Chapter 173 Moonlit Night

When the last German soldier, whose leg was broken by rocket shrapnel and had difficulty moving, raised his hands in panic and surrendered, he was quickly disarmed by the Red Army infantrymen who rushed in from all directions.

This building was originally stationed with a fully equipped German infantry battalion, and in the eyes of the German city defense commander, it was a heavy firepower stronghold that could at least withstand the Soviet army for a whole day, but it only held out for just one hour in front of the Malashenko siege column before it was completely defeated.

The fundamental reason was that in the second phase of the siege operation in the Yelnya theater commanded by General Zhukov himself, the Soviet army, as the attacking party, once again broke the norm and invested a large number of new weapons that the German army had never seen or expected before. This was certainly the main reason.

But on the other hand, the efficient street fighting tactics adopted by Malashenko, a later time traveler, was also one of the very important reasons. This can be seen from the fact that the attack progress of the other Soviet siege columns was not as good as that of Malashenko, and they were even blocked by the German defense.

The battle for Yelnya, which lasted for a whole day, went all the way from the suburbs outside the city to the hinterland of the city.

The cruel and bloody street fighting, like a fast-spinning meat grinder, willfully grinds the lives and wills of the Soviet and German soldiers.

In this bloody city where thousands of lives are devoured every day, the last ray of glory of humanity has long been extinct, and the so-called chivalry of fair duel is even worse.

As long as you can kill your enemy, no matter how, you are the final winner, even if the word "final" is only a temporary label.

When the last ray of glory of the setting sun, accompanied by the red clouds in the sky, finally sank below the distant horizon of the grassland, the cold, tortured and tormented long night of all the Soviet and German soldiers had just begun.

"Seryosha, check the transmission system and engine to make sure our tanks can start at any time! If necessary, replace the air filter, don't let the engine break down because of this. Nikolai and Kirill are ready to carry the shells. Captain Karamov and the logistics supply troops will be here soon. The work of refueling and loading will be completed by the three of us later."

"Hey, Iushkin, check the breech block! Several shells were not fired smoothly this evening. I think there should be a problem with the tightness of the breech block. This thing is related to the safety of all our people in the car. Check it carefully. If it really needs to be replaced, let Karamov fix it overnight. There will be no time to serve this thing during the day!"

"Got it, leave it to me!"

The busy scene of Malashenko's No. 177 command vehicle undergoing supply and maintenance is just a partial microcosm of the overall situation of the entire First Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion.

These Soviet tank soldiers who have experienced a whole day of fighting are different from those friendly infantry who can rest directly after pausing the battle.

After the battle, the crew members who have the most thorough understanding of the mobility, firepower and armor of their own vehicles still have to carefully repair and maintain their own vehicles, refuel and reload them, and carefully maintain and adjust them to the best condition to cope with the next battle that may break out at any time.

An unknown ordnance engineer once said this:

"Your equipment and weapons are like your lovers. If you are not good to them and do not take good care of them on weekdays, they will act coquettishly and make you embarrassed, or even lose your life on the battlefield, a stage where they need to show their beauty. You must treat and cherish your weapons and equipment like your lover, so that you can get the best return."

Malashenko, who is well aware of this truth, dare not neglect his improved KV1 heavy tank prototype at all. He directly applied the transmission system of the original Red Flag tractor, making it overloaded and difficult to operate on the 47-ton KV1 heavy tank.

In this case, if he does not take good care of it and maintain it carefully, it is likely that Malashenko himself will be pitted on the battlefield in the end.

After a while, while Malashenko, who was standing on the engine compartment and had his face covered with oil, was putting the refueling pipe on the fuel tank filling port to prepare for refueling, Captain Karamov, who had just opened the door and jumped down from the co-pilot seat of a GAZ truck loaded with various maintenance tools and spare engines, walked up quickly.

"Is there a problem with your car? Comrade Battalion Commander! I brought a whole truck of spare parts just shipped from the Kirov factory, all high-quality goods, are you interested in trying it?"

Standing on the tank engine compartment, holding the thick refueling pipe in his hand, looking down at Captain Karamov who was standing under the car and looking up at him, the dark-faced Malashenko and Karamov, who was of the same age, smiled at each other almost at the same time.

"How could it be missing? The breech block, the gear of the gearbox, the damaged additional armor on the front of the vehicle, and the damaged main gun coaxial machine gun. You'll be busy tonight, Karamov. I specifically ask you, the company commander, to personally repair the car for me."

From the words with a smile, it was obvious that Malashenko was joking with him. Captain Karamov, who was also young but was already the best in the entire Western Front in field maintenance, immediately laughed.

"That's no problem, comrade battalion commander, I'm here for this! I will make your precious car as good as it was when it left the factory!"

Soon, Captain Karamov, with a maintenance light on his head and a flashlight in his hand, led a maintenance team and Malashenko's crew to start emergency maintenance and repair work on the No. 177 command vehicle downstairs in the building that was mostly destroyed by rocket barrage during the day.

It is not easy and time-consuming to replace the damaged additional armor on the front of the vehicle body during field maintenance. Captain Karamov's maintenance plan is to use patches of rolled homogeneous steel armor to fill the damaged position, and then use welding methods to weld it with the additional armor plate.

In this regard, Malashenko, who knew that he could not force too much in field maintenance, nodded in agreement.

After a rough inspection with a flashlight in the turret, the skilled Captain Karamov quickly confirmed the breech block structure at the rear of the gun. Because of the excessive number of firings and some inherent quality deficiencies that may have existed before leaving the factory, the breech block structure strength and airtightness had a lot of problems.

"Phew, luckily we found it early. According to the situation, I estimate that if nothing unexpected happens, there may be a risk of explosion if we fire another ten or twenty rounds, and the breech block will explode directly due to failure to fire. You are really lucky, Comrade Battalion Commander."