Chapter 529: New Soldiers

"Hello, this is Timoshenko."

Before Comrade Lao Tie finished speaking, Malashenko on the other end of the phone started to complain.

"We just encountered an air raid by the Germans. Commander, the air defense forces did not have time to deploy, and the troops suffered heavy losses! Many tank crews died when getting off the vehicles. I need to add members now, otherwise at least nearly 20 tanks on my side cannot be put into combat."

Nearly 20 tanks cannot be put into combat. This is not a small number for Malashenko, who only has one regiment. Timoshenko, who is solemn on the other end of the phone, also knows this.

"Where are those German planes? Are they still carrying out air strikes?"

"No, comrade commander, they have already withdrawn. There are not many planes, less than 20. They should have come to rescue the Germans in the village, but they came a little late."

After hearing the answer from Malashenko, he sighed again. After experiencing the battle last year, he knew very well how powerful the German Air Force was. He knew how important the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment led by Malashenko was, and he made the decision without much hesitation.

"The personnel reinforcements will be sent to you as soon as possible, but they are all new recruits just sent from the rear. They have only received the most basic tank training in the Tank Academy and have no actual combat experience. You must be mentally prepared, Malashenko."

Faced with the "good news" that Timoshenko said that could not make people happy at all, Malashenko had no choice but to bite the bullet and accept the reinforcements.

"I understand, comrade commander, I will adjust the crew allocation and disperse these new recruits to less important positions so that they can adapt to the battle as soon as possible."

Malashenko continued to speak and discussed with Timoshenko about the replenishment of damaged tanks.

As expected, Timoshenko, who had deployed all his troops to prepare for a head-on confrontation with the Germans, had no extra tanks. To be more precise, all the tanks that could be used at this stage, whether new or old, strong or weak, were ready.

There are two ways for Malashenko to get tank replenishment, either by dismantling groups from other troops or waiting for the newly built tanks to arrive at the front line. The first method is naturally impossible for Timoshenko, who has already deployed his troops, which means that the only way for Malashenko now is to wait for the arrival of newly manufactured replenishment tanks.

After hanging up the phone, Malashenko was a little worried. Compared with the situation when he only led a battalion, Malashenko, who was upgraded to a regimental level and received the title of the first batch of guards, is increasingly feeling how complicated and troublesome things he has to consider as a troop commander.

Generally speaking, it is normal for a tank unit to add new recruits. After all, it is impossible to stuff all the existing veterans into your unit, even if it is the Guards Tank Unit led by the Red Army tank hero.

Malashenko would have accepted this in normal times, but at this critical moment, the addition of new recruits will not only affect the combat effectiveness of the tanks corresponding to the number.

If the loaders and mechanics of the tank crews that were beaten to pieces died, it would be fine. Even if the drivers died, it would not have much impact. These are relatively simple and easy to learn jobs and positions.

But if the gunner or the commander died, it would be a big deal.

Malashenko could not let the new recruits replace the commander and gunner, and it is not certain that there are ready-made veterans in the crews where the commander or gunner died to replace these two positions.

In this case, Malashenko had to consider the overall situation and redistribute more crews so that all tanks had qualified commanders and gunners, and at least be able to exert qualified combat effectiveness so as not to make a fool of themselves on the battlefield.

But in this way, the original crew's cooperation and tacit understanding would have to be reset to zero and start all over again. The impact of the new crew on the cooperation and tacit understanding is self-evident. Compared with those new recruits, this is what Malashenko is most worried and troubled about at the moment.

An intense and busy day of walking and stopping.

In the evening, the front observation post received news that a vanguard of the German army had arrived 15 kilometers outside the village. After the reconnaissance force of less than half a company was repelled by the observation post using a KV1 heavy tank, there was no movement. It seemed that the Germans really planned to start the attack tomorrow as Timoshenko guessed on the phone.

At midnight, the village of Nibotrikaya was still full of people working hard. An infantry division assigned to the village to assist in the defense was building a defensive position with Malashenko's troops.

The simple trenches built by the Germans before were not only useless, but they were all built on the east side of the village just to resist possible Soviet attacks.

As for the depth to the west of the village with its back against the German-occupied area, the German army, who were determined to launch an offensive, did not even dig a foxhole for the infantry to squat in. This caused great difficulties for Malashenko, who had to fight the Germans at dawn tomorrow. There were only a few hours left to build field fortifications and trenches.

The melting snow turned the dirt roads in the whole village into large lumps of mud and puddles. It felt very uncomfortable to walk on them even with boots on. Malashenko, who looked very bad, looked depressed after inspecting the construction site outside the village.

"Oh, my dear comrade Malashenko, what makes you so sad?"

The person who was smiling at Malashenko in the new regiment command post was none other than Leonid, the division commander who was sent into the village to lead the troops to assist Malashenko in building a defensive position.

The biggest feature of Leonid is that he is very young. For a colonel, there are undoubtedly very few people who can get the position of division commander at the age of 32.

After a brief contact, Malashenko's first impression of the new division commander Leonid was that this person was a little floating, to be precise, floating to the point of flying.

He had a harmless smile on his face almost all day long, and his face was extremely white without any scars or marks left on the battlefield. If this had been put in the future, what Malashenko saw and heard during his years studying in Moscow, he would have been a guy kept by a 200-pound Russian aunt or a kindergarten teacher, and definitely not the elite of the Russians.