Chapter 843 Biography of Kurbalov

Lieutenant Colonel Kurbalov, acting commander of the 1st Guards Heavy Tank Brigade, is not well-known, but he is a real tank hero like himself.

The above is Malashenko's initial impression of Kurbalov after he first met and briefly chatted with this comrade who looked more like a gang leader than a lieutenant colonel of the Red Army tank soldiers.

When Operation Barbarossa was just launched, Lieutenant Colonel Kurbalov was affiliated with the tank unit of the Western Front.

Under the leadership of Pavlov, the "shrewd" commander who almost pissed off his father Comrade Stalin and almost tore off the roof of the Kremlin, Kurbalov, who was only a captain at the time, commanded his tank company to fight extremely hard and retreat repeatedly. He fell into the encirclement of the German army several times, but escaped again and again with the dual blessing of strength and luck, and kept going back and forth in this kind of bad battle where he was either in the encirclement or on the way to being surrounded.

During the Battle of Moscow, the tank battalion commanded by Kurbalov was transferred to participate in the battle to defend the north of Moscow, which was exactly the opposite of the battle on the southern front where Malashenko was at the time.

In the battle, Kurbalov and his troops were almost wiped out by the overwhelming and crazy offensive of the German army.

The KV1 heavy tank he commanded was subjected to intensive concentrated fire from German anti-tank guns, light tanks, and medium tanks, and various capped armor-piercing shells and tungsten core armor-piercing shells were thrown at them like crazy.

The extremely armor-fatigued vehicle was smashed by repeated impacts, and the upper armor plate of the vehicle body was broken. A 40-type tungsten core armor-piercing shell from a 50mm tank gun penetrated the armor and set off a large number of armor fragments, instantly killing all crew members except Kurbalov.

The seriously injured Kurbalov fainted on the spot in his position as the commander, and was completely unconscious. The German army, who mistakenly thought that the Soviet heavy tank had been completely destroyed, did not bother to check it, and directly chose to ignore it as a wreckage and then continued to advance and charge.

Fortunately, the crazy German army continued to launch an offensive and only advanced less than one kilometer before being driven back by the Soviet counterattack troops that were urgently dispatched to plug the gap.

Not only did the planned offensive mission not be completed, but even part of the territory that had been captured was taken back by the Soviet army. The German army, which suffered heavy casualties, could be said to have lost both the wife and the army, but it helped Kurbalov, who should have died of excessive blood loss.

Kurbalov, who was dragged out of the zombie tank, was sent to the nearest field hospital for emergency treatment. Although he lost his entire right foot and had to be amputated, he at least saved his life.

Unwilling to leave the battlefield, Kurbalov tried every means to ask his comrades to contact a famous carpenter in the suburbs of Moscow, and asked the old man, who was already in his seventies, to tailor a wooden prosthetic foot for his right leg. He tied the wooden prosthetic foot to his amputated right leg with a steel plate and wire, and thus began the difficult rehabilitation training.

At the beginning, Kurbalov would fall even when walking. The wooden prosthetic foot was completely uncontrollable and could only play a supporting role. The right leg without the joints of the foot seemed to not belong to him, and he felt extremely awkward when moving a step.

Unwilling to sink, Kurbalov gritted his teeth and continued to train every day. From the beginning, he fell dozens or hundreds of times a day, and practiced hard to fall only a few times with crutches. In the end, he even threw away the crutches and could jog. Kurbalov, who was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel, was finally allowed to return to the battle. The time on the calendar was clearly fixed on October 8, 1942.

Among the personnel temporarily transferred to form the First Guards Tank Brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Kurbalov had the most practical command experience, and thus became the temporary acting commander of the First Guards Heavy Tank Brigade before Malashenko arrived, responsible for coordinating the materials, equipment, and personnel deployment of the newly established First Guards Heavy Tank Brigade until Malashenko arrived.

"My right leg is no different from that of a normal person now, Comrade Brigade Commander. If you don't believe me, I will immediately run a few steps outside to show you, maybe I can run faster than you, but I have been practicing hard for half a year for this."

Kurbalov claimed that his special running skills could run faster than Malashenko, a normal person. Malashenko smiled indifferently and didn't take it to heart, just taking what Kurbalov said as true.

"Before you came, I prepared our brigade's equipment, personnel, and a list of all the supplies we have received so far. These lists will be updated every day, and I will fill in all the latest items. There are also lists of items that are expected to arrive and will arrive soon, and the rest are expected to arrive in the next week."

"That's basically it, Comrade Brigade Commander. If you have any questions, please tell me and I will try my best to solve them as soon as possible."

Kurbalov prepared all the materials needed for Malashenko to take over the work. A large number of documents were spread out on the table one by one under Kurbalov's introduction. Malashenko, who followed Kurbalov and listened carefully to the introduction one by one, soon became very interested in one of the documents.

"The organization table? Just to see how many troops I can command after the upgrade"

In the previous period of the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment, the troops under Malashenko's command were actually a large Guards Tank Regiment with a lot of overstaffing. From the perspective of organization alone, it has far exceeded the level of a regiment, comparable to the brigade-level organization, and even has more technical equipment than some shabby ordinary tank divisions.

Of course, from the actual combat effectiveness and the key role played in the overall strategy, the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment is far more important than a tank division.

And after this organizational upgrade, what kind of organization will the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment have next? How many tanks are there? How much more total troops than before? This has become one of the key points that Malashenko is most interested in.

Holding the organizational table in his hand and looking carefully from top to bottom, Malashenko's expression changed several times in a row. Kurbalov, who was still introducing it, also stopped and looked at Malashenko's expression that kept changing like a slide show, and was a little "amazing".

"What's wrong? Comrade Brigade Commander, is there a problem with the organization table?"

Malashenko looked at the organization table for almost a minute, and then put it back on the table with a smile on his face.

"No, everything is fine, Comrade Kurbalov."