Red Moscow

  Chapter 555 Special Tank

   After Bely finished speaking, he walked quickly to the door. After opening the door, he shouted to the outside: "Is anyone there? Come to me."

  Following Peter's shout, the rooms on the right opened up, and a young man ran out from inside. He came to Peter, stood up and asked, "Comrade director, what's the matter?"

Peter pointed to his room with his hand, and told the young man: "I said, it's cold outside, and the commanders and comrades just came in from outside and need some hot tea to warm up. You go to the kitchen immediately, give They bring over hot tea."

Just when the young man promised and was about to turn around and go to the kitchen, Sokov came out of the house. He heard what Peter told the young man, stopped him quickly, and then said to Peter: "Comrade director, Forget about drinking tea, we are short on time, and we can't waste too long here, you should hurry up and take us to see the batch of supplies."

   "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Peter said with a smile, "I know your time is very tight, but since you are here with us, you can't even go to work without drinking a cup of hot tea, right?"

   "Comrade director, I don't think there is any need to drink tea." Belei got up and walked to the door, and said to Peter, "You should let us take the supplies back earlier."

   Seeing Sokov and Bely's resolute attitudes, Peter did not insist on his proposal, waved at the young man, and sent him away. Then Peter walked to the door of a room on the left, opened the door with a key, went in and turned on the light in the room, leaned out half of his body, and said to Sokov and the others: "Come in, comrades, please come in." come in."

  Sokov thought the car radio was stacked in the room, so he walked in. Unexpectedly, when he walked into the room, he found that the room was empty and there was nothing. He couldn't help asking curiously: "Comrade factory director, what's going on, where is the car radio we need?"

  Peter didn't speak, just smiled. After everyone came in, he closed the door, locked it with a key, and came to the other side of the room. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, he opened a closed door, turned around and said to everyone: "Comrade commander, please follow me." After speaking, he took the lead and walked into the door.

  With the experience just now, Sokov felt that the car radio would definitely not be behind the door. However, he was eager to find out what was at the door, so he came to the door quickly. Behind the door is a corridor five or six meters long. There is a downward staircase in the middle of the corridor, and Peter is walking down the staircase.

   Seeing this situation, Sokov knew in his heart that Peter was going to take them to a place with a relatively high degree of secrecy, otherwise the entrance would not be in such a hidden place. Sokov walked down the stairs. After a short walk, he came to the entrance of a long corridor. Peter stood at the entrance and waited for a while. Seeing that everyone had arrived, he continued walking forward.

   This corridor is very long, but there is an incandescent lamp every 20 meters, so that everyone can see clearly what is under their feet. Kalashnikov, who was walking at the back of the team, saw this corridor, and asked Yakov who was walking in front curiously: "Comrade Major, do you know where the factory director is going to take us?"

  Although Kalashnikov's voice was very low, it was so loud in this long and narrow corridor that even Peter, who was walking in the front, heard it. While continuing to walk forward without stopping, Peter turned his head and said to the back: "Everyone, don't worry, you will be there soon."

Soon, the corridor came to an end, but Sokov didn't see a road or a door ahead. When he was wondering, he suddenly saw Peter take off a phone earphone from the wall, and said close to his ear: " I'm Peter, open the door immediately."

  Shortly after Peter put down the phone, there was a sound from the front wall, and then the front wall split to the sides, revealing a huge space. Only then did Sokov realize that the door was the same color as the wall. If Peter hadn't led the way, even if he got here, it would be difficult to find the door disguised as a wall.

  The crowd followed Peter into the gate, and found a huge warehouse in front of them, filled with various supplies. In addition to the two militiamen with submachine guns guarding the door, a group of four patrols can be seen from time to time in the middle of the cargo, walking back and forth.

  While walking forward with Peter, Sokov secretly sighed in his heart: Such a large warehouse, buried so deep underground, must store important materials.

  Peter led them to a pile of wooden boxes, pointed at them, and said, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, all the car radios you need are here. I'll have someone deliver them to you later."

Sokov knew that this was an important warehouse, and outsiders were not allowed to enter casually. He was worrying about how to ask people to move these things back to the assembly workshop. Hearing what Peter said, he nodded quickly and said gratefully: "That's really Great, Comrade Factory Director, on behalf of the comrades of the Tank Battalion, thank you!"

   "Director Peter," Bely waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and suddenly pointed to a corner of the warehouse and asked, "May I ask, what is the canvas covering?"

  Sokov looked in the direction of Bely's finger, only to see an object covered by canvas in the corner of the warehouse, which should be a round object in shape. Sokov stared at the thing for a long time, but couldn't figure out what it was, so he asked Peter for advice: "Comrade director, can you tell me what it is?"

  Hearing that Bely and Sokov both asked about the things in the corner, Peter hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Two commanders, come and see for yourself."

   Everyone came to the corner of the warehouse, and Peter asked two workers to come over and uncover the canvas. As soon as the canvas was lifted, everyone should know the thing, and they couldn't help being stunned, screaming in their hearts: My God, what the **** is this?

   This is an oval green object like a rugby ball, with a gun barrel and tracks on it. After staring at the thing for a while, Sokov asked Peter tentatively: "Comrade factory director, you won't tell us that this **** thing is a tank?"

"That's right, this is a tank." Yakov stepped forward and said in a positive tone: "If I'm not mistaken, this should be designed by Comrade Fotrisov, and it is the same as the SHT-1A spherical tank that was finalized last year." .”

"Spherical tank?" Sokov heard Yakov say this, and couldn't help but took two steps forward, staring at the football-like tank, and asked dubiously: "This kind of tank can go to the battlefield. ?"

Yakov walked to the side of the spherical tank and explained to everyone: "This tank has an L-1076mm short-barreled main gun on each side of the car body, which are installed on their respective rotating shafts and can be easily turned to face the enemy. Attack the target. The balance system of the ball tank is very unique. Due to the gyroscopic effect, it can make the tank appear very stable when moving. A set of ballast system is installed on the bottom of the tank. No matter how big the angle of the tank is, the rollers are always horizontal .

  The ball tank has good off-road performance, and is easy to control. It rotates in place like a top and is as flexible as a top, and can easily cross bomb craters or trenches. It can reach a speed of 50 to 60 kilometers per hour, and can jump over obstacles 1.2 meters high when accelerating at full speed. "

   It was the first time Sokov saw this kind of strange tank. After listening to Yakov’s introduction, he couldn’t help asking curiously: “Yakov, has this ball tank ever been used in actual combat?”

   "No." Yakov replied unequivocally, "When I was in the weapons and equipment department, I only saw this kind of tank on drawings, and it was the first time I saw it in real life."

"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov." Peter waited until Yakov finished speaking, and said to Sokov with a smile: "The code name of this ball tank is SHT-1A. It was originally planned to be installed in the army as soon as possible after passing the test." However, Comrade Fotrisov felt that the production of this kind of tank required re-opening a special production line, which would have a negative impact on our existing military production, so he decided to suspend the production of SHT-1A and focus on producing cheap and easy tanks. manufactured T-34 tanks."

Sokov walked around the spherical tank a few times, thinking to himself: A large number of tanks are needed to defend the city. Instead of letting this tank sit here and let it rust slowly, it is better to let it go to the battlefield Play a role. Thinking of this, he came to Peter and asked in a negotiating tone: "Comrade factory director, I wonder if you can give me this tank?"

"What, give you the ball tank?" Peter shook his head like a rattle when he heard Sokov's request, "No, absolutely not. It has not been tested, and it is still a question whether it can participate in the battle. More importantly, there are only three ball tanks produced in China. The number of this ball tank in our factory is No. 03. If you want to use it, It has to be approved by the National Defense Council."

  Knowing that the use of a tank requires permission from the National Defense Commission, Sokov's heart suddenly became cold. He thought to himself: If I know someone from the National Defense People's Committee, I still need to beg you here, and I will send a telegram directly, and the superior will allocate this special tank to his troops.

"Peter, I will take charge of the application to the National Defense Committee." Just as Sokov was disappointed, he suddenly heard Yakov say: "Please prepare the fuel and shells needed for this tank as soon as possible." , together with the batch of car radios, sent to us to the assembly workshop."

Peter knew Yakov's energy, so he nodded and said straightforwardly: "No problem, Major Yakov, I will immediately have people prepare fuel and ammunition for this tank. As long as the National Defense Committee gives me authorization, I will immediately Send the tank to you."

  (end of this chapter)