Red Moscow

  Chapter 554 Tank Transformation Plan (Part 2)

  After dark, the people who followed Sokov to the factory building, besides Yakov and Kalashnikov, were also accompanied by Bely. Bely was deeply afraid that Sokov would disagree, so he emphasized to him: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, in the next few days, my tank battalion will participate in many battles. I would like to communicate with the factory leaders in advance. It's absolutely necessary."

  Sokov was worried that Peter would have some bad associations if he knew that a colonel was serving as a tank battalion commander under his lieutenant colonel. In order to avoid embarrassing Bely, he did not invite him to go. At this time, when Beley brought it up, he said smoothly, "Well, Comrade Colonel, since you also want to know Director Peter, you can go with us."

People in the assembly workshop used to go to the factory building by car, but now the road has been bombed with potholes, and there are still some unexploded bombs, so for the sake of safety, Sokov and the others can only choose to walk. Go through the traffic trench in the factory area and go to the factory building.

When approaching the factory building, if the person walking in the front was not the guide sent by Cousteau, Sokov really thought he was in the wrong place. The original five-story factory building now has a roof that is already unknown Where to go, there are two floors left on the east side of the building. You can tell at a glance that this is a masterpiece of the Luftwaffe.

The director of the factory office that Peter sent to connect was the director of the factory office. After greeting the guide, he came to Sokov, straightened his body and said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I am the director of the factory office. The factory director is waiting in the basement." You, please come with me."

  Sokov and his team followed the director of the factory office, entered the factory building, and walked down a staircase to the basement below. The structure of the basement here is the same as that of the assembly workshop. It is a long corridor, and the two sides of the corridor are rooms one after another.

From the open doors, Sokov saw soldiers and workers resting in some rooms; Workers armed with rifles stood guard. Sokov once thought it was Peter's office. When he got closer, he realized that this room with a glass door was actually a communication room. He clearly saw that there were people sitting in front of the telephone receiver. The young female operator is methodically unplugging or plugging the plugs of different phones from the receiver to the designated position...

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," the director of the factory office saw Sukov standing at the door of the communication room, staring at the female operator inside without moving his eyes, and hurriedly urged with a blank face: "Comrade factory director is still waiting for you, please follow up with me." Let me do it."

  When he came to the end of the corridor, the director of the factory office stopped, turned to Sokov and said, "Comrade lieutenant colonel, please wait a moment, I will go in and talk to the factory director."

  After obtaining Sokov's consent, he pushed open the closed door and walked in. As soon as he entered, he closed the door behind his backhand. After a while, the door opened, and Peter and the director of the factory came out side by side. Peter stretched out his hand to Sokov and said with a smile, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, you are welcome to come and guide our work!"

   Directing work? ! When Sokov heard what Peter said, he couldn't help being taken aback, and said to himself that I'm here to talk to you about the tank's on-board radio, what work can I guide you? But he quickly remembered that Peter once asked himself to check the defense situation near the factory building and give them suggestions for rectification. In this way, it can barely be regarded as guidance work.

   After shaking hands with Peter, Sokov introduced several companions behind him. He started with Bely, who had the highest military rank, and said: "This is Colonel Bely. He used to be the commander of the 84th Tank Brigade, and now he is the acting commander of the Tank Battalion."

  Although Peter is not a soldier, he is no stranger to military ranks and duties. Knowing that the colonel in front of him is actually going to obey Sokov's command, he can't help but look at Sokov with admiration. He shook Bely's hand and said with a smile: "Hello, Colonel Bely, welcome!"

  Sokov went on to introduce: "These two are Major Yakov and Lieutenant Kalashnikov from the Armament Department."

Hearing that the major in front of him was Yakov, Peter stretched out his hands, held Sukov's hand tightly, and said a little flatteringly, "Hello, Major Yakov. Back then, the White Bandit Army was attacking the city. At that time, under the leadership of your great father, I also fought tenaciously against the enemies who tried to break into the city."

  Yakov learned that Director Peter had followed his father and fought tenaciously against the invading enemies in this city, and he immediately had a good impression of him. He held the other party's hand and said with a smile: "Peter Factory Director, since we were able to defeat the White Bandit Army's invasion of the city, today I can also defeat the Japanese invaders who are trying to seize the city."

After everyone came to sit in the office, Peter didn't immediately talk to Sokov about the tank's car radio, but asked straight to the point: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, you have also stayed in our factory for a while. Fortifications, is there anything that needs improvement?"

Although Sokov hadn't looked at the fortifications outside the factory building yet, he understood Lao Maozi's character and knew that the structure of the fortifications here must be similar to that of the assembly workshop, so he said without hesitation: "The factory manager Comrade, I would like to ask first, how many trenches have you dug outside the factory building?"

   "Two roads!" Peter replied without thinking, "The distance between the two roads is five hundred meters."

  Sokov continued to ask: "Did you continue to connect the two trenches with traffic trenches?"

"No, there is no communication trench between the two trenches." Peter replied with some embarrassment after answering Sokov's question: "The reason why there is no communication trench is entirely because of fear that the workers will abandon their positions and flee because of fear during the battle." .”

"Comrade factory manager, you think too much." Sokov felt the need to praise the workers of the Red October factory before he made his suggestion, lest Peter would have any resistance in his next proposal. Sentiment: "I believe that the workers of the Red October Tractor Factory are good people. Even if they sacrifice their lives and expose their bodies to the wilderness, they will never allow the Germans to easily pass through their positions."

"That's right, that's right." Naturally, Peter would not object to Sukov's statement, and could only nod repeatedly, and said in agreement: "I believe that all the workers in the factory will fight tenaciously in the face of the enemies rushing up. Fighting to the last moment. Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, why don't you tell us how our defensive positions should be adjusted?"

"Comrade factory manager, there is no communication trench between your two trenches, which means that no matter whether you are reinforcing or retreating, the soldiers must leave the trenches they were holding on to and pass hundreds of meters of open space under the enemy's firepower. ..."

"Please wait, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Hearing this, Peter quickly stopped Sokov from continuing, and said: "Our comrades will strictly abide by Order No. 227. Before receiving orders from superiors, Not one step back."

"I'm talking about retreating, not running away." For such a single-minded person in front of him, Sokov felt a deep sense of frustration in his heart, but he still tried his best to control his emotions and said in a calm tone. : "Before the enemy attacks, they will continue to bombard our defensive positions fiercely. There are no artillery holes and concealed places in your front-line positions. The soldiers can only stay in the trenches and suffer shells. In this way, you will not wait for the enemy to attack. , a considerable proportion of comrades were killed or injured by the enemy's artillery fire."

"There is no way around this." Peter said with some helplessness: "We do not have air supremacy on the battlefield, and the artillery on the other side of the Volga River cannot suppress the German artillery. Our comrades can only stay in the trenches and be bombed. But every day All comrades know that no matter how high the price is paid to defend the great motherland, it is totally worth it."

"Comrade factory director," Sukov said sternly after hearing what Peter said, "It is the awareness that every Soviet citizen should have to sacrifice his own blood and life to defend the motherland, but we This cannot be used as a reason to disregard the lives of the soldiers and let them die in pieces under the enemy's artillery fire."

   "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," Peter heard Sokov speak to himself in such a harsh tone, and his attitude became a little unfriendly: "Do you have any measures to reduce the casualties of comrades?"

   "That's right, Comrade Factory Manager." Sokov nodded, and said in a positive tone: "I do have a way to reduce the casualties of our soldiers when they are bombarded by the enemy."

   Hearing what Sokov said, Peter's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I don't know what to do, please tell me quickly."

  Sokov said lightly: "The best way is to dig a few more traffic trenches between the two trenches."

"What, dig a few traffic trenches?" Peter couldn't help showing a disappointed expression on his face, and he said with a bitter face: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I really can't figure out why digging a few traffic trenches can reduce the number of troops being attacked. What about the casualties from the shelling?"

   Not only Peter had such doubts, but even Bely and Kalashnikov looked at Sokov with doubts. Only Yakov, who knew Sokov best, sat beside him smoking a cigarette with a calm expression.

Sokov picked up a pencil on the table and drew a sketch on a newspaper that Peter used to roll cigarettes: "Comrade factory director, come and see. We will use several communication trenches to connect the two trenches, so that When the enemy bombards our first line of defense, we can withdraw all the soldiers in the first trench to the second trench to avoid the shelling, leaving only a few observation posts on the position. Wait until the enemy's shelling is over Afterwards, our soldiers return from the second trench to the first trench."

"It makes sense, it makes sense." Peter stared at the sketch drawn by Sokov and nodded again and again, and said with emotion: "We withdrew all the soldiers on the first line of defense to the second line of defense, and what the enemy bombarded was only In the empty positions of the next few observation posts, apart from wasting shells, the results they can achieve are very limited."

Seeing that Peter recognized his statement, Sokov went on to say: "With the traffic trenches, once the first line of defense is tight, you can let the soldiers of the second line of defense quickly enter the first line through these traffic trenches." Reinforcement. Since the troops no longer have to brave the enemy's bullets and pass through unobstructed open land during the reinforcement process, this can also reduce the casualties of the follow-up troops to the lowest level."

"This is really a good idea." Peter slapped the table and applauded: "Why didn't I come up with such a good idea." After finishing speaking, he raised his head, looked at the director of the factory office standing aside, and ordered: "Dig traffic trenches. I will leave it to you to take charge of the matter, and at least five to eight traffic trenches must be dug out before dawn."

  Hearing Peter’s order, the director of the factory office couldn’t help complaining: “Comrade factory director, so many traffic trenches need to be dug overnight, where can I find so many manpower?”

"This is your business." Peter raised his hand and looked at his watch, and continued: "There are still twelve hours between now and dawn, if you don't act quickly, Tianming will definitely not be able to complete the task I entrusted to you " Hearing what Peter said, the director of the factory office didn't dare to raise any more difficulties, so he could only bite the bullet and agree, then turned and walked out of the office.

  After Sokov and the director of the factory office left, he turned to Peter and said, "Comrade director, the fortification work has come to an end. Next, let's talk about the tank's on-board radio."

"As for the car radio, Comrade Khrushchev called me personally and asked me to hand over all the materials stored in the factory to you unconditionally." Peter asked Sokov in puzzlement: " Comrade school, I don’t understand, what do you need so many car radios for?”

"It's very simple, it's for the convenience of command." Seeing Peter's puzzled look, Sokov explained to him: "From the analysis of the current situation, in the next few days, the Germans will definitely try to use different methods. It is obviously unrealistic to rely on the signal flag to command the tanks only if you need support. If you need support, the tanks are scattered in different places. But if every tank If you have installed a car radio, the situation will be very different."

Having said that, Sokov pointed to Bely next to him: "For example, Colonel Bely learned which tank company is the closest to you through the radio, and he only needs to issue an order to the company commander. The tank team at the department. They will be able to come to support you in the shortest possible time."

Sokov's explanation made Peter understand the importance of installing on-board radios for each tank. In order to keep the factory, he made the most sensible choice in the shortest possible time: "Okay, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov , I will personally take you to get the car radios for those tanks."

  (end of this chapter)