Chapter 79 Awakening

On the wreckage of the No. 3 tank, the command vehicle in Heisenauer, the gunner Klink, who was also looking at the group of Soviet tank soldiers standing still, could not help but sigh.

"Did you see it, Michel? That's the crew of the Ivan No. 177 T34 tank. You said before that you were curious about what kind of powerful person the commander of this Soviet tank was. Now he is right in front of you."

After listening to the words of his crew gunner Klink, he fixed his eyes on the Soviet tank soldier who obviously had the temperament of a commander. Wittmann, who was born in the gunner profession and was promoted all the way, naturally had an excellent field of vision and excellent eyesight comparable to that of a pilot.

Although it is still difficult to see a person's complete face clearly at a distance of less than 100 meters, Wittmann, who has excellent eyesight, still did his best to remember the face of the Soviet tank commander.

"One day we will meet again on the battlefield. I hope we can be real opponents of equal strength. I will wait for that moment to come."

As if he sensed something strange from the eyes of the SS soldiers on the opposite side, Malashenko responded with a low voice after showing a disdainful smile at the corner of his mouth.

"It seems that there are some extraordinary people among these guys. We can only save them for the future."

After the short and peaceful battle ended, the two sides stopped to look at each other. The Wittmann crew and the Malashenko crew, who were supporting their respective wounded, began to carefully walk down the wreckage of the tank and began to move.

Accompanied by the roar of the gasoline engine and the diesel engine almost at the same time, the two armored commanders who met for the first time but would form an indissoluble bond in the long five-year combat career began to leave.

After this battle, the "Lutsk to Brod" battle initiated by the Soviet Southwestern Front against the German Southern Army Group, which was the enemy's invading enemy, ended with the Soviet Army's First Panzer Group commanded by the famous German General Kleist being defeated from the front after the Soviet Army exhausted its offensive power.

In this battle, the Soviet Southwestern Front gathered and deployed a total of five mechanized armies, more than 2,000 tanks of various types and thousands of artillery units including divisional and military units on the front battlefield. Among them, there were elite troops commanded by famous generals such as Rokossovsky, but they completely lost the battle in less than a week under the German air-ground integrated blitzkrieg offensive.

The German Army's efficient and complete air-ground integrated blitzkrieg offensive finally allowed the well-prepared and unyielding Soviet Army to experience the tremendous power brought by the war change for the first time on the front battlefield.

The air force, which was only a marginalized branch of the military during the First World War, has transformed itself into an important military force that can determine the success or failure of the entire battle, and even the future and destiny of the country in just a few decades.

The Soviet army, which had lost almost all air superiority at the beginning of the Barbarossa invasion, finally tasted the bitter fruit of fighting under the enemy's absolute air superiority.

This situation of being bombed almost all the time has strengthened the determination of a large number of Soviet military and political senior officials, from Rokossovsky to Zhukov, and even the Soviet supreme leader Stalin, to forge a strong air force.

It can be said that it was this front-level battle in which the Soviet army had a local advantage in manpower but was eventually defeated by the German Air Force and lost its armor and returned in defeat that sounded the alarm for Stalin, making the Soviet supreme leader, who never lacked long-term strategic vision and was good at admitting and correcting his mistakes, realize the importance of the air force.

As a result, in the following years, a large amount of manpower, material resources and research and development funds were invested in the Soviet Air Force, which was still underdeveloped at the beginning of the war.

Finally, at the end of World War II, a powerful Soviet Air Force equipped with excellent fighters such as the Lavochkin series fighters and the Il series attack aircraft was created, and legendary pilots such as Pokryshkin and Kozhedub were born. It laid a solid foundation for the powerful Soviet Air Force that was able to challenge the entire NATO aviation force on its own in the next few decades.

I don’t know how long it took on the bumpy journey. When Lieutenant Iushkin, who was relieved and fell into a coma after being rescued by Malashenko, opened his eyes again, the scene in front of him was a peaceful and peaceful white cloth dome without any battlefield gunfire.

"I am still alive? Where is this place?"

As his consciousness became more and more clear, he subconsciously raised his right arm to reach out and touch something, but the intense pain that moved the whole body almost instantly made the seriously injured Iushkin feel a pain like teeth aching.

"Ah, it hurts so much. I think I'm still alive."

A female nurse who was recording the wounded's condition turned around without thinking after being attracted by Iushkin's actions and soft voice.

"Oh my God, Lieutenant Iushkin, Lieutenant Iushkin is awake! Irina, go get Dr. Petrenko, hurry up!"

When the tense and cramped medical rescue came to an end with the Soviet military doctor's reassurance, Malashenko, who was thinking about life on the lawn outside the field hospital tent, immediately opened the door curtain and strode in.

"Look at you, Iushkin! You scared me to death, I thought I rescued a corpse, it was a waste of effort!"

Faced with Malashenko's hearty laughter, Iushkin, who was also in a good mood after surviving the disaster, immediately spoke while lying on the hospital bed.

"Uh, what day is it today, Comrade Malashenko. Where are we now?"

Malashenko answered Iushkin's question almost immediately without thinking.

"The time is July 1st, and the location is the fortress area on the old Soviet-Polish border. Our 20th Tank Division is now repairing here."

After hearing the answer from Malashenko, Iushkin, who was obviously a little stunned, asked back after a slight pause.

"The fortress area on the old Soviet-Polish border? Does this mean that we are retreating now? Did the Germans really win that battle!?"

Although he was unwilling to admit this answer that sounded a bit heavy, after thinking it over again and again, Malashenko finally whispered the truth of the battle to Iushkin on the hospital bed.

"Yes, the Germans did win the Battle of Lutsk to Brod, although it was only temporary"