Chapter 523 Seventh Armored Division

According to regulations, the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross can only be awarded to those who have shown extraordinary courage on the battlefield and have been awarded the First Class Iron Cross before. It is a very valuable and difficult-to-obtain high-level medal in the German military's medal system.

Throughout the entire World War II, only 7,361 people were awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, which is less than a fully equipped standard infantry division of the German army. This is undoubtedly a pitiful number for the Third Reich German army, which had as many as 5 million active soldiers at its peak.

The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross that Malashenko is holding on his fingers at this moment does not have oak leaves and double swords accessories, but is just an ordinary Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. But even so, this medal is already so extraordinary. The German colonel who was able to receive this high-level medal in 1942 undoubtedly has his own legendary experience.

Curious, Malashenko stood up from his half-squatting position and took a look at the corpse of the German colonel lying at his feet. The gradually cold and cold corpse had been stripped by Malashenko like a pig without hair, and there was no trace of the former mighty armored colonel.

Wanting to know the identity of this German armored colonel, Malashenko decided to find out the truth and began to search for the briefcase stripped from the German colonel's body.

This small bag, which is very common on German officers, is now full. The thick texture obviously indicates that it is full of things that Malashenko does not know but is very interested in.

"Map? This thing is useful to keep, I will look at it later."

Malashenko stuffed a thick map folded into a square corner into the big pocket of his coat, and continued to search the small leather bag and soon took out a cowhide notebook, which seemed to be used to record some daily trivia.

With curiosity, Malashenko opened the first page of the leather notebook and wanted to see what was written inside. Suddenly, he found something very stupid.

He didn't understand German at all!

He shook his head and said he couldn't complain about his stupid behavior. He stuffed the leather notebook into the other pocket of his jacket and continued to search his bag. What he found immediately afterwards made Malashenko's eyes light up.

"Officer's ID? Great, I have to find someone who can understand what's written on it to ask."

Generally speaking, a small officer's ID usually records the service record and transfer status of the holder, which is the most concise and clear way to understand what a soldier has done in the past and now.

Malashenko, who had made up his mind to get to the bottom of it, immediately reached out and called the bearded major Maxim who was cleaning the battlefield and commanding the escort of prisoners not far away. The bearded major who was grateful to Malashenko immediately ran over after hearing Malashenko's order.

"Comrade, what's the matter?"

"Yes, there is something. What was the name of the young man who knew German last time? He was the young man who served as the translator between me and the German doctor."

After hearing Malashenko's question, Major Maxim pondered for a while and searched for the answer in his mind. After a moment, he knew who Malashenko was referring to and answered directly.

"Oh, you are talking about Sasha, right? He served as the translator between you and the German doctor last time. He is escorting the prisoners over there. I will call him over to you now."

Although he has a beard that represents a rough man, it does not mean that Major Maxim is a person who cannot observe the situation and act accordingly.

On the contrary, this old Red Army tank soldier who used to be careless felt that his military rank had changed qualitatively after being promoted to major by Malashenko. Colonel-level officers are already middle-level officers. If they are still careless and clumsy like before, they will be laughed at by others.

With such a simple idea, Major Maxim changed his rough style and began to learn from the literary but heroic Political Commissar Petrov to improve his style of dealing with people. Hearing Malashenko's question, he could guess what Malashenko wanted to do, which was one of the results of his recent learning.

About two minutes later, when Maxim, who was jogging all the way, brought the young man named Sasha to Malashenko, Malashenko, who was already impatient, took the lead and handed the officer's certificate in his hand to Sasha.

"Look at what's written on it, Sasha, I want to know the most accurate result, not a guess."

From Malashenko's serious expression, he realized that the problem was unusual. After taking the officer's certificate handed over by Malashenko, Sasha, with a serious face, quickly flipped through it and read it. Such a scene made Major Maxim, who was standing aside, a little at a loss as to what to do next.

A minute later, Sasha, who had quickly read all the contents on the officer's certificate, could only barely understand about 80%. Sasha, who had never taken formal German courses and was at best a self-taught German idiot, slowly spoke.

"The certificate says that this person's name is Hans Stolberg, he is 37 years old, a colonel in the Wehrmacht, and his position is the colonel commander of the 129th Armored Regiment, which belongs to the 14th Armored Division of the Wehrmacht."

After dictating the content that he was sure of, Sasha, who was not very sure about the remaining uncertain content, spoke hesitantly.

"I don't understand the complicated part at the back of the certificate. It roughly means that this German used to serve in the 7th Armored Division of the Wehrmacht as a battalion commander. He was promoted to the rank of colonel and the commander of the armored regiment last year. The service record says that he participated in the battle in France, but I am not sure about the details. Comrade Commander, there are some obscure French place names and combat summaries in it."

"7th Armored Division?"

Hearing this most important detail in Sasha's oral words, Malashenko couldn't help but be stunned. Other Red Army commanders and fighters may not know what kind of unit the 7th Armored Division of the Wehrmacht is, but Malashenko, who is a time traveler from the future, knows it very well.

"Damn, the 7th Armored Division is Rommel's unit! This German is actually Rommel's former subordinate. Isn't this fucking too bad!? He really threw Rommel's face into his crotch!"