Chapter 597 Target: Stalingrad

"We are now short of tanks, fuel, medicine, and soldiers. We are short of everything useful! There is no other way except to retreat to Stalingrad, comrade political commissar! The death rate of the troops has reached nearly 80%. If we fight another battle, we may not even have our organization!"

Malachenko naturally knew that if he ran into Stalingrad at this time, it would be like drilling into a meat grinder. The brutal street fighting that would start soon would even devour people's souls.

But now the situation of the war becoming more and more difficult has forced people to have no other choice.

The entire Don River steppe and the Volga River have been burned red by the flames of war. Malachenko stood in front of the map and could not find a place where there was no war based on his memories brought by the time travel. The suburbs around Stalingrad as the center point have been completely shrouded in flames of war.

In this case, the only way to retreat to the main force is to drill in the direction that the Germans focus on. Malachenko's retreat now is not only because the situation of the troops really does not allow them to experience even one more fierce battle.

The 1st Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment needed a relatively safe place to replenish troops and equipment to regroup. Otherwise, the eight remaining tanks would not even be able to make a splash in the face of the fierce offensive wave of the German army. There was no other place to hide in the scene of artillery fire everywhere.

The only place that could meet these conditions was the city of Stalingrad. The Stalingrad Tractor Factory was constantly producing what Malashenko needed most.

Retreating without clear orders might cause a disaster, but as the saying goes, "a tree will die if it is moved, but a person will live if he moves." Based on the truth that a living person cannot be suffocated to death by urine, Malashenko would not stay here and wait for death without being able to contact his superiors. Even from the perspective of the overall strategy, this would be meaningless and equivalent to giving it to the German army for free.

Although Political Commissar Petrov did not know the situations that only Malashenko, as a time traveler, knew, this did not prevent him from taking charge of the overall situation.

The 1st Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment was different from other general troops. It had the greatest demand for various heavy equipment, especially tanks.

At present, the loss has reduced to only eight tanks that can move. Once they are replenished, it is equivalent to reorganizing the troops. This level of replenishment cannot be completed anywhere on the current war zone map, except for Stalingrad, which has a tank factory, the Stalingrad Tractor Factory, and a large population of soldiers.

Retreating without clear orders, even for Political Commissar Petrov, this kind of thing is a first-time thing.

Thinking of the possibility of being blamed and held responsible by his superiors, he sighed lightly, but there was no better way. Political Commissar Petrov immediately responded with a firm look and spoke slowly.

"We made the decision together, and we will take the responsibility together. This is not your order alone, Malashenko."

After hearing what Political Commissar Petrov said, he could not help but be silent. Malashenko could still clearly recall that his father, Comrade Stalin, would issue the famous Order No. 227 soon. Fortunately, he could still decide to retreat without that order on his head.

After discussing the specific matters of retreat with Political Commissar Petrov, Malashenko immediately started to act in the dark.

The soldiers who were sleeping in a daze were awakened from their sleep and dressed. The tanks were filled with sufficient fuel. All the shells that could be taken away were loaded and taken away to ensure sufficient ammunition. Malashenko, who was personally directing all this to be completed as soon as possible, suddenly received a somewhat unexpected report.

"Comrade, how do we deal with those German prisoners?"

"German prisoners?"

If it weren't for the squad leader who was in charge of guarding the prisoners coming to report to him, Malashenko would have almost forgotten that there were still hundreds of German prisoners in the village.

If you think about it carefully, it would be too easy for them to let these German prisoners go, but it would inevitably delay the speed of retreat if they were brought along all the way. How to deal with these hundreds of German prisoners suddenly became a headache.

After thinking it over again and again, Malashenko finally decided to take all these German prisoners away first. If they were let go in vain, these bastards would definitely turn around and pick up their weapons again.

If they were lucky enough to bring these German prisoners back to Stalingrad without being caught up, hundreds of young and strong laborers would be of great use in building field fortifications.

Thinking of this, Malashenko then gave an order to the squad leader who was still waiting in front of him in a determined tone.

"Go find Captain Karamov, the commander of the field maintenance battalion, and tell him that I want you to get some trucks from him. You can calculate the number of prisoners and give him a definite number. Then load all the German prisoners and take them away. Let them participate in labor reform and reflect on their sins."

The trucks that brought ammunition and fuel supplies before were parked in the village and did not leave. There were more than 30 trucks in total.

The earlier air raid may be because the German Air Force was too focused on the heavy tanks under Malashenko. The trucks that were only covered with camouflage cloth for basic concealment were not hit by even a single bomb. However, it now seems that this made Malashenko's retreat much easier, and he could also take away more things that would have been abandoned.

After several hours of preparations for the retreat, it was finally completed at about two o'clock. With little time left, Malashenko immediately issued an order to retreat to the city of Stalingrad. A few sparse tanks started up and drove out of the village. The noise was not even as loud as the effect of more than 30 GAZ trucks.

A few hours after Malashenko led his troops away, more German troops who followed up soon saw the small hill with thousands of German officers and soldiers' bodies.

The body of Lieutenant Colonel Doppler, who was beaten into a hornet's nest by Malashenko himself, was placed on the top of the hill of corpses, and the small flag with a very sarcastic message was inserted next to his body.

The German follow-up troops, shocked and angry, decided to act immediately. The German reconnaissance troops riding motorcycles and bucket cars immediately moved forward, but strangely, after circling the village, they found that there was no movement.

The German commander, who felt something was fishy, ​​hesitated for a moment and then ordered a company of infantry to enter the village to search. More German troops stayed outside the village ready to rush to the rescue at any time. However, they never expected that the breakfast that Malashenko had left for these German troops had already been prepared.