Chapter 653 Pause

The heroic battles of Lieutenant Alelyukhin and other Soviet pilots, which shed blood in the sky, did play a very important role in protecting Malashenko on the ground.

If it weren't for these brave and fearless fighter aviation soldiers helping him to keep the situation under control, Malashenko estimated that the loss list in his hand would have to be doubled, or even directly destroyed.

"14 tanks, haha, to be honest, I want to laugh a little. I'm used to the heavy losses in recent times, but now I think the loss of 14 tanks is nothing at all."

Malashenko, holding the loss list in his hand, smiled awkwardly as if he had lost his mind, while Lavrinenko and Political Commissar Petrov on both sides of him unexpectedly did not show any unexpected behavior.

Indeed, as Malashenko said, compared with the horrific war losses of more than half in recent times, the destruction of 14 tanks in one day can really be called "small losses".

After handing the list of losses to Lavrinenko beside him for safekeeping, Malashenko sat on the ground with his back against his battle-scarred car, holding a half-full lunch box and asked.

"How are the casualties of friendly forces? Are the losses of those infantry heavy?"

In the earth-shaking battle just now, the three Soviet infantry divisions that were originally following Malashenko's buttocks and accompanying the attack turned upside down in the end. Somehow they rushed in front of Malashenko and fought with the German motorized infantry units that were galloping on, and the sound of killing was deafening.

What was originally a tank encounter became more and more confusing, and in the end it turned directly into a big fight between two huge clusters.

Malashenko, who was busy with his own affairs, could not spare any troops to support the infantry battle. The German armored soldiers who were suppressed by Malashenko also did not dare to underestimate the fierce opponent in front of them. They put all their superior forces into the battle and concentrated their firepower on the 1st Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment, which had a quality advantage.

It was not until the battle ended with the temporary retreat of the German army that Malashenko, who had a little free time, remembered to ask about the situation of the three infantry divisions. However, the solemn expression on the face of Political Commissar Petrov had already revealed the answer even before he spoke.

"Very bad! I just went to the back to meet with the three infantry division commanders and briefly asked about the situation. Their losses are so great that they are close to half. The German bombers caused great damage to them in the open terrain without any cover."

"The troops fighting with the Germans in the front escaped, but the large troops moving in the rear, the division artillery regiments and the division headquarters suffered. Those German planes were afraid of accidental injuries and dared not drop bombs too close to the front, but ended up dropping all the bombs in the rear."

"The three division artillery regiments have Two of them were bombed and lost their combat capability. The remaining one moved to a faster position and happened to have a fighter aviation team to cover it, so the loss was not big. All the artillery added up to the size of a full-strength division artillery regiment, and the overall loss of infantry was close to half. What are you going to do? Malashenko. "

Malashenko did not directly answer Political Commissar Petrov's question. He stirred the thick soup and bean liquid food in the lunch box and scooped a spoonful into his mouth. There was nothing delicious except salty taste. Malashenko forced himself to swallow it hard before he answered.

"What did the front headquarters say? Are there any more specific orders?"

Faced with Malashenko's question, Political Commissar Petrov shook his head. Apart from the simple telegrams asking about the battle situation, there were no other updated orders.

The answer was known from the face of Political Commissar Petrov who did not answer. He raised his head and leaned on the tank road wheel behind him and looked up at the sky somewhat weakly. Malashenko felt that the morning just passed was even longer than the previous week.

"Notify the troops to prepare for battle. The Germans have been withdrawn for almost half an hour. I estimate that in at most ten or twenty minutes, these bastards will rush up again."

Malachenko's order was not clear, as if he deliberately avoided some cruel but necessary topics. Lavrinenko, who stammered, hesitated a little but finally asked.

"How should we fight in the afternoon? Continue to attack? Or just block or repel those Germans?"

Malachenko almost had half of the two possibilities of deliberately avoiding and forgetting to answer. The contradiction was so great that even Malachenko himself could not explain why he had intentionally or unintentionally avoided the key topic just now.

After being asked by Lavrinenko, Malachenko, who did not give a direct answer for a while, actually thought about it for a while. After a rather intense psychological game, he finally gave a specific order according to the actual situation.

"Defend first, as for whether to attack or not, it depends on the situation."

The order Malashenko received from Comrade Lao Zhu was to cooperate with the 24th Army as the main force of the counterattack, but the battle this morning has already proved how weak this counterattack is with naked facts.

The devastating air strikes of the German Air Force almost blocked the advance of all the Soviet counterattack forces. The German troops on the ground were also not rotten fish and shrimps, but the main force of the elite Sixth Army of the Wehrmacht.

Continue the counterattack under such circumstances? Malashenko didn't believe that Zhukov's strategic insight would not be able to see this problem. If he really continued to play against the German army like a fool, Malashenko estimated that most of the Red Army troops participating in the counterattack might be destroyed tonight.

No one, including Political Commissar Petrov, expressed opposition to Malashenko's decision. To be precise, the temporary decision made by Malashenko was the most correct arrangement at the moment. If he really continued to fight and rush like this morning, he might really be close to complete destruction.

After issuing the order, Malashenko still felt something was wrong and finally couldn't sit still. With a somewhat uncertain and uneasy mentality, he came to the temporary regiment tent and called Comrade Lao Zhu at the front headquarters.

What Malashenko didn't expect was that he was still brewing how to say the words that had been delivered to his lips in a more euphemistic way, but Comrade Lao Zhu on the other end of the phone seemed to have guessed what he was thinking and took the lead.

"I understand the situation, Malashenko. The 1st Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment halts its attack and assists the infantry in defending the captured positions."