Steel Soviet Union

Although the ancient Chinese believed that appearance comes from the heart, it would be too arbitrary to judge people by appearance alone.

I feel that those who can still hold the position of teacher at this age after 1941 will never be as simple and idle as they seem. Based on the principle that everyone is a comrade-in-arms, Malashenko finally decided to try to get to know Division Commander Leonid more deeply.

I don’t know whether I know this or not, but after asking him carefully, Malashenko was shocked.

This Leonid division commander belonged to the Western Front like Malashenko during the last winter war, but at that time Malashenko mainly engaged in repeated tug-of-war with the German army in the direction of Tula, south of Moscow, while Lieutenant Colonel The infantry division led by Commander Onid resisted the fierce German offensive north of Moscow.

According to what Commander Leonid himself described to Malashenko, last winter his division was once crippled to the point where only half a battalion of troops remained. At that time, he was not a full-fledged division commander. It was only a deputy position, but even this deputy position was forced directly from the position of divisional staff officer after the death of the deputy division commander.

Speaking of which, Leonid is also a ruthless person.

According to his words, he was directly promoted to deputy division commander not because of his great ability, but because all the people who were suitable for this position at the time were sacrificed, and there was no one else available. When there was really no other way, the shorter ones were chosen. Pick him up.

About two and a half hours after becoming the deputy division commander, the division headquarters was directly hit by a 500-kilogram aerial bomb dropped by a Stuka dive bomber. From the division commander himself down to the guard soldiers, no one was alive. The division headquarters was originally set up for a field battle. There was only a huge crater left in the place of the command post.

In this way, Leonid, who happened to be sent to the front line by the division commander to supervise the battle and defend the position to boost morale, happened to be the person with the highest position and military rank in the division, even though at this time there were only about a dozen people left in the division. Half the battalion can still hold a gun.

Leonid told Malashenko that he was so scared at the time that he had never commanded a regiment, let alone a division. Malashenko thought to himself, "Didn't you say that there was only half a battalion left? In the blink of an eye, it became a division again."

But what is unbelievable is that the courage that came out of nowhere inspired Leonid to fight to the death, leading a large group of remaining tired soldiers and wounded to hold on to the position, facing a German regiment of the enemy. The infantry fought for five hours without breaking through this last line of defense.

The only thing worth noting is that the German soldiers who were freezing enough often fell in the snow when launching an attack and quickly got up to continue charging.

Although the combat effectiveness of the German army was severely reduced due to being severely frozen, Leonid, the deputy division commander who was temporarily promoted by the division staff, held the position and persisted until the reinforcements arrived and defeated the German army in one fell swoop. It is an indisputable fact, and the reward derived from this is that Leonid actually became the commander of this division and successfully changed his position.

It only took less than half a month for the final approval from division staff officer to deputy division commander to full division commander. Leonid, who received the appointment notice in his hand, blinked and felt as if he was in a dream. Even now When Malashenko talked about this experience, he still looked surprised, as if he was hearing a fantasy.

"Okay, this is another top guy who is useless after he dies."

In 1941, when the Soviet army suffered heavy casualties at the grassroots level, things like Leonid's were not just an isolated case but happened everywhere.

Malashenko clearly remembered that when he was in Leningrad, he encountered a Red Army lieutenant leading nearly a thousand people to reinforce the defense of another position.

The extremely surprised Malashenko stopped the car and asked what was going on. The lieutenant replied that he only led more than 300 people when he received the order to set off, and encountered several waves of people who were scattered or retreated along the way. After friendly forces, it became what it is now. Behind him were nearly a thousand chaotic Red Army soldiers belonging to six infantry divisions with different numbers. One can imagine how chaotic the battlefield situation was at that time.

Although he secretly criticized Commander Leonid's rapid promotion journey, Malashenko didn't say anything when he thought that his promotion seemed to be faster than that of Commander Leonid. He became a Guards Tank at the age of 26. The title of regimental lieutenant colonel and the title of Red Army tank hero seems a bit excessive.

But Leonid's rapid promotion to the position of division commander is not without some merits. For example, his approachable and smiling face is obviously a symptom that he has not yet developed the airs of a division commander.

Malashenko, whose shoes were covered in mud, quickly retracted his depressed expression and responded with a smile to Commander Leonid's greetings.

After all, he is also a division commander and a colonel. He is one level higher than himself in terms of position and military rank. There is still no lack of respect for Malashenko that he deserves.

"The construction of the position is not in good condition, comrade division commander. The mud outside the village collapsed, collapsed, dug, collapsed again, and then continued to dig. Many soldiers dug one meter down and were covered with snow and frost. The entire trench is filled with mud after the soil has melted. This requires several times more physical effort than digging a trench in the summer. I can work like this all night and still not get any sleep. I worry about the safety of the soldiers. I won’t be able to hold on until tomorrow’s battle.”

Malashenko, who went around the construction site outside the village, felt that his head was extremely heavy at the moment. Fighting with mud in a mud pit in the dark in the middle of the night was not really a heroic thing.

It takes two or three times more physical energy to shovel out a thin mud shovel with strong adsorption force than shoveling dry soil. Even the Red Army infantry who specialize in digging trenches and doing earthmoving work were exhausted after working for several hours. He lay on the ground breathing heavily.

But if we don't dig, there will be no place to hide if the fighting starts tomorrow. Forced by the helpless contradictory reality, the Red Army soldiers working in three shifts will turn into clay figures all over their bodies.

Malashenko's tank crews, who couldn't bear to see their infantry comrades half-dead from exhaustion, also joined the mud-playing army. However, their digging skills were not as good as those of the infantry. The tank crews, who only knew how to act recklessly, persisted and were defeated after a while. Malashenko, who was inspecting the scene, almost lost his temper.

After hearing the situation described by Malashenko, he could roughly imagine what it would be like to dig trenches outside the village. Division Commander Leonid couldn't help but sigh, and it seemed that he had no good solution.