Chapter 1803

   "Comrade Chief of the General Staff," Stalin waited for Antonov to finish speaking, and said slowly: "The new weapon you are talking about is not a V1 missile?"

  Antonov was taken aback: "Comrade Stalin, how did you know?"

Stalin glanced at Ustinov and Yakov who were standing in front of his desk, and then said into the microphone: "Because Comrade Ustinov, Comrade People's Commissar, is standing in front of me at this moment, this matter is He told me himself."

   After figuring out what was going on, Antonov let out a sigh and continued: "After I heard about this incident, I felt it was very important, so I called you to report it."

   "So, did Marshal Konev say where he got this information from?"

   Stalin's question caught Antonov's question: "Well, I didn't ask this. I don't know how he knew that the enemy was going to launch a long-distance attack on Cherkasy."

   "Oh, you don't know either." After hearing Antonov's reply, Stalin couldn't help frowning: "Then can the reliability of this news be guaranteed?"

   "I can guarantee it." Before Antonov could speak, Stalin suddenly heard a firm voice from the opposite side: "I can assure you that this information is absolutely reliable."

   Seeing that the speaker was his son, Stalin couldn't help frowning: "Yasha, do you know what Chief of Staff Antonov and I are talking about?"

"Yes, I heard it." Yakov nodded and said, "I knew about the German army's plan to attack Cherkasy with V1 missiles. The scouts captured a German orderler and seized from him an order to attack Cherkasy with V1 missiles at three o'clock in the morning."

   Stalin still had no doubts about what his son said. He nodded, and then asked into the microphone: "Comrade Chief of the General Staff, did Marshal Konev say that he has taken any measures?"

"Marshal Konev has given orders to the command of the Cherkasy garrison." Antonov said on the other end of the phone: "One is to set up anti-aircraft positions in areas where German missiles may pass, and use anti-aircraft artillery to destroy these missiles. The second is to issue a battle warning and let the residents enter the air-raid shelters. In this way, even if the German missiles are intended to land and explode in the city, they can only destroy some buildings, and the casualties of the residents in the city can be minimized.”

   "Well, I see." Stalin knew that if he continued to ask, he would not get any more useful information, so he said casually: "If there is any new situation in the direction of Cherkasy, remember to report it to me in time."

  After hanging up the phone, Stalin looked at his son and asked: "Yasha, tell me, why did the Germans launch missiles at our cities at night?"

Faced with Stalin’s question, Ustinov naturally didn’t know how to answer it. Even Yakov thought for a long time before he said: “I think the main reason why the Germans chose to launch missiles at night is because Visibility at night is low, and it is difficult for aircraft or anti-aircraft artillery to effectively intercept it."

  Yakov’s explanation obviously did not satisfy Stalin. He put a pipe in his mouth, struck a match and lit it, and asked slowly, “Since the visibility at night is poor, why did the Germans choose this time to launch?”

"Comrade Stalin," it was Ustinov who came out to explain this time: "The Germans used missiles that could hit targets 100 kilometers away. I think they may have calculated the range and target parameters in advance, so that no matter what For them, the nature of the launch is the same whether it is day or night. The only difference is that when launching at night, the Germans may judge whether they have deviated from the target according to the tail flame of the missile."

   "Comrade Ustinov," Stalin waited for Ustinov to finish speaking, and after a moment of silence, he asked, "Can we create a long-range strike weapon similar to the V1 missile?"

"No." Hearing Stalin's question, Ustinov's face blushed, and he explained with some embarrassment: "At least under the current circumstances, we have not yet been able to create such a weapon that can carry out long-range strikes." weapons."

Just as Ustinov said this, he suddenly noticed that Stalin's face changed, and he quickly added: "But if we can capture a V1 missile, we can figure out the structure of the missile through reverse derivation, and in the It will be imitated after a while."

Stalin was quite satisfied with Ustinov's answer. He raised his hand and was about to send him away when Ustinov spoke again: "Comrade Stalin, on the way here, Colonel Yakov I mentioned something."

"whats the matter?"

"That's right. We produced a batch of hovercraft last year and tried them with the 27th Army under the command of General Sokov. The effect was very good. But in order to prevent this new type of transport from falling into the hands of the Germans, We sealed it before the end of the Kharkov campaign." Ustinov said: "Now we plan to transport a batch of supplies to General Sokov's troops, but due to the limited capacity of road and railway transport The limit has been reached, and according to the normal arrangement, it will take at least one month before the materials can be transported to the 53rd Army. Therefore, General Sokov proposed, can those hovercraft be unsealed and used to transport materials?"

   "Yasha," Stalin turned to his son and asked, "What do you think of this?"

"Misha's troops are outdated in equipment. If they are responsible for defense, such equipment may be barely enough." Yakov replied cautiously: "But if they are responsible for offensive tasks, such backward equipment will definitely cost them a lot." casualties."

After hearing this, Stalin hummed, and then said: "Since this is the case, then unseal the hovercraft as soon as possible, and transport all the weapons and ammunition needed by Misha to the front line as soon as possible. You know, he is a legend that scares the Germans." General, if he loses a battle against the Germans because of outdated weapons, it may damage his honor."

  Seeing that Stalin agreed to unseal the hovercraft, Ustinov quickly replied: "Understood, Comrade Stalin, I will carry out your order immediately after I return later."

"Since there is nothing to do, you can go back first." After saying this to Ustinov, Stalin pointed at Yakov with his hand holding the pipe, "Yasha stay, I want to talk to you .”

   When there were only father and son left in the room, Stalin put down the pipe in his hand, got up and walked to Yakov, and asked kindly, "Yasha, how is your work in the Weapons and Equipment Department? Are you still used to it?"

   "Very used to it." Yakov replied, "Thank you for the job you arranged for me."

  Stalin nodded, and after turning around Yakov twice with his hands behind his back, he continued to ask: "You went to see Misha yesterday. Do you think he is qualified for his current position?"

Hearing Stalin's question, Yakov couldn't help raising his eyebrows, and asked in puzzlement: "Misha has served as the commander of the 21st and 27th Army Groups before, and has achieved a lot of achievements. The commander of the 53rd Army has not been in office for a long time, but he also performed well in the Battle of Cherkasy."

   "Don't you think his performance in the 53rd Army is far below the standard compared to the original?"

"You can't say that," Yakov noticed that his father seemed dissatisfied with Sokov, and he quickly defended him, saying, "The 53rd Army under Misha's current command cannot match the strength of Sokov in terms of personnel and equipment." The previous two armies are on par. If he can obtain the same weapons and a large number of veterans with rich combat experience, I believe that the results he has achieved will also satisfy you."

  As soon as he said this, Stalin thought deeply.

  In fact, Stalin had already known about Sokov's performance in the Cherkasy Battle through various battle reports and reports. Although the record of the 53rd Army was good, he was not very satisfied. He even wondered if Sokov's ability would be reduced to a certain extent if he changed the command of another unit.

  After Yakov told the truth, Stalin's thinking suddenly became clear, and some feelings that were vague before suddenly became completely clear.

   "So that's the case." He nodded and said, "The record of the 53rd Army is obviously not as good as before. It turns out that there are too many recruits in the army and the weapons and equipment are outdated."

"That's right, that's what affected Misha's performance." If it were someone else, I'm afraid he wouldn't dare to say good things for Sokov in front of Stalin, taking Yakov as Stalin's son, speaking It seems more casual: "He is also aware of this problem, so he calls me from time to time, hoping that I can provide them with excellent equipment."

   "Then how did you answer him?"

"I refused his request most of the time." Yakov sighed and said, "Although I know that Misha's troops are poorly equipped, the weapons produced every month have already been assigned to the destination. There is nothing I can do to help him.”

   Even Ustinov has no right to change the distribution of weapons at will, but to Stalin, it is just a trivial matter. He said thoughtfully: "Yasha, tell Xiaoxiao that I can give him all the weapons and equipment he wants, but he must promise me that in the next battle, he must achieve even more brilliant results."

"You can rest assured." When Yakov learned that his father planned to fully support Sokov and provide him with all the equipment he needed, he was even happier than Sokov, and said repeatedly: "On behalf of Misha, I express my gratitude here. Make a statement, the record in the next battle will definitely not be less than this time."

  The next chat between the father and son became a little absent-minded. Stalin was tired and wanted to rest; while Yakov was anxious to find a place to call Sokov to tell him the great news.

Fortunately, Stalin saw that Yakov was absent-minded and guessed what was on his mind, so he waved to him and said, "It's all right, you can go back and rest early. If Xiaomisha asks you for anything in the future, if you can't handle it, you can Tell me, and I'll take care of it myself."

  Yakov responded excitedly, raised his hand to salute Stalin, then turned and left the office.

  He got out of the office building and found Ustinov waiting for him in the car, so he quickly opened the door and got in. He asked in surprise, "Comrade People's Commissar, why haven't you gone back yet?"

"If I leave, how will you go back to the weapons and equipment department later?" After Ustinov finished speaking, he didn't ask Yakov what he had talked with his father, because he knew that even if he asked, Yakov The husband wouldn't tell him, so he simply didn't ask. He patted the driver's shoulder with his hand and ordered, "Drive, let's go back to the weapons and equipment department."

After the two returned to Ustinov's office in the Armament Department, Yakov closed the door and said to Ustinov: "Comrade People's Commissar, I talked to my father and he said As long as Misha’s request is not excessive, he can fully satisfy him.”

   "Should we provide Comrade Sokov with all the weapons and equipment he needs?" Ustinov tentatively asked, "But will this affect the distribution of weapons to other troops?"

"I think my father will personally negotiate with various departments." Yakov further explained his father's intentions to Ustinov: "He hopes that after Misha obtains these weapons and equipment, he can establish Even more glorious feats."

When Ustinov heard this, he couldn't help thinking: When Sokov commanded the 27th Army, whether it was the Battle of Kursk or the Battle of Kharkov, he achieved good results, and sometimes it can even be described as turning the tide. . But since he served as the commander of the 53rd Army, his achievements have been significantly worse than before.

  There are many reasons, but the main reason is the quality of soldiers and weapons and equipment. The quality of the soldiers has nothing to do with me; but the weapons are simple, and it seems a little powerless to deal with the enemy who is armed to the teeth.

"Colonel Yakov," after understanding the truth, Ustinov decided to be a favor: "Since Comrade Stalin is willing to come forward in person to negotiate and solve the weapons needed by the 53rd Army, we must cooperate fully. How about that?" , When it dawns, you will take people to complete the work of unsealing the hovercraft."

   After receiving Ustinov's promise, Yakov returned to his office and asked the operator to connect him to the headquarters of the 53rd Army.

  Although it was already midnight, Sokov did not fall asleep. He was sitting at the table with Smirnov and Gorokhov to study what kind of damage the V1 missile would cause to Cherkasy.

   Knowing that it was Yakov who called him, Sokov took the phone from Smirnov with some surprise: "Hello, Yasha, this is Misha. Have you returned to Moscow safely?"

   "Yes, Misha, I have arrived in Moscow safely." Yakov said on the phone: "I just went to see my father and just came back from him, so I thought of calling you."

   Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and found that it was already a quarter past three in the morning, that is to say, the German V1 missile was flying towards Cherkasy. He thought that the other party wanted to know about Cherkasy, so he said smartly: "Yasha, the German missiles should have just been launched at this moment, and they should have not reached Cherkasy. If you want to know the loss of the city, give It is useless for me to call, it is better to call Marshal Konev directly, and get first-hand information."

  (end of this chapter)