Chapter 634 New Mode

The report call on the evening of August 23rd finally brought Malashenko what he didn't know was a good result.

In view of the fact that Malashenko's First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment had suffered heavy losses in recent days and had always insisted on the front line of fierce fighting, Vasilevsky had a comprehensive discussion with Commander Yelyomenko and considered carefully, and finally ordered Malashenko's troops to temporarily withdraw to the deeper areas of the city to avoid the German front.

On the phone, Vasilevsky told Malashenko that some of the tank units that had been regrouped after being defeated on the front line had begun to take shape. In addition, there were some tanks that were damaged on the battlefield or temporarily unable to be put into battle due to mechanical failures. They were also being recovered and repaired in time and would soon be put to use.

"There are still many battles to be fought later, and more cruel and fierce battles are waiting for us. Use this last precious time to prepare, Malashenko, I hope that the answer waiting for me at that time is that you are ready, when you and your troops are most needed."

Malashenko, holding the receiver, had no expression on his face.

In just three months, Malashenko's First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment lost at least 120 tanks.

The tank crews were replaced one after another, and the unfamiliar faces that came one after another made Malashenko a little overwhelmed and he didn't even have time to remember their names.

After a brutal and unusual tractor factory blocking battle, he had to go through the same thing again. Malashenko, who was numb to it, finally just spoke softly and responded to some simple responses from Vasilevsky, and completed the position handover with the two infantry divisions that came to replace him before dawn.

Malashenko, squatting on the side of the ruins, held a cigarette that had just been lit and was smoking. Behind him was the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment, which had suffered heavy damage and lost nearly half of its troops, and in front of him, marching on the street was a large number of Red Army infantry divisions with high morale.

"It would be more appropriate to let them do the defense. It would be disadvantageous for us to get stuck in the fixed defense position of the tractor factory. Let the troops rest and prepare for the next battle. We have been too tired in recent months."

It was Political Commissar Petrov who stood beside Malashenko and persuaded him. Whenever Malashenko showed a loss of soul or a little dazed, he would always be the first to persuade him.

Malashenko, who had beaten his brains out with the Germans in this small tractor factory, might be unwilling to do so, but there might be other reasons.

In short, even Malashenko himself was not sure at this moment why he felt a little disappointed about the order to be withdrawn from the front line.

"It's the same wherever we go, Comrade Political Commissar. We must always fight in the city. The good times of setting up a posture to attack the Germans on the open grassland are gone forever. We must prepare the troops to fight in the city."

After taking a deep puff of the cigarette butt in his mouth, he threw it on the ground and stepped on it.

Malashenko knew very well that this time being withdrawn from the front line would probably be the last time he would wave goodbye to fighting in the open area.

When he followed the order to go to the battlefield next time, what awaited him was probably a difficult battle with the German army to fight for every house among the ruins.

According to the order, he withdrew to the deeper areas of the city to rest and wait for replenishment. In recent days, Malashenko has been shuttling back and forth between the front headquarters and his regiment headquarters.

In the regiment headquarters, he was basically busy with matters related to the reorganization and reorganization of the troops. As for the front headquarters, there were some meetings about the specific use and details of tank troops in urban operations. Malashenko was specially invited to attend and put forward his opinions as a tank expert.

This level of meeting is not high-level, and it is generally not presided over by Vasilevsky and Yeremenko in person. At most, the director of the Operations Department or the Chief of Staff of the Front will come to attend the meeting and say a few words.

Most of the attendees were tank commanders at the brigade, division, and deputy army level, with the lowest military rank starting at colonel. There was only one lieutenant colonel like Malashenko who attended the meeting.

Even though the German army had not yet entered the city, the Stalingrad Front Command, which had foreseen the dark clouds pressing down on the city, had already thought about how the tank troops could be used in urban combat.

No one knew how to deal with this new combat environment and mode. It was obviously a big problem to transform the previously effective large plains movement and assault tank combat environment into a battle in a narrow city, but Malashenko, who came with the memory of the future, was obviously not within the constraints of this big problem.

Malashenko, who had a high enough voice, put forward his own unique suggestions at the meeting, mainly including breaking up the large tank troops into small units, cooperating with infantry, assault engineers and other arms to form combat teams and work closely together to solve various sporadic troublesome battles in small and medium-sized main roads and alleys in the city.

Malashenko also suggested not to use large-scale tank units for clustered combat charges in urban main roads and wider areas such as factories and railway stations that are easy to defend but difficult to attack.

No matter how wide the main roads in the city are, they cannot accommodate dozens or hundreds of tanks charging at the same time. The wreckage of the tanks destroyed in the front can only block the road and the line of sight of the tanks behind, making more tanks become live targets for the German anti-tank firepower.

For these occasions that are still wide enough to accommodate small-scale tanks fighting collectively, Malashenko suggested that tank units at the platoon and company level can be used as the basic combat organization, combined with company, battalion or more infantry to cooperate in combat and launch offensives, which can achieve more effective results than a large group of iron turtles stuck on land at the same time.

In short, Malashenko emphasized that as little as possible should be invested in collective combat of whole-organization and large-scale cluster tank units in limited urban space under the premise of winning victory.

Malashenko still remembers that when he was studying abroad at Moscow University in his later life, it was clearly written in the war history materials he read in the school library.

The 26 non-monkey T72 main battle tanks of the 131st Russian Brigade advanced alone in the street fighting in Grozny. A large number of iron turtles headed straight for the central city and the railway station without the support of infantry.

Unexpectedly, they were beaten to a pulp by the Chechen rebels. All 26 T72 main battle tanks were "manned spaceflight" and their heads were blown off, and the whole army was finally annihilated.