the new commander, who was also the hero of the Red Army tanks, actually described such a tank regiment composed of elites as a loose sand. The puzzled Red Army tank soldiers immediately began to chirp like frightened birds under the stage.

"Is he crazy? He actually described us as a pile of loose sand? I can destroy five German tanks by myself, not to mention that we now have so many crews of the same level."

"I think he is either crazy or the title of tank hero above his head is false. It is boring enough to let us do this basic training like recruits. Now he describes our hard work as a pile of loose sand. What on earth is our regiment commander thinking!?"

"I always feel that it won't be that simple. After all, he was entrusted with an important task by General Zhukov and was personally appointed by the leader Comrade Stalin. If he was only at this level, would he be sent to lead us? Just thinking about it makes me feel impossible."

The audience was discussing with each other, and Malashenko on the stage saw and remembered them. Realizing that the heat was almost reached, Malashenko immediately raised his arms and gently pressed down to signal everyone to be quiet for the time being. Malashenko, who had regained the right to speak, continued to speak without thinking.

"I think every elite tank crew present here should have been the core in the original army, but precisely because of this, I think everyone should be the object of cooperation in daily battles. As long as you choose a battle breakthrough point, all the other Red Army tanks around you will fight around you. In other words, I have also experienced dozens of tank battles before."

Combined with his own personal experience, the words from Malashenko's mouth hit the key points of almost all tank crews in the audience like an accurate master-level prophecy. These battle-hardened tank crews with the name of elites are indeed as Malashenko said. In the original army, they were all the core components of the battle, not the kind of people who actively cooperated with other friendly tank crews.