After dark, the people who followed Sokov to the factory building, in addition to Yakov and Kalashnikov, were also accompanied by Bely. Bely was deeply afraid that Sokov would not agree, and specially emphasized to him that
: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, in the coming days, my tank battalion will be involved in many battles. I think it is completely necessary to communicate with the factory leaders in advance."
Sokov was worried that Peter would have bad associations if he knew that a colonel was serving as a tank battalion commander under him, a lieutenant colonel. In order to avoid embarrassment to Bely, he did not invite Bely to go with him. At this time,
When Biely mentioned it on his own initiative, he just followed the flow and said, "Okay, comrade colonel, since you also want to get to know Factory Director Peter, come with us."
In the past, people in the assembly workshop would go to the factory building by car. However, now the road has been riddled with bumps, and there are still some unexploded bombs. Therefore, for safety reasons, Sokov and the others can only choose to walk.
Go through the traffic trench in the factory area and go to the factory building.
When he approached the factory building, if the person walking at the front was not the guide sent to him by Cousteau, Sokov would have thought that he had gone to the wrong place. The roof of the original five-story factory building was now unknown.
There are two floors left on the east side of the building. You can tell at a glance that this is a masterpiece of the German Air Force.
The person Peter sent to contact him was the director of the factory office. After greeting the guide, he came to Sokov, straightened his body and said: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I am the director of the factory office. The director is waiting in the basement.
Please, please come with me."
Sokov and his team followed the director of the factory office into the factory building and walked down a staircase to the basement below. The structure of the basement here is the same as that of the assembly workshop. It is a long corridor with two sides.
On the side are rooms one after another.
From the open door, Sokov saw soldiers and workers sitting in some rooms who were resting; some rooms were filled with various wooden boxes, presumably either machinery and equipment or weapons and ammunition; there was also a room with a door at the door.
Workers with rifles stood guard. Sokov once thought it was Peter's office. When he got closer, he realized that this room with a glass door was actually a communications room. He clearly saw that there were people sitting in front of the telephone receiver.
The young female operator appeared, methodically unplugging the plugs of different telephones from the receiver or inserting them into designated positions...
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," the director of the factory office saw Sokov standing at the door of the communication room, staring motionlessly at the female operator inside, and quickly urged him expressionlessly: "Comrade factory director is still waiting for you, please follow me.
Let me do it."
When they reached the end of the corridor, the director of the factory office stopped, turned around and said to Sokov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, please wait a moment while I go in to talk to Comrade Factory Director."
After obtaining Sokov's consent, he pushed open the closed door and walked in. As soon as he entered, he closed the door with his backhand. After a while, the door opened, and Peter and the director of the factory office walked side by side from inside.
After coming out, Peter stretched out his hand to Sokov and said with a smile: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, you are welcome to come to us to guide our work!"
Guidance work?! When Sokov heard Peter say this, he couldn't help but was stunned. He thought to himself, "I'm here to talk to you about tank-mounted radios. Is there any work that I can provide guidance on?" But he soon remembered that Peter had asked him to check it out.
Check out the defense situation near the factory building and give them suggestions for rectification. In this way, it can barely be regarded as guidance work.
After shaking hands with Peter, Sokov introduced several companions behind him. He started with Bely, the highest-ranking military officer: "This is Colonel Bely. He used to be the commander of the 84th Tank Brigade and is now the deputy of the tank battalion.
battalion commander."
Although Peter was not a soldier, he was no stranger to military ranks and positions. When he learned that the colonel in front of him now actually wanted to obey Sokov's command, he couldn't help but look at Sokov with admiration. He held Belly's hand and said,
Smiling and said: "Hello, Colonel Bely, welcome!"
Sokov then introduced: "These two are Major Yakov and Lieutenant Kalashnikov from the Weapons and Equipment Department."
Hearing that the major in front of him was Yakov, Peter stretched out his hands, held Sokov's hand tightly, and said somewhat flatteringly: "Hello, Major Yakov. Back then, the White Army was attacking the city.
At that time, under the leadership of your great father, I fought tenaciously against the enemies who tried to break into the city."
Yakov learned that Director Peter had followed his father and fought tenaciously against the invading enemies in this city, and he suddenly felt good about him. He held the other person's hand and said with a smile.
: "Director Peter, just because we were able to defeat the White Army's invasion of the city back then, I can also defeat the Japanese invaders who are trying to seize the city today."
After everyone came and sat down in the office, Peter did not immediately talk to Sokov about the tank's on-board radio. Instead, he asked straight to the point: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, you have been in our factory for a while. I wonder what you think about us?"
Is there anything that needs to be improved on the fortifications?”
Although Sokov had not taken a closer look at the fortifications outside the factory building, he understood Lao Maozi's character and knew that the structure of the fortifications here must be similar to that in the assembly workshop, so he said without hesitation: "Factory Director
Comrade, I would like to ask first, how many trenches have you dug outside the factory building?"
"Two roads!" Peter replied without hesitation: "The two roads are five hundred meters apart."
Sokov continued to ask: "Have you used communication trenches to continue connecting the two trenches?"
"No, there is no communication trench between the two trenches." After answering Sokov's question, Peter replied with some embarrassment: "The reason why there is no communication trench is entirely because of the fear that workers would abandon their positions and escape out of fear during the battle.
."
"Comrade Factory Director, you are thinking too much." Before speaking out his suggestion, Sokov felt it was necessary to praise the workers of the Red October Factory, lest Peter would have any conflict with his next suggestion.
Sentiment: "I believe that the workers at the Red October Tractor Factory are good people. Even if they sacrifice their lives and expose their bodies in the wilderness, they will never let the Germans easily pass through the positions they hold."
"Yes, that's right." Naturally, Peter would not object to Sokov's statement. He could only nod his head repeatedly and said in agreement: "I believe that all workers in the factory will fight tenaciously when facing the enemy.
We fought to the last moment. Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, would you please tell us how our defensive positions should be adjusted?"
"Comrade Factory Director, your two trenches are not connected by a communication trench, which means that whether you are reinforcing or retreating, the soldiers must leave the trenches they were originally holding and pass through an open space of several hundred meters under enemy fire.
…”
"Please wait a moment, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." When Peter heard this, he quickly stopped Sokov from continuing and took the initiative to express his position: "Our comrades will strictly abide by Order No. 227. Before getting orders from superiors,
Not taking a step back."
"I said retreat, not escape." For such a stubborn person in front of him, Sokov felt a deep sense of frustration in his heart, but he still tried hard to control his emotions and said in a calm tone.
: "Before the enemy attacks, they will continue to bombard our defensive positions fiercely. Your front-line positions have no anti-gun holes and concealed parts, so the soldiers can only stay in the trenches and take the shells. In this way, they will not wait for the enemy to attack.
, a considerable proportion of comrades suffered casualties under enemy artillery fire."
"There is nothing we can do about this." Peter said helplessly: "We have no air superiority on the battlefield, and the artillery on the other side of the Volga River cannot suppress the German artillery. Our comrades can only stay in the trenches and be bombed. But every day
Every comrade knows that in order to defend our great motherland, no matter how high the price is, it is completely worth it."
"Comrade Factory Director," after hearing what Peter said, Sokov said with a straight face and a stern tone: "In order to defend the motherland, it is necessary to sacrifice one's own blood and life. This is the consciousness that every Soviet citizen should have, but we
This cannot be used as a reason to disregard the lives of soldiers and allow them to die in large numbers under enemy fire."
"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," Peter's attitude became a little unfriendly when he heard Sokov speaking to him in such a stern tone: "Is there any way you can reduce the casualties of comrades?"
"That's right, Comrade Factory Director." Sokov nodded and said in a positive tone: "I do have a way to reduce the casualties of our soldiers when they are bombarded by the enemy."
Hearing what Sokov said, Peter's eyes couldn't help but light up, and he hurriedly asked: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I don't know what the solution is, please tell me quickly."
Sokov said lightly: "The best way is to dig more communication trenches between the two trenches."
"What, dig a few communication trenches?" Peter couldn't help showing a disappointed expression on his face. He said with a grimace: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I really can't think of why digging a few communication trenches can reduce the number of troops being attacked.
What about the casualties during the shelling?”
Not only Peter had such questions, but also Bely and Kalashnikov looked at Sokov with doubts. Only Yakov, who knew Sokov best, had a calm expression.
Sitting next to him and smoking.
Sokov picked up a pencil on the table and drew a sketch on a newspaper that Peter used to roll cigarettes: "Comrade factory director, come and see. We use a number of communication trenches to connect the two trenches, so that
When the enemy bombards our first line of defense, we can evacuate all the soldiers in the first trench to the second trench to avoid the bombardment, leaving only a few observation posts on the position. Wait until the enemy's bombardment is over.
Finally, our soldiers returned to the first trench from the second trench."
"It makes sense, it makes sense." Peter nodded repeatedly while staring at the sketch drawn by Sokov, and said with emotion: "We withdrew all the soldiers on the first line of defense to the second line of defense, and the enemy shelled only
By setting up a few empty observation posts, apart from wasting artillery shells, the results they can achieve are very limited."
Seeing that Peter recognized his statement, Sokov continued: "With the communication trenches, once the first line of defense is tight, you can also let the soldiers of the second line of defense quickly enter the first line through these communication trenches.
Reinforcement. Because during the reinforcement process, the troops no longer have to brave the enemy's bullets and cross unobstructed open fields, this can also reduce the casualties of the follow-up troops to the minimum level."
"This is really a good idea." Peter patted the table and exclaimed: "Why didn't I come up with such a good idea?" After saying that, he raised his head, looked at the factory director standing aside, and ordered: "Dig a traffic trench.
I will leave it to you to take charge of the matter. At least five to eight traffic trenches must be dug before dawn."
Hearing Peter's instructions, the factory director couldn't help complaining: "Comrade factory director, we have to dig so many traffic trenches overnight, where can I find so many manpower?"
"This is your business." Peter raised his hand and looked at his watch and continued: "There are still twelve hours between now and dawn. If you don't act quickly, you will definitely not be able to complete the task I assigned you at dawn.
." After hearing what Peter said, the director of the factory office did not dare to mention the difficulties again, so he could only agree and turned around and walked out of the office.
After Sokov and other factory office directors left, he faced Peter and said: "Comrade factory director, the matter of fortifications has come to an end. Next, we should talk about the tank's on-board radio."
"Comrade Khrushchev personally called me about the car radio and asked me to hand over all the materials stored in the factory to you unconditionally." Peter asked Sokov puzzledly: "China
Comrades from the school, I don’t understand, what do you want with so many car radios?”
"It's very simple. It's for the convenience of command." Seeing Peter's puzzled look, Sokov explained to him: "Based on the current situation analysis, in the coming days, the Germans will definitely try to use different methods to control the situation."
If you rush into the factory area, you will definitely need the support of the tank troops. If you need support, the tanks are scattered in different places, and it is obviously unrealistic to only rely on signal flags to command the tanks. But if each tank
If all car radios are installed, the situation will be greatly different."
Having said this, Sokov pointed to Bely next to him with his hand: "For example, Colonel Bely learned through the radio which tank company is closest to you, and he only needs to issue an order to the company commander. The company commander then uses the radio to notify the tanks scattered in various locations.
The tank crews are here. They can come to support you in the shortest possible time."
Sokov's explanation made Peter understand the importance of installing a vehicle-mounted radio on each tank. In order to save the factory, he made the wisest choice in the shortest time: "Okay, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov
, I will personally take you to collect those batches of vehicle-mounted radios for tanks."
This chapter has been completed!