Chapter 1286 "Lonely Seeking Defeat"

Walensky, who was shot eight times in an instant, fell on his back in a pool of blood, gasping for breath on the spot.

Kulbalov, who was ordered by Malashenko and personally responsible for directing the execution, took out his pistol and stepped forward to inspect the body. He raised his wooden prosthetic leg and kicked it twice. He found that the pile of smelly meat had become soft and turned into a puddle. Disdainful words blurted out from his mouth.

"Humph, what a bastard! He has no bones in his body and is soft even after death. You still want to keep lying to survive and have your dog dream!"

Kulbalov, who had originally planned to shoot two more shots to satisfy his hatred, gave up the plan. Feeling that there was no need to waste bullets on this piece of rotten meat, he reached out to open the holster of his gun and inserted the pistol back.

It was at this moment that Malashenko, who had also observed the execution process not far away, finally stepped forward.

"This bastard deserved his death, Comrade Master! He was still lying before he died in order to survive. Who would believe his lies!"

Malashenko, who was standing next to Kulbalov, was noncommittal. He stared at the body on the ground, which was still blistering with blood, for a long time. When he raised his head again, his expression was still as calm as ever. As usual.

"Only in the last moment before death can a person truly recognize himself. Think about it, how clearly did he recognize himself before death?"

Malashenko did not want to speak for the traitor, but the last few cries before death did trigger some thinking. No one could tell clearly what was going on in the corpse's head.

Just say a few words to the dead person, that's all, no need to say too much.

"How is the troop deployment going?"

Malashenko, who no longer paid attention to the pile of smelly meat on the ground, turned around and stepped forward to ask questions. Kulbalov, who had indeed been aroused by Malashenko's words, had no time to think about these miscellaneous things in detail for the time being. Answering the questions of comrade division commander was the main thing.

"My regiment and Varosha's infantry regiment are ready and ready to fight at any time. Except for the west, that is, the direction facing away, troops are deployed in the three directions of southeast, north, and south. The main strength is in anticipation of enemy troops. On the east side of the attack."

The battle to be fought this time is an internal and external encirclement battle between two front armies. The main task of the 1st Ukrainian Front Army to which Malashenko belongs is to encircle and eat the Germans in the encirclement. It belongs to the inner circle troops and focuses on annihilation. .

On the periphery, the Second Ukrainian Front assumed the main task of blocking enemy reinforcements, focusing on intercepting and resisting the rescue troops sent by Manstein. We don't need to kill many of the enemy's troops, but we must not allow a German to step over the edge. He must stay in the middle and not allow the enemy to have any actual contact with the First Front Army in the inner circle.

Following this strategic plan, Malashenko chose to confidently and boldly leave his back to the protection of friendly forces. In fact, there is no other better way than this. Malashenko cannot be allowed to engage in a annihilation campaign against the inner circle while also taking into account the defensive operations behind his back and confront the German reinforcements who have taken the back route.

If this is really the case, it will be like the three SS divisions in the Prokhorovka battle. It is sheer nonsense to want to win the battle despite being attacked from both sides.

The completion of the three-sided defense was expected by Malashenko, but there is still a key issue that has yet to be resolved.

"Where is the 20th Guards Tank Brigade? How are they doing now? We have arrived at the rendezvous point for more than an hour, and there is still no sign of them? If they don't come, I will kill those Germans myself."

The 20th Guards Tank Brigade was a cooperating force assigned by superiors to outflank from another encirclement direction. Out of the need for confidentiality? Even Malashenko only received the news in the last hour before the war started.

Malashenko doesn't like the feeling of waiting for someone. The most important thing is to wait and do nothing. He can only wait for the Germans to come to his door and give him free money. If he doesn't come to deliver, he can only stay here and drink the northwest wind. .

To put it bluntly, in Malashenko's eyes, this is no different than a waste of time.

If the 20th Guards Tank Brigade does not arrive for a moment, it means that the encirclement has not been completed yet, and Malashenko must stay here and guard honestly in accordance with the established orders. Unless a replacement defense force arrives later and is ordered by superiors to take over the defense, will Malashenko be free to move forward? But this seems to be completely unreasonable now.

Therefore, the sentence "If they don't come, I will kill those Germans myself" is purely "nonsense" that Malashenko said casually to vent his emotions.

Kulbalov, who was following behind, didn't know how to answer Malashenko? Contacting friendly forces and exchanging information was not his job. In the end, he still had to ask Peter who was at the division headquarters. Commissar Roff.

"The 20th Guards Tank Brigade is in some trouble? A German mixed combat force, including a large number of tanks, is trying to get ahead of them to block the roundabout route and break the encirclement."

"The 20th Guards Tank Brigade was unable to penetrate this temporary defensive position on its own. The two infantry divisions working together arrived later and worked together to defeat the enemy who was also ill-prepared and arrived in a hurry."

"The telegram said that they are back on the road? But they may not arrive until tomorrow? It is almost dark now. I have reported our situation to the front army headquarters? The order I received is to continue to wait for the encirclement troops to rendezvous successfully? Our actual progress is more than twice as fast as planned. It is because we are fighting too fast, Comrade Division Commander."

Slightly different from the existing history, Malashenko, who was in charge of the highly mechanized ace unit of Stalin's 1st Guards Tank Division, directly chose a faster maneuver in a larger outer circle, trying to avoid the German defensive positions that had been detected in advance, in order to reach the encirclement point as soon as possible and complete the task.

Facts have proved that this is indeed effective. Malashenko rushed all the way here, and only encountered resistance from a group of lightly armed SS infantry.

But the new problem derived from this is that other troops cannot keep up with the attack rhythm of Stalin's 1st Guards Tank Division. Now, let alone the 20th Guards Tank Brigade, even other friendly troops on Malashenko's side of the encirclement are racing against time, rushing forward along the offensive channel opened up by Malashenko in order to consolidate the encirclement as soon as possible.

The feeling of "a lone warrior" is sometimes not limited to pretense. Knowing clearly that his troop configuration is unique to him, Malashenko sighed. Standing at the observation post at the front of the division, watching the howling wind outside, he couldn't help but feel regretful that he could do nothing but wait.

"Damn it! If I had known, I wouldn't have taken a detour? I came here so early and I can only sit on the bench, damn!"