Chapter 503 German Stick

The frozen snow still showed no signs of melting under the bitter cold. Even in early 1942, the winter that was enough to leave a shadow on the Germans still covered the entire Russian land in their mouths.

Although Malashenko had commanded the troops to advance as fast as possible on the frozen land, the poor off-road snowy road conditions and the breakdown of a few zombie tanks that had been repaired after a death still seriously delayed the advancement of the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment.

What made Malashenko even more upset was that his own IS1 prototype tank had a gearbox gear break during the maneuver. The reason was that when the driver Seryosha drove the IS1 prototype tank over a small slope, he made an operating error and forced a gear change in the middle of the way, and the transmission system of the IS1 itself was not very reliable.

Malashenko, who stumbled and stopped along the way, unexpectedly encountered a very interesting thing.

However, this interesting thing was only for the Soviet army. For the German army, it was the most realistic portrayal of the tragic situation of the Winter War.

When passing through a village destroyed by war, Malashenko unexpectedly saw a "German stick" stuck on the road at the entrance of the village.

It literally means a German stick, but in fact it is a German corpse that has been frozen solid and has long been turned into a human stick. It was stuck upside down in the snow by the Red Army counterattack troops that passed by earlier.

On the boots pointing to the sky, a wooden sign with Russian writing on it was hanging on it. It was fixed fairly firmly. The writing was very neat. It was obviously left by a cultured person, but it was extremely ironic in Malashenko's eyes.

" вперёд!назапад! (Forward! All the way to the west!)"

The German stick stuck on the roadside made many Red Army tank soldiers passing by slow down their speed to pay attention and smile. This prank left by someone did bring everyone some joy in winter.

"It's our home ground now! I like this feeling, comrade commander!"

Hearing Iushkin's words after seeing the German stick, Malashenko, who was in a good mood, smiled and agreed without much thought.

"Yes, the situation is different now."

When Malashenko, who had been delayed for a long time along the way, finally caught up with the main force and was ready to show his skills, a telegram from Comrade Lao Zhu told Malashenko a very frustrating news.

The winter counterattack has stopped, the siege of Moscow has been lifted, and the Red Army now needs to conserve its strength and wait for the battle in the spring of next year.

Malashenko, who had no battle to fight, led his troops to wait in place for a while, but a transfer order from the front headquarters transferred Malashenko to other fronts again.

"Go to the Southwestern Front, accept the direct command of Marshal Timoshenko, and prepare for the upcoming battle!?"

Malashenko, who was holding the telegram paper in his hand, was confused and couldn't figure out the situation. Political Commissar Petrov beside him was also full of surprise.

"What's going on? Why are we suddenly assigned to the Southwestern Front?"

Malachenko, who looked a little dazed, did not say much. He gently handed the telegram in his hand to Political Commissar Petrov next to him with his drooping right hand, indicating that he should read it himself.

After taking the telegram, he read it quickly at a glance. This telegram, drafted by General Zhukov, the commander of the Western Front, clearly ordered Malachenko to lead his troops to report to the Southwestern Front Headquarters.

The relevant troop handover procedures have been completed by direct communication between the two front headquarters. The final result has been finalized, leaving Malachenko with the only choice to report to the Southwestern Front Headquarters.

There, Marshal Timoshenko, a famous general of the Red Army, was waiting for Malachenko's arrival.

"It seems that the Southwestern Front will have a big move, Malashenko, otherwise they wouldn't be so anxious to recruit us."

Since Malashenko first led the First Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion to fight, every battle he has fought has been a bloody battle without exception.

The scene of the corpses of Soviet and German soldiers piled up like mountains has long been commonplace for Malashenko. At first, he would feel sick and want to vomit when he smelled the rotten blood. Now Malashenko can even sit next to the corpses and eat the hot food in the lunch box directly.

Wherever there is a fierce battle, there must be Malashenko. In the battle of attacking and siege where the counterattack force is urgently needed to be condensed into a battering ram, using heavy tank troops to make key breakthroughs is undoubtedly the best choice.

Compared to the thoughtfulness of Political Commissar Petrov, Malashenko, who has roughly deduced what he will face after combining his later memory with this transfer order telegram, is silent and unhappy.

As the commander of the Southwestern Front, does Marshal Timoshenko have talent and ability?

The answer is of course yes. Otherwise, Stalin, as a qualified leader and loving father, would not have entrusted him with such an important task.

But the problem was that Marshal Timoshenko's style of commanding the battle was somewhat arbitrary and even very arbitrary. Compared with Zhukov's rough but delicate style of "heavy sword without edge, great skill without work", Marshal Timoshenko's seemingly powerful command style actually contained huge hidden dangers. One careless move could lead to a complete loss. This is the case with Marshal Timoshenko.

Malachenko, who had sorted out all his thoughts, knew clearly that the Second Battle of Kharkov, which broke out after the snow melted in the spring of 1942, caused heavy losses to the Soviet army.

Marshal Timoshenko, who commanded the Southwestern Front to launch an offensive against the German Southern Army Group, suffered heavy losses. The endless Soviet prisoners captured by the Germans opened the door to the defense zone of the entire Southwestern Front, which directly led to the outbreak of the Battle of Stalingrad.

According to the original historical trend, Malachenko actually did not want to interfere with the wrong strategic decisions made by the Soviet army. If he did so, it would likely cause a great change in the original historical trend, including a complete subversion of the battle time and strategic situation, and even the final outcome of the war would become unpredictable.

And this is obviously not what Malachenko, who is determined to survive, wants. If possible, Malachenko also wants everything to be under his control, so that he can make the most accurate judgment on every step of the German army and the time of the war.

But thinking that he might also be thrown into the flesh-and-blood grinder of Stalingrad to experience hell on earth, Malashenko, with a fierce conflict in his heart, quickly weighed all the pros and cons. The Battle of Stalingrad, which changed the course of the entire Patriotic War, was too heavy in terms of casualties. If possible, Malashenko really didn't want to be drawn into this terrible flesh-and-blood grinder.