Chapter 844: The Boss's Care

If Political Commissar Petrov was present, the Political Commissar, who was very familiar with Malashenko, would have been able to see on the spot that the brigade commander's smirk was only shown when he was really excited about something.

The newly upgraded First Guards Heavy Tank Brigade has greatly exceeded Malashenko's inner expectations, and it is not an exaggeration for Malashenko to call it ecstasy.

According to the content shown in the organization table, the new First Guards Heavy Tank Brigade will have four tank battalions, each battalion has three tank companies, each company has three tank platoons, each platoon contains three tanks, and each company has a command vehicle, so the number of heavy tanks in each company is exactly ten.

From this point on, the tank battalion headquarters has a battalion commander's command vehicle, a deputy battalion commander's command vehicle, and a wingman's vehicle, totaling three vehicles, so the number of tanks in each battalion is 33.

Since the 1st Guards Heavy Tank Brigade does not have a regimental command structure, the four tank battalions under it are all directly under the command of the brigade, so the total number of battle tanks in the four tank battalions is 132.

After rising to the brigade-level command structure, the two brigade commanders, Malashenko and Lavrinenko, each have a command vehicle equipped with a high-power command radio.

In addition, Malashenko also has a brigade tank company directly under his command. The nine battle tanks plus the two tanks of Malashenko and Lavrinenko make eleven, and the brigade has a total of 143 battle tanks in full strength.

Of course, these 143 battle tanks are not all heavy tanks.

Judging from the organization table, the tank company directly under Malashenko's brigade will most likely play the role of battlefield reconnaissance. The tanks under the company are all 9 T70 light tanks.

The tank's weapons are only a small 45mm tank gun and a 62mm coaxial machine gun. The armor protection can only resist light weapons and the Germans' 37-mm stepping bricks at most. When facing 50mm and above anti-tank guns, the front main armor will be easily penetrated.

The theoretical maximum speed of 45 kilometers per hour is quite fast, and the low-profile small body can also hide itself well from being discovered by the enemy.

In short, this is an ordinary light reconnaissance tank. The firepower and protection are not enough to fight against the enemy's main armored forces. At most, it can bully the infantry. If it really goes to the battlefield, it can only do reconnaissance work.

After all, according to previous combat experience, most of the enemies faced by the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment on the battlefield are monster-level. Wherever the battle is the most intense, the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment will be placed there.

Now that the regiment has been upgraded to a brigade, the number of its establishment and equipment is much larger than before. Malashenko estimated that it would not be an exaggeration to describe the battles he will face in the future as "being thrown into the mouth of a volcano".

Light tanks are just for show, so don't expect too much.

Excluding the 9 T70s used for reconnaissance, the entire First Guards Heavy Tank Brigade will have a total of 134 heavy tanks, which is the most ideal full establishment.

In addition to combat troops, the new First Guards Heavy Tank Brigade also has a company each for chemical defense, engineering, medical, air defense, and supply. The field maintenance battalion led by Karamov will continue to maintain the original structure, but the subordinate maintenance vehicles and equipment personnel will increase compared to the original ones to meet the actual needs of the overall expansion of the troops.

In general, at least from the establishment table, the new First Guards Heavy Tank Brigade is indeed stronger than the original First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment.

Although the increase in strength is limited on the surface, Malashenko does not think so.

The addition of the new IS1 heavy tanks will make a qualitative improvement in the overall combat power of the troops, although the total number of IS1 heavy tanks in this first batch only accounts for less than half of all heavy tanks, and the remaining heavy tanks have to continue to use the outdated KV1 to make up the number.

But from the perspective of "elite driving ordinary", it is still a huge improvement in overall combat power.

Malashenko, who is very clear about the organization of the current Soviet ordinary tank forces, knows that his newly built First Guards Heavy Tank Brigade can have such a large organization, which is all due to the "care" of his father Comrade Stalin and the "back door" of Comrade Lao Zhu.

Without the "special care" of these two big guys, a First Guards Heavy Tank Brigade is like blowing up a balloon, and it is impossible for the number of tanks to exceed that of the tank division.

In principle, Malashenko thanks these two big guys for their care and support, which gives him a few more chances of survival on the battlefield, and at the same time can physically conquer more powerful German enemies, paving the way for establishing greater battlefield merits and climbing to a higher position.

But some things need to be viewed from a two-sided perspective.

Malashenko certainly got the command of a large-scale elite tank unit directly under the front headquarters, but in return he had to fight desperately with more powerful enemies.

In later movies depicting superheroes, it is often said that "the greater the ability, the greater the responsibility", and this truth is also true on the real battlefield?

With this powerful first heavy tank brigade in hand, Malashenko estimated that the enemy he would face in the future might be the German armored forces at the army level.

When I was at the regimental level before, I had to fight two German armored divisions head-on. Just thinking about what kind of enemy I would face next makes me feel scared.

"I hope the next battle will go smoothly. 1943 was the worst year in history when the Soviet tank troops were beaten to the ground. I hope those German tiger, leopard and elephant zoos can cause me less trouble."

I continued to chat with Kurbalov about the specific situation of the army's construction. As they chatted, Malashenko suddenly became curious about what kind of position Kurbalov should be given.

At present, Political Commissar Petrov and Lavrinenko each took a deputy command position. A political deputy commander plus a deputy brigade commander have occupied all the senior command positions in the brigade.

Malashenko asked himself that it was impossible for him to exclude his original leadership team members from the core power circle of the newly formed First Guards Heavy Tank Brigade for Kurbalov, whom he had just met. People from the same group would not do this when they helped each other.

But at the moment, Kurbalov is at least a lieutenant colonel acting brigade commander, at least it was like this before he officially took office.

It seems inappropriate to just throw Kurbalov into the combat unit below and make him a battalion commander, but on the surface, Kurbalov doesn't seem to be a good staff officer. He looks like a gangster leader, murderous and scaring children. No one believes him as a staff officer.

How to arrange the position of Kurbalov, who left a good first impression on him, has become the most entangled problem for Malashenko at the moment.

After all, Comrade Lao Zhu said before that the power to appoint and remove all officers and soldiers below the brigade level is in his hands. Whether to be a good person or a bad person who might be remembered by others depends on Malashenko's own decision.