Chapter 11 Kirill

When Malashenko, with a big question mark on his head, followed Seryosha's guidance and jumped out of the car, the scene before his eyes made him jaw-dropping almost instantly.

On the turret of this command-type T3476 tank numbered 177, the piece of mantlet armor near the root of the right mantlet that was originally cracked due to repeated hits by German armor-piercing shells has disappeared, replaced by a whole piece of black The external add-on armor is dark and appears to be particularly obtrusive.

After being slightly surprised for a long time, Malashenko finally shook his head to wake himself up, jumped onto the tank and checked the gun mantlet repeatedly. After being busy for a long time, Malashenko finally I finally figured out the real situation of my T34 tank.

It turned out that when the damaged T34 tank commanded by Malashenko needed repairs, it was reported to the field maintenance battalion of the 20th Tank Division. The solution given by the Soviet maintenance soldiers who followed the rough route was also very simple and crude.

Since the armor on your gun mantlet is damaged, shouldn't I just weld a new piece of additional armor on top and be done with it?

Under the guidance of such a maintenance plan, the Soviet maintenance soldiers who completed simple field maintenance on this No. 177 T34 tank did not spend much effort and seemed very satisfied with their work.

After all, according to the Soviet army's principle of simplifying all manufacturing and maintenance during wartime, and saving everything on materials, time, manpower, and material resources, the work efficiency of these soldiers of the field maintenance battalion of the 20th Tank Division is indeed commendable. The above is very effective.

It's just that such a shabby project that seems to be superficial and somewhat casual. Whether Party A's customers who use this T34 tank are satisfied or not, just based on the disgusted look on Captain Malashenko's face at this time. You can get a glimpse of it by looking at Liao Xiang's sad expression.

After the T3476 tank, which originally looked quite mighty and domineering, was forcibly covered by this piece of welded additional armor, its front projection looked like a blind pirate wearing a blindfold, which was awkward and suffocating. Qu.

Although Malashenko has long heard that the Soviet equipment is always stupid, big, black and thick, he also knows that this piece of rolled homogeneous steel armor forcibly attached through welding method will not affect the actual combat effectiveness of his T3476 tank. What bad impact will it cause.

But seeing his beloved car, which he had just acquired a day ago without even covering the driver's seat under his buttocks, being tormented like this, the psychological impact it had on Comrade Malashenko was no less than that of his own car. The Porsche supercar I just brought home was as uncomfortable as being scratched with a knife.

"Hey, that's all. Just weld it on. Anyway, I can't see it myself in the car. Maybe I can scare the German guys across the way and freeze it."

Just as Malashenko was sighing on the spot and comforting himself with a mentality like Ah Q, a hurried trot immediately interrupted Malashenko's inner lament and blurted out. .

"Comrade Lieutenant, I am Kirill Antonov, the loader newly assigned to your vehicle crew by Political Commissar Petrov. I have been ordered to report to you. I wish you good health!"

"Huh? New loader?"

Following the direction of the young voice that sounded behind him, the person who appeared within Malashenko's field of vision was a blond-haired, blue-eyed Slav with a side-parted hairstyle and a childish look on his face. boy.

The blond, blue-eyed boy in front of him, who looked more like a college student than a Red Army soldier, remained silent for a long time. Until Kirill, who was young and inexperienced in the world, was stared at, he even thought that he had done something wrong. When something happened, Malashenko, who felt quite unhappy in his heart, spoke in a stiff tone.

"Oh, kid. Tell me, how old are you?"

Kirill, who was slightly startled by Malashenko's abrupt question and was a little timid and a little afraid, spoke immediately.

"Twenty-twenty, sir."

"Twenty years old? Poof"

When he learned that the thin and frail-looking boy in front of him was just over 20, Malashenko, who was a bit amused when he spoke, slowly shook his head and continued to speak.

"Since you said that Commissar Petrov sent you to our vehicle crew, I naturally have no objection. However, I still have to ask you some questions in advance to avoid anything going wrong when we go to the battlefield."

Before he finished speaking, he stretched out his hands to pat the dust on his body from climbing on the tank. Malashenko, who didn't care much about Kirill's expression after hearing what he just said, immediately He continued without looking up.

"The tank behind me is the most powerful medium tank currently in service in our Red Army, the T34 tank. The turret is equipped with an F34 2mm tank gun. It only takes one armor-piercing round to send any tank of those crispy lackeys to the west. ”

While listening to Malashenko's eloquent story, he tried his best to open his eyes and listen carefully. Kirill, who was unwilling to let go of any detail, seemed to be very concerned about his job, which he had not officially started yet.

"But, the premise of all this is that there is a suitable loader in the vehicle crew who can quickly and competently put each shell into the gun bore."

"Each 76mm BR350B fixed-cap armor-piercing grenade used to crush those brittle invaders weighs 5 kilograms. What I want to express is not that I personally question your ability, kid, but are you really sure that you can maintain your physical strength in the narrow body and high-intensity combat state, and send more than a dozen consecutive armor-piercing shells into the gun barrel?"

After hearing Malashenko's words without any alarmist words, he couldn't help but remain silent. He never thought that he would encounter the Patriotic War in which his motherland was invaded and be involved in it just after he stepped out of the school gate, and he didn't expect that his first job after joining the army through relatives would be a tank loader.

Kirill, who was almost completely frightened by Malashenko's words, didn't know what to say for a while. After all, before this, he, who loved music and poetry, had never even seen what the Soviet Red Army tanks looked like.

"I, sir, I..."

Looking at the big boy in front of him who was blushing and didn't know what to say, Malashenko sighed and patted Kirill on the shoulder, and finally adjusted his tone to a more moderate state.

"I'll give you ten minutes to think about this job. Don't force yourself. If it doesn't work out, you can still join the infantry and continue to serve the Soviet mother! The battlefield never needs those who are reluctant to become heroes, never."