Chapter 1802

After Konev put down the phone, he called Zakharov in front of him and told him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, immediately contact the commander of the Cherkasy garrison and order him to take precautions to reduce the number of people in the city. resident casualties."

  Zakharov has seen the huge crater in the village with his own eyes, and he feels a headache when he thinks that an unknown number of aircraft will smash into this newly liberated city.

   "Comrade Marshal," he asked tentatively after Konev finished speaking, "What precautions should I tell the other party to take?"

Hearing Zakharov's question, Konev realized that he hadn't spoken clearly just now, and quickly added: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you and I have seen the power of V1 missiles. If you don't take precautions, you must Alkasy will suffer huge losses. We can rebuild buildings after they are destroyed, but if residents die in the attack, there is nothing we can do."

   "Comrade Marshal, I would like to ask, what is a V1 missile?"

   "The V1 missile is the kind of aircraft we are talking about." Konev explained to Zakharov: "As soon as Sokov found out the name of the new German weapon, he immediately reported it to me."

  "If the commander of Cherkasy asked me what precautions to take, how should I answer him?"

"From the information we have so far, the location where the German army launched the V1 missile is still in Uman." Konev said to Zakharov: "Therefore, the defenders should establish new air defenses in the southwest or west of the city. When the V1 missiles approach the sky over the city, shoot them down with antiaircraft artillery."

   "Although the flight path of the V1 missiles is fixed, it may not be easy to shoot them down at night." Zakharov said worriedly: "The city will definitely still be intensively bombed by then."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, your worries are correct. Even if we deploy artillery positions to intercept the German V1 missiles, there will still be a large number of missiles that will fall in the city and explode, causing buildings to collapse and residents to be killed." Injured." After deliberating for a moment, Konev said: "Although I believe that the information Sokov obtained is absolutely true, but to be on the safe side, at two o'clock in the morning, I ordered Cherkasy's defenders to pull Sound the air raid siren and let the residents of the city hide in the air-raid shelters. In this way, no matter how many missiles fall into the city, at best they can only destroy some buildings, but the casualties to the residents can be minimized.”

   "Okay, Comrade Marshal." Zakharov nodded and replied, "I will contact the commander of the Cherkasy garrison right now, and ask them to take precautions to minimize losses."

  In the headquarters of the 53rd Army, Smirnov waited for Sokov to put down the phone, and asked curiously: "Comrade Commander, I have a question that I don't quite understand."

"what is the problem?"

   "Tell me, why did the Germans launch missiles at night?" Smirnov asked puzzled, "You know, the visibility at night is not high, and the probability of hitting the target is also low."

Since there is no information about the V1 missile at this moment, Sokov cannot tell Smirnov more details. He pretended to think about it, and then said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the photos of the V1 missile taken by the scouts, You have seen it. The missile is in the air, with a long tail flame trailing behind it. If you choose to launch it at night, people on the ground can clearly observe the flight trajectory of the V1 missile based on the position of the tail flame even with the naked eye."

  Smirnov thought about it carefully, and felt that what Sokov said was very reasonable. If the target of the attack was only a few kilometers away, then the observer could see the flight trajectory clearly with a telescope. However, it is obviously inappropriate to use the original observation method for a missile with a flight distance of one or two hundred kilometers. When launched at night, observers on the ground can confirm the flight trajectory of the missile based on the tail flame to determine whether it has deviated from the target.

"You're right, Comrade Commander." Smirnov nodded and said, "The Germans chose to discover at night, one is to catch our army by surprise, and the other is to be able to see the missile flight more clearly. traces of."

  Besides, Yakov, who returned to Moscow by plane, did not dare to stay for a moment, and rushed to the weapons and equipment department in the car that had been waiting by the runway for a long time.

   Fortunately, Ustinov spent most of his time in his office, and Yakov found him in the office smoothly. Seeing Yakov appearing, he nodded at the other party as a greeting, and then asked directly: "Colonel Yakov, what did you gain from going to the front this time?"

"Yes, Comrade People's Commissar, this front-line execution has yielded a lot." Yakov took out the document bag from his briefcase, pulled out the photo that Sokov gave himself, and placed it in front of Ustinov. , Said to him: "This is the photo taken by the scouts of the 53rd Army."

   "Colonel Yakov, is this the new German weapon?" After seeing a few photos, Ustinov looked up at Yakov and said, "It looks like an aircraft."

"That's right, from the appearance, it does look like an aircraft, but this aircraft is not piloted." Yakov introduced to Ustinov: "The Germans call it a V1 missile, and it has a range of more than one hundred. kilometers, and the explosion is extremely powerful. If ten such missiles land on a residential area and explode, they can destroy the entire area."

  Ustinov couldn't help but feel moved. He knew very well that even if the German army used an artillery regiment to violently shell a residential area, it would not be able to destroy the entire area in a short time. The fact that ten V1 missiles could cause such a huge amount of damage was indeed far beyond his expectations.

  After asking Yakov for some details, he stood up abruptly, put the photos back into the briefcase, and tucked them under his arm. After doing all this, he looked up to Yakov and said, "Colonel Yakov, let's go."

   "Go?" Yakov asked a little confused: "Where are you going?"

   "Where else can I go, of course to see your father." Ustinov said: "Such important information must be reported to him as soon as possible."

  Although it is already midnight and the gates of the Kremlin are closed, Ustinov has a special status and can enter at any time, not to mention Yakov is with him. So it was very smooth to come outside Stalin's office.

  Poskrebyshev was dozing off behind his desk, when he heard someone coming in from outside, he opened his eyes, wanting to see who it was? After seeing clearly that it was Ustinov and Yakov, he quickly stood up, walked out from behind the desk, and greeted Ustinov: "Comrade People's Commissar, why did you come here so late?"

  Of course, Yakov, who was following Ustinov, also saw it. But he just nodded his head as a greeting, and then fixed his eyes on Ustinov, trying to figure out the reason for his late-night visit.

  But Ustinov did not immediately explain his purpose of coming, but asked instead: "Comrade Poskrebyshev, has the Supreme Commander himself rested?"

"Of course." Poskrebyshev nodded and said, "It's very late, he must be resting in the lounge inside. Comrade People's Commissar, what do you have? If it's not important, please dawn Come back later."

"Comrade Poskrebyshev, since I'm here so late, it proves that what I'm going to say is very important." Ustinov said, "Please inform me, I have something important, and I need to inform you immediately." The Supreme Commander himself reports."

"That's right," Yakov, who was standing behind Ustinov, said just as Poskrebyshev was hesitating, "We do have something very important to report to my father, please inform me. One sound."

  Since Yakov has spoken, it seems inappropriate for Poskrebyshev to stop him. He can only politely say: "Please wait a moment, I will go in and report to Comrade Stalin."

   Seeing Poskrebyshev push open the closed door and walk in, both Ustinov and Yakov knew in their hearts that they would see Stalin soon.

Sure enough, less than two minutes later, Poskrebyshev appeared at the door again, and said respectfully: "Comrade Ustinov, the Supreme Commander himself is waiting for you inside, please come in!" He stepped aside to make way for the two of them.

  The two walked into the room, just in time to see Stalin in pajamas, slowly coming out of the next hut. After slightly nodding at the two of them, he said casually, "Comrade Ustinov, is there anything important to look for me so late?"

   "Comrade Stalin, based on the information we have received, we can draw a conclusion." Ustinov said: "The Germans have developed a new weapon."

  Stalin sat down behind his desk, and while stuffing tobacco butts, asked casually: "I don't know what kind of new weapon it is?"

  Ustinov hastily pulled out the file bag that was under his arm, opened it, took out a stack of photos from it, put it in front of Stalin, and said respectfully: "Comrade Stalin, please take a look at these photos."

   Stalin put the pipe in his mouth, but did not light it. He picked up the photo Ustinov gave him and examined it carefully. After looking at it for a while, he put down the photo and asked casually, "Is this the new German weapon? It looks like a very ordinary aircraft."

"This is not an ordinary aircraft." Yakov interjected, "The Germans call it a V1 missile. Its range exceeds 100 kilometers, but it is powerful. Its appearance has already caused serious damage to our army. Just the day before yesterday, a German missile attacked the village of Morenzi, causing casualties to more than 200 soldiers and civilians. Fortunately, Marshal Konev transferred the headquarters, otherwise our army would have to pay a heavier price. "

  Stalin was taken aback: "What, Morianqi Village was attacked by German missiles, causing more than 200 casualties? Yasha, is this true?"

"Of course it is true." Yakov replied truthfully: "When I heard the news at the time, I thought it was impossible. What kind of bomb could cause so much damage. But after I called the Front Army Command to inquire , make sure it's all true."

  Stalin picked up the photo on the table again and looked at it carefully. After watching for a while, he couldn't help frowning: "Is the power of this weapon really that great?"

   "Yes, Comrade Stalin." Ustinov interjected: "According to my analysis, the German V1 missile warhead has a load of at least 500 kilograms, and the damage it caused is very terrifying."

  Stalin realized the seriousness of the problem, and asked with a straight face: "Is there any way we can deal with this new weapon of the Germans?"

Ustinov did not answer the question, but looked sideways at Yakov and said: "Comrade Stalin, I think it is better for Yakov to answer this question. You know, he just came back from the front. What method should be used instead to deal with the German V1 missiles."

   "Oh?!" Stalin looked at his son and said with some surprise, "Yasha, have you gone to the front line?"

   "Yes, I arrived at Misha's headquarters yesterday evening," Yakov pouted at the photos on the table, and said, "The photos in front of you were given to me by Misha."

  Stalin picked up the photos in his hand and said with great interest: "Since these photos were given to you by Misha, it means that he told you what methods can be used to deal with the new German weapons, right?"

   "Yes." Yakov did not deny this point, and readily admitted: "He did tell me how to deal with the new German weapons."

"tell me the story."

   "There are two ways," Yakov said, stretching out two fingers: "One is to use aircraft to intercept these missiles; the other is to use anti-aircraft artillery to destroy them."

  After hearing this, Stalin couldn't help but frowned again: "Is it effective?"

"I think it should have an effect." Yakov replied: "Misha told me that the German missiles are different from airplanes, and they can only fly along a pre-set route. Cannon interception can have a certain effect.”

   "Comrade Ustinov," Stalin asked after listening to his son's words, turned to look at Ustinov, "Do you think these two methods can be effective in dealing with German missiles?"

"It's hard to say, Comrade Stalin." Ustinov, who was asked by Stalin, replied cautiously: "After all, we have only been attacked by one missile so far. Can we use aircraft or anti-aircraft artillery to intercept it?" Missiles in flight are still an unknown.”

  The phone on the desk rang. Stalin picked up the receiver and put it to his ear. After realizing that the caller was Antonov, he asked with a serious expression, "Comrade Chief of the General Staff, what's the matter?"

"That's right, Comrade Stalin." Antonov said respectfully on the other end of the phone: "I just received a call from Marshal Konev, who said that the Germans may carry out a long-range attack on Cherkasy. .”

"What do you mean by long-range attack?" Stalin asked expressionlessly: "Cherkasy is more than a hundred kilometers away from the German defense line. How could it be attacked from a long distance? Could it be that the Germans are preparing to send out bombers to attack the city?" Bombing?"

"It's not sending bombers to bomb, Comrade Stalin." Antonov reorganized the vocabulary in his mind, and continued: "It's the Germans who have developed a new weapon that can strike targets hundreds of kilometers away. Strike. They are going to use this weapon to attack Cherkasy."

  (end of this chapter)