Chapter 628: Surprise

"Fully loaded with weapons? Flying towards the tractor factory?"

After hearing this shocking news, Vasilevsky and Yeremenko looked at each other in surprise. The tractor factory was guarded by the last organized tank reserve of the All-Front Army. It was kept for emergency use at critical moments!

"Quick! Call the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment. If the phone doesn't work, use a telegram! Ask them what's going on!"

Yerremenko threw the telegram aside and almost shouted, but the answer waiting for him was Major General Korshev's slow shake of his head.

"As soon as the communication was restored, we tried to contact the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment, but failed."

"Now they can't get through by phone or telegram. We have lost contact with the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment."

When it rains, it pours. What you fear at a critical moment will come true.

The overwhelming air strikes had a devastating effect on the ground tank troops. The infantry could hide in the air-raid shelters and barely escape, but those tanks as big as elephants could not escape anyway.

"Quick! Send someone to contact, drive a car! If the road is blocked, run over! I want to know what happened to the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment and the tractor factory, immediately!"

"Yes!"

The front headquarters was anxious because they could not contact the elite First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment, and they were not sure whether the tractor factory was still in their hands. Malashenko, who was covered by the artillery barrage, was not much better.

Malashenko, who had been silently calculating the time in his heart, finally waited for the moment when the shelling stopped. This wave of extremely fierce shelling lasted for nearly an hour. The German army obviously did not intend to take over the tractor factory completely and wanted to end the battle before dark.

"The shelling has stopped, everyone move! Hurry up!"

Once the shelling stopped, everyone knew what would happen next without Malashenko saying much.

Pushing open the wooden door of the underground storage room and looking at the corridor outside, the smell of dust in the face made Malashenko, who ran to open the door himself, sneeze and instantly became dusty.

"Puh-Puh-Puh"

He fanned the dust in front of him with his hand and looked into the distance. Several pieces of the collapsed half-tilted ceiling obviously had not completely blocked the corridor. There was about a space wide enough for one person to barely move sideways.

"Fortunately, the road is not completely blocked. Everyone follow up, hurry up!"

Malashenko raised his right hand and waved back, and was the first to rush towards the corridor that was close at hand.

The collapsed ceiling above his head was shaky and leaning against the wall in a very unstable posture. Malashenko walked closer and took a closer look, but then he saw a scene that almost scared his soul away.

"Fuck you! Is this a stink bomb or a delayed-action bomb?!"

In the gap between the two collapsed floor slabs, a German artillery standard 150mm high-explosive grenade projectile was stuck in it, motionless.

Malashenko, who was only a few steps away from the 150mm high-explosive grenade projectile, could even clearly see the German characters on the projectile that had not been completely eroded by the friction of the flame gas.

Malashenko, who was standing there in fear and dared not move, did not notice the beads of sweat on his forehead running down.

If this 150mm high-explosive grenade that had not exploded was not a stink bomb but a delayed-action bomb, if it exploded in such a narrow space, every one of the dozen people in the regiment, including Malashenko, would be completely finished!

"Damn it! Just treat it as a dud! It's a pity that a person will die, but he will die forever. At most, he will die here with more than 100 kilograms!"

Malachenko waved his hand to the crowd behind him, pretending that the shell in front of him did not exist. The crowd who had stopped because of the sudden action of Malachenko who was leading the way in front of him immediately began to move forward.

Political Commissar Petrov, who quietly came to Malachenko's side, was the second to see the unexploded 150mm high-explosive shell. Political Commissar Petrov, who was also frightened by the super killer stuck in the gap, also took a breath.

"It should be a dud, Malachenko. It is estimated that the fuse of the German shell failed. Let's hurry up and go. If there is any shaking, it is possible that the shell will explode. No one can say for sure."

Malachenko, who had this idea in mind, nodded to Political Commissar Petrov after hearing it.

After temporarily handing the Suomi submachine gun in his hand to Political Commissar Petrov for safekeeping, Malashenko, holding his breath, immediately slipped in through the first crack in the ceiling.

"Damn, it's just a heartbeat!"

Malashenko, who was moving slowly with his back against the wall, felt a little trembling as he looked at the unexploded projectile in front of him.

Unexpected sacrifice and death in front of him are two completely different concepts. Malashenko, who can fight without hesitation on the battlefield, is quite afraid of the terrifying unexploded projectile in front of him. He wanted to quickly get through the gap to quickly avoid this plague god. Malashenko once again increased his speed.

Human fear of death is largely due to the known rather than the unknown.

This is like a person who suddenly dies of a heart attack in the middle of the night can talk and laugh until the last moment of consciousness, while a terminally ill person appears extremely frightened and fearful when knowing that death is approaching step by step, and is extremely afraid of the coming of death.

At this moment, Malashenko is probably in such a situation, although this death in front of him may be just an illusory illusion that scares himself.

Malashenko slowly got out of the crumbling ceiling gap sideways, fearing that he would be blown to death or crushed to death on the spot, and came to the other side of the collapsed corridor without any danger. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"Comrade Hu Political Commissar is right, it seems that this is a fucking dud with a malfunctioning fuse!"

He made a gesture of "no problem" to the people who were still waiting at the other end of the gap.

Commissar Petrov, who clearly received Malashenko's instructions, was the second to pass through the gap in the collapsed ceiling without any problems. Then more members of the regiment passed through in an orderly manner. The 150mm high-explosive grenade projectile that was still stuck in the gap remained safe and sound, and nothing terrible happened.

"Okay, forget about it. Fortunately, it didn't explode, otherwise the entire corridor would have been completely blocked!"

"Comrade Political Commissar, the establishment of the regiment headquarters is up to you. I have to go to the front line immediately!"