Chapter 467 Future Echoes

Although he washed off all the blood stains on his face and clothes immediately after ordering the execution of the Soviet captain, Colonel Horning, who still remembers the scene vividly, could never forget the loud questioning of the Soviet captain.

"What about you? Germans, are you afraid of death?"

Recalling the cold expression of the Soviet captain before his death, Colonel Horning wanted to answer that the Germans were not afraid of death, and German soldiers were better and braver than any other soldiers in the world.

But what was really happening around him could not make Colonel Horning do so. The group of staff and officers at the command post who were relieved after receiving the news of the retreat really made Colonel Horning feel ashamed.

This kind of shame does not mean that Colonel Honin must want his soldiers to prove their value and glory by death, but this desire for life seems so pale and powerless in front of the Soviet captain who is ready to die. After a long time, Colonel Honin finally came to the final answer that he did not want to die here.

"At that time, I thought it was fate that saved these Russians. They seemed to have been favored by the goddess of luck at the most critical moment. But now it seems that fate does not exist. Malashenko has proved this with his actual actions. Even today, after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, I still have great respect for this marshal who is called the most dangerous man in the Soviet Union. It is this kind of courage and fortitude embodied in him that saved the Soviet Union under the doomsday."

At this moment, Colonel Honin would not have thought that what he said in an exclusive interview with a reporter many years later would become the cover page window for Europe to understand Malashenko.

Colonel Honin, who lived longer than Malashenko, witnessed the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the deaths of Malashenko's two sons in Afghanistan and Chernobyl, and how this marshal, known as the most dangerous man in the Soviet Union, was tortured by the cruel reality to the point of exhaustion, wounds all over his body and almost going crazy. He also witnessed Malashenko's final fall in Grozny after he regained his will at the age of nearly 80.

Except for the old gunner who accompanied Malashenko in the gunner's position in the two-man turret and fought to the end, no one knew what Malashenko said in the last second before he fell headfirst into the position of the commander. The words in Colonel Honin's memoirs are the only window for Europeans to understand this most dangerous man in the Soviet Union.

Even at the unveiling ceremony of the monument many years after Malashenko's death, this text is still widely circulated throughout Europe.

But it is too early to talk about what happened after the handshake and peace across decades. The most urgent thing for Colonel Horning, who was hit by the Soviet bayonet, was how to retreat properly. This was not an easy task for the Great German Infantry Regiment, which was already in close combat with the Soviet army.

The troops left behind were undoubtedly facing destruction in the face of the powerful Soviet infantry-tank coordinated offensive. If possible, Colonel Horning also wanted air support to delay the Soviet ground offensive to buy time for his own retreat, but the weak air force was as slow as their pot-bellied Marshal Meyer.

Relying on these guys to help him get out of trouble, Colonel Horning felt that he would probably stay in the Russian prisoner-of-war camp to pray.

"Find a way to repel the offensive of these Russians, otherwise we will all be stuck! Put all the reserve troops into it, and when necessary, allow a counterattack against the Russians, as long as we can repel their offensive faster and win time!"

After careful consideration and repeated weighing, he could not issue a cruel order to abandon any of his troops. The saying that kindness is not good for the army may be an eternal truth, but how can a person who casually orders to abandon his comrades be a qualified commander?

The success or failure of a battlefield commander will determine whether he can leave a name in history. Colonel Horning, who may be surrounded or even annihilated, chose the most dangerous tactic with the highest probability of failure: repel this wave of Soviet offensive and then retreat again.

At this point, there is no extra time and need to persuade Colonel Horning again. The adjutant who has been standing by his side turned around and ran to convey the notice after receiving the order.

After grabbing a brand new telescope and staring at his own position which was still under direct fire from Soviet tanks, Colonel Horning, who was already desperate, finally admitted that the Soviet captain's last words were true.

"I have to admit that on Russian soil, you people with faith are more afraid of death."

After receiving Colonel Horning's order to go all out, the Great German Infantry Regiment immediately started like a sophisticated war machine.

The four fully equipped combat battalions originally reserved for the reserve were all thrown into the frontal battle in one breath. The 88 guns that were previously worried about being blown up by Soviet artillery fire were all dragged to the forefront by trucks, and they were ready to turn the muzzles to aim at the Soviet tank cluster that was coming in front of them and opened fire.

The German soldiers who were almost frozen into sticks in the cold wind and the temperature of more than minus 30 degrees Celsius fought desperately, and the strong combat effectiveness of the elite troops of the Wehrmacht was fully demonstrated at this moment.

Malachenko, who commanded the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment and threw everything into the battle, did not get the expected crushing victory. The German defense line that stood in front of him like an unyielding wall withstood wave after wave of tests under fierce attacks.

Malachenko, who led his men into the gaps in the positions several times, was like a mouse in a bellows, being bullied from both ends. The German army that surrounded him quickly, as if healing wounds at high speed, tried every means to defeat the Soviet army and fill the gaps in the positions.

No matter what they had in their hands, they threw all the bundles of M24 cluster grenades to the side of Malachenko's car. The deafening roar and explosion almost made the eardrum of the nearest driver, Seryosha, bleed. The barrel of the DT light machine gun on the vehicle was red and hot, and Malachenko tried every means to penetrate the German defense line.

However, these Wehrmacht soldiers who were ready to die like the SS mercilessly trampled on Malashenko's plan with their flesh and blood. They were just about to rush under the tank chassis with explosives, which made Malashenko mistakenly think that he had encountered the Wehrmacht Showa Volunteer Unit.

After repeated attempts to break into the restricted area in front of the German position, they all ended in failure. Malashenko, whose two vehicle-mounted DT light machine guns were all scrapped, finally gritted his teeth and issued a retreat order.