Chapter 557 Identity Revealed

At this moment, Malashenko didn't know that the Tiger tank, which was notorious throughout the world and regarded as a spiritual symbol by the Germans in later generations, had been put into actual combat.

Malashenko, who had no time to think about these things, was now wrestling in a muddy pond with a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood. To be precise, the worst situation that Malashenko had always worried about finally came as expected at the most inappropriate time.

According to the original action plan, Malashenko's troops, who had caught up with the fleeing German troops, joined two infantry divisions to divide and surround them and then swallow them up in one bite. It was just a matter of time.

But what annoyed Malashenko the most was that he had completed the first stage of the deep breakthrough and divided the entire German defense position into two to form a divided and surrounded situation. However, an urgent telegram sent from the front headquarters disrupted all of Malashenko's plans and deployments.

"The Sixth Army and Kleist Panzer Group are launching a massive counterattack! The front troops have lost their strategic advantage and are retreating!"

Literally speaking, it means retreat, but Malashenko, who traveled from the future, knows very well that this word is at best just a fig leaf for Comrade Laotie.

The Soviet Southwest Front is facing an unprecedented super-large defeat at this moment, having hit the deployment direction of the German Southern Army Group with a total strength of 100 divisions.

Failure spread rapidly throughout the front-line counterattack troops like a plague, and panic and defeat began to spread and breed unstoppably.

Malashenko, who received the retreat order from Timoshenko, had no choice but to give up the cooked duck that was already in hand but had no time to eat, and ordered the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment to begin to retreat rapidly in the direction from which they came.

Despite the slight changes brought about by Malashenko's butterfly effect, and the fact that he and Zhukov had a brief exchange of views at the Supreme Defense Conference in Moscow and reached a consensus on certain issues, Comrade Lao Tie eventually continued to make irreparable major mistakes as in the original historical trajectory.

Insufficient pre-war reconnaissance and the hasty counterattack launched under Stalin's urging were the most fundamental reasons for the failure of the campaign.

Timoshenko, who was in charge of the overall situation at the front headquarters, did not know until the beginning of the battle that the German Southern Army Group he was facing had a huge force of more than 100 divisions on the front.

When the German army used Paulus's Sixth Army and Kleist Group to launch a counterattack, Timoshenko thought it was just a small harassment by the German army to interfere with his judgment of the true strategic intentions, and the order issued to all the main counterattack forces, including Malashenko, was still to continue to advance and attack the depth of the German army.

He rushed in while rushing.

By the time a group of high-ranking officers of the front, including Timoshenko, came to their senses, the situation on the front had basically deteriorated to an irreversible degree.

Paulus and Kleist, who had joined forces, led their respective troops to put the three main Soviet counterattack armies in the encirclement pocket and firmly tied them up.

There were very few Soviet troops that could break out of the encirclement, and most of the Red Army soldiers were either killed by guns or prisoners in German prisoner-of-war camps.

It was so difficult to launch a counterattack against the German army and win a victory, but the shadow of failure came so quickly that people didn't even have time to react.

Malashenko, who was bombarded by German planes, almost never stopped. Every time he sent a routine telegram to the front headquarters, the response he received was always "continue to retreat to a certain place." This situation lasted for nearly half a month.

In the past half month, Malashenko not only had to deal with the heavy bombing overhead, but also had to find a way to repel the pursuit and interception of the German vanguard pursuit troops on the ground.

Most of these German pursuit troops that were advancing all the way used fast reconnaissance tanks. Malashenko encountered rows and companies of 35t and 38t and other garbage tanks coming to harass him more than once.

Malashenko, who had been bombed by the planes in the sky and had nowhere to vent his anger, was tripped by these minions on the ground. He immediately exploded like an atomic bomb explosion, and personally commanded the troops to launch a counterattack to knock down all these German fast tanks that were too bold.

It would definitely not be a good idea to just run all the way, but if you are too obsessed with fighting, you are likely to completely play yourself into a situation where there is no way back.

Malashenko, who was wandering on the line between life and death, kept switching combat modes between retreat and counterattack, and it was very difficult.

In order to avoid the German air raids and bombings, Malashenko hardly dared to take the open retreat route during the day. He chose to take detours in corners that the German planes might not expect, and had to take care of the German ground vanguard troops that occasionally ran into him.

At night, Malashenko, who did not have to worry about the bombing of German planes, could finally retreat boldly, but the problem of oil shortage and difficulty in replenishment that had plagued Malashenko since some time was a headache.

Malashenko tried every way to find oil, and even sent a telegram to Comrade Laotie about the oil shortage for help, but the reply from Timoshenko made Malashenko speechless.

"The front-line troops are in chaos, and all the troops are retreating. I don't know where the oil is, you can find a way to overcome the difficulties yourself."

Although the telegram was more euphemistic than this, it was roughly the same meaning.

In order to avoid the German daytime bombing, they had to take a detour through the winding corners, but this would consume more fuel than taking the main road.

The First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment, which already consumed a lot of fuel, was like a panting and exhausted war bear. Malashenko had no choice but to use the most ineffective method to preserve the strength of the troops as much as possible: abandoning some tanks and using the extracted oil to supply the remaining tanks so that they could withdraw smoothly.

I don’t know from which day, the German vanguard troops who were chasing the Soviet Southwest Front, which was retreating all the way, began to capture more and more special tanks.

The reason why these Soviet tanks are special is that these abandoned Soviet heavy tanks are all painted with special red and white logos of bear heads biting the Iron Cross medals without exception.

Since repelling the Soviet counterattack, the German soldiers were very curious about the special tanks they had captured for the first time. There was even a rumor that it was Stalin's Kremlin tank guard.

The rumor spread so widely that it even attracted the attention of the German Southern Army Group Command. The curious German Southern Army Group Command even interrogated several captured Soviet generals to ask about the cause and effect.

Looking at the interrogation report on the desk in front of him, Marshal Bock, who had returned to the front line to serve as the commander of the Southern Army Group and had just commanded the troops to win a great victory, couldn't help but raise his mouth.

"Is he the steel butcher who scared everyone? A young man in his twenties named Malashenko? And this Guards First Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment? This is the biggest joke I've heard this year!"