Chapter 1169

   "What, you went to the Prairie Front Army?" Yakov couldn't help being taken aback, and then asked tentatively, "Misha, have you made any mistakes recently?"

   "No," Sokov asked in confusion, "Why do you ask that?"

"If you didn't make a mistake, why would you be transferred to the Steppe Front Army?" Yakov deliberately explained to Sokov: "Although they are all Front Army, but the Steppe Front Army is just a reserve team. Is there any chance to participate in the battle?" , It’s hard to say now. But once a new battle starts, the higher-ups will draw troops and equipment from you to supplement other combat troops.”

"On the Red Army Village-Donetsk front line, there will be no more large-scale battles in a short period of time." Seeing Yakov's U coin to understand the situation, Sokov quickly explained to him: "I learned that the superior intends to send After the news that I was transferred to other fronts, after repeated consideration, I finally chose the grassland front army."

He might be worried about what Yakov would say, and added: "Yasha, don't look at us as a reserve team now, maybe we can play a bigger role in the next battle. Just like during the Moscow Defense War , Marshal Zhukov also served as the commander of the reserve front, and commanded this force to liberate Yelinia, which was occupied by the Germans."

  Yakov did have a lot to say, but when he heard Sokov's words, he swallowed the words that came to his lips, and instead asked, "Then what can I do for you?"

"You can do a lot for me." Seeing that Yakov no longer struggled with his transfer to the commander of the reserve force, Sokov said with a smile: "I hope you can continue to provide us with that new type of rocket. It is the best weapon against the German army."

"It goes without saying that this new type of rocket was originally invented by you, and it is given priority to your troops. Others can't find anything to say." Yakov recorded Sokov's words in the notebook in front of him. After asking, follow up with: "Besides, what else do you need?"

"The new rockets can be given to us later." Sokov said, "I hope you can find a way to replace us with a batch of tanks, which is the T-34/T-34 we used in the Stalingrad defense battle." 85 tanks, you can change as many as you can."

To Sokov's request, Yakov said helplessly: "Misha, I will get in touch with the director of the Red October factory as soon as possible to obtain useful data from him. But you must know that manufacturing tanks, It’s no different than guns, especially this type of improved tank, it’s pretty impressive to be able to produce 20 or 30 tanks a month.”

   "Only 20 or 30 vehicles can be produced?" Hearing the data reported by Yakov, Sokov couldn't help but feel a little disappointed: "This output can barely equip a battalion."

"Misha, at the beginning, the output of new tanks will definitely be very low. After all, it will be affected by the production environment and the proficiency of workers." Yakov explained to Sokov: "Our factories that can produce tanks are all It was destroyed by the war, and the production capacity was inevitably affected. In addition, many skilled workers have gone to the front, and the new additions to the factory are half-grown children and women. It is necessary for them to reach the previous level in a short period of time. The production level of young and middle-aged male workers is still difficult."

"Yasha, I understand what you are saying." Regarding what Yakov said, Sokov knew very well in his heart that the skilled workers in the factory were not transferred to the distant rear with the factory equipment and reorganized. A new factory starts production; it means taking up arms and joining the army or militia, which seriously affects the normal production of the factory. "I just hope you can find a way to let the factory increase production so that my tank troops can be reequipped as soon as possible."

  Yakov sensed something strange in Sokov's tone of voice, and asked tentatively, "Misha, you seem to be in a hurry about the change of tank troops. Have you heard any news?"

"Yasha, you have been staying in Moscow. There may be many things you don't understand." Sokov said: "The reason why the Southwestern Front Army was defeated by the German army is because the tanks they equipped were not the opponents of the German tanks. In the same In terms of distance, the shells fired by our tanks cannot penetrate the armor of German tanks; while the enemy's shells can be directly destroyed as long as they hit our tanks.

  The difference in equipment means that our army needs to make greater sacrifices on the battlefield in order to win the final victory. Yasha, I want you to change our outfits as soon as possible, just to minimize the casualties of the commanders and fighters in the next battle. "

"I understand what you mean." After a moment of silence, Yakov continued: "We must reduce the difference in equipment between our army and the enemy, so that we can achieve greater victories at the lowest cost. Many of the troops under your command Fighting follows this principle."

  Seeing that Yakov understood his intentions, Sokov suddenly became more at ease. He knew very well in his heart that with Yakov's friendship with him and his current position, it shouldn't be a big problem to give priority to providing weapons and equipment for his troops.

Just before he was about to hang up the phone, Sokov suddenly remembered that he had heard Lunev mention that Yakov and the others had developed a new type of transportation, and he could just take this opportunity to ask: "Yasha, can I Some time ago, I heard that you seem to have developed a new type of transportation that is not restricted by the terrain. If it does not involve confidentiality regulations, can you introduce the situation to me?"

"Actually, there is nothing to keep secret," Yakov said with a soft sigh, "it is a hovercraft, which uses the principle of surface effect and relies on air above atmospheric pressure to form an air cushion between the hull and the water surface or the ground. A high-speed ship sailing wholly or partly off a support surface."

   Hearing that it was just a hovercraft, Sokov couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. He thought that Yakov had developed a ground-effect aircraft, so that the troops, equipment, and various supplies that could be carried were perfect for combat. But he is very clear that with the current level of technology, it is impossible to create a ground-effect aircraft. However, in order to find out the performance of this hovercraft, he tentatively asked: "What is the carrying capacity of the hovercraft?"

"After experiments, we found that the hovercraft can only be carried by 20 commanders and the weapons they carry, or carry no more than five tons of materials." Yakov introduced to Sokov: "At present, we have completed the test in the swamp. And the test on the lake, the top speed can reach sixty knots."

   "Then when do you plan to carry out the test of land transportation?"

   "I'm afraid it will have to wait until the second half of the year." Yakov replied: "After testing, we found that there are still many areas for improvement."

   To Sokov, this kind of hovercraft is tasteless. Its carrying capacity can only be thought of as that of a truck. Although its speed is quite fast, due to cost issues, it is impossible to equip troops on a large scale. Just rely on one or two hovercraft to transport, and how useful can it be?

After thinking about this truth, Sokov did not ask any more questions about the hovercraft, but shifted the topic to weapons and equipment again: "Yasha, my army has just recruited a large number of soldiers, and many of them have no weapons. You see , can you help us contact the logistics department and give us a priority to replenish a batch of weapons?"

   "If it's just a light weapon, I don't think it's a big problem." Yakov said on the phone: "I'll call you when things get clear."

After Waiting for Sokov to put down the phone, Sameko said enviously: "Comrade Commander, I really didn't expect that you are so familiar with the people in the Armament Department. If we can really get new tanks, then the Tank Army scale can be expanded.”

  Sokov heard Sameko say this, with an expression of surprise on his face, he asked in surprise: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what do you mean, I didn't understand it very well?"

"Comrade Commander, after I get a new tank, I will not immediately hand over the original tank to other troops." Sameko said with some pride: "In this way, we will continue to use these weapons to equip force."

Sokov did not explain his relationship with Yakov to Sameko, but just nodded and asked casually: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I would like to ask, has our troops ever conducted training subjects for infantry and artillery coordinated operations? "

"Infantry coordinated operations?" Sameko may have heard this term for the first time, and asked with some surprise: "Comrade Commander, haven't we been using infantry coordinated operations? After the artillery fire is prepared, the infantry will attack the enemy's position."

Sokov felt that Sameko might have misunderstood what he meant, so he said to him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, our army used to bombard the enemy's positions with artillery preparations before attacking, but it actually didn't play a big role. As soon as the bombardment started, the enemy's main force withdrew to the second line of defense, and after our army's artillery fire was extended, the enemy returned to the front line again, rushed to repair the damaged fortifications, and made preparations to meet our army's attack."

   As Sokov's deputy, Sameko is still used to the old tactics. After waiting for Sokov to finish speaking, he immediately added: "Comrade commander, our army's tactics have always been to prepare for artillery fire on the enemy's positions first, and then the infantry will attack after the artillery fire stops or extends the shooting. Is there anything wrong with this?" Is something wrong?"

"Of course, there is something wrong, but it's still outrageously wrong." Sokov felt that it would take a long time to reverse Sameko's old concept, and he could only change the other's concept step by step: "Actually When the artillery fire of our army is about to end, the infantry should launch an attack, so that after the artillery fire ends, the enemy has no time to repair the fortifications destroyed by the artillery fire, and our commanders and fighters have already rushed in front of them to achieve the goal of capturing the enemy's position as soon as possible .”

After listening to Sokov's words, Sameko pondered for a long time, and said with a dazed face: "Comrade Commander, I understand. The reason why our army's offensives failed in the past was entirely because when the artillery fire began to extend, the infantry did not He didn't seize the opportunity to attack in time, but waited for a while before getting the order to attack.

   In this way, the best opportunity will be delayed.

  By the time our commanders and fighters approached the enemy's position, the enemy had enough time to repair the blown-up fortifications, and hid in the fortifications to shoot at our commanders and fighters. Our infantry, who could have taken advantage of the cover of artillery fire and quickly approached the enemy's position, had to brave the enemy's hail of bullets and launch an attack with difficulty. "

   Seeing that the other party finally understood his intentions, Sokov showed a satisfied smile on his face. He nodded and said: "That's right, Comrade Chief of Staff, if our army does not grasp the timing when attacking, it will not only waste a lot of shells, but also cause many commanders and fighters to sacrifice their lives in vain. What we do Commanders, we must avoid this kind of situation, so the training subject of infantry and gun coordination should be included in our daily training program."

  From the next day, the construction of fortifications in the Koski area was completely stopped, and the women and half-aged children who were recruited to participate in the construction of the fortifications all returned to their homes one after another.

Konev soon found out about this matter. He called Sokov and asked angrily: "Major General Sokov, I got the news that all the fortification work in your defense zone has been suspended. The women and half-grown children in Jianshe all returned to their homes. What is going on here, and who gave you such rights?"

"Report to Comrade Front Army Commander," Sokov said unhurriedly after Konev's attack, "The reason why I ordered all the troops to stop the construction of fortifications is entirely because there is no need to do so. It is a complete waste of manpower and material resources, and it will also delay the normal training of the troops."

"When you took office yesterday, didn't I tell you that the construction of fortifications in the existing defense area was an order from the headquarters of the Supreme Command?" Although Konev felt that what Sokov said was reasonable, even if these fortifications were repaired, it would not be too late. It is too likely to be useful, and there is no need to waste manpower and material resources to build these fortifications. But since the superior has issued an order to build fortifications, the original order must be unconditionally implemented before receiving a new order. Out of love for Sokov, he said euphemistically: "Major General Sokov, you are in flagrant disobedience. If you don't let the troops start building defense fortifications as soon as possible, what awaits you may be dismissed or sent to the military." court."

"Comrade Commander of the Front Army," Sokov knew very well in his heart that if he obeyed Konev's order and let the commanders and fighters start building fortifications again, it would affect his prestige in the army and make the commanders and fighters think that they He is a person who changes his orders day and night. When they carry out their orders in the future, they will inevitably be perfunctory. So Sukov said firmly: "I really think there is no need to build fortifications. See if you can ask the Supreme Commander Report to the headquarters of the Ministry, ask them to cancel this unrealistic order?"

  (end of this chapter)