Red Moscow

  Chapter 537 Kalashnikov

  After the two came out of the headquarters, Vitkov asked Sokov: "Comrade Brigadier, are you going back to Mamayev Hill or the Red October Factory?"

"Of course it's back to the factory." From the time we met until now, Sokov has never had the opportunity to introduce the situation in the factory area to Vitkov. They were all destroyed by the bombing of the German army. In order to prevent the enemy from entering the factory area through these gaps, the factory manager Peter transferred the destroyer battalion who was sticking to the assembly workshop. Now we only have about 300 people including the militia. If I am not here If you stare there, you will feel uneasy."

   Knowing that Sokov has so few troops, Witkov was also surprised. He originally planned to return directly to Mamayev Post after the meeting, but when he heard Sokov say this, he temporarily changed his mind: "Comrade Brigadier Commander, I will accompany you to the factory area."

  Sokov thought that he still had a lot of things to explain to Witkov, so he nodded and said, "Okay, then follow me to have a look."

  The two of them led the accompanying soldiers and walked towards the factory area. Although there were no stars or moon in the sky at the moment, the light from the burning buildings in the distance enabled them to see the road clearly.

   On the way, Vitkov asked Sokov again: "Comrade Brigadier, are we really not participating in this offensive?"

Seeing that Vitkov was still obsessed with the imminent counter-offensive, Sokov said with some embarrassment: "Colonel, didn't I make it very clear at the meeting that our main task is to hold on to the Mamayev Post and ensure that it survives under any circumstances?" Under the circumstances, none of them will be occupied by the Germans. If we put our limited forces into a counter-offensive, once this counter-offensive ends in failure, then what will we use to hold our positions?"

"But," Witkov understands what Sokov said, but when he thinks that a few days later, other troops are attacking the enemy, but his own troops stay on the ground. Bad taste: "Is it okay to see friendly troops attacking the enemy while we stand still?"

   "There is nothing inappropriate." Sokov said: "Defending the Mamayev Post and ensuring that the defense line in the city is not cut by the enemy will play a decisive role in crushing the enemy's siege of Stalingrad."

   The two were talking, and they came to the vicinity of the factory without knowing it. Looking at the ruins of the factory building, Vitkov asked worriedly: "Comrade Brigadier, the factory building has been blown up by German planes, and it is impossible to build a solid fortification. How do you plan to hold on here?"

"Although the factory building was bombed and collapsed, the basement is still basically intact." Sokov said confidently: "When this place is bombarded or bombed by the German army in the future, I can let the soldiers hide in the basement and wait for the enemy's attack." When the infantry attacked, we came out of the basement, hid in the rubble and shot at the enemy."

"Comrade Brigadier, it's really too dangerous here." Vitkov was worried about Sokov's safety in his heart, and he tried to persuade Sokov to go back to Mamayev Post with him: "In my opinion, you still have the command Leave it to Briski, and come with me back to Mamayev Post."

"Colonel, the troops here are limited. If I stay here, I can somewhat boost morale." Sokov replied, "If I leave at this time, what will the soldiers and workers think? Will you think that I am a person who is greedy for life and afraid of death, who only sings high-profile, and runs away when he sees the situation is not good?"

   Regarding Sokov's statement, Witkov really couldn't refute it. He even thought in his heart that if he was a soldier and saw the commander making excuses to leave the troops and leave here, he would probably be disappointed with the commander too. So he changed his mind and wanted to go back and discuss with Sidolin and Belkin to see if he could provide some help to Sokov.

   A group of people walked into the ruins of the factory building, and suddenly an extremely majestic voice came from the bomb crater not far away: "Everyone stop, password!"

   Sokov took the lead to stop, and reached out his hand to hold Witkov, who hadn't figured out the state, and said in the direction of the voice: "I'm Sokov, who is where?"

"Brigade Commander, it's the Brigadier Commander who is back." As soon as Sokov's voice fell, two soldiers crawled out of the crater and stood upright in front of Sokov, "Comrade Brigadier Commander, we are sentries, and we are performing sentry task."

   "The vigilance is quite high," Sokov praised the sentry, and asked casually, "Is there anything wrong?"

   "No!... No, yes!" The sentinel replied in a panic: "To be precise, something happened."

   "What is it?" Sukov thought that the Germans had sneaked into the factory area again, so he asked with a hint of doubt: "Have the Germans sneaked into the factory area again?"

"No, Comrade Brigadier." The sentinel shook his head and said, "Not long ago, a small force of seven or eight people came, and the leader was a major who said he was looking for you. You were not there at the time, but the battalion Comrade Chang received it."

  Sokov thought that he had just arrived from the Army Group Command. This major was definitely not sent by Chuikov. He frowned and asked, "Do you know who they are?"

  The sentinel shook his head, "No, I don't know, the major didn't identify himself."

   Seeing that he couldn't get the answer he wanted from the sentry, Sokov could only hope to see these people sooner, so he asked, "Where are they?"

   "It's all in the basement."

   As soon as Sokov waited for the sentry to finish speaking, he quickened his pace and walked towards the entrance of the basement.

  He came to the door of the command post that Cousteau had vacated for himself. With the help of the faint candlelight inside, he could clearly see that Briski was sitting at the table, talking with two commanders wearing big-brimmed hats opposite him. Sokov coughed heavily in a hurry, and after everyone's eyes turned to him, he walked in with big strides, and at the same time greeted: "Comrades, hello!"

   "Comrade Brigadier, you are back!" Briski quickly stood up and said to Sokov with a smile, "They have been waiting for you for a long time."

  Sokov turned his head and looked at the two officers. The first thing he saw was a familiar face. He couldn't help exclaiming: "Yakov, it's you!"

  Yakov opened his arms and said with some pride: "Isn't that me!" Then he took a step forward and gave Sokov a warm hug.

After the two separated, Sokov asked curiously: "Yakov, why did you come here?" After asking this question, he instinctively turned his head to look at Vitkov who followed him, and wanted to ask the other party, why didn't he come here? Tell yourself about Yakov.

  Vitkov spread his hands and said helplessly: "Comrade Brigadier, don't look at me, I didn't know that Major Yakov came to Stalingrad again."

   "Misha," Yakov called Sokov by his nickname affectionately, and said to him, "I left Moscow this time to deal with the conflict between you and General Moskalenko."

"Conflict?!" Hearing what Yakov said, Sokov was taken aback for a moment, then remembered the last time the rocket was detained by Moskalenko's troops, and asked in surprise: "Yakov, what are you doing?" It means that General Moskalenko seized our batch of rockets? But, didn’t this matter be resolved after Comrade Khrushchev came forward?”

"That's right, when Uncle Khrushchev came forward, he did temporarily quell the conflict." Yakov said with a trace of anger on his face: "Who knows that two days ago, Moskalenko actually went to the Supreme Command The complaint said that the people in the weapons and equipment department favored each other. If they could equip these new rockets, they would have broken the German siege of Stalingrad long ago.

  People's Commissar Ustinov had no choice but to arrange for the military factory below to produce 20 pieces for them in order to appease their anger. After I brought the rockets to the First Guards Army, I thought that your old friend was still in the city, so I stopped by to have a look. Unexpectedly, when I arrived at Mamayev Post, I heard that you were at the Red October Tractor Factory, so I asked Lieutenant Colonel Sidolin to send two guides to bring me here. "

   "Yakov, if there is nothing else, you should leave as soon as possible." Sokov thought of the imminent counterattack, and worried that Yakov and the others might encounter various troubles if they wanted to leave. However, the counterattack plan is still in the stage of secrecy. Even if Yakov is Stalin's son and his friend, he can't tell him about this matter, so he said euphemistically: "If you catch up with the German army's large-scale attack, you want to cross the river to the other side. , but it is not an easy thing.”

"Misha, I am also a soldier. Since you are not afraid, what is there to be afraid of?" After Yakov finished speaking, he pulled an officer standing next to him and said to Sokov: " Misha, let me introduce you, this is Lieutenant Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov, the tanker."

When he first heard that the other party was a tanker, Sokov didn't take it to heart, but when he heard that the other party's surname was Kalashnikov, he couldn't help but gasped, and said in his heart: "Could it be that this man is called Kalashnikov, the father of the AK47?"

  Yakov saw Sokov staring at Kalashnikov in a daze, as if he saw an acquaintance, so he asked curiously: "Misha, did you know Kalashnikov before?"

Although Sokov had personally seen Kalashnikov, supported by two guards of honor, send flowers to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier next to the Kremlin wall on the Victory Day of later generations, but after coming to this era, it is still the first time. This is the first time I saw this man. He hurriedly shook his head and said perfunctorily: "I don't know, and I have never seen it before. Yakov, I am just curious. What are you doing here with a tank officer? You know, there are no such officers in my army. tank."

   "Misha, you misunderstood." Yakov explained to Sokov: "Lieutenant Kalashnikov came here with me, and I have another important task."

"Important task?" Sokov looked at Kalashnikov in front of him and thought to himself: "The superior sent Kalashnikov here, what important task can he have? Is he going to be here?" Are you working on a new rifle?"

The fact that Kalashnikov went to the Red October Tractor Factory is not a secret, so Yakov introduced it to Sokov with great interest: "After Lieutenant Kalashnikov joined the army, he went to the ordnance mechanic Having studied in technical training courses and tank driving schools, he designed a device that records the number of bullets designed for tank machine guns through the calculation principle of inertial rotation; he also designed a tank fuel consumption meter and new tracks, and won awards.

  Because he is a tank soldier and understands mechanical knowledge, the superior sent him here to assist the engineers of the Red October Tractor Factory to improve the T-34 tanks in service. "

Knowing that Kalashnikov actually came to help the factory improve the T-34 tank, Sokov couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise. The father of the famous AK47, no longer designed firearms, but went to study tanks. He wiped his sweat with his hands, and said insincerely, "Lieutenant Kalashnikov, if you need any help, you can find me."

   Originally, this was just a polite remark, but Kalashnikov asked smoothly: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I heard that you can also drive tanks. I wonder if you can give me any good advice?"

   "Suggestion?" Kalashnikov's question made Sokov a little embarrassed. Don't think he can drive a tank, but that's just for fun. He didn't know how to improve the tank. He quickly waved his hands and said, "I'm sorry, Lieutenant Kalashnikov, I'm a layman on tanks, so I can't give you any good advice." suggestion."

Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, Yakov, who was afraid that the world would not be chaotic, interrupted and said: "Misha, don't be modest, since you can drive a tank, then according to your experience, it is always okay to make one or two opinions. Bar."

   "Yes, yes, yes, Comrade Major is right." Kalashnikov quickly echoed Yakov, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, you can just talk about it."

Now that the matter has reached this point, Sokov knew that if he didn't say a few words, Yakov would definitely not let him go. After hesitating for a long time, he said, "Lieutenant Kalashnikov, the T- 34 tanks, which use 76mm guns, are not a big problem if they only deal with German tanks No. 3 and No. 4. But if the German army launches tanks with thicker armor and stronger firepower, I am worried that armor-piercing rounds of this caliber will be Cannot penetrate the enemy's frontal armor."

  Kalashnikov wrote down what Sokov said in a notebook, raised his head and asked, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what caliber of artillery do you think should be replaced?"

"I think 85 mm is more appropriate." Sokov continued: "The current tank has only four members, namely the commander, driver, gunner and loader. Usually the commander also serves as the gunner. Adding a gunner will allow the commander to concentrate on directing the battle. What do you think?"

  (end of this chapter)