Burning Moscow
Chapter 65: 51st Military Parade (Part 2)
The solemn phalanx of the military parade was led by the commander of the Moscow Garrison. According to tradition, the military parade was kicked off by drummers from the Moscow Military Music School. 96 young soldiers wearing black uniforms and big brimmed hats, 12 people in a row, lined up in nine rows, beat the snare drums hanging on their chests with drumsticks, beat the pace of the military parade, and walked. With a neat pace, he followed the garrison commander's tall horse with vigor.
Then came the flag-bearer team consisting of the Soviet flag, the Lenin flag and the flag of the Soviet armed forces, and three parallel-moving flag-bearer teams. Walking in the center is the Soviet flag; the left side is the Lenin flag, and the right side is the military flag.
Accompanied by the flag-bearer team is the honor guard of the Soviet Union's army, army and air force. The sea, land and air guards of honor wore three-color uniforms. Except for the flag bearer and the officer holding the command knife, the rest of the soldiers carried the red flag rifle hung on the bayonet and walked forward in unison.
The cavalry guard of honor of the Central Guard Regiment of the Kremlin Guards followed closely. The knights wore sky-blue classical military uniforms, and the horses under the hips were all fine breeds from Kalinin and Belarus. The knights controlled the speed of their horses, rode four in a row, prepared the ground through Lenin's tomb, and proceeded along the road drawn on the square towards the **** of Vasily.
After the drummers passed Lenin's Tomb, they all turned to the left, stepped neatly, joined the mixed military band standing in the middle of the Red Square, and played music with them for the troops passing through the square.
What appeared next was an infantry phalanx formed by loyal soldiers from the Soviet republics.
One infantry phalanx passed by my eyes, and the neat and uniform footsteps sounded like dozens of drums beating the drums, and the coherent rhythm slammed people's heart with the drum beat.
I carefully observed the weapons in the hands of the soldiers. Although most of them were Mosin Lagan rifles and sand submachine guns, there were a few phalanx soldiers holding the assault rifles that I was familiar with. Judging from their clothes, they were either guard soldiers or marines from various naval forces. It seems that Ustinov's new weapon deployment plan is in the process. It is the units that have made great military exploits that give priority to assault rifles.
When the infantry phalanx all passed through the red square. A mixed military band composed of thousands of military musicians turned back collectively with the sound of drumming and strode towards the GUM shopping mall. It seemed that they wanted to make room for the mechanized squad to pass. As the military band moved away from me, I heard the sound of the loudspeakers on the field again, and only listened to the male announcer's strong voice introducing: "...The conductor of the band is the chief conductor of military music and the Soviet People’s Artist Alexandre. Major General Rove, in addition to directing the military band today to play different military music songs for each unit. He also led the famous Red Flag Song and Dance Ensemble to perform thousands of times on the front line for our troops who fought bravely. This greatly inspired my frontline commanders and fighters. Morale...."
With the roar of powerful engines, the mechanical team drove into the red square. The first appearance is the armored vehicle team, three in a row, driving forward along the drawn line. The announcer’s voice came from the broadcast again: “The first thing that appeared in front of us was the armored vehicle team. They are mainly equipped with reconnaissance units. They are versatile and can be used in complex terrain. The team commander is the battalion commander. ...Captain."
After the armored vehicle battalion was over, we saw an armored transport vehicle that was slightly different from the armored vehicle. The male announcer went on to explain: "Now on the Red Square is the armored transport vehicle battalion. The battalion is an independent brigade from the Marines of the Black Sea Fleet. The crew are all Crimeans and Sevastopols. The flags of the Republic of Crimea and the Black Sea Fleet were flying on the transport vehicle...."
At this time. Katukov, who had been silent, touched my arm and asked in a low voice, "Hey, I said Comrade Oshanina, where are the new tanks you are talking about? These armored vehicles and armored transport vehicles can It is not our country’s own production, but the aid of US allies."
Seeing that Katukoff was so anxious, I smiled and said to him: "Comrade General, don't be so anxious, the good stuff must be the last one. I just passed two mechanized teams, and I saw more troops later. Please wait patiently."
After Katukov listened, he said nothing. Just shrugged and continued to watch the armored vehicles passing in front of us. Maybe it was because I didn't see the technical equipment I wanted to see. In the next period of time, Katukov's melancholy performance, whether it was the truck-towed cannon, howitzer, or the Katyusha rocket launcher that shocked the enemy, did not arouse him much interest.
But when a zsu-57-2 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun phalanx appeared in our field of vision, Katukov’s interest was immediately raised. He pointed to the vehicle consisting of an armored chassis, a rotating turret, and twin artillery, curious Asked me groundly: "Oshanina, do you know what kind of equipment it is, it looks like it is used for air defense?"
I am very familiar with this 55-year-old model and 57-year-old Soviet equipment, but here I can’t show off everything I know, so I simply explained to Katukov: "Comrade General, this It is a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun that our army has just developed, and it can provide necessary air defense support for the armored units that launch an offensive."
The layman looks at the excitement and the insider looks at the doorway. The reason why I understand this self-propelled anti-aircraft gun is because I come from later generations. If the Soviet army really withdraws from something beyond my time, I will definitely not see its good or bad. After only a few glances, Katukov couldn’t help but slapped me on the shoulder and said excitedly: “With this new weapon, even if our air force can’t control the battlefield, the air defense capabilities of the ground forces It can also be greatly improved." At this point, he removed his hand from my shoulder, clenched his fists with both hands and slammed his fist, and said excitedly, "I believe that the new tanks that will appear later will bring us. A bigger surprise."
After the self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery battalion passed, it was the su-100 tank destroyer battalion that entered the Red Square. This is another vehicle that was introduced in advance because of the butterfly Fronin. This time not only Katukoff was excited, people around me, whether they were soldiers or ordinary leaders, were all talking about this new type of vehicle. I heard someone asking behind me: "...Hey, I said, the turret of this tank looks so strange, and the barrel is thicker than a normal tank gun."
"What tank?" As soon as his voice fell, someone immediately corrected him. "You didn't hear the announcer just now. This is not a tank, it is an anti-tank destroyer. It is specially used to fight German tanks."
The person who spoke first said thoughtfully: "Yes, this destroyer has good maneuverability, and it is suitable to deal with the German tanks. I don’t know if the superiors will produce this equipment. The task is handed over to our factory to complete."
"Why let your factory complete this task?" Another person said unconvincedly: "Last time the production task of the T-34 tank was handed over to your factory by the superior, so why should it be our factory this time? ."
While the two factory directors behind me were still arguing, the phalanx of tanks drove into the Red Square in the eyes of everyone. Naturally, the leading tank cannot be the most advanced T-54/55 tank. It is the T-34 tank currently installed by the Soviet Army. Rao is so, but still makes the people on the viewing platform very excited.
When the first new T-54/55 tank appeared in everyone's field of vision, the original noisy viewing platform suddenly fell silent, because it was a new tank that no one had seen before. After a while, I heard the two factory directors behind me started talking again.
Factory Director A said: "You are right. Since the task of producing tanks was handed over to our factory some time ago, the task of producing anti-tank destroyers should still be handed over to your factory. Don't worry. , The next time I go to the bureau for a meeting, I will discuss with Comrade Director, let him hand over the task of producing the destroyer to your factory to complete."
"No. Resolutely not." A few minutes ago, the factory director B, who wanted to fight for the production of tank destroyers, changed his mind. He said dissatisfiedly: "Our factory is fully capable of producing this new type of tank. I think the superiors should The task of producing the destroyer is given to your factory, and let us produce this new type of tank."
Katukov looked at the new tanks passing by, nodded in satisfaction, and said to me: "Yes, it's not bad. If my troops can install such tanks, then dealing with the armored troops of the German army, it is almost impossible. Come on."
I nodded. Then he introduced the characteristics of this tank to Katukov: "Comrade General, this new type of tank has good weapons and armor. Both use and maintenance are relatively simple, the submerged equipment is easy to install, and it has a strong night combat capability. But the main disadvantages are the small depression angle of the artillery and the rudimentary movement system. The range of the artillery is limited, and the outer fuel tank is easy to catch fire after being hit.
"As long as the battlefield survivability is strong, these shortcomings are nothing." After listening to this, Katukov said disapprovingly: "As long as it is easy to use and maintain, even if it is damaged by enemy fire, it can be repaired as soon as possible. To restore combat effectiveness."
From the conversation I just heard between the two factory directors, I know that the production of new tanks shouldn't be a big problem. The key is the people driving the tanks. Thinking of this, I couldn't help asking Katukov: "Comrade General, even if your superiors equip your army with a large number of new tanks, do you have so many tankers?"
After listening to what I said, Katukov couldn’t help laughing, and then explained to me: "Oshanina, don’t you know that the operation method of the crawler tractor we use, like the tank, is operated by the handle? Is it true that a tractor driver can become a qualified tank driver after a brief training."
"Why is the replenishment speed of the German tanks so slow after the loss?" Although I heard Katukoff say so easily, I still retorted unconvincingly: "You must know that the Germans have such a large armored force, even if After the tankers are lost, they can replace them with armored car drivers!"
My words made Katukov couldn’t help laughing. He stopped the laughter when he saw the reproachful look from the person next to him and explained to me: "Oshanina, you are on the battlefield. I stayed there for so long. I think you must have found that among the armored vehicles of the German army, there are many half-track armored vehicles.” Seeing me nodded in recognition, I immediately threw another question to me, “You know why this is. ?"
I really didn’t know the answer to Katukov’s question, so I shook my head and answered honestly: "I’m sorry, Comrade General, I don’t know."
"Because the driving device in this armored vehicle is not a handle operation, but a steering wheel." Katukov said to me confidently: "That is to say, once their tankers are lost, they want to re-train new ones. The driver of China will take much longer than ours. In this way, when their driver learns to drive a tank, our fighters who have changed careers will already become excellent drivers."
Just when I thought that the *part of the entire military parade was over, the voice of the announcer on the radio suddenly became agitated: "Citizens, now driving on the Red Square is the latest tank attached to the great Red Army. This type of tank is equipped with an advanced armed system and can carry out ground and air strikes. It is the nemesis of all fascist invaders in active service."
I quickly turned my head to look, and saw that I had seen t-72 appear in my field of vision~lightnovelpub.net~Six tanks were divided into two rows, majestic and majestic along the road paved with small stones. Pass in front of us.
At this moment, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my arm, and turned my head to see that it was Katukov who had grabbed my arm. I saw him staring at the passing t-72, because of excitement, the hand he was holding my arm was still trembling. Until the tank passed by Lenin's tomb, he turned his head and looked at me, and asked with some gaffe: "Oshanina, why didn't you tell me just now that this is our army's secret weapon?"
To be honest, to me as a layman, whether it is a T-54/55 tank or a T-72 tank, from the outside, they are all the same. Only Katukov's expertise can see at a glance what is special about this new type of tank. Therefore, facing Katukov’s questioning, I can only say vaguely: "Comrade General, these tanks were still top-secret existence before today, so even if I know anything, I have no right to tell you. Besides, those who appeared later Although the six tanks are currently the most advanced, they may not be equipped with troops in the short term due to their immature technology. What your troops can get is the tanks in the mechanized phalanx in front."
We were talking, and suddenly there was a cry of exclamation next to us. Bezikov said to me with a panic expression: "Lida, look at it, that tank broke down on the Vasily slope, and there was still heavy smoke from the engine position. Isn't it a fire?" (unfinished) to be continued.)